Ospreys calling to me as I rode. Many ower poles have platforms that ospreys and bald eagles use year after year for nests.
I made some substantial mistakes in planning my timing and equipment for this adventure, and right now I’m having to face the consequences of these mistakes. I have already addressed the timing issue: August is simply not the month to travel on a bike in the high desert and mountains of the inland Northwest.
My old Trek Y-bike mountain bike was never designed to carry bags. With the weight of panniers over the front wheel its maneuverability is sluggish at best. It’s easy for me to lose the subtle balance with the weight and swerve off of my straight path, including sometimes into the traffic lane, and it’s slow to respond. The carbon fiber frame has way too much flexibility, which is hardly noticeable when riding unloaded but becomes difficult to manage when loaded.
Owen at the Broken Spoke bike shop in Santa Fe (my shop!) had advised against front rack and bags, but I didn’t understand – I thought it was just about unsprung weight, but his issues were frame flex and maneuverability.
Bikepacking is a pretty new sport; essentially it’s backpacking with a bike. Frames are stiff steel, with only front suspension if any. Bags are custom-made to fit within the frame tubes, and attach to handlebars and seat; all designed to keep the bike light and maneuverable. My old frame fits none of these modern approaches; I was naive in thinking I could make it work with the bike I have.
On Sunday I set up a test. For the mountain sections, I had originally planned to leave the trailer in a safe storage location, carrying as little as possible during this section. The heaviest items would carry in the larger front panniers, with smaller and lighter items on the bags on the seat post rack. Having learned that this wasn’t working, I first tried switching front and rear bags, but that proved not possible. So I put as much as possible of the light, bulky items in the front and the heavy in the rear, hoping that would relieve the handling issue.
I rode that way for 50 miles into Baker City yesterday. My efforts made no difference. So I must first face the reality that I’m not properly equipped for mountain bikepacking. Between the heat and the bike, the original focus of the trip – the IHSMBR – is now off, period. So one more test is in order: Move all pannier weight off of the bike and into the Bob trailer. Ride for awhile that way. If it works, I continue the tour, on roads only. I’ll likely swap the knobby off road tires for touring tires and continue on a much more temperate route, hitchhiking west across Oregon to ride down the Pacific Coast highways.
If this test doesn’t work, I have no Plan C at present.
Rose from Colombia via New York. Joel, Rose and Emily have ridden from New York. Rose pulls Emily in the trailer; Joel is packing so many supplies his bike has been modified into a cargo bike.
Their blog is at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Crosscountrywithbaby
Joel with his load.
Their daughter Emily.
I have met an assortment of long-distance tourers on this section of the route, the TransAmerica Trail. The short-trip tourers, doing just a couple hundred miles, don’t stop; the long distance travelers do to swap stories.