The group had originally been scheduled to ride the Biking Across Kansas tour, but that event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so they decided to do their own version. They had someone drive them out to the Colorado border, then rode the Trans-America Bicycle Route through mid-Kansas, before shifting over to ride the Flint Hills Trail, ending up at the Missouri border.

I opted to ride a loop, starting and ending in Iola, and overnighting in Madison, Cottonwood Falls, Hillsboro, Council Grove, Pomona, and Richmond. I met up with the group in Hillsboro, and split off from them in Osawatomie.

I rode my Salsa Journeyman, set up pretty much the same way as on my 2019 tour, except:

• I used a 650b wheelset (the stock wheelset), shod with Panaracer Gravel King tires (650b x 48), setup tubeless. I’ve had these tires for awhile, but it’s the first time I’ve used them on a tour. These are semi-slicks, with a nice comfy ride and seem to roll pretty well. They worked flawlessly.
• I had to retire my Moosetreks frame bag after its zipper failed. This was a fine bag, but once the zipper goes, it’s kind of useless. My understanding is that the zipper has been improved in later models of this bag. I replaced it with an Ibera Triangle Frame Bag, which is an inexpensive Chinese brand. Probably not the greatest quality, but I had it on hand, and it worked fine on this tour.
• I used some new panniers, Altura Ultralite Vortex 30 Panniers. Altura is a UK brand, and this particular model seems to be discontinued. It’s basically a pair of dry bags that can be attached to a rack. The mounting system is very fiddly and not designed very well, but with a bit of extra velcro, I made it work, and the panniers worked fine on this tour. Their main advantage is weight, which at 550 grams, is considerably less than a pair of Ortlieb Backroller Panniers (1900 grams for 40 liters), and less than a single Roswheel Sahoo 14891 Pannier (720 grams for 15 liters), which is what I used on the 2019 tour.
• Since I ran a pair of rear panniers, I dropped the handlebar roll bag that I had used on the previous tour.
• I added a pair of Topeak Versacage‘s to the fork. I used them to hold extra hydration: a Nalgene-style bottle on one side, and a Gatorade bottle on the other, each in an insulated bag. Not sure if that’s the most efficient use of those cages, but it worked fine.
• For even more water capacity, I added an insulated bag attached to the rear rack. I ended up not using that water too often, but with long dry hot miles through remote Flint Hills country, it was reassuring to have.

I ran aero bars again, in a similar configuration as last time. Although I did occasionally use them for their intended purpose, I actually value them more as accessory mounts. In this case, I used them to carry a bluetooth speaker (Puridea), and an extra bottle between the bars. The bungee straps provide a place to attach even more small items, if needed. Here is a picture of my cockpit. A bit busy, perhaps, but very flexible and functional:

Some more photos from the trip:

The post June 2020 Kansas Flint Hills Bikepacking appeared first on DirtBum.

• Salsa Journeyman, Claris 2×8 drivetrain — The bike worked perfectly, no issues, comfortable, capable
• 700c Velocity Aileron wheelset, WTB Resolute 700×42 tires — Setup tubeless, really impressed with the supple ride, great choice for gravel
• Clamp-on aero bars — Just got these, and used them on this trip as an experiment. Not totally sold on them, but the extra hand positions are nice, as is the potential extra storage space. I mounted my phone in the center between the two bars, and I really liked that configuration. Still need to work on dialing in the ergonomics.
• Avenir rear rack — Cheap basic rack, but it’s reasonable light, and does the job. It carried my tent and sleeping pad, plus pannier.
• Sahoo 15L pannier — I played around with several options before settling on this one, including Ortlieb waterproof Back-Rollers (too big, too heavy, overkill), and Nashbar Daytrekker panniers (too small). This Sahoo pannier was cheap (~$20 from eBay) with a reasonable capacity. It’s not waterproof, but I was using dry bags, so that didn’t matter. It has a nice front pocket sized just right to hold my stove and fuel. Mesh side pockets are too small to be particularly useful. It mounts with hooks over the rack rail, and velcro on the lower rear. It was rock solid on this rack, even without using the velcro. I mounted it on the drive side of the bike, leaving the non-drive side clear for any hike-a-bike action. The pannier held my sleeping bag, clothing, electronics, and misc.
• Moosetreks frame bag — Another eBay score, size “small” is a perfect fit for my bike, attaches easily and securely, 6.5 liter capacity, used for on-the-go stuff.
• Alps Mystique 1.5 tent — I have a newer tent that hasn’t been field-tested yet, so I stuck with this old reliable model, and it didn’t let me down.
• REI TravelSack sleeping bag — 55-degree bag was fine for this weather.
• Therm-a-Rest foam sleeping pad — bulky but rugged, comfortable enough.
• Handlebar roll bag — Again, I had a proper front bag purchased, but wasn’t confident enough in it to use on a 5-day tour, so I settled for an old bag I had on hand. It held mostly snacks and such. It worked.
• Small seat bag with spare tube and tools.
• Bell Clinch 650 adjustable water bottle mounts for the front forks — Cheap, held bottles securely.
• Stem bags — Moosetreks on one side, Sahoo on the other. I like both of these a lot. The Moosetreks bag is a little more refined, but the Sahoo bag has better insulation.

Thoughts/conclusions:

• The bike rode fine with a single pannier, not an issue.
• A proper front bag would be an improvement, allowing me to carry a bit more capacity up front, freeing space for food in the rear pannier.
• I’m still not sold on the idea of a large rear seat bag over a rack/pannier(s). The latter provides so much more flexibility at the cost of a small weight penalty, and maybe(?) a point of failure in rough terrain.
• I think I’ll keep the aero bars, but I think they could do a lot more than just provide extra hand positions.
• The Alps tent is quite good, but I’d still like something smaller and lighter.
• I’m happy enough with the frame bag, stem bags, and fork cages. I may upgrade to Anything Cages for the forks, to provide a bit more carrying capacity.
• I may experiment with slightly wider tires, maybe 650×47 or larger. There was some really chunky gravel on this route, and wider at lower pressure is almost always better for those conditions.

Here are some photos from the trip:

The post Salsa Journeyman Flint Hills Bikepacking Tour appeared first on DirtBum.

I had a window of opportunity with work, the weather looked promising, so I checked with the boss (my wife), she gave her blessing, and I messaged back: “I’m in.”

We did a voice call, tossed some possible destinations back and forth, and finally settled on riding from Kansas City out to Emporia for the start of the Dirty Kanza 200 race. We were both interested in the Gravel Expo, and had friends riding the event, so it was a natural choice. We’d both ridden parts of the area, so there was some level of confidence that we knew what we were getting into, enough so that we decided we could play it pretty casual, deciding on the route and destination on a day-by-day basis, rather than planning out the whole route and itinerary in advance.

Here was what our route ended up being:

We were out for five days and four nights, overnighting at Osage State Fishing Lake, Council Grove, Lyon State Fishing Lake, and Douglas State Fishing Lake.

You’ll notice that we camped at State Fishing Lakes three nights; that’s no accident. State Fishing Lakes are hidden gems for touring. Most importantly, they’re free, and they usually provide reasonably clean campsites in scenic settings. On the downside: no water, no electricity, pit toilets (if that), and sometimes rowdy inconsiderate neighbors. But again, the price is right, and they’re scattered around the state. A great resource.

Our other night was in Council Grove. We’d intended to camp at the Corps of Engineers campsites at Council Grove Lake, but these were all closed due to high lake levels. Bill had the bright idea of checking Warm Showers, and we were fortunate to find a local host who had an opening and responded quickly to a phone call. We were allowed to setup out tents in their backyard, and were provided showers, shared a meal with the family, and partook of homebrew. Sweet!

Our route was mostly gravel, including both gravel roads and the gravel surfaces of the Landon Trail and Flint Hills Trail. The trip from Council Grove to Emporia included the last 25 miles of the DK200 route. Gorgeous country. In Emporia we attended the Gravel Expo. What an amazing sight to see downtown Emporia crawling with cyclists and thousands of bikes. Bliss! After watching the launch of the DKXL 350-mile race, we opted to roll on out of town, rather than trying to find a campsite among the crowds.

