Introduction Thread

[jobes]

Dang Rob,  you're old.  That aint the bike a creakin.   

[dave54]

Dang Rob,  you're old.  That aint the bike a creakin.  

When you get to my age 40 is still a wet-behind-the-ears young'un.

[jobes]

HAHA.  yeah,  just picking on Rob,  I'm right behind em. 

[chumbox]

David from Australia.  Chumbox on MTBR as well.  Just new to the whole bikepacking thing and trying to gather some info so I can get out there and have a crack at it.  Riding SS rigid 29er.  Been riding singletrack solid for 3 years and now it's time to venture out into the wild.  Thanks for having such a noob in the fold... 

[rsdmag]

Dan from Lehigh Valley PA. dankilling @ mtbr, 35.. Riding SS 29'er(s) and have been riding mountain bikes since the late 80's. Backpacking since then too. Finally trying to bring them together.

[OTT `Olanda]

Great Site with people who think alike 

My name is Patrick Ott, from the Neherlands, Arnhem. That explains my poor englisch
I'm dedicated singlespeed rider. Biking sinds I can stand. Grewup racing BMX, was a bike mechanic and then got into Mountain Biking and camping.

I prefer my good old 1X1 for XC bkepacking and a padywagon for on the road. I`am a typical weekend warrior. 
Camping 2/4 days at a time. Can`t confince the wife for more 

[Cubeman]

Hey all,

I'm Martijn from The Netherlands, born april 1979 and bikepacking for a few years now though not aware of it since last year.
After starting bikepacking in 2007 I started singlespeeding as well and now take my SS Waltworks 29-er on trips of 2-5 days and as much off the road a possible.
My other hobby is ultra lightweight backpacking so most of the gear I use is originally build for backpacking.
With the addition of some bike-only stuff I can manage bikepacking trips and be quite self supporting on my way.
The love for off the road trips comes from my love for mountainbiking, I ride mountainbike since almost 15 years and reinvented my bike riding with the purchase of a singlespeed Rig.
Since the I had a custom Waltworks 29-er frame + fork build and build it up myself with a range of parts.
My first bikepacking trips I made with a BOB Yak trailer behind a full suspension mountainbike with "kiddy wheels" but the new minimal approach when it comes to gears made me wonder if I could do without a trailer and just carry all my gear in a small backpack. 
I bought a Wingnut Adventure pack and packed it with the most ULW gear I had like a Minibull alcohol stove, titanium kettle, PHD Minim Ultra sleeping bag, Insulmat Uberlite pad and some more.
All fits inside the Adventure pack and I can manage trips between late spring till early autumn or basically as long as it doesn't get below freezing at night.
I'm still improving my gear and bike till now with new gear mainly bought with backpacking in mind.

I Dutch forum pointed to this site and I really like what I see and read:)

Best regards,

Martijn AKA Cubeman

[Slim]

I Dutch forum pointed to this site and I really like what I see and read:)
Martijn AKA Cubeman

Graag gedaan ;-)

I have been frustrated with the lack of bikepackers on other sites so I am always happy when I can show someone else bikepacking.net. Thanks Scott and all the members.

[Miles2go]

Hey hey.

I'm Ron and my wife and I live Colorado's Vail Valley or Eagle Valley as it's officially known.

We were camping out on mountain bike tours starting about 15 years ago and migrated from that to fully loaded beasts.  We've gone off road in Switzerland, Alaska, northern and southern Utah and more tame terrain in the lower 48.  I have a strong road racing and coaching background.  Following my own racing ventures I trained my wife to a couple of wins in mountain bike endurance races and also an age group win in the Snowbird Hill Climb.  Too many hobbies now to take racing seriously and we like to focus on touring on and off road. 

While I was working through my career in aviation mishap investigations and safety I created www.fullyloadedtouring.com , a site going into its 4th year, has regular viewers from over 75 countries and pulls in about 1 million page views a year (and always growing).  Also before retiring to Colorado I formed the Utah Bicycle Touring Society which ran very successfully for just over a year before we left that state.  It's probably just a matter of time before I jump into something else and perhaps on the national or international scale this time around.   

