The Radavist

Bikepacking British Columbia’s Chilcotin Range
Photos and words by Gabe Tiller

I merely whetted my appetite for the Chilcotins last year. It was a fun, albeit short trip. It was challenging in its own right, but really gave me an appreciation for Canada’s mountain ranges and how, errrr, ‘fun’ it is to drag your mountain bike through them. Regardless, in recent years the Chilcotins have become quite popular. They’re one of the few Provincial Parks to allow mountain biking and one of the few places to ride alpine terrain.

I mean: push your bike through alpine terrain. Scott from Porcelain Rocket once told me “The Chilcotins are a perfect place for a singlespeed. You’re either pushing your bike, or grabbing handfuls of brake lever. There’s very little pedaling to be had.” And he’s right. Regardless, the payoff is worth it. Once you push your bike—or more frequently the case—lift and hoist and scramble your bike to the top of a pass you’re rewarded with hordes of giant vicious biting horse flies.

The Breadwinner Goodwater in Big Country
Photos and words by Gabe Tiller

Some friends and I had been scheming and dreaming up our Oregon Big Country route for an entire year, and this spring right as we were finalizing details Breadwinner Cycles launched their new Goodwater 27.5+ trail bike. I’ve known Tony since he moved to Portland from Salt Lake and watch him build bike after bike, each more lustworthy than the last. And they’ve pulled home award after award from NAHBS and the Oregon Manifest too. His meticulous craft building bicycles has become impeccably tuned, and the few times I’ve had the opportunity to ride bikes with him he’s whooped me soundly on the trail as well.

A few years ago when Surly launched their plus platform I took my first ride on the Krampus and instantly knew mountain bikes would be forever changed. Wider rims, more volume, and less pressure allowed me to clean technical lines I’d never come close to before. Rim, tire, and tubeless technology had brought high volume and large contact patches to the table without the weighing anywhere near as much as the motocross wheels they looked like. I was sold and thrashed my Krampus for a year before upgrading to a Ti Gnarvester. And now I really wanted to steal away on Tony’s fat-tired trail bike for our eight-day overland adventure through Oregon’s Big Country. Surprisingly when I asked, he agreed: “Sure, and ride it like I would—hard.”

He and Ira are often heard saying “We build the bikes we ride” and it shows in the Goodwater. Tony spends a fair amount of our rainy winter sessioning The Lumberyard and while the Goodwater is designed for an entirely different riding environment, he has maintained that nimble playfulness that make park bikes so fun. Giddily riding it home I could feel it begging to be flicked up curb banks and manualed through puddles. It’s got the shortest rear end (440mm) of any plus bikes I’ve ridden, and paired with the Fox Float 34 it cruises over rough terrain and still easily wheelies through desert stream crossings. At least the ones not filled with axle deep mud.

With internal routing, Shimano’s XTR Di2 1×11 drivetrain, Enve HV hoops, and a Thompson dropper it’s an incredibly clean build. It loaded up super well with my Porcelain Rocket Mr Fusion dropper hack, a Revelate framebag, and Limberlost’s DIY Handlebar Roll. It tackled the steep climbs and rocky descents over the Steens with ease, and the 2.8″ Schwalbe Nobby Nics held up well being pushed hard in loose corners or slogging through the Big Sand Gap on our way to Willow Hot Springs.

My only regret is that I didn’t get the chance to drop all the bags and really let this shreddy trail bike shine on some local singletrack before wearily giving Tony back his baby. I’m excited to see so many mountain bike builders embracing fatter tires, and Breadwinner is pushing the momentum of this movement with their Goodwater.

Follow along with the rest of our adventures at Limberlost.co.

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Bikepacking Oregon’s Big Country
Photos and words by Gabe Tiller

Third time’s the charm, right? Taking our combined knowledge from two previous bikepacking trips deep into Southeastern Oregon’s Big Country we had linked up the best features of this stark, vast landscape. We would start by traversing the until-recently occupied Malheur Wildlife Refuge, head up and over Steens Mountain, across the dry Alvord playa, and up into the the unknown Trout Creek Mountains before briefly slipping into Nevada and returning to our car by way of Hart Mountain eight days later. Logistically it’s an intimidating route, so we scheduled short days, therapeutic hot spring soaks, and ample time for sage bush whacking and accidental mud wallowing.

Three Sisters Three Rivers
Photos and words by Gabe Tiller

This trip has been steeping in Limberlost’s coffer for quite some time. A lot of trips we’ve been and help create like the Oregon Outback were amazingly fun, but lacking the singletrack I crave. Last year’s Pushwacking the Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route re-kindled our interest in one of the first bikepacking adventures I had read accounts of: Scott Morris’s 2010 Oregon Three Rivers route.

Oregon’s Big Country and the Steens Mountain
Photos and words by Gabe Tiller

Nick had never been to the Steens. It’s not his fault — they’re closer to Boise than anywhere that anyone’s actually heard of in Oregon. They’re technically just one weird mountain, not a range. Steens Mountain is one of the ten highest summits in Oregon but you can drive to the top. It stretches for 50 miles north to south, but the snow dusted eastern flank drops 5,000 dramatic feet to the contrasting Alvord desert lake bed, known for its hot springs and land yacht races…

Pushwacking the Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route
Photos and words by Gabe Tiller

Last fall when Adventure Cycling hinted at a new mountain bike route linking up hot springs in central Idaho, some close friends and I immediately began scheming. Here I was fresh from scouting Oregon Outback and knew I wanted something bigger and with more singletrack. Tougher but with more hot springs. Well we got it.