Thanks for your input. You are correct that a catenary curve on the ridgeline would be best for an A frame pitch. I was shooting for a square/rectangular tarp for multiple pitch options. Digging into google images provided the idea of sewing two smaller strips on the long edge of 9 feet of 58 inch wide material. this leaves the ridgeline open without a seam in the lengthwise A frame pitch. I can do this with the material I have, so I'll probably go this route.

That's a great budget setup. For others looking at this, you can get  a pair of coghlan's sleeping bag straps for about 3 bucks at basically any sporting goods store. With enough creativity, you can get a lot of stuff strapped to your bike that way.

The only thing I would mention is that I have strapped dry bags straight to my saddle rails and after only a couple of days of riding, the thin dry bag was getting even thinner at the contact points. If you can shove another layer between there, it would help. If you are of the DIY type, it's easy to make a harness for your front bag that keeps the bars, cables, etc. from rubbing the bag. And if you dive even more into the DIY realm, you could make a harness for your rear bag to drop in as well. Makes things easier at camp.

Thanks for the feedback. I think the car sunshade might be just a touch extreme for me. Haha!

I was also looking at the torso length vs. full length issue, so I'm glad you brought it up. Do your calves/feet just not get as cold? Or do you tend to throw a bag underneath your legs? My other concern would be the ground. Part of the simplicity of a foam sleeping pad is not worrying about a ground cloth. I mostly intend to use it in conjunction with a bivy bag, but it would be nice to not tear up the bivy bag.

Thinking about it and digging through google image searches, it looks like it's possible to lash it to the bottom of the seat bag, provided you have the clearance. If not, probably under the front roll, but only if using flat or really wide drop bars, which would be highly likely for these types of events.

I recently put this on the "gear that works" thread, but if you like your Eureka, check out the Spitfire 1 that they make. I have one and it is an awesome little tent. I'm 6'2" and I fit ok in it. Lots of headroom, good seam sealed fly, and it all comes in at under 3 pounds. You only need 2 stakes to set up the body (or two guy lines tied to rocks) and only 2 more stakes to set up the fly. I have been in some downpours in it and it stayed completely dry. Really, really hard to beat for the price. You could probably find one on sale for close to 100 bucks and it would immediately drop a pound and a half off compared to your current tent. I have also toyed with the idea of sewing a separate fly for it, but I don't think the weight savings would be significant enough to justify the hassle.

For roughly twice the price, you can get the Marmot Starlight 1. At this point, you're really looking at a glorified bivy. It is only 2 pounds, though. But you lose the full open air summer capability of a true double wall tent. That may or may not be important to you depending on your climate.

I keep looking at cool UL tents for 4 or 5 hundred bucks and keep coming back to the Eureka as the absolute best cost/weight ratio. I even got a small stuff sack and can cram the body/fly down to slightly smaller than a volley ball while I stow the poles/stakes elsewhere.

So I had enough material to make a hex tarp for hammock camping, but then I decided to try making a UL asym tarp. It just feels wrong and I want to make a 9x7 or 9x6 tarp for both hammock and bivy camping. But with the material I have left, this would require the sewn portion of the tarp to be perpendicular to the ridgeline in an A frame pitch.

TL;DR: Is it ok if the seam is not the ridgeline?

So I don't know why this never got any replies, but I did see this when it was first posted. I'm always amazed that so many riders blast through that area every year and no one has had any truly dangerous encounters to speak of. I guess I assume that once the first group passes through, the bears decide to avoid the area for a while? It looks like that was very close to the GDMBR.

But that's a truly sad situation. If a man who lives and works in/on that land gets caught off guard by a bear, what chance do I have? I guess you could argue that by being in that area for so long, he kind of stacked the statistics against himself after a while. Kind of like a live news reporter eventually getting blown over by wind or having lightning strike a few feet away.

This is honestly my biggest fear in terms of ever considering the GDMBR. Everything else is just camping and riding lots and lots of miles. I've followed the TD over the years, but never did look into what most of the racers do through bear country. Are there several known indoor sleeping spots through there? Has anyone had to camp out in the open in bear country?

