Now for a little review…
Set-ups
Overall, Jana and I were pretty happy with our set-ups. The bikes performed well with Jana’s only needing a little derailleur adjustment, and mine a little brake adjustment. I was very happy with the Maxxis Minion DH tires. I thought they were going to be overkill, but for my skill level, they were perfect. Jana’s tires had less knobs, but she has more skill, and her tires made for faster rolling. Having 3” tires was very helpful.
I was happy with my “hybrid” bikepacking set-up. I use a rear rack with Porcelain Rocket dry bag panniers instead of a seat bag. The Revelate Pronghorn handlebar harness and Dyneema dry bag worked great. I had no problems with it slipping. I do need to put a longer cable and housing on the rear derailleur shifter, as it was a little too tight of a squeeze with the dry bag. I used the Revelate Egress pocket on the front instead of my usual Yakitaga. The pocket holds more, and I didn’t have to deal with a zipper. The Ortlieb Fork bags were solidly mounted, and I had zero problems with them. The Ortlieb’s Roll top frame bag, even though it’s not a perfect fit, also worked well. I carried two 1-liter bottles in my Oveja Negra “Chuckabuckets” (the ones with the cool Frida Kahlo material), and also had room for my phone in one. I carried the day’s snacks and electrolyte packets in the Gas Tank.
I took my Garmin InReach Mini (it dangled from the front of the Egress Pocket), and got the “Expedition” plan that allowed unlimited texts. We would have been fine with the cheaper plan that allowed less texts. At the end of each day, I would text Jana’s husband, Bill to let him know we were finished for the day. He could also follow us with the tracking dropping a point every 20 minutes. He said he checked it a few times a day.
I used my Garmin 830 for the route. We just followed the purple line. Each time I do an unknown route, I learn more how to get the most out of what the Garmin can tell me. I used to think the Climb Pro part was just bonus entertainment, but it was really helpful to see what the climb elevation and distance was. There were 19 climbs that initiated the Climb Pro. We could come pretty close to predicting which parts we would probably be pushing the bikes. But, what the Climb Pro couldn’t tell us was what the surface would be like. Sometimes what would have been rideable from a steepness point of view, was not because the surface was too rough.
We also used the route on our phones to check how close we were to the various POIs, whether it was a water source, a campsite, or another POI such as an abandoned ranch. The route on the Garmin didn’t show the POIs.
I charged my three devices (the two Garmins, and my phone) with two Anker battery banks totaling 31,000mAmp. Over the 9 days, I used all the power in the big battery (21,000), and was down 2 lights in the 10,000. I still had enough power to charge my phone fully probably 4 more times. Jana had a solar panel that kept her three batteries fully charged without a problem. .
Even though the weather was definitely warm (with 2 half-days of pretty hot), I still ended up pulling my quilt over me at some point every night. The last night at Hart Mtn, I slept under my quilt the whole night (and it was downright chilly in the morning). I was happy with my clothing choices. Wearing the white button down UV shirt to ride in was helpful in keeping me cooler (even though it was pretty filthy by the end). Under the white shirt I just wore a very lightweight sleeveless wool shirt. I was mostly comfortable. For bottoms, it was the usual padded bike short with loose baggie shorts over the top. The baggies helped prevent getting mosquito bites on my butt (the mosquitos were out enforce most evenings and mornings)! I also wore a buff around my neck. When it was hot and a dry wind, I would pull the buff up over my nose and mouth (bandit style). That helped keep my mouth from getting so dry, as well as being a dust protector when vehicles would go by on the gravel roads. The only thing I wasn’t happy with was my camp shoes. I brought a pair of those sock-like shoes with the rubber soles. While they packed small, they didn’t really protect my feet when walking on rocks. I should have just stuck with my Birkies. Lesson learned. Most importantly, we both had Da Brims on our helmets (Jana used my old one). They helped keep the sun off our necks and faces, thus keeping us cooler.
Probably the weirdest piece of gear we both carried, but were really happy we did, was umbrellas. I had my 4 oz Snow Peak hiking umbrella, and Jana had borrowed Bethany’s Solumbra sun umbrella. We used them almost everyday to provide shade during our lunch stops. I even used mine for rain one day! We got pretty creative in setting them on bushes or the bikes, then sitting under them. I was also happy I brought my Helinox Zero chair. I used it more on this trip then I have on any other. It’s also a great place to set stuff to try and keep things a tiny bit cleaner. I’m still really happy with my Big Agnes UL 2HV Bikepacking tent.
Water
Both Jana and I had the capacity to carry a little over 11 liters of water each. We called it “Carrying Max Water”. We only misjudged our water needs once. It was the first day when we thought we could make it to a campsite that turned out to be too far for the terrain. We managed okay, but cut it closer than we liked (had to walk off-route to a creek to get water the next day some miles into the day). Two or three times we both carried max water. It was heavy, but comforting to know we could pretty much drink as much as we wanted. We were also able to camp without having a water source nearby. I carried the bulk of my water in a dromedary bag on top of my rear rack. I could easily lay Mama Cass down, and open up the “spigot” on the bag, and fill my bottles. Jana carried water in all sorts of places on her bike.
Food
We had planned on being able to get lunch at the Diamond Hotel in Diamond, and at the cafe in Denio Junction. We had also planned to get any necessary resupply in Denio Junction. The hotel in Diamond stopped serving lunch three years ago. Whoops! Before we started, we knew Denio Junction was going to be closed because we would be getting there on the 4th of July. So, we basically had to carry most all of our food. We were able to get lunch in Denio at the Diamond Bar. Even without that, we would have been fine, but it was nice to have one meal not cooked in a freezer bag.
For cooking gear, I took my new Toaks Titanium alcohol stove. It was good, but I learned that one should carry the alcohol fuel in a metal container (duh…it is a solvent). I had put it in a Platypus 24oz bag. The alcohol seemed to be eating away at the plastic (or at least it smelled like that. In Denio, I got a heavier duty plastic juice bottle, and after drinking the juice, and washing the bottle, I transferred the fuel to the juice bottle. It was fine for the rest of the trip.
Final thoughts
I think we made good decisions for most of the trip. Getting going early in the morning was definitely the way to go. Paying close attention to water was important. Making it a 9 day, instead of the recommended 8 day itinerary, was perfect for our fitness levels and abilities. We were initially concerned about the heat, but it turned out to be far less of an issue, but we were prepared for it anyway. We found that, not only can we do hard things, but we can do really hard things!
Finally, Jana was one of the best bikepacking partners I’ve ridden with. We thought along the same lines, and it was fun working our way through some of the most remote parts of Oregon with her. Every morning we would start riding by me saying, “No Crashies, no flatties, no whammies!”, and Jana would say, “Bubble of safety!” It seemed to work!
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