Tarptents with poles

[jackdcuna]

For those of you using contrail or sublite tarptents, do you carry poles with you or rely on finding trees in suitable locations to hang it from?

Also, is it possible to use your bike as the pole for the contrail? Seems like the pole is placed vertically in the centre so using the bike upside down with either the forks or wheel supporting the tent might work, not sure if the frame would get in the way of the mesh or fly though.

[bmike-vt]

I keep the pole for the contrail tucked into my bar harness or strapped to the top tube. Made my own tube that was stiffer than the one they shipped with it.
You could probably rig something... but I have never tried.

[mtnbound]

I attached the pole to my top tube, as you will see in the pic, through the Velcro from the bags.  I also attached a small orange string around the pole and looped it around the stem so the pole would not slide out.

I have not tried to use the contrail without a pole so I don't know if you could tie to a bike or tree, though I would think you probably could.