I finally settled on sliding them into my frame bag against the down tube, with the bigger plastic ends towards the bottom. I still find I have plenty of room for stuff, but I do have a Large Salsa Fargo with a big triangle.

1 other tip, I use 2 small zip ties to secure all the poles together before throwing them in my bag, this keeps them tight together and prevents clanking and jostling around.

I do the exact same thing with my poles, and I have a BA Fly Creek 2.  I also have a monster-sized bike, though, so, like Tractor, the frame bag storage works great for me.  One thing I've found that works great is keeping the poles together with 2 small velcro straps like these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10x-Velcro-Tie-Straps-Cable-Ties-Reusable-Hook-and-Loop-8-x-3-4-Pack-of-10-USA-/390731996460

They work great for tons of other things, too, and weigh practically nothing.

To love bikepacking is to hike-a-bike.  Embrace the suck.  That is what makes the memories.  

I wish I could swing it again this year - I'd love to tag along.  It's a great trail, and I second mtnbound's recommendations.  Get the data book and the official guide.  Indispensable items.

If you have any more questions - don't hesitate to ask.  There is tons of knowledge on this site.

Good luck.

Steve

My past with brakes coincide almost perfectly with others.  Great luck and reliability with Shimano XT's, and an *interesting* past with Avid Elixirs.  The Avids gave me predictable fade.  I don't have any intention of turning away from my trusty XT's any time soon.  Awesome brakes.

You know, I think there's just so much discussion out there on what the right rig actually is, when in fact, it's all of them.  If you can spend mile after mile comfortably in the saddle, and it makes you happy, you nailed it.  If anything, you could just add it to your quiver of bikes... can't have just one, right? 

The Krampus is a great ride, maybe not fast, but it probably checks a lot of the boxes on the harsher/softer side of the terrain.  Keep the Niner for fast touring, gravel and hardpack.  If you really only want one, I'd still keep the Krampus and get a milder/lighter/faster wheelset. 

Disclaimer: I've never ridden a RLT9, and my opinion could change dramatically if I had.

Good luck, bud.

Steve

Well, that's a hell of an endorsement for the scleral, robotfury.  I've been partial to the WileyX safety glasses with the removable foam goggle-ish attachment, but I'll have to look into the Oakley set.  I used to race dirtbikes in hare scrambles and enduros, and considered bringing my dirtbike goggles on the Kokopelli.  Glad I didn't.  The worst part was actually the road down into Moab - why does the world need to to have so many UTVs and side-by-sides?

I know exactly what you mean about having to stop dramatically during races.  It's effing crippling when something gets behind my lenses.  The world does not matter until it's out!!!  Maybe scleral is the answer... for now???

Thanks for the insight!

Steve

I have keratoconus as well, and it definitely adds another level of potential difficulty to any bike ride.  I still wear the smaller RGP lenses, but they can turn a 1 minute ride to the grocery store into a pain festival if some dust kicks up.  I've been riding with them for years, but have never done any long distance multi-day races in them - just endurance races like the Growler, CB100, Breck, etc.  That being said, I have done the CT, Kokopelli(this was the real test - lots of dust), Coconino, and other nice big multi-day rides.  None were supported, and I always just found that having enough water to make sure I could clean up well made all the difference in the world.  I'm really not interested in getting corneal ulcers, so I try to make sure I can get them out and soaked for at least 4 hours.

I will say, despite the low points I've had with these contacts(mostly in the desert), I consider them a damn miracle.  Life kinda sucked before I got these lenses, especially driving at night.  Like others before have mentioned, we with KC have to have special lenses that reshape our eyes, not glasses or a soft contact that shape to our eyes. 

I think strategic motels in the dry sections is a great plan.

I've never tried the scleral lenses, but may have to try if I can't take it with these lenses at some point.  Are they as expensive as my RGPs?  Probably more, I reckon.

Good luck out there!

Steve

Your frame bag looks really good mishmash. Hope mine turns out as nice. 

You are in good hands with Scott at PR.  You made the right choice and will have years of trouble-free fun with it.

Steve

You should be able to download the free version of TopoFusion to condense the file to 10,000 points.  It's pretty easy.  Like others have said, 10,000 points is the limit.

I think it's probably in there, you just have to go into the area where your tracks are kept (track manager), select it, and  tell it to display it on the map. 

Good luck, dude.

Steve

Check out Porcelain Rocket - Scott (the owner of PR) is just south of you in Calgary.  Exceptional craftsmanship, and a helluva guy.  Most of my bags are from him.

Good luck!

Steve

Just an FYI:

The Tailgator costs $165... Carries 400 cubic inches (~6.5 liters) and is limited to 5 lbs.
I don't believe its waterproof.
It works well for randonneuring (have known some forum peeps who like it for that purpose...)
And it really looks like a take off on the seatpost mounted rack system. The internal rack is doing the work here, cantilevered off the seatpost.

