Pioneer 400
I’ve been wanting to do longer than overnight bikepacking trips, including at least one solo trip. These least 2 years with the pandemic and schedule conflicts with friends I might do bikepacking (or even backpacking trips) with, things have just not worked out. I haven’t really had a proper ‘vacation’ since 2019. And by ‘proper’, I mean taking time off of work, leaving home and doing something to recharge, something enjoyable. You might be saying that a solo 400+ mile bike ride carrying all your gear and having intermittent resupply for food (up to 100 miles gap) and 30-40 miles in some cases for water resupply … might not sound like vacation. I Imagine it isn’t for most people and despite the physical taxation something like this induces, it is a recharge for me.
Having gotten past the heartburn of the decision making, it was time to go on Monday AM. I don’t like to do these trips over Sundays if I can avoid it, so I skipped the Saturday “grand depart” and drove up to Logan, UT on Monday AM to start from Joy Ride Cycles. My hope was to average 80-ish miles a day and finish by some time on Friday. I won’t spoil the ending just yet, so I’m going to push pause on the travel log portion of this for the moment.
Bike Config
Bike
I decided to take my 2019 Diamondback Haanjo. It’s the bike that gets the most love and abuse because it’s so versatile (over 5000 miles in a little over 2 years). I have 700c wheels and ride it on the road, but love to take it on gravel and off-road with the stock 27.5 wheels. I recently added 2.1 Teravail sparwoods to those wheels and that’s what I went with for this trip.
Bags
- DIY frame bag I made in early 2020
- Salsa 14L expedition seat pack
- Rock Bros handlebar bag
- Rock Bros top tube bag
- Oveija Negra tob tube bag (borrowed)
- 2 DIY stem bags
Hydration
I carried a 32 oz Nalgene in one of the stem bags and 2 24 oz bottles. I mainly drank from the 24 oz bottle in the stem bag and refilled from the other bottles to that one. I also had two CNOC Vessica bottles. They collapse down and fit my Sawyer Mini filter. I could use them to filter water as well as carry extra water when needed. In the end, they were great for carrying extra water, but a little bit small for filtering to refill all of my bottles. Were I to do it again, I’d take the larger bag (Vectos) for filtering and one of the Vessicas for carrying extra water when needed.
Above is the bike all ready to go at Joy Ride bikes in Logan, Utah (aside from tweaking that dangling rain jacket on the front).
TL;DR Lessons Learned
If you don’t want to read the whole thing, then here’s the nutshell version of my take-aways from the trip. Some are more reminders than new lessons. They’re worth mentioning all the same IMO.
- Routine and consistency is your friend, it might get you through a really difficult spot/day
- Don’t get behind on nutrition and other important care
- Cramping doesn’t mean it’s over/don’t be afraid to drink that can of Coke if you need it
- Don’t overthink things, but some details are important
- Bring some extra Voile straps, they will very likely come in handy
- Slowing down (to enjoy the view or restrategize) is OK, don’t be in that much of a hurry
- The Kindness of strangers is real and invaluable
Newly Discovered Foods
Namely ones I hadn’t really tried before, but that I recall from this ride and that helped get me through. Many of these are from day 4, the really big day (climbing, headwind & remote)
- Sour Patch Kids watermelon candy …
:facepalm:why did I not buy 3 or 4 bags of those? - $0.50 Wal-mart pies (little round ones) - Don’t want to know what’s in them, but boy did they hit the spot, and pack in some calories.
- Mini-cans of Coke. Coke wasn’t new, but the mini-cans were a revelation. More on that when I cover day 4
- Twinkies - I mean, I’ve had twinkies before, but never while riding and they helped get me through on day 5
- Bacon Jerky (maple flavored)
Things I Thought I Liked
… but that didn’t really work on this trip (food-wise)
- Trail mix (too much chewing required, not enough sugar)
- Jerky (at least not the standard non-bacon variety)
- Gardettos
Important Prep That made this a success
I think you can always find a few things that would have helped a trip like this to be successful, but mostly you take those things for the next trip. Here are the things that helped me
- Lots of base miles - I wanted to get another 200 mile week or two in, but I at least did one week where I rode every day, so that I had to ride-recover-ride repeatedly.
- Bike maintenance - The month leading up, I did a bunch of service on the bike (bottom bracket, making sure tubeless tires were squared away, new winder bars and more)
- Test Ride/s - I went out for a couple shake down rides including a fully (but mostly ‘dry’) 30 mile trip on mixed terrain to figure things out.
- Lessons from previous rides/trips as noted above.
- Great route - I cannot take credit for that at all, the organizers get all that credit. I did triple check that I had it downloaded and ready to go at least.
Let’s Get Going!
I plan to drop a few more posts (maybe group some days together or individual day posts). Some are already drafted, and I’ll hopefully post them soon.
Individual Day Posts
I’ll drop links to the more detailed posts here once they are up. Almost two months out and the first is up!
Days 3 -5 coming