Tour De Norm

trailhead

trailhead

JORBA: Wildcat/Splitrock
JORBA.ORG
I've been real into following the ITI and TD the past year and the whole bikepacking thing in general. So thought it about time I actually tried it for myself. This will either kill all further interest or seal the notion of a great divide tour. Anyway, thought it might provide some motivation or entertainment for others.
 
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Trailheads bike

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"G Fat's" bike

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After a little bit if a struggle stuffing and cramming, we got Adam setup with his bike and rolling at 515. The bikes handled surprisingly well, though certainly not nimble on singletrack. On the RR grades, the fat bikes felt like the locomotives that once traveled the same route. We had to climb three ridge lines, one going up Jacobs road. We reached camp at 14 miles with just enough time to setup camp. Meals in a bag, campfire, and then the fiasco of trying to hang the food bag. We bedded down around 1130 to the sounds of summer life on the lake several hundred feet below us.

Check out my 15.0 mi Ride on Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/328911824

Tough climbs
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Cliff edges
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Camp
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This morning I write from the warm dry confines of home....a bit dissapointed we bailed on the mission. But is was the right choice. Not everyone had the right gear and I had put fun and safety as a priority over my own personal goals. It was by all rights extremely successful as we all learned much about this type of travel and had a great time. We rode a total of 32 miles...The Tour De Norm will remain the full 64mile route, but to be completed in less than 48 hours will take a fine tuned group and good weather.

Day 2
Check out my 18.1 mi Ride on Strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/329459386


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Weight reduction in gear is always a goal, and this is something we surely need to work on.

Fully loaded rider with bike
Norm 210.5
G Fat 248.5
Adam 211

Loaded bikes
Norm 56
G Fat 68
Adam 51

Packs
Norm 19
G Fat 17
Adam. ?

Souvenirs along the way don't help
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Nice Norm!!! Kudos to you for giving it a go. I'm sure with the first one under your belt the follow-on tours will be even better. How many pounds of gear were you each packing?

edit: LOL, you posted the answer just as I was posting the question.
 
Gear Selection

You see that vinyl dry bags can work well, but they are heavy and take some tuning. The foam blocks made from packing material worked well to protect the cables from damage, but make sure to tape them in place. We had them periodically falling off one bike.

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Shelter

I think Adam has a bit of John Muir in him as his shelter setup reminded me of this quote.

"I rolled up some bread and tea in a pair of blankets with some sugar and a tin cup and set off."

Using what he had set out with two tarps and some string. We added a bug net, which he said was literally covered with spiders during the night. With just a bag liner, and long base layer he still had a night of shivers. Takeaway is that tents and sleeping bags are typically needed here.

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I'd love to help out or join in if you'd like some extra company. I've worked out many of the bugs with these types of things 🙂
 
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