On Saturday, we rode into Reading for breakfast, only to find the cafe closed for the day. Luckily, we both had spare food, and had a little picnic under the cafe’s awning, before heading off to Lyndon, where we restocked at Casey’s and took a little nap in the city park. Then it was on to Ottawa and a stop at the bike shop, then back roads to Baldwin City and camping at the lake.

Sunday was a short, easy ride back to the city. We ended up with about 300 miles, all told.

Here are some photos from the trip:

The post The DK-ish Tour: Bikepacking in the Land of the Dirty Kanza appeared first on DirtBum.

• I swapped out pedals and saddle immediately, everything else was pretty much stock for quite awhile.
• The ergonomics were spot-on right from the beginning. I didn’t have to adjust handlebar, stem, brake/shifter levers at all.
• The bike fits extremely well. I don’t feel stretched out or compressed; very neutral.
• The integrated brake/shifter levers have worked fine, for the most part. The rear derailleur started shifting poorly eventually, but a few twists of the barrel adjuster, and it’s been fine since. It took a little while to acclimate to the shifting, but it feels pretty natural now (though I still get the up/down direction backwards once in awhile).
• The aluminum frame and fork ride fine. No complaints whatsoever.
• The disc brakes, though relatively low-end cable-actuated mechanisms, have worked flawlessly. They feel fine.
• The stock bike was pretty portly, and definitely sluggish-feeling. Slow to accelerate, but holds speed well. I think that comes down to a relatively heavy wheelset, and very heavy tires.
• Other than slow response, the bike handles very confidently. Not at all twitchy. Very neutral. I do get occasional toe overlap.
• I’m not a fan of the WTB Nano 27.5×2.1 tires: slow, heavy, stiff. At some point I realized that if I ever had a flat, they would be a bear to fix on the road. The tires were extraordinarily difficult to get off and on the rim. Note that these are the “comp” wire-bead non-tubeless version; perhaps the tubeless folding version would be better.
• I swapped over to Panaracer GravelKing 650×48 tires, and set them up tubeless, which was surprisingly easy, with just a floor pump. I saved 1.5 pounds just with that change. Much better.
• I purchased a second wheelset, a set from Quality Wheels, with Velocity Aileron rims and Formula hubs. I used an old pair of WTB Resolute tires (700×42) and set them up tubeless (again, a fairly easy and painless process). That wheelset/tires combo is about 2.5 pounds lighter than stock, even with a heavier 11-40 cassette.
• Both the 650 GravelKing and 700 Resolute setups have a much better feel than the stock Nano tires. Snappier, but just as comfortable.
• I attached a rear rack for a bit, and it worked OK. Probably not planning to run it that way very often, but good to have the capability.
• I’ve not had much luck finding a front rack for the Journeyman. I wanted something that was just a simple platform, where I could attach a Wald basket. The Journeyman fork has lots of mounting points, but it turns out that they don’t match up very well with commonly-available racks. I ended up ordering a Soma Lucas rack, and I eventually got it mounted up, but it’s not a particularly good fit. It’s a shame that Salsa didn’t include “shoulder” mounts for use with something like the Surly 8-Pack Rack. Salsa unfortunately doesn’t offer a front rack (other than low-riders).
• I’ve not yet purchased fork-mount cargo cages. I’m torn between the Salsa Anything Cage HD and the Topeak Versacage.
• Likewise, I went back and forth on handlebar bags. I kinda liked the Salsa Anything Cradle, but it’s pricey for what it is. I wanted to get the Revelate Harness, but it wasn’t available through my bike shop. I ended up buying a Zefal Adventure F10, which is kind of generic, but looks functional and has the virtue of being reasonably priced.
• I’ve not yet settled on a seat bag. I have an old Kada Pack Ratt bag, which I may try to use for awhile before getting something better.
• For the frame bag, I’m using an old Bushwhacker Tahoe. Not a great fit (it half-blocks one of the water bottles), but it’ll do for now.
• I bought another Moosetreks Stem Bag.
• I bought a generic stem-mount Garmin mount, and that works pretty slick.
• I’m using an old Planet Bike clip-on fender on the rear; it sort of works.
• The paint on the frame has not been great quality, with minor chips in several places. But it’s aluminum, so at least I don’t have to worry about rust.
• I’m thinking the 650b wheelset will be for touring/bikepacking, and the 700c for gravel and faster-paced rides (maybe with less-knobby tires, at some point).

At this point, I’m pretty well set up for some bikepacking adventures this summer. Still need to work out some details on the kit, but that’s part of the fun.

But the bike itself, I’m pretty pleased with. Other than the heavy wheels/tires, and the disappointing front rack situation, it’s good. Need to get in some long gravel rides, and some long loaded rides, before I can say anything more definitive, but I’m pretty optimistic that this bike was a good choice.

I don’t have many miles on either the GravelKings or Resolutes yet, so time will tell how I end up liking those tires. But so far, they’re both far better than the WTB Nano’s.

The post Salsa Journeyman Checkpoint Review appeared first on DirtBum.

• 5751 miles biking
• 377 miles running
• 136 miles walking

I hit my goal of 5200 miles on the bike (100 miles per week). With no big tours, my overall mileage was down a bit from recent years, but I got to ride most every day, Bike miles were split pretty evenly between the Retrospec Amok (1862), Diamondback Response XE29 (1708), and the Nashbar 4050 (1523), with the new Salsa Journeyman getting a good chunk at the end of the year (524).

2018 was my first year of running regularly, and it went pretty well. I exceeded my modest goal of 260 miles (5 miles per week), and hit my stretch goal of 1 mile per day. I was on pace for quite a few more miles, but I slacked off in October, November, and December. But I survived the year injury-free, and I’m now running roughly 10-minute miles, so I’m happy with that. Next year, maybe up the

Walking was mostly trail maintenance work, walking behind a mower or sprayer. Speaking of trail work, I logged 677 hours at Lehigh Portland Trails in 2018, in a mixture of trail-building, trail maintenance, and habitat restoration. It’s rewarding work, and I’m privileged to be able to contribute to our local trail system.

Here’s my VeloViewer summary image, with data courtesy of Garmin and Strava:

On the data-tracking front, I also enjoyed FetchEveryone, a wonderful online community, mostly focused on running, but works great for cycling, too.

For 2019, the goals are pretty much the same: 5200 miles on the bike, and 365 running. Active every day, one way or another. Hopefully some bike touring and/or bikepacking!

The post 2018 Wrap-Up appeared first on DirtBum.

Some people, or so I’ve been told, simply purchase the first likely-looking bike they come across, and either it works for them or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, they try again. That approach would certainly save some time up-front. But, alas, that’s not how I do it. I’ll spare you the detailed spec comparisons (spreadsheets!) of all the bikes I considered, and skip straight ahead to the end result…

I chose the Salsa Journeyman, which is available in eight different versions, including both 700c and 650b wheel sizes, flat or drop handlebars, and several gearing choices. I ended up with the Claris 650:

Specs on the bike are here, but these are the highlights:

• Aluminum frame and fork
• 650b (AKA 27.5″) wheels, with tubeless-ready 23mm rims, and non-tubeless-ready WTB Nano Comp 27.5×2.1 tires (can go up to 57mm max width)
• 700c (29″er) wheels can also be used (51mm max width tires)
• 46/30 crankset, 11-34 cassette, 8-speed Shimano Claris road groupset
• Mechanical disc brakes
• 3 water bottle mounts, 3-pack mounts on the fork, rear rack mount, fender mounts, top tube mount
• Salsa Cowbell handlebar
• Internal cable routing
• WTB Volt Sport saddle

I’ve ridden mostly steel road and touring bikes, so the aluminum frame and (especially) fork is a big question mark. But Salsa’s aluminum bikes have good reputations, and cushy tires can cover a multitude of sins. Going with AL probably saves a bit of weight, though this is by no means a lightweight build.

