I’ve packed and unpacked my bike twice now – I’m feeling confident that I have the tools, padding, etc. that I need to pack safely for the trip to and from BCS. Over the weekend, I put the bike together again, mounted all of my bags, water storage, etc. and headed out for a ride through the neighborhood to see how my bike handles fully loaded. As expected, my Bombtrack Beyond+ ADV is a great platform for riding weighed down with racks, bags, food, water, clothes, and camping gear. Unloaded, the bike weighs ~30#. Fully laden with 5L of water, I estimate the loaded bike is ~70#. (Update: 74 pounds / 33.5 kg on my travel scale… yowza.) That’s a lot of weight to move uphill! My granny gear (30×52, 0.58 gear ratio) is going to get a workout on steep climbs.
Over the next two weeks, I’ll be doing a lot of fully loaded hill climbing around my neighborhood. Although North Seattle doesn’t have any long climbs, there are plenty of short, steep climbs, and a few longer sustained climbs such as Golden Gardens Drive, . A few can be strung together for a ride that has very little flat terrain. Too bad the weather in Seattle is likely to be cold and rainy until I depart. The only thing I can’t prepare for is the heat and sun in Baja California Sur.
Bikepacking for Nerds 
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