#bikepacking

Reportage By: john watson

Jon Yazzie from Dzil Ta’ah Adventures and His Ti Vassago Optimus 29+ SS Bikepacking Rig

We rolled back into Kayenta from an overnighter with Jon Yazzie from Dzil Ta’ah Adventures and I reminded him that I wanted to shoot his bike. “Yeah! Leave the bags on it. As is…” I said to him. Jon took a few moments to tidy up the straps and make sure the bags were tight and neat before handing it off to me. He loves this bike and so I took it as an honor to photograph it. For me, there’s nothing better than riding with the person whose bike you’re documenting. It feels less transactional and more personal. You get to see how they treat their ride. Are they crashers or thrashers? In doing so, there’s a real connection that’s established. For Jon and I, we’ve spent a few years communicating over email when projects arise. Josh has done an exceptional job documenting Dzil Ta’ah Adventures’ trips in Arizona in the past and this trip was the first time I met Jon in person. It felt like a no-brainer to shoot his titanium Vassago Optimus 29+ tourer, so check it out in detail below.

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Bikes or Death Podcast Exclusive Video: All Things Route Planning & Navigation

Patrick from Bikes or Death sat down with Kevin from RideWithGPS to discuss route planning and navigation in this 2+ hour long podcast video. Got some time to listen to an informative podcast this morning? Give this a listen!

Reportage By: Mikkel Soya Bølstad

Winter Bikepacking to a Local Mountain in Norway

Do you remember that feeling way back when you learned to ride a bike? I had just begun school when I got my first bike. Day in and day out I would sit on the seat and push myself along the roadside curb with my right foot. My strides became longer and longer until one day I put caution to the wind and took my first pedal strokes. That day, the bike became my freedom machine. The world suddenly grew bigger, right in front of my tiny handlebars. I never looked back.

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Built to Last

Filmed on locations featured in seven new and six existing cycling itineraries in the Cateran Ecomuseum, ‘Built to Last’ features Bob Ellis, founder of the Cateran Trail, Neil Tuer, owner of Alyth Cycles and Jane Wilkinson, willow weaver at Special Branch Baskets, with music from Scottish composer Dave Macfarlane. The film was produced as part of Travel for All Our Tomorrows – new regenerative tourism experiences in the Cateran Ecomuseum.

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The 2021 Salsa Cutthroat Comes in Four Builds and a Frameset

Cutthroat C AXS Build shown here $7,199 USD.

The Cutthroat is a favorite amongst Tour Divide aficionados and weekend warriors alike. Back in 2015, when it was announced, the Cutthroat got tested out on the Tour Divide course and it remains a fan favorite today. While the frame hasn’t changed since our Review of the 2020 model last year, it does come in four new build specs, plus as a frameset. Head to Salsa to read all about the 2021 Cutthroat builds.

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Ground Keeper and Loam Equipment Bikepacking Harnesses

Bellingham’s Ground Keeper Custom has teamed up with Loam Equipment to add some color to their bikepacking harnesses, with five colorways available, ranging from oil slick (pictured) to Space Ferns. Each of these harnesses are designed to hold drybags for your goods while bikepacking.

Saddle Harness Specs:

-Made in Bellingham, WA
-Weight: 172.5g (6.08 oz)
-Using with a dropper post? Snag one of these Wolftooth Valais 25 for the best fit.
-Ladder lock buckles come in mystery colors, which keeps factory overrun parts out of landfills.
-Bag sold separately. Harness works with most 8-13 liter or 18“-24” cylindrical stuff sacks or dry bags.

Handlebar Harness Specs:

-Made in Bellingham, WA
-Weight: 231g (6.08 oz)
-Ladder lock buckles come in mystery colors, which keeps factory overrun parts out of landfills.
-Extra fat foam blocks help clear brake/shifting cables and maintain space for hands on road bars
-Bag sold separately. Harness works with most 8-13 liter or 18“-24” cylindrical stuff sacks or dry bags.

See the entire bikepacking collection at Ground Keeper.

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Speaking of Rodeo Labs: Second Time’s a Charm on the Kokopelli Trail

While you’re hopefully enjoying that beautiful Flaat Rod Reportage gallery, don’t miss Rodeo Labs’ recap of their Kokopelli Trail tour. See the full story at Rodeo Labs.

