if you get an insulated jacket - get one with a hood. REI used to make the Gossamer jacket and it was perfect

Some bivy thoughts..
if you actually need to use it (its raining) - you'll be wishing you had a tarp even with the best bivy sacks, and if it does not rain you end up with condensation all over your sleeping bag anyway and you might as well left it at home.

I guess for dry New Mexico it's fine, but tarps are way better and you can smile in comfort when it rains. Most of the good ones (MLD) might be out of your budget.

Dave 54 - I'm not a gun person so am just sharing what I generally hear when the conversation of bears and handguns comes up in AK.

Anyway - DaveC summed up my view pretty well in his first sentence.
Cheers

This guy's trip I think did part of it:
http://www.woodskunk.addr.com/jbj/Bike/bike_intro_page.html

I've heard its really hard on bikes, since the road turns to mud pretty fast when it rains (frequently).
Let me know what you come up with.

Just use closed cell foam with an extra layer or two for your torso. If you want good quality foam get the evazote ones from MEC in Canada.
avoid ridge rests etc. for bivys  since the corrugations pack up with snow and lessen their effectiveness.

I have a bear-a-noid friend who has a titanium .44. I've never shot it but it only weighs a pound. The nice thing is that you can just shoot yourself if it really gets thick.

I've never carried a gun, but its fairly common knowledge that a .44 is the minimum or better than nothing if you're going to shoot a bear, but in that case I'd rather have a pump 12 gage with magnum slugs.  Best to just avoid the situation all together...

pepper spray is good piece of mind.

how cold? what size foot?

Just to follow up I just got a pair of the RBH insulated VB socks and am really impressed with them - They totally eliminates the slippage issue and you don't feel like you're wearing plastic bags.  Thumbs up so far.

My hands & wrists get way too warm in the winter and I've always just used simple totally breathable fleece liner gloves in my pogies - a big help here is if you insulate the heck out of all hand surfaces -  grips, bar ends, brake levers - it goes a long way's.

aw gee schucks...

D- its a canon S80 using 1 -2 seconds manual exposure trying to hold it really still. A tripod would have given awesome results.

I tried an RBH jacket and it was too much "jacket-like" for my tastes. I'd like to experiment with an ultra simple homemade vb vest, just to try it out. I'd only use it when temps drop below zero since above that frost build up between layers is not much of an issue, for me at least.

Feet - Been using integral designs VB's for years. the main problem is the low friction and having your socks bunch up when walking long distances. I've been using a smart wool liner sock, VB, then a loose fitting outer sock, fleece or other.

High pressure, clear skies, fresh snow and a full moon, time to go.
Packed up really hastily and was out the door at about 7:30 pm last night. I just wanted to get out of town and didn't care where I ended up.
within 30 seconds of leaving my house I was on the bike trail, I passed 2 people and that was it. Pretty amazing you can ride out of a "downtown" area and get into the hills with only passing two other people. I like Anchorage.

Temps were in the single digits, but keeping warm was no problem grinding away with the freshly packed snow.





The moon was so bright at times it was almost startling. I never used my headlamp once...

Up the tour trail, to Rovers Run, a nice snowy singletrack.


Over to Hillside and an hour + long push up the new trails to get to Prospect heights.
It was getting late at this point, close to midnight. So I found a good spot to trample down and got the stove going. I should have brought a book, that moon.. oh that moon...


Middle of the night cookie dough feeding kept me nice and warm until 10:00 this morning temp upon waking was 2 degrees.
Just enough time for a well balanced breakfast - one part chocolate covered espresso beans / one part butter, peanut butter, oats chocolate chips...




You can't really see it but check out the luxury - 2 pads, my 15 year old 2+lb nice and thick thermarest and a 10mm evazote foam pad. No need to rough it on an emergency overnighter!

Got rolling for the mostly down hill 2 hr ride back home...


Great to get out!

Excellent John!
cool to see the work in progress.
I love the natural suspension design without the seat stays

For the fork questions - If the Surly is unavailable give Greg a call at Speedway cycles in Anchorage.
He's got all sorts of Ti and steel custom made big clearance fat tire forks.

http://speedwaycyclesak.com/

sold

hey thanks,
yes, Gravel bar riding is awesome, the bigger your tires the better. fun adventure kind of riding. It's a pain though when the rivers are big and they cut you off, then you have to bushwack up on the bank to get around the water.

that is a crazy pack, brilliant design effort.

Chuck - this could be debated, read deeper... mechanized TRAVEL.  you are not using it for travel. it is just a piece of metal on your back no different from an external backpack.

that should be your argument.

Packs with "beaver tails" like the older Dana designs do a decent job, you can shove the cranks into the flap, then use the side compression straps to run through the wheels. those particular packs are outdated and heavy though...

I liked the spraymaster for a while, but found the fabric not durable at all when abraded on rock, its too stretchy.
I've been really happy with just the cheap lightweight REI rainpants that have the side opening at the bottom.

In lots of rain I ditch the base layers and just wear fleece next to skin. Its a lost cause for them to try to wick moisture to a humid membrane.. fleece absorbs less water and you'll be warmer and stay drier.

... homeboy...

This might be common knowledge but i thought I'd share:
if you are using an inflatable the #1 thing you should bring with you ( on long trips at least) is a tube of aquaseal. You can easily fix punctures with it and even major tears if you also have a needle and thread. Those patches they sell are just to make $$... If you have an old leaky pad, go buy a tube and stick the pad in the tub to find the leaks, with some work it can be back in action in no time.
For summer I use a prolite 3 that was converted into a 3/4 length by accident.