Showing posts with label bike packing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bike packing. Show all posts
I
can recall a time I felt growing pains. I was walking down the hallway in our
house and a sudden pain shot through my leg, in fact I remember crying out that
I had just been shot in the leg with an arrow, a flint tipped Port Orford Cedar
shaft right through my femur. I've recovered from the incident, and have since
grown to the towering height of 5’9 (take that Port Orford Cedar). The point is
we all experience growing pains; in our bodies, relationships, jobs, in
everything. Life.
This last summer I was scouting out a bikepacking route for a group of high adventure scouts. The leaders wanted the boys to be pushed to their limits but still survive, thus avoiding the wrath of the ever-looming matriarchs. It just so happened that summer I found the most opportune subject in my fourteen-year-old nephew. I knew his matriarch, and wasn’t afraid of using him as the guinea pig. I planned out the route knowing what to expect 80% of the time; the 20% of unknown was a bonus and the real test (I thought) for my nephew and his age group.
For those of you not acquainted with bikepacking, simply put it’s taking everything off your back you would use for an overnight backpacking trip and attaching it to a bike. Then ripping down trails, fire roads, and two tracks (oh and the grueling uphill that always comes with the down). It’s a grand time.
Weekend arrived, we kitted out, and set out. The first section of the ride is a well-used quad trail, flowing gradually down hill like a river, and like any proper river has a few rapids. Having navigated it many times I bobbed and weaved through rock gardens and two foot drops. I had the upmost faith in Nat’s skills and knew that she would survive. In hindsight I should have covered my nephew in Go-pro’s, as he took on every rapid and failed miserable but recovered admirably…we missed out on some great crash footage.
The next bit was the unknown to me. It is an old two-track road that has been overgrown for the last umpteen years. The riding has potential, but the encroaching gamble oak reminded me of a scary movie scene that has arms reaching out to rip and tear their victims apart--the gamble oak was not much better. We all received a few slaps to the face, shirts ripped, and it was a gamble (pun intended) to use speed to bust through as an occasional oak arm would grab a fist full of break lever resulting in a bushy endo. In the end it was easier to push through all the grabby, grabby. Gaining a little in elevation we worked our way out of the slap happy forest and entered lush green meadows with knee high grass (a rarity in these parts) it was beautiful--in the kind of way an American GI would view the Guadalcanal or the jungles of Vietnam. Beautiful if you didn’t have to move to get through it. Hiding in the grass were hundreds of downed aspen trees not worth going around. We would dismount and carry the fully loaded bikes over and over. The short distance riding was not worth it, so we became mules and pushed, pulled, and hiked the bikes. It became particular enjoyable as the terrain got steeper and steeper. We did come across some interesting geological features for these parts, such as granite boulders like you would find in Little Cotton Wood canyon. The thought crossed my mind to re-visit the place with some bouldering pads, but the thugs in the slap happy forest pushed that thought aside. I would have to get my “Ash”(see Evil Dead for that reference) on in a serious way to accomplish that mission.
Eventually, we reconnected with a well-used track and enjoyed some deserved down hill time. We then spent the rest of the day and well into the evening burning our legs and lungs out on a consistent six mile climb. That night sitting around the stove on a ridge; huddled in our down jackets, backs to the wind and eyes on the stars I asked my nephew what he thought so far. His response, though pleasing, was surprising; he liked it, said it was harder than he thought it would be. Come to find out this was his first time camping away from a car. He had never spent a night out on a backpacking trip let alone a bike-packing trip. I thought about the activities of the day, especially his additional pain and suffering with all the extra wrecks he endured. Lots of pain, but lots of growth.
Besides a brutal little push up some steep two track the day, and trip, ended with five miles of rushing trail. Once again I lamented the forgotten go-pro to document a young boy's many and mighty wrecks. As expected the rapids didn’t disappoint and my nephew wiser from previous encounters took his time to pick a line and ride them out. He’s only fourteen and has lots of growing to do and with that, lots of pain. We all have growing to do in one-way or another, but that’s how you know your progressing, learning and enjoying life. Get out and feel some growing pains.