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Tumbleweed’s Popular Racks Are Back for Pre-Order!

Tumbleweed Bicycle Co has made a name for itself thanks to its super durable, no-nonsense touring apparati. From a Rohloff touring frame to their Prospector bars and their unobtanium T-Rack and Mini Pannier Racks, they have you covered for back country trips both short and long. By popular demand, their racks are back available for presale, so head on over to their webshop to poke around and find one that fits your fancy…

If you’re unfamiliar with the brand, poke around some of our Archives listed in the Related section below.

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The MSR Guardian Purifier Water Filter is Hands Down the Best on the Market for Biketouring, Bikepacking, and Bike Camping

At roughly the size of a 1000ML Nalgene bottle, with a fill-up time of fewer than 30 seconds, the MSR Guardian Purifier water filter might just be the best filter on the market for all bicycle-related outings, yet it will cost ya… Let’s take a look at this game-changing filter in detail below.

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It’s Swift Campout season! Swift Industries partners with Snow Peak, and The Radavist to Present the 7th Annual Swift Campout Solstice Bike Overnight

The Swift Campout is a global call to go bike-camping on June 19th and 20th, 2021. For the seventh year in a row thousands of adventurous spirits will load camping gear on their bikes for a weekend adventure. In the words of Martina Brimmer, Swift Industries head honcho and the visionary behind Swift Campout, “Here at Swift, we believe that there’s little better than spending the longest day of the year on a bicycle and the shortest night of the year sleeping under the stars. The entire Swift crew, from our stitchers to our coin-counters, is driven to delight our communities toward bicycle adventure.

This year’s featured artist is none other than bike industry mainstay Chris McNally, whose signature watercolor style conjures a dreamscape of fantasy environments with cuddly critters to explore on two wheels. The scavenger hunt theme of the new Campout microsite invites digital exploration, too! Campers are encouraged to lose themselves in Chris’s wonderland, discovering fun and informative hidden gems as they “pedal” through. In its 7th year, the Campout recipe of partnering with like-minded outdoor brands to amplify the encouragement for cyclists of all experience levels and abilities to take to the trails for a weekend of bike-camping is a timely and relevant invitation to re-engage with the community in cherished outdoor spaces. Swift continues to push the envelope as a gear brand that has put roots in a unique space between the cycling and outdoor industries–two marketplaces whose cultures did not overlap when Swift Industries entered the arena in 2008.

Swift keeps nurturing their culture by gathering a unique blend of cycling and outdoor brands such as Bedrock Sandals, Black Coffee Roasters, Kitsbow, Nocs Provisions, Ombraz, The Radavist, Rapha, Reyr Gear, Six Moon Designs, Snow Peak, and Swift Adventure Co.

Head to Swift Campout to read all the details!

Radar By: Lael Wilcox

“Lael Rides Alaska” 2021 Femme-Trans-Women’s Scholarship Winners!

Please see Part 01 here: Top 11 finalist for the 2021 “Lael Rides Alaska” Femme-Trans-Women’s Scholarship: Part 01
and Part 02 here: Top 11 finalist for the 2021 “Lael Rides Alaska” Femme-Trans-Women’s Scholarship: Part 02
and part 03 here: Top 11 finalist for the 2021 “Lael Rides Alaska” Femme-Trans-Women’s Scholarship: Part 03

Design a 1,000-mile route in Alaska, tell me your plan, about yourself and what you need to make it happen. We’ll supply the bike, gear and a travel stipend and then you get to go do it this summer.

I am blown away by the honesty and ambition of this year’s applicants. They told true, sometimes hard, stories and hopes for the future. This has been a difficult year for everyone and I am deeply inspired by all who applied and shared openly about their experiences and their drive for adventure and challenge.

With the help of Cari Carmean, Natsuko Hirose, Kailey Kornhauser and Abigale Wilson, we narrowed the 126 applicants down to 11 finalists. I am beyond excited to announce that Dorothy O’Donnell and Olivia Juarez are the two recipients of the 2021 “Lael Rides Alaska” Femme-Trans-Women’s Scholarship…

Reportage By: Ryan Le Garrec

The Open Road: the Orbit 360

2021, March 14th, 5:16 pm Runa, Portugal

Runa is a small village that looks like it was supposed to become a town, it just never happened. Not much to see around here.

