Pampa
Well-Known Member
2019 Bikepacking trip
The couple of years after my first attempt at this race (2016), I wanted to do it again, mainly to get rid of that feeling of unfinished business that came after I quit. Later I realized that wasn't a reason good enough to tackle this again, so I set out to find out if I still wanted to do this for the riding, the adventure, etc. - kind of starting from a blank page.
In August 2019 my wife drove me to Pinedale, WY, where I quit the first time, and I did ~400 miles of the route in 4.5 days. This was a good test because one of the reasons I quit at Pinedale, was not to ride through the Great Basin - a stretch of ~180 mi with nothing but a little village about mid point on the route. It turns out I did enjoy riding this stretch of land. It doesn't have any outstanding features, no single track, and it's wide open, but that's what makes it unique. After that, I got into Colorado and I had plans to go to the border of CO and NM, but bad saddle sores had me quit passing Steamboat.
Anyway, after this trip I was convinced I wanted to do this again. I also tested a new rig that I like very much - a 29+ frame with 3" tires.
Some pics:
The bike
The Great Basin
One of very few water sources - extra purifying tablets for this
Camping at Lynx Pass CO
The couple of years after my first attempt at this race (2016), I wanted to do it again, mainly to get rid of that feeling of unfinished business that came after I quit. Later I realized that wasn't a reason good enough to tackle this again, so I set out to find out if I still wanted to do this for the riding, the adventure, etc. - kind of starting from a blank page.
In August 2019 my wife drove me to Pinedale, WY, where I quit the first time, and I did ~400 miles of the route in 4.5 days. This was a good test because one of the reasons I quit at Pinedale, was not to ride through the Great Basin - a stretch of ~180 mi with nothing but a little village about mid point on the route. It turns out I did enjoy riding this stretch of land. It doesn't have any outstanding features, no single track, and it's wide open, but that's what makes it unique. After that, I got into Colorado and I had plans to go to the border of CO and NM, but bad saddle sores had me quit passing Steamboat.
Anyway, after this trip I was convinced I wanted to do this again. I also tested a new rig that I like very much - a 29+ frame with 3" tires.
Some pics:
The bike
The Great Basin
One of very few water sources - extra purifying tablets for this
Camping at Lynx Pass CO