The 8-speed Claris drivetrain is another concern. I’m not worried about the 8-speed, particularly, but I’m suspicious of the brifters (shifters built into the brake levers). I know, the vast majority of bikes use this technology now, so obviously it works, but I’ve not used it before. So I’ll give it a try. I can always swap over to good old friction-mode bar-end shifters if the indexed brifters suck. If I do that, then I could step up to 9-, 10-, or 11-speed gearing with only a cassette and chain swap (maybe brake levers, too).

Gearing on the stock bike is pretty sensible, at about 24 to 114 gear-inches (it’s surprising how many gravel/bikepacking bikes have insanely high gearing!). That’s decent for road, gravel, and lightweight touring. I can swap in an 11-40 cassette if needed, which would drop the bottom end to about 20 inches.

I’m interested in trying out the slightly-flared Cowbell handlebars, and the internal cable routing sounds good in theory. I expect the disc brakes to be marginal, but I can upgrade later if they prove lacking. I’ll give the saddle a chance, but expect to swap that over to my preferred saddle (Forté Softail) sooner rather than later.

It’ll be interesting to see how well the stock tires work. I’ve heard both good and bad about the Nano’s. I may even try setting them up tubeless (I’ve read that it’ll work). I’m also interested in getting some “Road Plus” tires (e.g. WTB Byways 650×47) and seeing what that’s like.

I’m visualizing the Journeyman as my new gravel bike, and as a platform for experimenting with Road Plus and bikepacking gear. I’m not anticipating this as a full-on loaded tourer, but I may throw on a rear rack and front rack and see how that works, too.

Salsa calls the color “Dark Olive”, and in photos I’ve seen online, it’s sort of greenish, brownish, or grayish, depending on the light. I think it’s rather striking. It seems right for my purposes.

I think the Journeyman is an extremely flexible bike for a very compelling price ($950 for this version). Next up: New Bike Day!

The post New Bike Decision-Making: Salsa Journeyman appeared first on DirtBum.

Here’s the rough route map:

much due

We rolled out of Iola shortly after noon, and enjoyed a nice little tailwind for most of the way. After crossing the Neosho River on the wide shoulders of US-54, we headed north a mile on gravel, then pretty much due west to Yates Center, on dirt and gravel roads for most of the way. After a stop at a lovely little pocket park on the courthouse square, and a late lunch/early dinner at Subway, we hit the gravel roads again, pausing at the iconic Lizard Lips Cafe, before riding through Toronto and on into camp for the night.

The next day was pretty much the reverse, except on parallel roads, mostly gravel. The highlight of the return trip was the stop for refreshments in Yates Center, and a break at their city park. The afternoon was heating up quickly, so upon return to Iola we hit up Sonic for ice cream.

This little trip was, for me, a test of some new gear and setups:

• I rode the Retrospec Amok, in my typical touring configuration (front basket, frame bag, rear rack and panniers), except that for this trip, I swapped out the Axiom Journey rear rack for a lighter Avenir rack, and the heavy waterproof Ortlieb Back-Roller panniers for smaller Nashbar Daytrekker panniers. This worked fine. Enough capacity for an overnight summer trip. If I need more volume for a longer or cooler-weather trip, I can simply use larger panniers.
• I swapped out to a new set of tires. After the unpleasantness of the ride on my prior tour, running Schwalbe Marathon XR tires, I installed a set of WTB Resolute 700x42s. The Resolutes are advertised as a gravel tire that roll reasonably well on pavement, and this trip bore that out. They performed very well on smooth, loose, and rough gravel roads, good on dirt roads, and acceptably on pavement. My rims are not tubeless-ready, so I was running tubes. I expect that setup tubeless, the ride would be even better. Not sure what pressure I was at, but I’m guessing 30-35 front and 35-40 rear. Overall, I was quite impressed.
• For this trip, I took an inflatable sleeping pad (REI Stratus) rather than a closed-cell foam pad (Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite). I carried it rolled up within the tent bag,and that worked well. Sleeping performance was OK. Not noticeably more comfortable than the foam pad, but OK. I may have a slight leak in the pad, as it seemed much softer by morning. Blowing up the pad (and then getting the air out in the morning) is annoying, compared to the simplicity of the foam pad. Carrying weight is pretty even, though carrying size is obviously much smaller with the air pad. I think I’ll probably go back to the foam pad for future trips.
• I’m still experimenting with pillows. For such a simple thing, it’s apparently very hard to get right. On the prior trip, I used an inflatable Klymit X-Pillow, along with a foam camping pillow. That worked pretty well in terms of comfort, but was pretty bulky. This time out, I went with the X-Pillow and a microfiber towel as a sort of pillowcase. It worked, or at least it worked better than the raw X-Pillow, but not really a combo I’d like to use for a longer trip. The search continues…

Photos from the trip:

The post Woodson County Bike Overnight appeared first on DirtBum.

First up, my current touring setup (looking just at the hardware, ignoring the contents):

• Axiom Journey Rear Rack: 700g
• Sunlite Front Rack: 189g
• Wald 137 Basket: 998g
• Ortlieb Backroller Panniers: 1900g (40L)
• Soft Cooler: 180g (4L)
• Seat Bag (tool/tube bag): 100g (1L)
• Jandd Frame Pack Large: 181g (4L)
• Total: 4250g = 9.37 lbs, for about 49 liters capacity

Next up, a rough bikepacking setup:

• Kada Pack Ratt Seat Bag: 460g (10L)
• Topeak FrontLoader w/bag: 386g (10L)
• Jandd Frame Pack Large: 181g (4L)
• Moosetreks Stem Bag (2): 228g (2L)
• Salsa Anything Cage HD (2): 298g
• Salsa Anything Bag (2): 440g (9L)
• Revelate Gas Tank Top Tube Bag: 100g (1L)
• Total: 2091g = 4.61 lbs, for about 36 liters capacity

Next up, a sort of hybrid system, utilizing micro panniers, but keeping the front basket:

• Axiom Transit Rear Rack: 550g
• Sunlite Front Rack: 189g
• Wald 137 Basket: 998g
• Nashbar Daytrekker Panniers: 425g (12L)
• Soft Cooler: 180g (4L)
• Seat Bag (tool/tube bag): 100g (1L)
• Jandd Frame Pack Large: 181g (4L)
• Total: 2622g = 5.78 lbs, for about 21 liters capacity

And finally, another hybrid setup, this time using a handlebar bag:

• Axiom Transit Rear Rack: 550g
• Nashbar Daytrekker Panniers: 425g (12L)
• Roswheel Compact Handlebar Bag: 320 (5L)
• Seat Bag (tool/tube bag): 100g (1L)
• Jandd Frame Pack Large: 181g (4L)
• Moosetreks Stem Bag (2): 228g (2L)
• Total: 1805g = 3.98 lbs, for about 24 liters capacity

So the way I’m looking at it right now, I’m not convinced that the seat pack is preferable to a rack and panniers. A seat pack is very inflexible — it’ll fit a given amount, but not much can be added. Any carrying flexibility needs to be up front — handlebar roll and fork-mount bags.

A rear pannier, on the other hand, provides all kinds of flexibility. You can attach panniers of various sizes, plus you have the rack platform to strap on a tent or sleeping pad. Then up front, you can go with either a more flexible setup (basket), or a less flexible setup (handlebar bag, plus stem bags, plus optional fork bags).

Under these scenarios, the second hybrid setup (light rack, micro panniers, tent strapped to rack, handlebar bag, stem bags) is actually the lightest configuration. Capacity is probably sufficient for summer touring. If I need cooler-weather gear (more clothing, better sleeping bag), I can step up to slightly larger panniers (e.g. Arkel Dry-Lites at 540 grams for 28 liters), or all the way up to the heavy Ortlieb bags.

Given that my typical tours are more roadish (pavement, gravel, or rail-trails) than singletrack, panniers should not be a problem in terms of bike handling or hike-a-bike.