This year my wife and I planned to do the Divide but I went off and took a job that I was interested in and we'll likely only get 2 weeks to do something on the bikes.  We're also looking into setting off on foot for a couple of weeks in Africa come next winter.  Who knows.

 

[Moondoggy]

Hey Moondoggy here. I`m I Drink Blatz on mtbr. Been mt biking since the early 90s and wilderness traveling (canoe trips) since the early 80s. My journey to this site started with my desire to do a bike trip to celebrate my 50th this May. I was first introduced to bikepacking from the adventurecycling.org ultralight mountain biking article. Then I was recommended to visit this site from someone on the mtbr Western Slope thread. I was immediately intrigued by Bikepacking. It`s simplicity and endless possibilities are very appealing to this guy from Illinois. Yes Illinois, I have to do some travelling and be creative, but the trips are there to be found. I plan on bikepacking Superior Nation Forest MN,Shawnee National Forest Southern IL, and my big trip to the CT

[Mezagog]

Good Morning All, My name is Richard and have the same Mezagog Screen name on other forums as well as my website www.mezagog.com .  Getting back into Bikepacking and actually ran across a forum lurker on one of my rides last week, she told me about the site and decided that I was going to check it out and have been very happy with it.  Been riding off road since the early eighties on my raliegh 10 speed as a teen ager in Nevada, yeah dad got mad about replacing tubes and tires all the time.  Enjoy the fact that I can jump on my bike and go until there are no bars on the cell phone.  As I am getting older I am planning on doing the all of the routes on your site, as we all do love bikepacking, jobs and families come first.  At this point in time my most challenging ride has been Mt. Grant in Nevada in the mid eighties. Did it on a dare.  Gone from the Puget Sound to the Pacific ocean up and over the Olympics several times when I lived in Washington State.  Not a huge cycling resume, but like other members on this forum we have done more things on our mountain bikes in a short period of time than most cyclist do in a lifetime. Currently living in California.  I would like to offer that if there is anything I can do to help with the site, please do not hesitate to ask.

Later

 

[PirateGirl]

Hi!

My name is Elaine Seasly, and I'm PirateGirl on a lot of forums. I started mountain biking 9 years ago with my husband on our first anniversary trip to Sedona. I wanted to see more of the area and get further on the trails and borrowed a bike for that trip. After that I got hooked and have been biking ever since. I like several types of riding (cross-country, downhill, cyclocross, road, commuting), and have a bike collection that seems to be growing because of it.

My main thing is triathlon right now (swim, bike, run), and I've done all the distances including the Ironman. This year I'm focusing on the off-road triathlon series XTERRA, which I love because the bike leg is mountain biking. My longer rides have been more on the road side in the past, but I'm branching out on the mountain bike. I followed a link to this site from Chad and spent an afternoon reading and thinking "This sounds so cool!" I told my husband about it and brought up the idea of us doing some bikepacking trips together and he's game. He used to do overnight backpacking trips (which I've never done) so he's more experienced that I. But I'm the Type A organized one, so this seems to fit my style. 

[bigworm]

Hi everyone. Names Vernie and I am from Tucson, AZ. I have yet to go on a bikepacking adventure but it is extremely appealing to me especially as I lay here in bed recovering from leg surgery. I have been reading Chad and ScottM's blog and just keep thinking more and more about  heading out on a trip. Hopefully within 4 months or so my leg and fitness should be back it decent shape and I get get on out. I have been riding for about 3.5 years know but have been dealing with a leg issue for about 1.5 years that has really limited the amount of time that I can spend on the bike, but hopefully that is fixed now. I may even be able to talk my GF into going on a BP ride with which would be just awesome to get here into it as well. The ride I plan using is my Haro Mary SS and I am also in the process of purchasing and building a Voodoo Wazoo but am not sure if that will work for BPing. Love reading the ride reports on here so keep them coming.

[ActionJackson]

My name is Jackson Smith. I live in Austin, TX.

Just got into Bikepacking out on the Womble and Ouachita Trails this past March 2009. Been MTB since 1987 growing up in Southern California in Orange County and San Diego.
Moved to Denver in 1993 and really got into racing back in the days of the C.O.R.P.S (Colorado Off Road Point Series). Left Denver in 1995 and moved all around the US riding and working.
Moved to Austin in Oct 2006 with my wife and son and have gotten really back into riding a lot with some great friends that I've met.