Post Sound Track | The Beta Band
Full Set | Growing Pains
Birthday's have always been about the weekend. An awesome, radical adventure with the best of friends; great food; and getting outside. True birthday weekenders are a dying breed as with each aging year the weekending becomes less and less of a priority with life's other "priorities" taking the front seat. The one night, 2-hour dinner meet up with friends doesn't quite satisfy the quench. There's a feeling with each coming year to prove you've still got it, you've still got what it takes to push yourself that extra mile, to do something to top off year's past. Birthday weekends are the time to celebrate and start your next year of life with a bang of bad-A-ness.
We got lucky with this one and TK was all gung ho to get out of the city with us. We got off to a little later start than expected, surprise, but it ended up being perfect night riding desert conditions--yes, it is still February. We rode through the night following the spiraling road leading up to Jacob's Chair until we found the perfect soft sandy spot to lay our bivy's. We woke to views of canyons as fas as the eye can see and in a bed of petrified wood chips. The ride ended with the final ascent to the base of Jacob's Chair and masterminding plans for future climbing lines. Of course the descent was the sweet reward and end to a quick desert bikepacking escape. Cheers to another year TK!
We got lucky with this one and TK was all gung ho to get out of the city with us. We got off to a little later start than expected, surprise, but it ended up being perfect night riding desert conditions--yes, it is still February. We rode through the night following the spiraling road leading up to Jacob's Chair until we found the perfect soft sandy spot to lay our bivy's. We woke to views of canyons as fas as the eye can see and in a bed of petrified wood chips. The ride ended with the final ascent to the base of Jacob's Chair and masterminding plans for future climbing lines. Of course the descent was the sweet reward and end to a quick desert bikepacking escape. Cheers to another year TK!
full set | Jacob's Chair
There's no better way to roam than by clinking chain and knobby treads cruising through rock and dirt. There's always more to explore in this country, further distances to be travelled, and it's never short of an epic view. Like my childhood reads of Cam Jansen I just want to say "click" and hope my photographic memory keeps the view in my mind forever, ha I wish...thank goodness for cameras right?!
full set | recapture
Just realized this beaut was never posted on the blog! Kudos to Swedish Fish Studios aka Linus for pulling this together last minute before our true launch. All the video reel is thanks to Travis, Josh and our friends at The Good Line. Check out the final video on our Indiegogo page.
there's that saying if these walls could talk, the stories they'd tell. that's what I always think exploring this vast country. canyons scattered with remnants of ancients who toiled and lived off the land. also, the dirt trodden by explorers of old wandering the country for reasons not to far from our own. there's a tie that connects us to the past, in our simple yearning to wander for just a little bit longer. in our curiosity for what's around the corner. our desire to find a quite corner in this ever bustling world. in our simple desires to wander yonder and enjoy the healing power of being in nature.
When we first started with Roam we had no idea where the concept would take us. Initially bike packing, biking even wasn't in the equation at all! Our focus was on climbing, putting all our efforts to get Dustin AMGA/IFMGA certified and going from there. Always in the back of our minds it wasn't until Monticello moved to the forefront and in looking for climbing in the area that bike packing came into the picture. First as a means to get to climbs, and now the way to explore the area. A way to explore the country replacing the the Toyota's motor with a clinking chain, a way to slow down and see more, a way to explore simpler.
Now we need your help. We recently launched a project on Indiegogo to get our first fleet made to provide you a means to explore with us. Indiegogo is a website for sharing ideas where people can go to back projects monetarily in exchange for a tangible reward. The video shows the country, the bikes we're using to create the ultimate bike packing fleet, and what our future plans are. This project is near and dear to us, and it is more than just raising funds for bikes. The bottom line is our love for the area and country and how much we want to spread our stoke and appreciation for this land's beauty. Your pledge means a lot to us in getting bikes and spreading the love for the area.
Check out our project here and please feel free to share the link with your friends and family, anything helps!
We've been busy, busy bees at Roam Industry! This past weekend was spent with The Good Line and a few close friends filming the beautiful country of Southeast Utah.
9 of us spent the night at the old Hyand Hotel, built in the late 1800's. It was movie perfect, big old house, creaky floors, heavy rain and lightning rattling the windows, not to mention it was Halloween night. Oh, and an old man had even died in the place years ago. The moans from the closet or the heavy creeks in the hall weren't what kept us awake, more so the fear that all the roads and trails might be too muddy to bike. Luck for us mother nature was on our side, providing us with perfect weather for filming and we all ended the weekend exhausted, satisfied, and loaded with awesome footage!
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