Personal setups » SS KMonkey

by gdillon

The kit:

59 pounds with 150 oz. water and 5.5 pounds of food

The bike: 

Surly Karate Monkey 18”

32 X 22 gearing

2 water bottles

900 lumen LED flashlight

In the CDW High Roller Bar Bag (Med.):

Rain fly from tent

2 poles to give shape

7 stakes

REI 1.0 half pad

Small length of foam pad

REI minimalist bivy

Mtn. Hardware Phantom 32 sleeping bag

2 gels and 2 bars in front pockets

In the Jandd frame bag (3500 calories for the day):

Olympus camera

600 calories cashews

600 calories trail mix

400 calories peanut butter pretzels

2 Paydays

1 clif blocks

4 water bottles Gatorade powder

1 water bottle Ultragen

2 oz. sunscreen

Crank bros. multi tool

Track tool

Patch kit

Spoon

In the Pedro’s bag:

1 Tube

2 Tire levers

In the CDW Escape Pod (Med.):

1 tube

Ibex short sleeve base layer

Ibex sweater

3500 more calories

Patagonia Torrent rain jacket

Extra bike shorts

Fleece hat

Extra socks

In the Wingnut Adventure Pack:

Jetboil Flash stove

Lasagna bikepacker meal

Instant coffee

TP

Hand sanitizer

Nathrapel bug spray

Salsa sleeves

Steripen

Iodine tablets

Headlamp

100 oz. bladder

Bandana for filtering water

2 extra batteries for light

Lighter

Strap for mounting light to helmet

First aid/toiletries:  Toothpaste, toothbrush, 2 ace bandages, plenty ‘o gauze, steri strips, xeroform, moleskin, scissors, medical tape, Tylenol, Benadryl, tweezers

The ride:

I went 42 miles in 21 hours.  I left Waterton Canyon for the Colorado Trail at 2 pm (95 degrees F) on a Friday and made it to 4.4 miles past the South Platte river by 8 pm.  I learned many things on this trip:

1. Too much food for an overnight.  I knew this ahead of time, but I wanted to know what the extra weight felt like.  I had enough food to go a little more than twice that distance.  Even so, my goal is to make it to a town every day on the CT, so the idea is that I can move faster with less food.
2. Clipless or not?  A 40+ pound singlespeed gets pushed (by me) a lot.
3. This trip was clipless and I must say it was nicer for on the bike, and the hiking was not that bad.  I’ve mostly been riding flat pedals and the extra concentration to “click in” did wear on me a bit.  The next trip will be with flats.
4. The following items will be removed from the kit for going faster:  Ibex sweater (1.1 pounds) [too warm], Jetboil (1.2 pounds) [too bulky, plus too much work to do much at the end of a long day], the shorter of the 2 poles from rain fly, 2 stakes, extra socks, big bottle of bug spray (can make do with 1 oz.), and the extra calories (2.5 pounds).  This will make my kit around 5 pounds lighter.
5. This was my first time sleeping in a bivy sack.  Mine has a mesh screen over the face and the mosquitoes really bothered me.  I ended up scooting way back into my rain fly, exposing the foot of the bivy, but eliminating some of the buzzing in my ears.  There is a big part of me that wants to go back to the tent, but I’m going to give the bivy another try.
6. Water.  It was a hot day.  I consumed 70 oz. Gatorade and 50 oz. water in 17 miles over 4 hours.  I got 150 oz. more water via the Steripen at South Platte.  It can treat 1 liter at a time, but my water bottles only hold 25 oz.  I need to find a way to treat the full amount in a safe and consistent manner so I don’t spend so much time at the creek.  Also, by the time I climbed up 4 more miles, had my recovery drink and Lasagna, I was left with about 20 oz. water for the rest of the night.  This was a problem.  I either need to camp at the creek or find a way to carry another liter (at least) of water.

 

My goal is to cover at least 50 miles a day for the CTR… I’m slow.