[montejw360]

Hey everyone,
Monte Westlund here from Bellingham, WA.  I've been reading about ScottM's and MikeC's adventures for a while now, good stuff.  Been wanting to do some long rides, both long single day and multiple day.  I just realized I've got one bikepacking adventure under my belt, myself and a friend did the White Rim in 2 days with no cache or support.  I learned hauling 2 gallons of water in panniers hanging from a seatpost rack on a full suspension bike doesn't work very well.

One trip I want to do in WA is Lake Wenatchee to Lake Chelan, and back.  It's been done one way in a day (by others, not me, yet), but the shuttle is 2-3 hours one way.  Might as well ride it both ways.

Monte

[TimG!]

Greetings Earth People,


My name is Tim Graczyk and I like bikes.....ALOT.  So here I am creating another account in this virtual instant information reality and am wondering what to say.  Well, I feel that in some way riding bikes provides me with a sort of influence over the collective consciousness.  Cycling is really the only viable solution to our world crisis.  Do it, have people see you doing it, and hopefully cause another to wonder..."Could I do that?" 

[DaNM]

Hey Tim and the rest. I`m dan Mont... and I live where the snow is just starting to melt in Summit County. Tim was an inspiring biker in these parts and seeing him do an introduction motivates me to do the same. Last time I saw Tim was a click from Wellington lake on the CTR. Good going.
 I like bikes too. The way biking affects other parts of life, like diet and the little things that make it good.
 I have given up speed work for the most part. Never a big racer, but did it enough to know what it takes. I have never been motivated by competitiveness. I approach the ultra racing scene with persistency for a weapon. The balance of not going to fast and finishing is fun to manage.
 Looking to do the Grand Loop and the CTR this year. Also a Tour de Colorado at persistent bikepacking speed or less. Thinking ten to 14 days on the trail in late June. I will have the SPOT on for Yall. Think Fort Collins to Steamboat to Durango might do it for me, really dont know that might be a bit much. Might just head out the door and do a Loop de Loop. I prefer not driving to bike.
 Glad to have met a few of the peeps on this site and look forward to the unknown. See you out there.
 

[TimG!]

Yeah DaNM

That's exactly what I'm talking about.  The world needs more people like you.  Way to go getting to Durango last year that's awesome.  Have fun out there.

[munisano]

I'm Rob from Huntsville, AL.  I'm a long time ultra marathon trail runner who turned to mountain unicycling (muni) to cross train.  I've completed well over 100 ultra marathons including some of the toughest 100 mile races in the country, Hardrock, Wasatch Front, Leadville, Western States, Massanutten etc... I've also ridden my mountain unicycle some reasonably long distances on trails both locally and at places like the Monarch Crest Trail and along the Continental Divide in Colorado and various places in-between.  I enjoy getting out and riding or running for the whole day up. I've even covered 50 miles at a 12 hour mountain biking event a couple years ago (about to attempt my second at Dirt, Sweat and Gears very soon!) Now I'm hoping to combine these two passions of mine into full blown, multi-day mountain unicycling epics; ride everything I can, hike when I must.  I don't have many peers as indeed it's a tough and challenging way to travel but also very fulfilling on so many levels.  I imagine my future adventures will, necessarily, have to be somewhat supported else my resupply range much shorter as carrying enough gear and being able to unicycle comfortably will be a real challenge.  Think riding, but at more like on a fast-packer's schedule.  I'm very interested in this site to try and learn from others, gain important trail "beta" and hopefully have a cheering section around when I do finally embark on one of my future planned epics...

[jonesy792]

I'm David Jones and I moved from New Hampshire to Tucson a few years ago.  I've been biking most of my life but have just recently stepped up to racing, epic rides etc.  I did my first few century rides this winter/spring but I've never enjoyed the "I must get back to my truck before sundown" aspect of long rides, it really seems to take the fun out of the ride.  After loitering on this site for a while picking up pointers, and now that school is out I hope to do my first bikepack soon, just need to put together a few more items for my kit (good thing its so hot here I don't really need to worry about buying sleeping gear just yet).