I’ve really been enjoying Wahoo SYSTM as a way to stay fit in the off season and prepare for bikepacking adventures. I used to race road and a ton of cyclocross, but as I’ve gotten older and more involved with my best friend’s company, Rodeo Labs, I’ve transitioned to gravel races and bikepacking. A completely different kind of fitness is involved.
Who else here is bikepacking? What’s your most recent or favorite bikepacking experience or race? My most recent adventure was with Stephen (Rodeo founder) on 250 mile 25k ft loop in the mountains from Oaxaca de Jaurez in December. Absolutely amazing part of Mexico. The people were lovely, the food delicious, and the mezcal flowing like wine! So much fun.
Looks like an amazing trip! A word of caution though. Selling doughnut jerseys on your company website could be seen as grounds for flogging by the minions!
I adore gravel and bikepacking but it is hard to get out for trips with a young family.
Have done a few overnighters.
Did Rebel Ride over 3 nights in Dec which was ace.
Ride gravel regularly.
Raced 80km gravel last year and have mad plans for a much longer race this year.
This is my current bikepacking rig (Bombtrack Hook Ext-C). Have a new one on the way, watch this space.
All in good time. Maybe you’ll be able to take them along someday. I’d like to get my son and daughter out for an overnighter this summer in Colorado at least once.
Nice rig!! Thanks for sharing!
I’d love to… as of now… weekdays training here, weekedns try to escape, either MTB or Gravel rides… but, as @DameLisa said, young family, I can’t dissapear more than 3-5 hourse once a weekend…
Still, trying to plan ahead, have a lot of interesting places over here, have my sights on Montañas Vacias… but before that, a two day trip on Ojos Negros greenway… SInce the kid and wife are not cyclists (yet… working on that) I’m trying to convince them to be campervan enthusiast, and take that as a starting point
Nonetheless, theres lots of beauty to go in 3-5 hour trips, so it will have to do for now…
Yes, I get it. There are seasons in life. The key is to stay fit enough for adventures when they present themselves. It’s absolutely unbelievable what a modestly fit person can do on a bike in this world, and I salute that. For me, it’s not about winning races anymore. It’s about experiencing the world at a reasonable pace and making memories that will last a lifetime.
Nice rig, and the gumwalls! YES. I love the new way of bikepacking with frame bags instead of the old panniers I dealt with in the early years of touring and gravel bikepacking.
Nice @AlexEllermann! Surely makes some great bikes. My first fat bike was a Surley Ice Cream Truck. Loved it! And your rig is built up very classy - love the bar-end shifters! Yes!
I have two bikepacking rigs. My main one is a Rodeo Labs titanium Flaanimal 5.0. Slovenia, Oaxaca, front range, and was going to be my race rig for the 1100 km Atlas Mountain Race in Morocco last year before it got postponed.
The other is a Rodeo Labs Trail Donkey 3.0, custom paint, that is my main gravel riding/racing bike that I’ve taken to do the Kokopelli trail. Both great bikes and have their strengths/weaknesses.
Nice rigs! I did consider RodeoLabs. But I have something else in Ti getting built up for me across the ditch. And can confirm, custom paint is the bomb! My daughter designed it, she’s 10!
How do you find the Maxis tyres @denvercx ? I have WTB Ventures on mine, a tread is needed here, there’s almost no USA style buttery smooth gravel here. I’m debating Vittoria Mezcals (Insee you have these too) when I wear thru these. Have also heard good things about Terravails. Would love Rene Hurst but they’d probably only last a week. A ride here will have anything from tarmac and a nice maintained gravel path all the way to loamy single track, axle deep mud, peanut butter clay and nice slicey shale type stones…sharp, loose and in a nice thick layer that is impossible to corner thru.
And tyre/wheel choice? My Bombtrack Inrun 650Bs with 2" tyres and it can take up to 2.2 at a pinch. The new bike will have a 700C wheelset and 2.2" tyres. Basically a 29er but not quite a Monstercross. It also will take 2.6" in 650Bs but if I need those, I should probably be on a hard tail. Loads of folks here bikepack on hardtails because some of our trails are…insane. I do prefer a drop bar to a flat bar.
Thanks, can’t wait to see your custom paint when it’s done, so awesome of your daughter to design it!
I like these Maxxis IKONS 650bx50 mm. Great tires - held up well on the very unforgiving Kokopelli Trail. I love the Vittoria 650b 2.4" Mezcals though - seem to have more durable sidewalls, and they roll very fast. Great in gnar off road trails of Slovenia and Oaxaca.
For my fast gravel bike, I am loving the Challenge Getaway Pro 260 TPI 700 x 40mm. Hand made - but sidewalls have been through a lot and have held up very well here in Colorado.
The Vittoria Mezcals are really highly rated here. But the Pirelli Centuro is starting to over take them as a gravel specific tyre that performs equally well pn the gnar as the Mezcals but is faster on the champagne gravel. I need to check if they go as wide as 50mm, I’ve onlt seen them in 38s and 42s.
I adore gravel and bikepacking but it is hard to get out for trips with a young family.
