Bike camping Adventure in the middle of the week?!? Hai, little guy. The kids are out of school this week for "October Break" (I know.) And I started at 1pm today, so we met J____ J______ at 5pm yesterday and loaded up.
After spending much time after work yesterday swapping parts around to make the Big Dummy operational, I found the sweet XTR M900 crank was wallowed out on the drive side and had a crack in the corner on non drive. (Now I know what the mystery creak was...) So I used a Sugino crank from the pile- it needs nicer rings. But the chain line is right. Borrowing the rear wheel from the BlurLT until I build a new one. Shimano Generator/centerlock disc front, without the light set up so far. Avid BB7 front and rear- which feels like aaaaaaaaaaaaass with it's ~6ft of solid housing, but works fine and is easy to service. Thumbshifters, maing! Stoked for it's first time out to be an actual offroad camp run. That's why I got it. It's the land version of a float trip. If I don't haul all the gear, the family won't come, so there it is.
Holy Mother of Pearl! The increase in stiffness over the Xtracycle! Handling without wiggle! The fit is much more aggressive. Some of it is parts pick (Jones Bar and 1 1/8" threadless stem vs. Albatross and 1" quill), but most of it is integral frame vs. bolt-on. What a fantastic improvement. I need to swap over the Brooks conquest (sprung) saddle, though.
So we rolled out at 5pm and got camp set up as night fell. The fellas putting in work on stakes:
But, uh, I forgot that we used up all the propane at SSWC2008, and packed the heavy ass bulky ass stove and the heavier griddle thinking we'd have pancakes. So we cooked dinner (Brown Lunch! Lentils, carrots, arugala and polenta. J was super stoked. It's been a while) on the trusty back-up- the Esbit. 1 fuel tab and some twigs. (Even still, I want one of these. Bad.) Feeding 5 people required cooking in shifts.
The coyotes came out around 10pm. We heard them gather, split into 2 separate groups, and go high and low. The moon was about 1/2 full, but it cast so much light you could see well without headlamps. Which is how I lik it.
The coyotes showed up again at just before dawn much closer and yipped and howled us a good morning. The 2nd alarm clock:
We dug a pit this morning, cleared the area around it 3 feet out to bare sand, and cooked old school.
When I put the oil (which ha! I remembered this time) on the griddle I started a grease fire. It was tilted just enough for the oil to run out a corner and the fire jumped up it onto the griddle. Whoa. We needed a spatula (again), so J____ fabricated one out of a Tecate can. This required that he drink a morning beer. He liked it so much, he decided to fabricate another. Pancakes with fresh strawberries sliced into the batter, and some Fakin Bacon.
For those that keep track: I went with the titanium french press.
J and his "contraption" for bug relief:
Good Times. This is so doable, maaaan. If it looks fun, that is because it is. Our total time commitment was from 5pm to 11am. And I made it to work today for my 1pm start. Kickass.
Ready? GO!
6 comments:
you're like a sherpa carrying a pack mule but i understand the reasoning. dummy looks good and tempting. i know kent p. swears by the kettle. maybe you should save and pack the spatula with the esbit. or just keep on drinking. tough choice.
Most people worry about having enough time to squeeze in a ride-mid week but you squeeze in a family camping trip! Excellent!
Very cool write-up. Yeah, Kent P. is a big fan of the kelly kettle, and it's great as long as you're in a place where finding fuel is easy. I too ride a Big Dummy, but man, those jones bars are 'spensive! I opted for on-one mary bars, but I haven't gotten to try them yet, as I'm currently laid up from a skate accident.
What place is rideable and does not have readily available fuel to burn?
The Mary bars are every bit as good as the Jones bars, and much more reasonable.
Of course, there's always the Titec H-bar which is based on the Jones bar, but with shorter extensions (making it a poor choice for a rohloff shifter).
Inre: rideable with no fuel. What if all the fuel is wet? I don't know... I've never used the kelly kettle, though they look really cool. Will they burn wet stuff?
I look forward to trying the Mary bars, though at a recent event (biketoberfest in fairfax, ca) Jeff Jones was there and his stuff IS GORGEOUS. The new loop bar is particularly drool-worthy.
No, the Kelly Kettle cannot start with wet fuel, but it could burn damp stuff if it were already going- just like any fire. You can usually find some dry fuel tucked under brush or in the low canopy, even if it's been raining. I'd consider someplace like a super saturated rain forest a shitty place for touring, so I wouldn't deem it rideable.
You can also bring some Esbit tabs to act as starters for ease of use, and that will help with dampened fuel, too. They are real light, and don't take up space-unlike bottled fuel which retains it's bulk and weight even after the fuel is used up.
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