That's funny, that's my favorite part!  I love eating solid food on the trail.  Unlike some, though, I'll just stop, sit down, and eat a sandwich in the middle of a hundred-mile race or something... no riding/eating simultaneously for me.

Well I certainly enjoy snack breaks as well, but there is also a sense of personal satisfaction to be had from the feeling of having "covered all that ground without stopping." If it's anything more than a quick snack, a break can quickly turn into quite a lot of time at 0mph (and not even sleeping!). I guess this mentality comes to me from 24 hour racing, where a five minute break every lap to eat might not seem like much, but that adds up to one to two hours of not moving (one or two fewer laps completed) by the end of the race! I notice the same thing when I'm just out for a leisurely bike ride: it's quite easy to spend nearly as much time standing around as riding without even realizing until you look at the "moving time"/"stopped time" numbers on your GPS. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but in endurance racing (whether for the win, or just a personal record) minimizing downtime seems to be the most important go-faster strategy. How did that old story about the tortoise and the hare go again?

The only exception was this GIANT brownie I got in Silverton to get me home to Durango.  Every few bites sent me scurrying off the trail, until I just quit eating it.

Ha!!! I had the exact same experience! I'd been eating mostly bars and HEED/Perpetuem and I was craving some "real food" pretty bad.

I really like using Perpetuem for long rides/races though because it is just such a hassle to me to have to deal with managing, unwrapping, and chewing/choking down solid foods between breaths while riding. It's nice to be able to mix up a 6-hour dose of Perpetuem to sip on and not have to deal with cramming stuff in your mouth for a while. A nice strong bottle of Caffé Latte Perpetuem is a perfect way to get moving in the morning

I definitely like some snacks/treats while I'm riding like chocolate/candy/fruit/granola, but I prefer to keep them as extra treats to snack on at my leisure while knowing I'm getting an nice steady supply of nutrition from my drink mix.

I found it to be a non-issue. In my case the bags are mostly held tight against the cable stops, cable housing, head/seat tube. The bag-cable contact doesn't add any noticeable friction.

I did this route last year: http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,2201.msg22134.html

If someone can figure out an alternative to the private Avenales Canyon ranch road, that would be great!
It might be possible to contact the ranch owners ahead of time and ask nicely if you could ride through as well?

I used a RAB eVent bivy on the 2011 CTR (and on several other occasions). Pretty impressed with it, other than the obvious problems that come from not having a tent. Very minimal condensation just around your face even with the thing completely sealed up.

It all depends on your size, and your particular setup. With my 4" travel 17" frame and a CDW seat bag there is not much clearance to drop the seat. Descending with your seat at full height is not really an issue for 99.9% of typical single track. It's nice to have it out of the way, sure, but it's really not necessarily. For riding steep stuff, saddle height really doesn't matter that much: the main thing is getting your weight BACK. Getting your body an inch lower is the last 10% for super duper tech stuff that you probably wouldn't ride while bike-packing anyway. Lower saddle keeps the seat out of your way when you are shifting your weight around during hard cornering, but again for 99% of single track it doesn't matter. I think I only walked three or four short sections of the whole CTR because I didn't want to risk it, although that had more to do with riding a loaded XC bike than seat height. I rode down that part that is marked "Walk down!" perfectly fine with my seat raised

I followed the trail closure sign and Stefan's note, but there was a group of people camped out just before the closure who were telling riders passing by that there had been no cutting that day, the trail was clear and safe and we should ride through the closure area... so that made the decision a little interesting.

Some photos of my experience on the trail and some of the people I kept bumping into along the way: Tim Halbakken, Steve Wilkinson, John Fettis, James Lindenblatt and Jeffrey Rank. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jp3d/sets/72157627299930681/

I don't think Topofusion can upload basemaps to the Vista.

Try this instead: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/197 (use the software that came with the GPS)

Make sure you figure out how to turn the extra basemap on and off in the GPS menu because it can be more distracting than helpful at times.

