Test Pack V1

May 6, 2023

Meanwhile

Folks, I spend most of my time right here in this chair pouring over the most decadent and aesthetic bikepacking builds. Carefully crafting my own flawless rig complete with Tumbleweed persuader bars, simworks taco pedals, 5dev crankset, and Fabios chest handlebar bag. But sometimes folks, sometimes, I reach across the table and grab the grubbiest SRAM SX derailleur I can find, soak it in a bucket of WD-40; put a tube over dried up globs of sealant in a well worn Maxis DHF, slap on a stretched out gold KMC chain, dented Diety riser bars, and a backpack in an ongoing segment I call, hike-a-bike.

During the last bike tour, I found myself working hard to drag some cat litter buckets along and this time I vowed it would be different. The buckets were great except they flew off on rough bumps and they certainly were not aero. I also wanted big-ol tires and I wanted to ride some singletrack (I want alot) so about a year ago, I bought a Surly Krampus with 120mm front fork and a dropper post. This was my chosen frame for the divide, but I only rode it as a mountain bike. It has been awesome, and I basically found a new sport that I love, but I needed to change it a bit to get ready for a tour. We are going to travel to new mexico to start the great divide northbound and stop at a bunch of places to MTB on the way. And just visit friends. But when we get to the start, im going to change out the suspension for rigid (sad), remove the dropper post and change the knobby tires out for gravel type tires. Some people tour with suspension and droppers, but I just didnt want to put that mileage on my fork, and I wanted more conventional attachment points for carrying things. 2.6" tires should be pretty good for soaking up bumps anyway. So the day before we leave the van in silver city, im going to set up new tubeless tires with a floor pump. What could go wrong?

So we had to do some due diligence and do a bit of a test pack to check feasibility. We didnt load everything, but I tried to add random items that would be a placeholder. We have never done a "bikepacking" trip, so, this type of travel and packing - although similar to touring - is alot different in practice.

The van pictured is going to transport us to the start of the route in NM. I hope it doesnt break down. I have already spent considerable time under the hood. The insides of this engine seems to be covered in black petroleum jelly. At the time of writing, we have already started our drive from GA to NM with only a flat tire. So far so good!

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