For $185 you can get the PR Mr. Fusion.
Holds 6-13 liters, comes with a waterproof bag, in your choice of fabric and color.
The PR concept is really about stability, not load holding.
The weight is held primarily by the strapping through the saddle rails, and stability is gained by the internal mini frame.
I'm sure the triangulation to the seatpost adds a bit of weight capacity... but unlike the moots, if the rack on the PR failed somehow you would still be riding...

Or, for no cost at all (seeing as how I have all these damn parts already), I could take the seat post rack from the Moots design, tuck it under and loop it through the bungee cords on bottom of the PR bag, maybe bend it a little bit, and *pretty much* have a Mr. Fusion.  I just took a much more expensive way to get there, seeing as how there was no such thing as a PR Mr. Fusion on the market when I started acquiring bags 5-6 years ago.

Thanks for helping clarify, though, bmike-vt.

Steve

Yagi, if I'm not mistaken, that's simply a variation on the old-skool post-mount rack (prone to breakage due to the heavily cantilevered design, hence the 5lb weight limit), and not really at all like the Mr. Fusion in fundamental concept or use.

Yeah, Joey, I definitely get that.  Even I broke one, but once I wrapped a couple Voile straps around it through the seat rails it got much stronger.  I know you know there's a lot of ingenuity out there(Railwing, case in point), and things can be made much better or used totally differently just by having someone else in the room. Just because I have a big-ass wrench, that guarantees I won't use it like a hammer, right?  Scott's got a great product, and I'm positive he can capitalize on a product flaw, even if it is completely coincidental.  In my line of work, intended use and actual use are far different. 

Sorry for any thread derailment.  Carry on.

Steve

A big company ripping off Porcelain Rockets Mr. Fusion....
http://www.porcelainrocket.com/product/mr-fusion-seat-system/

Not trying to drag up old drama in this thread, but Moots has been doing this design for years now on a more commuter-based look.  I'm not saying PR ripped-off Moots, but I had this system from them, probably 5 years ago at least.  Oh, and it never swayed. 

http://moots.com/our-bike/components/other-3/options/

Honestly, I think you should just get out and ride with people.  Technique will come, but you can't learn everything you need to know from a youtube video.  Just ride.  Start slow.  Take a skills clinic.  Find somebody who's willing to mentor you if you need skills that badly.  If you ride in super-techy terrain, the biggest technique you might need to learn is hike-a-bike. 

Good luck.

Go ask Alice!

Great.  Now I'll have that song stuck in my head for the rest of the week!!!

Heck yeah, evdog.  I know you'll do good on the pictures, too! 

I think we're gonna try to ride it, too, but we have to wait a little longer than you to get up there.

Have a great time!

Ride the White Clouds singletracks. 

Part of the area was just declared Wilderness, but we can keep riding til they put the signs up.  Besides it being a must see this will be your last ever chance to bike a few of the trails.   

Not so sure about this.  In the link below, it says wilderness restrictions went into effect immediately after the President signed it, and willful violations of wilderness law will be cited.

http://www.mtexpress.com/news/environment/boulder-white-clouds-wilderness-goes-into-effect/article_298ab1ca-4080-11e5-9499-0f5991b308a4.html

We have a trip planned in 3 weeks for the IHSMBR, and I really wish we could ride it.  Not advocating to break the law, but if you really can still ride it, do it.  Maybe you'll just get "educated."

The President will sign the Wilderness bill into law next week. Below are the sections that will be permanently closed to being "in possession of a bicycle" on the White Cloud Singletrack Option.
The timeline for the closure is hazy. I'll will post more when I know more.

Do you think it could be closed within the next month, Casey?  I'm unfamiliar with public land-closure timelines.  Reason being, a buddy and I are planning on riding the lower loop of the route in early-mid September, and this portion of singletrack is one of our main objectives.  Probably hard to speculate, but I'm still interested to know what you think.

Thanks for all your hard work and updates!  Looking forward to riding/HAB'ing the hell out of this route soon.

Steve

Quick question for the GPS savvy.
How do I get the little indicator flags on my track? The pictures below...
1) off basecamp on my mac (shows flags)
2) etrex 20 (backup GPS, shows flags) and Dakota 20 (main GPS, doesn't show flags). Same base map and exact same track.
Thanks!
Adam.

Do you have to enable them for the track?  I'm sure they uploaded to the device fine since the etrex shows them, but I'm wondering if you have to specifically ask the Dakota to show them.  Did you ask the google machine?

Good luck.

Steve

Pretty sure it matches - Toby did a pretty good job with the track.