Hmmm... I guess this is going to polarize the discussion, but it seems like pretzel logic here. Picking up a package that's at the post office isn't the same as using the post office as a conduit to make the load carried lighter. IMHO, mailing heavy gear home is just a cheaper [but inconvenient with those USPS business hours] way than just jettisoning gear along the trail. Actually, if you come back to retrieve your dropped gear, then you would save on shipping too. With your logic, I guess one could also do bike swaps at post offices along the way, which would also meet the literal description of only using mail drops. Nothing like a freshly serviced and clean bike optimized for each section. Am I the only one that interprets the rule this way? Have people mailed home gear in the past?

Breaking the law?

A: Duh! No trespassing. No littering. No riding in Wilderness Areas. Etc. This also means no ditching or stashing of any gear to pick up later. That is the same as littering as far as the CTR is concerned. If you need to get rid of something, find a dumpster or a post office.

Dropping stuff along the way is the same as littering, and if you intend to pick it up later that is not fair to other riders who don't have the capability to do the same. Everyone can use the post office for whatever they want.

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/bike-washing-and-cleaning

Also, here is the route I took: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/37132534

I stocked up on food and water at the Shell Station + Subway in Maricopa before heading into the valley, and then got more water from The California Valley Motel http://travel.yahoo.com/p-hotel-5147411-california_valley_motel-i I called ahead of time to see if they had any water available and the proprietor was more than happy to offer some water from their well. You could also get yourself a room there for $65 (reservation required). There is also a public water tank at the Library / Fire Station just down the road, but it is labeled "non potable."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jp3d/sets/72157626841114793/

Started from SLO Saturday evening and got back around noon on Tuesday. My first real bikepacking trip and it was great!

Route inspired by http://salsacycles.com/culture/california_central_coast_tour_the_route/ and http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,2159.0.html and turned into a big loop back around through Carrizo Plain, Pozo, and Cuesta.
note: contrary to the way the Salsa Cycles blog makes it sound Avenales Canyon is not a public road. It looks like it was at one time: there is an old Forest Service campground along the route, and "Please stay on road/respect private property signs," but I guess the Ranch decided to revoke the Forest Service right of way. I met the Ranchers on their way out and they weren't entirely thrilled with my route choice. They let me continue on through, but ask that people please refrain from this route.

Nice trip! I've shuttled Tunnel many times... it's a lot of fun on a downhill bike. That must have been an adventure!

I'm in SLO and have been trying to figure out a good route for bike-packing around here (have done a couple overnighters just out of town).

Hey jp3d....quick question here....Found this little bit on the net....maybe accurate?

Can I recharge my Garmin eTrex Vista HCx from USB?
 
 No. Recharging anything that accepts AA batteries generally requires special circuitry to prevent overcharge (and thus leak or explosion) and and a physical switch to tell when rechargeable batteries are installed; these GPSes contain neither.

 I guess you were saying that I could directly power an HCX with an external pack while I'm using it. I'm wishing more for a GPS that contains an internal rechargable battery that can be topped off with a high capacity rechargable battery pack that is already is being utilized to top off other universally rechargable gadgets. If you HCX guys are going through rechargable aa's, then how many are you bringing for multiday trips and are you also bringing a separate aa charger? Sorry if this posting is redundant but can't bring myself to use disposable batteries AND at the same time I'm trying to consolidate equipment everywhere on the bike AND at the same time get the equipment best suited for extended fully loaded loading touring(like expandable memory). They say "two out of three ain't bad." but I'm hoping for all three. Any other GPS's that do all this and a bag of chips?

Yes you could certainly bring your own supply of rechargeable NiMH AAs. Two AAs should give a full days worth of power. A set of two AAs has about the same capacity as the rechargeble pack you have, and they are lighter. (lithium ion cells that are probably in that pack have a higher energy density, but I'm guessing the packaging they are in is negating the weight advantage compared to bare NiMH cells). You would need multiple packs to keep recharging the GPS batteries. Also, charging a battery is not 100% efficient: you are lose capacity by recharging a battery from another battery instead of discharging the battery directly, so there is really no advantage I can see to that approach, unless you build/buy a larger, higher density lithium ion pack (like the large packs that bike lighting systems use).