Traversed by a fast road right through it, longing a deserted train station that never felt so vain.
All along that single file highway, tiny factories, warehouses, abandoned, emptied in a rush. Nature is invading, reclaiming those empty spaces, plants, and trees through the cracks and walls.

I press on the pedals.

A bit further down the strange fast route, a tiny park and one big tree, one massive tree, an old man walks around, talking to himself, or rehearsing what seems to be a speech or sermon, rehearsing those words while mastering their hand choreography.

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Bikeglamping

Hannah Griggs from Queercyclist sent over this short video showcasing a recent trip her and her friends went on that ended up being more like bikeglamping and less like bikepacking…

Reportage By: Kurt Refsnider

Full Circle on the Grand Loop: Part III – A Cyclocross Specialist Turned Ultra Racer

This is the third part of an ongoing series:
Full Circle on the Grand Loop: Part II – The First Modern Bikepacking Race
Full Circle on the Grand Loop: Part I – Trail Visions Ahead of Their Time

Back in the late 2000s, I was a geology Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado and a devoted cyclocross racer. I got up early and did intervals in the dark before class and I raced around in little circles every weekend from September to December, chasing other skinsuit-clad guys hopping on and off their bikes for rather contrived reasons. I flew around the country to some of the biggest race weekends, chasing UCI points and top-20 finishes. I was infatuated with the sport until I rather abruptly became bored of those little circles.

Reportage By: Sarah Sturm, Brandon Camarda, & Lydia Tanner

Control-Alt-Delete: Bikepacking the AZT – Plan B

When this year’s last winter storm went big (like, really big) we realized we’d have to adjust our plan to bikepack the Coconino Loop in northern Arizona. We shifted our focus South, to the Arizona Trail segments around Tucson, hoping the lower latitude and elevation would deliver the sunshine we craved.

Instead, we were greeted in Tucson with heavy rain, so we postponed the trip by a day, hoping it would blow over. When the next day also looked rainy, and kind of snowy too, we lost half our riding crew. My partner Brandon, our friend Sarah and I decided to make a start anyway.

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The Dangerbird Returns to Las Cruces on October 23, 2021

Photo by Nathan Burnside

Update! See our coverage here:
–Wind, Chile, Chonk, and the Monumental Loop: the 2021 Dangerbird in Las Cruces
–Scenes from the 2021 New Mexico Bikepacking Summit and the Dangerbird Grand Depart Rider and Bike Portaits

If you don’t follow Monumental Loop on Instagram, then you might have missed the details for this fall’s Dangerbird race/ride. We’ll be there in attendance to ride/tour the Full Bird. Check out all the details from Matt below and don’t miss the Bikes or Death Podcast interview with him too!

Reportage By: john watson

Erik’s Hawk SS 29er Hardtail

With the pandemic causing severe delays and stock shortages, building up a new bike in 2020 and into 2021 is proving to be quite the ordeal. Erik is a local here in Santa Fe and a customer at Sincere Cycles. I first rode with him a few years back when we shuttled Winsor while I was visiting. At the time, he had a Santa Cruz Chameleon, which proved to be a capable ally in our mountains. Jump forward a few years and Erik was looking for a new bike. The aforementioned delays due to the pandemic had him looking at other options outside of the brands offering titanium frame models. He had his sights set on a custom titanium hardtail from Waltly in China…

Reportage By: Ryan Wilson

The Frozen Trail to Thorong-La

(note: this story took place before the pandemic)

The Annapurna circuit has been around as an established trekking route for over 40 years, but parts have existed for trade between the Tibetan plateau and the Manang and Muktinath valleys for far longer. Today it’s one of the most famous places to hike in the world, and one of Nepal’s primary tourist draws. Over the last decade or so it has become famous for the herds of backpackers and yaks that often fill the trail during the peak seasons (spring and fall), and slowly the trail is being replaced by roads to make it easier to bring supplies to these tourist-filled villages.