Also, I already own the racks and panniers, but I’d need to purchase some of the bikepacking bags, so that’s a factor to consider, as well.

Anyway, that’s what I’m thinking at the moment. I’m hoping to try the micro-pannier/handlebar-bag setup on a short tour soon!

Here’s the Amok setup with the micro panniers and front basket:

This is with an inflatable sleeping pad rolled up with the tent. Alternately I could strap a foam pad on top of the tent (or onto the front of the basket).

I haven’t set it up with the handlebar bag yet (waiting on a part to come in), but am confident that it’ll work fine, at the cost of a bit of flexibility. Likewise, I haven’t yet bothered to swap out to the lighter rear rack.

The post Weighing Panniers vs Bikepacking Bags appeared first on DirtBum.

Three of us (myself, Kimberly, and Jay) took off from Iola Tuesday morning, and rode the PST north to Ottawa, pausing in Garnett for lunch. We had a nice tailwind, and so it was a fairly easy ride. In Ottawa, we ate and early dinner, then attended a community event that included a ceremonial signing of the bill designating the FHNT as a Kansas State Park. The event also presented Ottawa’s concept for an outdoor event space at the intersection of the PST and FHNT, called Legacy Square. Very impressive!

We also had the chance to meet and chat with Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer. Kimberly and I were on the front page of the Ottawa Herald newspaper story about the event: Flint Hills trail becomes state park

Pretty cool, huh?!

Unfortunately, Ottawa doesn’t have any good camping options, so with daylight fading fast, we had to skip out of the event a bit early, and get onto the FHNT, bound for Pomona State Park. We made it just before darkness fell, and got our tents set up. Doug had preceded us, and secured a nice campsite. Thanks, Doug! First day: 76 miles

The next morning started with breakfast at the Lamont Hill Restaurant, followed by  13 miles or so to Osage City. Jay split off from us to ride solo to Topeka, so it was just me, Kimberly and Doug. The FHNT east of Osage City had some soft spots, but no goathead thorns, thankfully. After restocking with food and drink in town, we headed west on the FHNT. The section between Osage City and Admire is roughest part of the trail, currently. It’s been mowed, and sprayed, but the original railroad ballast is still in place in some sections, and some bridges are unimproved. As I understand it, this part of the trail between Vassar (Pomona State Park) and Admire is next on the schedule for improvements.

West of Admire, the trail is much better, and the scenery is outstanding. Out in the open Flint Hills, the green lushness of it just takes my breath away. Closing in on Council Grove, there is a long gradual climb. Once in CG, you can stock up on provisions (we ate at the historic Hays House restaurant), before riding north a town for a few miles to get to the campground at Council Grove Lake. Day 2: 59 miles

After a nice night of sleep at the lake, we breakfasted at the Saddlerock Cafe. Doug decided to ride the FHNT back east, while Kimberly and I rode southeast on roads (both paved and gravel), with a wonderful tailwind. We cruised through Dunlap and Americus, before stopping in Emporia for lunch and a visit to the Gravel City bike shop. After lunch, we rode on, though Neosho Rapids and Hartford, to our campsite along the Neosho River in Burlington. Day 3: 76 miles

For our last day of the tour, we rode quite a bit of gravel, from Burlington to Leroy to Neosho Falls to Piqua, then back into Iola on the lovely wide shoulder of US-54 highway. Day 4: 42 miles

Gear Notes

• I wasn’t happy with my tire choice. I was running 700×35 Schwalbe Marathon XR’s. They have a reputation for ruggedness, but it comes at the cost of a harsh slow ride. With the rough surface of the FHNT, and even some gravel roads, it was beating me up pretty bad.
• Kimberly rode her Salsa Fargo with 29×2.2 Vittoria Mezcal tires. She was a lot more comfortable on the rough stuff, and no slower on smooth road and trail. I was jealous. She was also running a bikepacking setup — Green Guru seatbag, Blackburn bar harness, blackburn fork cages, stem-mount feed bags for hydration — and that seemed to be a very good setup. I am intrigued…
• I still like my front basket! Being able to carry a cold drink in a styrofoam cup is so nice.
• Not sure if it was the poor tires, or the bike in general, but this was the first tour where I wasn’t happy with the Retrospec Amok as a touring bike. Thinking about a more bikepacking-oriented rig for future off-road tours. Bigger/better tires for sure.
• If I go with a bikepacking-style setup, I’ll probably have to swap my Z-Rest foam sleeping pad for an inflatable pad, just for pack volume. I’m comfortable with the foam pad, but it takes up so much space!
• All of my other gear and clothing choices worked great, as usual.

Photo Dump

The post Spirit Hills Tour 2018 appeared first on DirtBum.

Four of us are planning to ride, with Doug and Jay in for a partial tour, and Kimberly and myself planning to ride it all.

Once again, I’m riding my Retrospec Amok (same bike I’ve ridden on my past few tours). I keep thinking that I probably ought to upgrade to something better at some point, but the bike just works. It fits me well, and I like the way it rides.

My setup this time around is not much different than last year: Ortlieb Back-Roller Classics on a rear rack, and a Wald 137 Basket is up front, on a Sunlite GoldTec Front Rack, with a Jandd Large Frame Pack in the triangle.

I’m still running my Alps Mystique 1.5 tent, with a Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol sleeping pad, an REI Travel Sack Sleeping Bag, and a Magellan Camp Pillow.

With two full water bottles, the bike plus gear weighs around 60 pounds.

The right pannier holds tent, sleeping bag, pillow, and small miscellanea, while the left pannier holds clothing food, electronics, and more small miscellanea. The sleeping pad rides on the rear rack. A small seat pack holds a tube and tools. The frame bag holds pump, snacks, sunscreen and such. The basket holds a 6-pack sized soft cooler (for food, plus cell phone) on the left, with space for a drink and whatever on the right.

I just love the basket. It’s so practical and flexible. It can hold a variety of stuff, either inside the cooler, inside the basket, or strapped onto the outside of the basket. Especially on hot summer tours, having a drink in a styrofoam cup is so nice. I’m hunting for a better solution, but for now, I use an old washcloth beneath the cup (to keep the basket from damaging the styrofoam) and a bungee cord to hold it in place.

New for this tour, I’m running Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 700×35 tires. I’d prefer something a bit wider and more supple, but Mondial’s have a reputation for ruggedness, and the Flint Hills Nature Trail has a reputation for goathead thorns, so these tires feel prudent.

The post Ready To Roll Out On A Short Tour appeared first on DirtBum.

Even though I’d not ridden over 50-ish all year, the ride was completed without injury or undue stress. Yay, fitness!

The route was one that Lori and I had ridden before, several times in fact. We loaded up the bikes and drove to Moran, had an early lunch at Chancy’s Grill and Shake, then headed north on US-59 highway, a lightly-traveled rural route. We had a bit of a tailwind to start, so rolled on through Mildred without stopping, took a bit of a pause at Kindaid, then rode east to Blue Mound, where we stopped in at the Feed Lot Cafe for a brief repast, before continuing to Mound City. After a nice downhill into town, and a refill at the Casey’s General Store, the route took us south and then west. There’s a stiff little climb as you leave Mound City, then it’s rolling hills through Mantey, Mapleton, and Xenia. We paused again at Bronson, before riding back into Moran. After another burger at Chancy’s we decided to keep going. US-54 west to Iola, then piddling around a bit in town, on the Prairie Spirit, Southwind Rail Trail, and Mo-Pac Trail, and we had our 100-miler in the books.

Here’s the route, courtesy of Strava:

15.9 MPH was a solid average speed. I was riding my Nashbar gravel bike, and Lori was on her Cannondale road bike. It was an excellent start to the month of June!

In other news, my running continues: 50 miles for May! Bike numbers were good, too: 719 for May. Feel like I’m finally back to where I need to be on the bike, and this century confirmed it. Life is good at the moment.

The post Double Chancy’s Century appeared first on DirtBum.