The Vista was designed for multi-day navigation with it's "unlimited" battery life (replaceable AA batteries). It seems to be the go-to unit for bikepacking. The Edge series was designed as a single-day training tool. You would need to rig up some kind of external battery pack for the Edge, which people have done, but it adds one more thing to mess with.

edit: oh wait you were looking at the GPSMAP series. Yep those ones have this fancy antenna sticking out of them that I've heard doesn't work very well in the trees, and the battery life is worse. I wasn't able to figure out any advantage to those units for bikepacking when I looked at them vs. the Vista.

Haven't owned a GPS yet but it is certainly in my future for extended offroad touring. I think I'm  correct that the vista hcx is not rechargeable in itself...you have to replace the battteries each time? I have a 5000mAh rechargeble pack this is very compact and as light as they get...5-6 ounces. I like using such a pack because I can top off all my gadgets (mp3,camera,phone) multiple times before needing to top off the pack. So if vista hcx is not internally rechargable then what is the best of the GPS's for extended bicycle travel that have internal rechargeable batteries?

2 AA NiMH cells together weigh ~2.2oz and give ~5000mAh, non-rechargeable lithiums are half the weight and similar capacity, but you can power the Vista directly via its usb port if you really want. You lose at least 10-20% of the original capacity by using a battery to recharge another battery, so that would be a more efficient method anyway.

My personal preference is to stay away for all travel adjust / lockout mechanisms.  They don't agree with me.  I like fiddling with my bike as little as possible during a ride.  Checking my tires and lubing my chain is enough.  So, when I ride, I get the shocks set somewhere that works good, and I leave it alone, forever.  Oh yeah, and that goes for the seatpost too.  When I've messed w/ lockouts and travel adjusters for climbing, I ALWAYS seem to forget to switching it back on the decent.  And let me tell you, dropping in and realizing your are locked out and/or the fork is set to 80mm sucks.

+1 travel adjust / lockout mechanisms are useless.

My friend's TALAS wouldn't work correctly out of the box (felt like it had zero negative spring at full travel extension), sent it back to Fox multiple times and it still never worked, including after they sent him a completely new (next year's model from what he had).

Solving problems does not always require buying new things... think about this another way: it doesn't really matter if your shoes are wet or dry, only if your socks and feet are wet or dry. Plastic bags between the sock and shoe are cheap, waterproof, lightweight, and easily replaceable in any town. My socks and feet were dry throughout last year's downpours. Put them on when the rain starts, take em off when it stops. Yeah, it looks like crap, but the fashion police are not out on the trail. 

I've heard about this before but never tried it. Being a vapor barrier the plastic bags will end up soaked soaked from the inside from sweat eventually, but your feet will probably stay warm. When you take the bags off after the rain stops don't your feet end up getting soaked from your wet shoes, or am I missing something?

Thats why I was leaning towards the overshoe option - your feet are going to get a little wet at times no matter what you do, but with an overshoe I'd hope to keep my footwear from getting completely saturated with water (which would leave no hope of ever drying out again.)

One thing i have done to prevent this is on my lunch breaks i would simply take my shoes and socks off. I would do this for about 10 to 15 minutes to air out my feet and dry, then throw on a second "fresh pair" of socks. I would then tie the wet pair on to a strap to dry while hiking (like the other post said, plastic sacks work great and are a wilderness survivalists best friend).
Please correct me if this is not possible to do on the CTR. I plan to use my lunch breaks in this manner as taking care of my feet is a must.

This is exactly what I was planning on doing, and why I'd want to try and keep my shoes as "dry" (a relative term obviously) as possible: so that when I put on the dry socks they don't end up wet again immediately from wet shoes.