Looking at UL sleep options and while comfort would be lacking, it's hard to beat the weight, simplicity, and durability of something like a Thermarest Z-lite pad. But it's also ridiculously bulky. How are people carrying these? There was another mention of blue foam pads in the Ultra Racing forum, but not many responders there. I figured this was a more appropriate subforum.

I have an older BA Insulated air pad, but the thought of just pitching a tarp, throwing down a foam pad, and jumping in the bag sounds nice if you're looking at ultra racing type events.

Thanks for the input. As it stands, I'm fairly confident the Crockett can do the events for the remainder of the year without throwing any money at it. I have 38mm Gravel Grinder tires on there now and they have done pretty well on varying levels of gravel. Depending on how the 3 day event goes, I might decide from there whether or not to build a separate bike. It's only going to be about 80-100 miles a day, so it will be a relaxed enough pace to really see what is and isn't working with the setup.

But as I suspected, it looks like the CT is pretty much going to require fatter tires. I guess I could stick to the GDMBR sections in Colorado if I stick with the Crockett.

bigeyedfish, what was the main catalyst for moving to a rigid MTB?

I'll throw one out there: The Eureka Spitfire 1 tent. By far the best weight vs. cost ratio out there. Often found on sale for about 100 bucks. You have to spend 3 to 4 times the cost of the tent to lose about half a pound as far I can find. Also, the stakes included are heavy and you really only need 4 needle stakes to set it up, even with the rain fly. Only 2 are really needed to pitch it without the fly. The body and fly can be put in a really small package using a stuff sack and you can stow the poles in a frame bag or backpack. I forget, but I think I have my setup down to 2.5 or so pounds with the stakes and lightweight stuff sack.

I considered swapping to a minimalist tarp/ground cloth setup and then realized I see too many snakes in North Texas to feel good about that decision.

At what point would you say the CX bike is just totally out of its element? Without getting into the long story, I have a Trek Crockett that I am very happy with. I've done some gravel events and plan on more in the next few months, including a 3-day stage type bikepacking event. The gravel ranges from nice crushed paths to washboard rutted stuff with half to inch diameter gravel. I am confident I could use the bike for all of these events, but if I intend to do more in the future, I could be looking at some less friendly terrain. Perhaps sand or some light single track riding.

My thoughts were to go to 40mm tubeless tires, flip the stem up and get some wide dirt drops, double wrap the bars, and get a suspension seatpost.

I'm leaning towards the fact that it's just not going to work, but I thought I would get some input from people with a little more experience before I put good money into one bike when I should be building up another. The biggest factor would be a dream vacation of a week tooling around on the Colorado Trail or parts of the GDMBR. I'm thinking the CT would absolutely require an MTB but parts of the GDMBR would be fine on the Crockett.

This Mike Hall fellow, he's not too bad on a bike is he?

I've just watched him climb the highest peak on the route, now he's going up the second highest. It's what, 11:00pm local time.

Just saw him roll across the border. Seriously, what time is it there?

In terms of what "racers" expect, I think it's quite obvious that the TD has some similarities to a triathlon. There are many folks who will train to finish a full ironman, but know they have no shot of winning or coming close to a record. It seems like every year I've observed the TD, there has only been maybe 5-10 serious contenders and then a lot of fast folks who want to push their limits, but don't expect to make history. And then there are the "fast tourers" who are looking for the experience, but don't expect a seriously fast finish.

I would love to ride the route one day, but I think even at my best, 20-25 days is it. If Mike Hall manages to finish in 13 or 14 days, it won't put a damper on my dream, it will just add to the allure of the event.

Angler, that's him alright! Thanks!

Angler, I see you listed my friend Kevin Campagna, but I didn't see a picture. Did it fall through the internet cracks?

Requisite "I know that guy" check-in. Pulling for my good friend and co-worker Kevin Campagna from Dallas, TX. Currently sitting at 140 miles and active according to trackleaders. I expect him to finish strong. He has a knack for what most would consider long term, mind numbing self destruction. I expect him to ride long days and miles rather than fast, "short" days. I was hoping he might start a little closer to the front, but man, Mike Hall and Craig are simply flying at the front! Looking forward to watching his dot after following the race many times before. First time I've had a personal connection.

