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fatbikephil
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On Bikepacking.com

Post by fatbikephil »

Good article about a guy attempting the TD on a budget with not much prep....
https://bikepacking.com/plog/great-divi ... te-basics/
Lazarus
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Re: On Bikepacking.com

Post by Lazarus »

MM hard to comment without a spoiler WARNING




i felt it went nowhere and just said yes do it you will be alright- whilst giving absolutely no details of what alright was,mileage, costs, food , gear taken or total costs of this or the entire trip etc ]
Great last paragraph
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AlexGold
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Re: On Bikepacking.com

Post by AlexGold »

Weirdly, he seems to have had three different rear luggage setups on the same trip!

....and yes, the bike might have been cheap (and to my untrained eye it doesn't look like you'd get that level of kit for that price without getting lucky on ebay) but there are a whole bunch of costs that aren't mentioned which would be nice to know.
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Cheeky Monkey
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Re: On Bikepacking.com

Post by Cheeky Monkey »

I'm up to this:
I would recommend, however, having a personal locator beacon, so that if you do find yourself in over your head, you’ll have something to fall back on in the form of an SOS button.
... and it was all going relatively well :roll:

Common sense, not over-dramatised, just-get-on-with-it sort of vibe,

Then he fecked it.

Hey ho :cool:
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Cheeky Monkey
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Re: On Bikepacking.com

Post by Cheeky Monkey »

Finished it.

mmmKay :???:

Did he actually ride the route, most of it or just a bit, bearing in mind this:
Secondly, I did not finish the whole thing. I rode from Banff, AB, to Salida, Colorado. From there, I took a train to the West Coast to ride the Pacific Coast Route from San Francisco to San Luis Obispo.
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fatbikephil
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Re: On Bikepacking.com

Post by fatbikephil »

I got the feeling that he didn't ride a huge amount of the route but I liked the fact he went in knowing he had zero experience of such a thing. Compared to numerous tales of people who prepped to death and then bailed early on due to a variety reasons, it did make for a refreshing change....
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Borderer
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Re: On Bikepacking.com

Post by Borderer »

AlexGold wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 11:10 am ....and yes, the bike might have been cheap (and to my untrained eye it doesn't look like you'd get that level of kit for that price without getting lucky on ebay) but there are a whole bunch of costs that aren't mentioned which would be nice to know.
The bike I bought for our first bikepacking trips cost £71.89 on eBay. I put over 5000 miles on it without ever doing a thing to it, not even a new chain or brake pads.
benconnolli
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Re: On Bikepacking.com

Post by benconnolli »

Impressed that a story of this angle is given a platform on Bikepacking.com that I have often been frustrated by stealth ads for their sponsors in their stories.

I started bikepacking a seriously poor gap year kiddo budgeting £20/week disposable income which had to cover anything above food and living so know both sides of it now I have a "proper job" and accumulated kit. I do not think I will ever have as remarkable trips as those early ones with foam mats, bin bags, and a mattress protector tarp/bivi bag thing. Everywhere was further than I had ever done before, everything was new and exciting, my world was expanding far beyond my front door and for longer and longer periods of time. As with all good memories my brain has conveniently filtered out the rubbish parts but there is no way I would have them at all at that time rich, chaotic period of my life if had there actually been hundreds of pounds of start up and a threshold experience before I was allowed out. Other people need to realise this.

Equally, start from your front door, start in the highly populated UK where everything is always open, the weather is moderate, and the worst thing to happen is that you hate the experience and never do it again. Experience is worth more than kit and escaping from this consumerist society is one of the many joys of getting out on a bike. However, with this better kit I now have bikepacking is no longer about the kit, it is about me and the surroundings, so in some odd circle my consumption (of the good kit) has stopped me thinking about consumption while out in the hills.

Hope you all followed that. Fantastic.
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faustus
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Re: On Bikepacking.com

Post by faustus »

I'd agree with the sentiment about not worrying about kit once you have it. Just depends what you're satisfied with I suppose, and knowing when to stop buying stuff. I'd extend the sentiment to bikes in general too. Once you've got your bike(s) sorted to your satisfaction, you can just enjoy riding for the feeling. I get very weary of constant inducement to buy more sh*t, and I only start feeling the need to when i've not been riding enough.

I am confused at people commenting on the fact he didn't complete the route, he still rode a huge distance in a self-sufficient way (Banff to Salida, probably 2000km). The question is not whether he did, but to ask yourself why it matters if he didn't?
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Cheeky Monkey
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Re: On Bikepacking.com

Post by Cheeky Monkey »

faustus wrote: Fri Nov 22, 2019 12:01 pm I am confused at people commenting on the fact he didn't complete the route, he still rode a huge distance in a self-sufficient way (Banff to Salida, probably 2000km). The question is not whether he did, but to ask yourself why it matters if he didn't?
No, honestly, my question was how much did he ride because I am crap at geography of the TDR and was curious to know if his description meant he'd done 1 or 10 or 100 or 1,000 km.

Knowing how much he rode helps lend context to his observations and opinions, which is useful. I'm ambivalent whether he actually finished it.

But I stick by the fact that I think he's bolloxed it all with the "spot-safety net" line :cool:
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faustus
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Re: On Bikepacking.com

Post by faustus »

There were quite a lot few comments on Bikepacking.com. But you're right about the Spot tracker thing, that did tarnish it a bit for me too!
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FLV
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Re: On Bikepacking.com

Post by FLV »

I thought he did a cracking ride.

I wondered about the locator comment and wondered if he had one, or if it was a bit of a get out of jail comment due to the legal aspect of telling people its ok to go out into the outdoors somewhat unprepared.

Multiple racks too, looked like he broke the seatpost rack, strapped his bags on until he found a shop, bought a rack. Standard stuff and good job imo.
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