Since the first of the year, my distance run per month has increased from 26 to 28 to 34 to 43, which feels like a manageable month-over-month increase (image via Runalyze):

The nice surprise this month is that my pace has picked up, without even trying. Getting stronger, becoming acclimated, naturally leads to being better able to maintain a higher speed for longer, apparently.

The other big news this month is that I did my first 10K run, at a solid 11:08/mile pace (using 4:00/1:00 run/walk intervals). Most of my other runs were in the 2-4 mile range, and I’ve experimented a bit with continuous runs over those distances. I find that I can keep up a smooth pace for the first mile or so, then begin to feel fatigue, and in the 2-3 mile range it becomes more of a slog. The run/walk technique definitely helps delay the onset of fatigue, I think, at greater distances. So I’ll probably keep using that for longer runs.

For May, the objective is to do a real 5K race, probably another 10K training run.

As for biking, my monthly progression has been 395, 166, 413, and 430 miles. February was a really poor showing, but the other months have been better. I came up a little short of my 500-mile goal for April, but I’m still on pace for a 5200-mile year.

Most of my rides are just daily transportation, and I haven’t done many longer recreational rides. I’ll need to begin bumping up the distance very soon. I’ve not made any definite tour plans for the summer, but I’m sure that some longer days will happen at some point.

In the meantime, the plan is to keep on keeping on.

Photo of the month: Sunset on Elm Creek:

The post Running Continues, Biking Too appeared first on DirtBum.

So I don’t know that I have aspirations to run ultra’s, but I do see the value in cross-training. Running uses different muscles than cycling, and at different intensities. Variety is a good thing. Getting locked into one type of activity can lead to burnout. I’m pretty good about mixing things up and finding interesting challenges, but still, I feel the dreaded “been there, done that” creeping up on me sometimes.

My concerns with running were: 1) Would I enjoy it? 2) Would I injure myself?

The last time I’d run with any sort of regularity was in middle school track. I remember enjoying the low-key training runs, but not liking the stand-around-and-wait rhythms of the actual track meets. When I advanced to high school, I was recruited for the track team, but opted to play tennis instead. No regrets there; I loved tennis.

Around 2010 or so, I tried to restart my running. I invested in actual running shoes, but it didn’t stick. I didn’t enjoy it all that much, and ended up with shin splints, which shut me down and turned me off running entirely.

So this round, I’ve taken great care to ease into running gradually. I have the aerobic capacity, but the stress impacts of running are very different than cycling. I’ve set a modest goal of 5 miles per week. So far, so good:

25.7 miles in January, 28.25 miles in February, and 34 miles in March, for a total of 88 miles. Injury free, other than some mild forefoot bruising. Maximum run distance was 5 miles, but most runs were in the 1-to-3 mile range.

I’m still cycling of course, pretty much every day: 973 miles year-to-date.

I don’t know that I have any big long-term running goals. It’ll be enough for me to just keep at it. I’ll probably do some 5Ks or 10Ks. I do feel the pull of the ultra scene, but it scares me, for now. Maybe I’ll feel differently after some experience.

New Running Gear

Part of the fun is also trying out new gear. I pretty much had decent clothing, from cycling, and running thankfully doesn’t need a whole lot of stuff to get started, but I have added a few items:

I bought a Garmin Vivoactive HR smartwatch. My bike computer is a Garmin Edge 510, and all my data is in the Garmin ecosystem, so I wanted to stick with Garmin for running as well. I found a good deal on the Vivoactive HR, so I’m giving that a shot. I hope to be able to do a full review at some point, but for now, I’ll just say that I like it. I wear it all the time, and I appreciate the step tracking and sleep-tracking features. The heart rate monitor is a bit finicky, but it works most of the time.

I made do with my old shoes (ASICS GT-2100) for awhile, but I eventually bought some new road running shoes (Saucony Cohesion 10) and some new trail running shoes (New Balance 410v5). With less than 10 miles on each, it’s too early to say much about them.

But I found shopping for running shoes to be incredibly confusing. Coming from a beginner’s context, it’s really hard to select shoes, and reviews are not too helpful. Picking the wrong ones can cause injury, and it can get expensive to experiment. Drop? Stack? Neutral vs stability vs control? Pronation? Ride? Minimalist vs maximalist vs traditional? So many specialized and obscure terms, fuzzily defined! In the end, I researched as much as I could, tried on a few, and made the choices. Time will tell, I guess. Hopefully next round I’ll have a better idea of what I need and want.

Next up: A way to carry food/water/tech on longer runs. Handheld bottles? Belt? Vest? Hydration pack? Lots of options and price points.

Lessons Learned From Adding Running to Cycling

• I’ve actually found the greatest challenge to be taking it slow. With cycling, I can pretty much ride whatever distance or pace I want, as the mood strikes me. With running, I just can’t do that, yet. Maybe at some point I will. But for now, I’ve had to practice patience.
• A heart-rate monitor is very useful.
• It’s fun to see the world from run speed (as opposed to drive speed or bike speed). I’m becoming more appreciative of a well-kept sidewalk network.
• It’s much easier to go off-piste while running than while cycling. Ditches: just step across. Barriers: just hop over. Road-sidewalk-trail transitions: no problem.
• Road running vs. trail running: Both are pretty great.
• I’ve learned that during a run, you don’t have to run all the time. Stopping once in a while, or walking at regular intervals, somehow feels wrong, yet I stop on bike rides for photos or snacks, and that’s totally OK. Weird.
• Biking somewhere, then running, then biking home, is surprisingly difficult. Not so much physically, but logistically. Carrying the running shoes and clothing, finding someplace to change clothes, storing the bike and gear securely while you run, changing again to ride home. Driving somewhere to run is simpler and less hassle. That makes me sad.
• Foul-weather running is not bad. The body warms up quickly, so frigid temps aren’t too much of a problem, and wind chill is not as much of a factor as it is on a bike. Running in rain/drizzle is kind of fun! I’ll have to see what hot-weather running is like…
• I love being a beginner! Everything is new, and I enjoy learning new things.
• I love the data! Logging of runs is similar to logging of rides, but the data focuses on different things. For such a simple activity, there’s an awful lot of details to analyze. Heart rate, pace, cadence, stride length, etc. Fun stuff for a geek.

Running Analysis Web Sites

Finding a running-specific web site has been interesting. I hope to do more in-depth reviews at some point, but in the meantime, here are some quick hits:

• Strava is, of course, still the best, in my opinion, and works decently for running as well as cycling, but it’s somewhat limited in its analysis potential.
• Smashrun has a slick interface, with some unique features, but data analysis is marginal (or perhaps hidden behind a paywall).
• Runalyze is sort of the opposite of Smashrun — lots of data to delve into, but a dense interface. Excellent, and it’s free!
• Fetch Everyone is a quirky site, but charming as can be. Old-school interface, decent data analysis, but the great thing is that they’ve come up with some clever ways to gamify exercise. My favorite is the “Fetchpoint” game, which is sort of a virtual treasure hunt. This is a very UK-centric site, and there are few US users, which is a shame. Would love to see some friends on there!
• Other than Strava, there are some other general-purpose activity tracking sites, all of which are just kind of “meh”: Endomondo, Map My Fitness, Movescount, Daily Mile. SportsTracks is pretty good, though not sure if it’s worth paying for.
• There are some running-specific sites which are all just sort of OK: Runtastic, Runkeeper, Running Bug, RunnerSquare, RunningAhead.

A Riding/Running Tour?

This has gotten me thinking … wouldn’t it be kind of cool to create a bicycle tour where you rode from trail system to trail system, stopping at each to camp, and then run/walk the trails?

I wonder how the body would hold up to that? Might have to limit both the bike miles and the run miles to make it work, but an interesting notion. Might have to test this idea this summer sometime…

The post So Now I Guess I’m a Runner, Too appeared first on DirtBum.

Here’e the bike and gear at the end of the tour. Things are little dirty because I did 30-some miles of gravel on the last day.