Hmmm, was hoping for some input, but here's an update anyway. I bought some Arundel Sideloader cages to help with the bottle accessibility. They also have two sets of holes drilled, so you can mount them 20 mm lower than standard if possible. Because I have the aluminum frame, I'll have to get some longer bolts and spacers to clear the FD clamp. The downtube mount cage can't be mounted in the 20 mm lower position because the bottom of that bottle would hit the seat tube mounted bottle. At any rate, imagine the blue spout on that bottle chopped off and I'll have that much more room for  the v2.0 bag, which is great because that spot was looking so small I almost made the first bag without it.

Kind of a fail....



The first frame bag I made for my road bike, it was a bit too big overall. I was so paranoid about it this time that I made it too small! I'm going to add an inch around the whole pattern for the next bag. The biggest need for me is getting my tent poles in the top of the frame bag and I messed up the zipper and they won't fit! I made a quick extender for the top strap and can put my poles in a bag and stow them there on top of the bag. That will work if I end up on a trip before I can make v2.0 of the bag.

I like the design overall and think it will work well once I get it sorted out. I will have to switch to sideloader cages, though.

Also, how wide are you folks making bags relative to your frame? My frame is about 2 inche wide, so I cut the spine at 2 1/2 inches to get the 2 inch spine. Is it common to make the finished bag a little wider than the frame or exactly as wide as the frame? Or is it a given that when stuffed, it will be a bit wider than the frame regardless of the spine?

Verve, I figure MYOG has it's own forum, but I think we'd all be interested in knowing where you got the tyvek that cheap and how well it's been holding up. I admit to only having checked into it something like a year or two ago, but I was under the impression that unless you bought it in a big roll, it was basically whatever you could score from a construction site.

Nice one, greenwater. I keep meaning to get a decently light groundsheet for my tent, but never seem to come across any free tyvek or whatever. Would that stuff be good for a tent or is it more of a tarp style ground sheet for your sleeping bag?

Also remembered a couple of other things I've purchased.

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11449986&lmdn=Category&ppp=80
Cheap dry bags from "Outdoor Products" brand in a 3 pack. Check them in the store, though! Quality control is lacking. First batch I got had poor taping at the seams on one bag and the medium sized bag had somehow gotten overheated and the coating on the inside was stuck to itself and just came apart when I opened the bag. But for 15 bucks, they're hard to beat if all the bags check out ok.

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12705516
Cheapie sleeping bag straps from Coghlans. Actually bought these just to use the webbing for a sling project on my new bike, but when I looked at the back of the package, there were instructions on using them on an older external frame pack. Basically, you can set these up on your bars to stay there and be ready for when you want to strap your stuff sack on there. Won't protect lightweight bags like a proper sling or handlebar bag. But if one needed to go super budget, just throw these on for 3 bucks and mount your sleeping roll to your bars.

Obviously mega sale deals and homemade gear do not qualify. What are some of your favorite pieces of gear that were significantly cheaper than higher cost options?

For me, it's hard to justify a nicer tent over my Eureka Spitfire ( http://store.eurekatent.com/spitfire-1-tent ). Change out the cheapie stakes for nice ones and it really only needs two stakes without the fly. Just 4 with. Nice DAC featherlite poles. And it packs down super small into a stuff sack, but you'll have to stow the poles separately. Mine is right at 3 pounds including upgraded stakes and a nicer compression sack for stowing on the bike. The seams are also taped from the factory. I hit up a few weak points with seam sealer and spent a night in a huge storm totally dry. Not as light as a bivy, but it's a tent. It works best for my area (humid southern climate).

I've also used a swimming pool inflatable as a mattress. But honestly, it doesn't pack down very easily and it's probably on par weight wise with something like a neoair xlite. That will probably be my next purchase. Unless someone here has a nice budget suggestion.