No shavey

Freelance graphic designer. I've been doing it for almost 2 years now and I'm really glad to be working out of my house. The only down side is that I don't really get time off unless clients stop coming in. So there's not a lot of time to get out and ride. Plus I have 6 young kids which tends to be fairly time-consuming. My 2nd oldest is *almost* old enough that I might be able to take him out for a s24o, but he's not quite there, equipment-wise. It'll come.

I'd love to supplement the freelance income with something less time-intensive so I can get away from the desk more often. I'm kicking around the idea of an online bikepacking gear store (http://d.pr/AuAX) to, if nothing else, finance my hobby.

I've been MTB'ing since the late 90s and have had a love affair with bikes since my early childhood. As teenagers, my brother and I had a crazy idea to bike across the Rockies to Denver on our 3rd-hand half-broken down 10 speeds. Our parents saw the flaw(s) in our plan and put the kibosh on the trip.

Now as adults, we started tossing around the idea of our trip, but doing it on dirt. Sparks flew as I did more research—finding Jill Homer's blog and her details of riding the WM100 in AK; Mike Curiak and his adventures; reports from Joe Polk from GDMBR—the dream was officially ignited.

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the feedback!

@briandunnington - what ever happened to WAMBR? I see the domain has expired.

August would be a great time to ride—plenty warm and dry. @cthetu—looks like a fun route. How many days are you guys planning to take?

I'm hoping you can help me out with a little market research regarding a potential bikepacking store I'm building. I know my own pain points in an attempt to acquire gear, but I'd like to validate those ideas with your vast experience.

Personally, as I get more into the bikepacking scene, I continue run into a pain points regarding gear, and I'm guessing others have run into the same problems. What do I buy? Where do I get it? and What are the best things to get? (MTB stores cater to short-format-racing and backpacking stores cater to, not surprisingly, backpackers).

I keep finding myself wishing for a one-stop bikepacking shop that caters solely to bikepacking/endurance bike racing. The gear sold will be trail-vetted and high quality. The customer service will be staffed by experienced bikepackers who can point customers to the right gear for their needs and budget.

Right now I'm in the process of building the site, finding vendors and getting them on-board. Next steps are to raise a bit of capital and really launch this.

But....before I pull the trigger, I'm trying to gauge interest: If I build a bikepacking store, will people come?

I've put together a little 8-question survey to help me validate my theory.

Find the survey here: http://d.pr/zeK3

Thanks for helping out!

—Andrew

Nothing specific, no. Last time I rode it (half of it) it was in October, but I think this time I'd prefer to have a bit more daylight on my side. June, maybe?

Part of me wants to do it in a single day (guessing 14-ish hours for me) and part of me wants to take it a little slower and turn it into an overnighter (Friday/Saturday). Any preference?

[About the trail]

I'm not as hardcore as most of you here, so this effort might seem a bit underwhelming, but I'd love to ride the Umpqua River Trail in central Oregon sometime this year and I'd love to have a partner or two to join in the fun and decrease the risk.

Timeline: I'm thinking sometime between July and early October.

I ride about 4-5 mph on average during a long day-ride like this. (By "this," I mean, 70~ miles of rocky/rooty singletrack, some intermediate, some advanced, 13k of climbing and a healthy dose of exposure.) I'm a 37 yr/old clyde and the 'speedy' part of of my username is a misnomer, but I love the pain cave.

Here are some more details about the trail/route are below. A nice set of photos to whet the appetite here: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=umpqua%20river%20trail

About the trail
The Umpqua River Trail is a (ridable) 69-mile singletrack trail cutting through the heart of the central Oregon Cascades. Starting from east of Lemolo Lake (43.318215,-122.0963) and running down the Umpqua River to near Idleyld Park, OR (43.331294,-123.004947). The runs parallel to the Umpqua River and Hwy 138. It offers stunning scenery, first-class singletrack and hours and hours in your own personal pain cave. Sure, the URT starts at 4280' and drops down 800' but don't let that fool you. To get off the mountain, you'll enjoy roughly 13k of climbing. Full of tough short uphills, loads of exposed roots/rocks and has a healthy dose of exposure, this route will burn your quads and keep you on your toes.

Trail details

A decent overview can be found at this BLM site. http://d.pr/bKuA

 A detailed topo can be found on the well-designed and waterproof North Umpqua River Trail Map by Treadmaps: http://d.pr/KVJL
Things to prepare for

While the trail are parallels a highway for most of the ride, don't count on it being anything close to accessible if things go bad.
• Cellphone coverage is spotty on the highway and pretty much nonexistent on the trail.
• Water is plentiful and can be found at most campgrounds/trailheads or filtered from the river itself.
• The route has a fair amount of exposure with the risk of falling directly into the river (especially on the Dread & Terror section).
• Be prepared for poison oak.
• In the case of sunny weather, be prepared for chilly (40°-ish) temps in the morning and warm (mid 70°) afternoons. In case of a rainy forecast, be prepared to be wet. Either way, there's plenty of small water crossings and soggy trails.
• The route is point-to-point, so be prepared to have a shuttle either to the starting line or from the finish line back your car at the start. (we'd figure something out together)

Let me know

@chrisx, thanks what a great find. Wishlisted!

This, however, gives me pause: "At its worst we're bushwhacking chest deep in nettles and fire grass, with cold wet feet, no human contact for eight days, and yet there still no trail in sight." but I suspect that's either one of the XC routes or in a non-bike wilderness area.

Yeah, those XC sections looked a little sketchy—and really, completely unnecessary in the cases I saw.

Looking forward to your trip report!

Has anyone ridden any sections of the PNT? (http://www.pnt.org) I've done a little map exploring on the eastern section of Washington (sections 3 and 4 http://www.pnt.org/maps/PNT_Sec03.pdf and http://www.pnt.org/maps/hitzroth/PNT_Sec04.pdf) and for the most part it looks like it would be a great bikepacking route.

I know there are a several sections that are either national parks or wilderness areas (1, 6, 7, 9, 10) so the entire thing isn't rideable—but preliminary study suggests that a good chunk of it would be.

Anyone have any first-hand experience on the route?

I'd prefer a one-time fee or small yearly ($30 sounds about right).

Agreed on the trail discovery part. A solid database of bikepacking routes would be sweet. I'm new to WA state—that means most of the routes I do are either logging roads (easy to get lost without a GPS), short day trip-rides (<25 miles), or hitting well-known trails like the Umpqua (which is still only a two day bike route at best).

I pour over maps trying to figure out a good route that meets all bikepacking criteria—and often come up empty.

It kind of sounds like topofusion with a social twist to it. That's an interesting concept. I'd love to use topofusion, but I'm on a mac (without Windows).

See if Scott would be interested in a licensing TF and then port it online + add social...yeah, I see the potential there.

This is a fantastic idea—I've been thinking about something like this for a while.  I'm new to the southern WA area (Battle Ground) but I'd love to help where I can.