The bike is a Retrospec Amok, billed as a flat-bar cyclocross bike, but configured as a touring bike. Compared to the stock bike, I’ve swapped the single chainring for a mountain triple, added a rack, added bar-ends, added a front rack and basket, as well as bags and water bottle cages. The bike worked nearly flawlessly on the trip, carrying me over 850 miles in comfort.

Tires: I rolled with Continental Speed Ride tires, in a 700 x 42 size (actually measure  about 39mm width, on 21mm external width rims). No flats, only had to add air twice during the 15 days of the trip. I now have about 1900 miles on these tires, and they’re just beginning to show wear. Highly recommended.

Saddle: Forté Men’s Softail Saddle. No saddle sores, minimal saddle fatigue. I now run this same saddle on three of my bikes. It’s not a high-end saddle by any means, and relatively heavy, but it works for me.

Pedals: Shimano M520. The basic SPD pedal. Again, I use this same pedal on a number of my bikes. Solid, good value. Highly recommended.

Shoes: Nashbar Ragster II Cycling Sandals. I wore Lake sandals for many years, and liked them a lot, but they eventually wore out, and Lake no longer makes that model. I’d heard good things about the Nashbar sandals, and the good reviews have been borne out. The sandals are comfortable (with or without socks), look decent, work well with SPD cleats, and are easy to clean (it doesn’t hurt to get them wet). I was so comfortable with these shoes, both on and off the bike, that I didn’t bother to bring an extra pair of shoes for off-bike use. Highly recommended.

Rear rack: Axiom Journey. No issues. Held the panniers and gear securely.

Front rack: Sunlite Gold Tec Front Rack. It worked. Only used to hold the basket. It bent slightly when I crashed, but did not break.

Basket: Wald 137. This is the third tour I’ve used the front basket, and it worked fine. On the previous two tours, I’ve used the stock handlebar mount and axle-mount struts. This time out, I removed the struts and zip-tied the basket to the small front rack. This allowed me to get the basket a bit lower. When I crashed, the basket took a good portion of the impact. It bent very slightly, but did not fail. Two of my zip ties broke, but I carried extras, so they were easily replaced. Here’s how the basket looked for much of the trip:

The basket carried a soft-sided cooler, and sometimes a drink, wrapped in a hand towel to minimize it bouncing around. During hot days, it’s very handy to have a styrofoam cup filled with ice and drink, readily at hand, easy to take a sip even while moving. The basket also sometimes carried my speaker/battery and phone. A basket is incredibly useful for carrying odd things, since it’s so easy to simply strap something to the wire grid.

Speaker/Battery: Zealot S1 bluetooth speaker / 4000mAH power bank / flashlight. I use this for listening to music or audiobooks, with the option to simultaneously charge my phone. Very handy.

Backup battery: Vinsic VSPB206 with 20000mAh capacity, along with the aforementioned Zealot, gave me quite a bit of capacity, probably more than I needed for this particular tour, with nightly access to electricity. Worked well.

Grips: MSW EFG-100 Ergo Grips on the bars, Bontrager Cruiser Foam Grips for the bar ends. I purchased the MSW grips new for the trip (the previous grips being worn smooth), and they are reasonably comfortable. I bought the bar end grips during the trip, and for cheap foam, they are surprisingly comfortable. By the way, I use the bar ends themselves quite a lot. The extra hand positions are very much appreciated on long rides.I did get a fair amount of hand fatigue (especially at the base of the palm) towards the end of the tour, so I’m considering experimenting with other bar options (thinking specifically about the Velo Orange Crazy Bar) for future tours.

Gloves: Performance Terry Gloves. I pulled out a new pair of these for the tour. They are pretty comfortable and rugged, and a good value.

Helmet: Kali Chakra. Reasonably comfortable and unobtrusive. Velcro pad retainers tend to come unglued during heat, which is annoying.

Mirror: Bike Peddler Take A Look Cycling Eyeglass Mirror. The best cycling mirror I’ve ever used. Indispensable.

Bottle cages: Lezyne Flow Cage SL (front), Bontrager XXX (rear) — The Lezyne cage is side entry, making it easier to access with the frame bag. The Bontrager cage is a fancy carbon thing that lists for $80, but can be purchased on eBay for less than $10. They both work fine, and neither dirty up your water bottles line aluminum cages do.

Frame bag: Jandd Frame Pack Large. I got this just before my trip, to replace my older Bushwhacker Tahoe Frame Bag. The Jandd bag is a bit bigger, and has two compartments instead of just one. I used it to hold my pump, a tube, sunscreen, and snacks.

Seat bag: Roswheel Premium Compact Seat Pack. It works, has sufficient capacity for spare tube, multitool, headlight, tail light, chain lube, patch kit.

Panniers: Ortlieb Back-Roller Classic. I purchased these awhile back, but this is the first tour I’ve used them on. Compared to my old Nashbar ATB Panniers, the Ortliebs are waterproof, and have a better attachment system. On the downside, they only have one big compartment. On this tour, we only got rained on twice, so the waterproof properties were stringently tested (though contents remained dry). The right pannier housed my tent, sleeping bag, pillow, jacket, and sometimes clothing. The left pannier held clothing, electronics, and food/drink. During the train trip, I put the sleeping pad and helmet in the right pannier as well.

Tent: Alps Mystique 1.5. I’ve been using this tent for several years now, and it’s still working fine. An excellent product.

Sleeping bag: REI Travel Sack. Again, I’ve used this for many years, and it’s a great summer bag.

Pillow: Magellan Camping Pillow. It’s cheap, and somewhat comfortable, though relatively bulky. I’m in the market for something better…

Sleeping pad: Therm-a-Rest Z Lite. I had three choices for the tour: An REI Stratus inflatable pad, a full-length Z Lite Sol, and a 3/4-length Z Lite. I went with the Z Lite for two main reasons. One, with my tent in a pannier, I needed a place to attach my rear reflective triangle, so that eliminated the inflatable pad. Two, I wanted to carry the sleeping pad inside a pannier on the train trip, and the 3/4-length pad was smaller than the full-length pad. I was a little worried about comfort, but the closed-cell foam pad worked fine, I never regretted it. It was not a problem to have my feet not on the pad when sleeping.

Headlight: An older Lezyne SuperDrive. It still works fine, and is USB-rechargeable.

Tail Light: PDW Danger Zone clone. It works. Runs off two AAA batteries. I’d rather have something a bit brighter that is USB-rechargeable, so I’m sort of in the market for something better.

Reflective Triangle: Jogalite Cyclist’s Safety Triangle. I think this is an important method of making bicyclists visible to overtaking traffic. It’s large and bright in daylight, and reflective under automobile headlights. I attached it in the center of my bike, to my sleeping pad.

The post USBR66 Tour: Gear Reviews appeared first on DirtBum.

Some bullet-point notes:

• The Retrospec Amok worked well as a touring bike once again. Just a really comfortable ride.
• Taking the Amtrak from Kansas City to Chicago was easy and inexpensive. Unfortunately, the train ran late, so we didn’t get out of the station in Chicago until nearly dark, necessitating a hotel stay.
• The route out of Chicago was pretty pleasant, mostly bike paths and trails, a bit of on-road travel.
• Illinois surprised me by feeling very much like Kansas — similar terrain and plant life.
• Riding Route 66 was a mixed blessing. On the downside, the route was adjacent to interstate highways for much of the way, which was very annoying in terms of noise. On the plus side, services were plentiful, and cell service was good. History and kitsch was underwhelming.
• We camped out every night except for Chicago, St. Louis, and Ash Grove MO. Mostly RV parks, which were OK. Some were on the expensive side, some were great values. In Ash Grove, we stayed in a cyclist hostel run by the city — an old home converted to sleeping quarters — which might have been the best lodging of the trip.
• Getting through St. Louis was difficult. We had originally planned to ride through the city and camp on the southwestern edge, but that proved too much, so we ended up in a downtown hotel.
• On Riverfront Trail in St. Louis, I had a lapse of attention, and crashed. There was, for unknown reasons, a speed bump on the trail. I was trying to read a sign, didn’t see the speed bump, and hit it unprepared at full speed. I went down hard. The bike wasn’t damaged too badly, but I apparently was hurt worse than I thought at the time. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I’d fractured my elbow. So I rode the rest of the trip with a broken elbow, and didn’t seek medical attention until after I got home. A little crazy.
• I enjoyed the ride through the Missouri Ozarks. Hills, yes, but very scenic.
• I didn’t experience any close calls, unsafe passes, or road rage on the entire trip. The worst experience was when someone, who I assumed was a fellow cyclist, stood along the roadside in suburban St. Louis and yelled at us: “You can’t ride like that here. Drivers don’t understand. You’ll get run over.” We ignored him. We controlled the lane when needed. Drivers were fine. No one even honked. It helped, I think, that there were three of us riding together. A single cyclist would have felt more bullied by traffic, I expect.
• That said, suburban St. Louis was the worst part of the route by far. Not overtly dangerous or hostile, but quite unpleasant. Surburbia tends to be that way.
• We started off with four — me, Bill, Kimblerly, and Michelle — but Bill dropped out in Illinois due to health problems.
• This was my first time using an Adventure Cycling route, and it was fine. I still think I prefer to roll my own route, though.
• We only met up with three other riders on USBR66. Kind of surprising that there were so few.

A few photos from the trip:

The post USBR66 Tour Recap appeared first on DirtBum.

I’m planning to ride my Retrospec Amok bike. I debated between that and my Surly Long Haul Trucker. Given that the LHT is an actual touring bike, and the Amok is a cyclocross bike rigged up in touring mode, the decision should have been obvious. But somehow, the Amok is simply more pleasurable to ride. It certainly served me well on the 1000-mile tour I did on it in 2015.

Compared to my 2015 tour, I’ve made a few gear changes:

• I’ve swapped my old Nashbar ATB panniers for Ortlieb Backrollers. While the Nashbar panniers served me well, the Ortliebs offer a couple advantages: waterproofness and a better attachment system. The waterproof feature means that I don’t need to fool around with trash bags and dry bags to keep clothing and gear dry. So even though the Ortliebs are a bit heavier, overall weight is about the same, and the convenience factor should be higher (even though I’ll miss the extra pockets on the old panniers).
• I’ll be using a Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite sleeping pad, rather than an inflatable pad. Weight is a wash, but the ruggedness of the closed-cell pad is unbeatable, even though it is far more bulky.
• I’ll still be using using a Wald 137 front basket, but rather than relying on the stock struts (which put the basket rather too high), I have removed the legs and zip-tied it to a small Sunlite front rack, in the Rivendell style. Yep, it’s “basketpacking”!
• I briefly tried a Klymit Pillow X inflatable pillow on my recent Kandango trip, but did not like it at all. So it’s back to the good old Magellan camp pillow from Academy Sports. It’s a bit bulky, but it’s comfortable.
• I’ll carry a large battery pack, a Vinsic VSPB206 with 20000mAh capacity. These days, keeping electronic gizmos charged can be a challenge, so this should provide a couple-day buffer in case we’re unable to get access to electricity for a couple of nights. I’ll also have a Zealot S1 bluetooth speaker / 4000mAH power bank / flashlight as a supplement.
• I’ve swapped out my old Bushwhacker Tahoe frame bag for a new Jandd Large Frame Pack. The Jandd bag appears to be a huge step up in both capacity and quality.
• I’ll be wearing new Nashbar Cycling Sandals, and using SPD pedals. I’d considered using flat pedals, and non-cleated shoes, but decided that I preferred to be clipped in. I also debated whether or not to carry an extra pair of off-bike shoes, but determined that the sandals are comfortable enough that the weight and bulk of extra shoes weren’t needed.

Most of my other gear is the same — Alps Mystique 1.5 tent, REI Travel Sack sleeping bag, Topeak Road Morph pump, soft-sided cooler, the normal assortment of clothing. I’ll not be carrying a stove, trusting instead to on-the-road provisions.

One of the things I’m excited about with this trip is riding Amtrak. I’ve never gone on a train trip before, and I’m very interested to see how well their roll-on bike service works.

It’s been a bit of a challenge to arrange all the gear for the Amtrak journey. I wanted to avoid checking any bags, and just use my allotment of carry-on bags: Amtrak permits two “carry-on bags” and two “personal items” onboard. So I’m using my two panniers as the carry-on bags, and my front bag as a personal item. The Amtrak rules about bike bags are a little fuzzy — some places it says that all bags must be removed from the bike, while other places say that only large bags must be removed — so I’m not sure if I’ll need to remove the frame and seat bags, but I’ll do so if necessary, and use them together as my second personal item.

As for Route 66 itself, I’m ambivalent. The “Mother Road” doesn’t really mean anything to me personally, but it should be a decent route. It’ll be my first time on an Adventure Cycling route, so that should be interesting. I purchased the GPS data, while my touring partners have the paper maps, so we should be covered.

The post Loaded Tour On Tap: Route 66 from Chicago appeared first on DirtBum.

My Strava activity is here.

It wasn’t a big day for photos, but here are a few:

I ended up with just over 63 miles. It was a great day for a ride — mild temperatures, light wind, and abundant sunshine. I do love the terrain between Uniontown and Mound City, with a mixture of challenging hills, rolling prairie, and densely wooded river valleys. It is always amazing to me how beautiful this countryside is, and yet how few people live there.

The post Mound City Muffin Metric (Cup O’ Dirt Metric #5) appeared first on DirtBum.

The route began at the city park, took me northeast into Anderson County, to the tiny village of Aliceville, and back to Leroy. After a quick refuel at Luther’s C-Store, I rode towards the southwest, and Woodson County, finding some great minimum-maintenance dirt roads along the way.

Photos from the day:

The post Round About LeRoy (Cup O’ Dirt Metric #4) appeared first on DirtBum.

I rode my Nashbar Gravel Bike, and it did fine. Kandango was offering some gravel routes this year, but I stuck to the pavement with my friend Lori, though we did get a bit of gravel road riding on the pre-tour trip.

This was the best photo of the trip:

It was taken atop Coronado Heights, an overlook near Lindsborg, where you can see a great distance in all directions. It’s an amazing place on the plains!

By the way, the “gravel” roads near Lindsborg featured far more sand (or at least extremely small rock) than I’m familiar with. And in places, the sand was fresh, making the road very treacherous. Very different from the limestone gravel I’m accustomed to. It’d be interesting to do some longer gravel rides in the area, and see how typical that surface is there…

The post My 2017 Kandango Trip Report appeared first on DirtBum.

The same idea works for bicycle gearing. I couple years ago I got my first singlespeed road bike. Loved it. No gears to diddle with — just ride. I’ve also done some singlespeed mountain biking. That also worked well, at least on the trail. Getting to the trail was another matter, hence the existence of the “dinglespeed” concept.

My Nashbar Gravel Bike (a 1988 Nashbar 4050 steel road bike) came to me with 2×6 gearing. It worked. When I swapped over to a new wheelset, I upgraded to 2×8 gearing. With 38/52 cranks and an 11-30 cassette, I had a range of about 34 to 128 gear-inches. After riding that for awhile, I realized that I was almost never using the big ring. So why not simplify and go with a single chainring?

I’d drop a bit of weight: one shifter, one cable, one chainring, the front derailleur. Not significant, but not a bad thing, either.

So I’ve swapped the drivetrain over to a 1×8 setup.

At the same time, I wanted to change from the stock down-tube shifter to a bar-end shifter. I didn’t really mind the ergonomics of the down-tube shifters, but they interfered with the possibility of adding a frame bag.

For the bar-end shifter I went with a Sunrace SLR96. I chose the left, friction only, shifter, with the understanding that it could be used for either front or rear shifting. The price for a single SLR96 was about $30.

I also had to add a new cable stop for the downtube — I used an Origin8 single cable stop. I also needed a new shifter cable and housing. Since I was planning on friction shifting, it didn’t need to be a high-quality cable.

In addition, I took the opportunity to swap out the crank and bottom bracket. I had a spare set, left over from when I’d converted the Amok from 1×9 to 3×9 last year. The newer bottom bracket is sealed, vs. the loose ball bearings of the original, so that’s a small bonus. I also reused the chainkeeper (a Deda Dog Fang) from the Amok, in an effort to keep the chain from jumping off the chainring, at least on the inside.

For the gearing, I used a 42-tooth chainring up front, with a Sunrace CSM680 11-40 cassette. In addition, the big cassette required a Wolf Tooth RoadLink to lower the rear derailleur enough to accommodate the largest cogs.

With this setup, the Nashbar has a range of 28.5 to 103.7 gear inches. That’s a lower gear than I had previously, and nearly as tall at the top end. It should more than suffice for my typical riding.

Total cost of the conversion was about $85. That bought me simplicity, a bit of weight savings, slightly better ergonomics, and space to add a larger frame bag. Worth it? Well, who knows. It’s different, at least. I’ll run it awhile and see how it goes. Early returns are positive.

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The new tires weigh about 365 grams:

They’re spec’d as a 35mm width, but measure considerably less (not unusual for Continental tires, in my experience):

So while I could wish for slightly wider, they’ll do.

And here are the tires on their first ride. They performed flawlessly — comfortable ride, good control, good traction, no flats.

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I’ve been impressed with the tires from the start. They’re pretty light, very supply, ride nicely, roll well, and have been remarkably flat-resistant (I can only think of a few flats). Their only downside is that, while labeled as 35mm tires, they measure out as about 32mm (on 15mm internal width rims). Perhaps that’s why Maxxis specs the current iteration as 33-622.

By now, the rear tire is pretty well worn slick:

While the front tire still has some tread left:

I could swap them front-to-rear, and perhaps get a few more miles out of them, but I think I’ll just go ahead and mount up some new rubber, and keep the old Raze as a spare tire.

New tires will be Continental Cyclocross Speed in a 35-622 size. I’ve been running the very similar Continental Speed Ride (42-622) on the Amok, and have been quite happy with them, so hopefully I’ll like the new tires as well. The Raze was spec’d at 355 grams, while the Conti measures at 365 grams, so the two are pretty comparable in terms of weight.

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Their land is situated on the south side of the Missouri River, on the “bluffs” side of the river, so there are plenty of ups and downs, twists and turns. After riding so much in Kansas, where the road network is a strict one-mile orthogonal grid, the organic layout of roads in Missouri took some getting-used-to. There are no straight roads. There are no flat roads. Roads connect to each other at odd angles and distances. There are numerous dead ends.

After a wet Spring, nearly all the gravel roads have been recently re-rocked, and the road crews have not been stingy with their application. Fresh gravel is a pain to cycle on at any time, but I’ve found miles and miles of it, forcing me to slow down and carefully pick a line, or more often, to simply rattle on through when no line is to be found. The constant pounding wears on a person.

But the countryside there is pretty. The ratio of cropland to rangeland is considerably higher in Lafayette County than in Allen County — nearly every bit of tillable soil is in use.

Lafayette County has no significant trails, so all of my rides were on gravel and paved roads (mostly gravel). In all, I managed to log about 350 miles there, the longest ride being just over 40 miles, all on my Nashbar gravel bike. Here are my routes during this period:

Here are some photos from the trip:

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I mapped out a ride to the southeast, heading towards a place called Odense. Located on the northern edge of Neosho County, Odense doesn’t really exist any more. It is not a ghost town, because there’s nothing left of the town. Odense had a post office in the late 1800s, but now, as far as I can tell, it is a name on a map, an extinct place. There is, however, still a nearby cemetery.

Nothing else of note along the route, other than lots of quiet gravel roads and beautiful green countryside. Luckily, that sort of riding is hard to beat.

Here’s a link to the Strava activity. I ended up with about 65 miles. I started strong, but began to feel fatigued after about 30 miles. Pushed on through. Soundtrack: The Secret Scripture, by Sebastian Barry.

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I put in a lot of hours at Lehigh Portland Trails. Trail-building is pretty much done for the season, and the maintenance season (trimming, spraying, cleanup) hasn’t really started yet, but there’s still plenty to do. My main tasks have been removal of invasive species. We have an overabundance of Eastern Red Cedar, a large infestation of Bush Honeysuckle, and a smaller invasion of Autumn Olive, Honey Locust, Hedge, Cottonwood, and various vines.

It’ll be years, if ever, before it’s all cleaned up, but I do what I can. I’ve been concentrating on improving an area I call “Stonewall Glade”, a limestone glade surrounded by stone fences, which should be mostly grass, but which is rapidly being overtaken by cedar.

I’ve also been working on an area I call the “Lehigh Prairie”, an area that is primarily grass, but with random (and growing) pockets of cedar and cottonwood and other woody plants.

Cut and burn, cut and burn. It’s endless, but somehow satisfying. The goal is to nurture a higher-quality natural space, over time, by promoting native species, especially wildflowers. It’s the type of thing where there’s a huge investment in time and energy, with an uncertain payoff, but it’s work that is enjoyable in and of itself. I’m lucky to be able to do it.

A few photos from the month:

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Anyone is welcome to accompany me, but this is a show-and-go, unsupported ride. I’m hoping to get in a dirty metric for the Cup O’ Dirt Challenge.

There’s a Velo+ group leaving from Lenexa at 7am, riding to Iola via the Prairie Spirit Trail. I’m planning to roll out from the Iola square at 8:30am and ride north on the trail, at a fairly brisk pace, to Scipio Road (about 30-some miles), meet up with the Velo+ riders, and escort them back to Iola for the store grand opening party. If I’ve guessed right on speeds, the meetup would be about 11am. If I’m running early, I’ll probably ride back to Garnett and wait at the depot trailhead for the Velo+ riders to show up. If I’m running late, I’ll just have to roll with it, and make up the miles later.

Should be fun!

The post PST Velo+ Meetup Metric Ride Planned for April 29 appeared first on DirtBum.

An hour or so out, I realized that I didn’t have my wallet with me, so I spent the rest of the ride wondering if I’d left it at home, or had lost it along the way. (It turned out to be the former, thankfully).

Somewhere along the line I also noticed that I forgot my wristwatch, so had to rely on the phone for time checks.

At one point, I stopped along the way to check for a geocache. Never did find it, but managed to lose my eyeglass mirror in tall grass. Spent the rest of the ride feeling a bit blind. Aggravating.

With the unexpected warmth, and no money to purchase provisions along the way, I ran out of water, and had to do the last ten miles or so without.

So all in all, it was a disconcerting ride. But pretty, and I got in a half-century. Strava activity.

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I set out on a route that headed west of the Neosho River, north to Leroy, then back south to Iola on the east side of the river. The route took me alongside the Neosho several times, and the water was just rolling lazily along. Always a nice sight, especially in the middle of winter and its ever-present shades of brown.

I ended up with 68 miles at a modest pace. View my route here.

The post Up and Down the Lazy River (Cup O’ Dirt Metric #2) appeared first on DirtBum.

Here’s the route, and here are some photos:

I really enjoy this part of Southeast Kansas. Small towns, remote roads, low-water crossings galore, beautiful scenery, and some challenging terrain. It’s hard to beat.

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When I reached the decision point in the route — turn right to head home or turn left to keep going — I was feeling good, so I took the left. By about mile 45, fatigue began to set in and I was questioning that decision. There was really no question of finishing or not, so I just kept pedaling, and ended up with 65 miles at a 15.3 MPH average (fast for me!). [Strava activity]

Roads were in excellent condition overall. It had rained just the day before, followed by sunshine, so the gravel was smooth and packed, with just a few short sections of soupy mud or, in one case, fresh gravel.

The route was a bit odd. I headed east to LaHarpe, wiggled back a forth a bit, then west and south to Humboldt, across the Neosho River, the some wandering around on gravel, back across the Neosho on US-54, then home.

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