Today I started getting the bikes ready for spring. Both bikes had winter tune ups when I returned from Baja. A new set of Vittoria Mezcal 29X2.6″ tires was waiting for Hobbes, so I took off WTB Ranger 29X3″ tires that came stock.b. The Vittoria tires sealed up easily with no real mess once I wrangled them onto the rims.
Frankly, the stock WTB i45 front rim is a bit wide for these tires, but I think that it will be fine for the riding I do. I have my eye out for a set of 35mm internal width rims at some point in the future, allowing me to run even narrower tires when I don’t need the width and suspension of 2.6″+ tires.
I also tried to upgrade to a smaller chainring, but I bought the wrong version and need to wait for a new one to arrive. Next week I’ll have a new 28T chainring, giving me slightly lower gearing. Once the new ring arrives, it will be mounted and Hobbes is ready to ride again.
Finally, I used my REI 20% off member coupon to pick up a brand new 20 degree F quilt, the Thermarest Vesper. It is warmer than either Kammok quilt I own, and it compresses quite a bit smaller, too. I look forward to trying it out soon.
Next up, I have to patch a rip in my tent that I created in Baja…
64 oz Klean Kanteen (w/ 2 Voile straps for mounting below the downtube)
Hydrapak 3L bladder w/ drinking hose (sits in the framebag)
Aquamira Tabs
28 oz cycling bottle (for electrolytes)
Tools & Safety
20’ microcord & 4 Loop Alien line locks
Leatherman Pliers (thanks, John!)
Ottolock & lightweight cable lock
Whistle
2 oz Stan’s Sealant
Altoids tin tire kit – Patches, Boots, Schrader adapter, needles, thread, shoe goo, extra tubeless darts
Racer Dynaplug & extra preloaded plugs (rides in my framebag for accessibility)
Chain Lube
Chain rag
Crank Brothers M19
Extra Tube
Latex Gloves
Pressure Gauge
Pump
Tire Levers
Electronics
Garmin inReach Mini satellite communicator
120V AC dual USB-C charger
AirPods Pro
2x 10,000 mAH Anker battery packs
Fenix Front & Rear Lights
GoPro Hero 11, 4 batteries, charger, & GoPro Tool
NiteCore Headlamp
Kindle Paperwhite
Mini Tripod w/ iPhone and goPro mounts
Cables
USB-C – Lightning
USB-C – micro USB-B
USB-C to USB-C (2x)
USB-A to Apple Watch
Wahoo GPS
Fairy lights (I strung up a short strand in my tent for light. They run off my battery pack, consume minimal energy, and I can trim the strands to reduce the brightness if needed.)
Personal Care
Chamois Butt’r
Dr. Bronners soap
Ear plugs (noisy campsites suck)
Eyeglasses cloth & cleaner
First Aid Kit (ibuprofen, naproxen, immodium, bandaids, leukotape, etc.)
Gear repair tape
Glasses case w/ glasses (to store either sunglasses or prescription RX, whichever is not on my face)
Hand sanitizer
Shit kit w/ The Deuce trowel
Lotion bar
Prescription medications
Pack towel
Suncreen stick (2x)
Toothpaste tabs & travel toothbrusth
Wipe pucks (lightweight and compact, they rehydrate with a few drops of water for your face, body, or butt.)
Everything that’s going with me, except clothes, the 3L Hydrapak, and the Lezyne pump. The light green bag (top, left of center) and purple bag (top left) are food, the red bag (bottom left) has personal care items.
The past six weeks have been a whirlwind. I’ve been from Seattle to Orlando, Atlanta, Seattle, Mountain View, Seattle, San Diego, and back to Seattle. There hasn’t been much time for biking.
I did sneak away to ride part of the Teanaway River Link Up in mid-September. The winds were challenging, as were the climbs, but the part of the route I did was worthwhile. I learned a lot about how my bike handles with a full load.Overall the fit and ride were dreamy – I was comfortable during two days in the saddle. There may be minor tweaks in the future to the fit, but nothing significant.
Bikepacking the Teanaway Community Forest
Since then I’ve been refining my camping kit and rethinking how and where I store things on the bike. I’ve purchased a Rockgeist Loop Bar Harness – my original plan didn’t work out, so I didn’t carry anything on my handlebars during the Teanaway Link Up.
Looking at the size and weight of the tubes that came with my bike I realized they are twice the weight (almost 450g) and size of a Schwalbe SV19F tube. I replaced the spare tube mostly for the space savings. Riding a small frame mountain bike means I have limited framebag space. With a 3L Hydrapak Seeker bladder in the framebag, I can now fit a much smaller tube and mount the Lezyne Micro Floor Drive HV pump inside.
I have also spent time thinking about my packing strategy. I always overpack for bikepacking trips. I need to reduce the volume and weight of my gear, especially since so much never gets used! I’ve trimmed down my clothing for Baja to a little more than half of one 13L Rockgeist Microwave pannier, leaving the remaining space for toiletries, and first aid. The other pannier will primarily serve as a food bag, with the hydration kit (filter, 2x 2L empty Hydrapak bladders, etc.), and an electronics kit (Kindle, battery pack, cables, 120V USB charger, GoPro charger, headlamp). Ultimately, I’ll try to balance the weight left to right in the pannier bags, nothing is fixed in place.
The heavier food, such as bagged cooked beans, peanut butter, etc, will sit on a fork leg, with the cooking kit on the other fork leg. My cooking kit consists of a Snow Creek Titatnium Mini Solo, Trangia alcohol stove, Firebox Nano X Case Kit w/ stainless grill grate, Toaks titanium cutlery, and a pair of titanium tongs. This set up allows me to cook over the alcohol stove using the Firexbox as a windscreen, or with sticks, twigs, or charcoal to build a fire inside the Firebox Nano to boil water or grill on top of the fire. Or I can just make a fire because I want to sit by the fire and enjoy the evening.
Finally, I’ve made a few route updates. I met a former bike industry executive through Facebook. She lives in Todos Santos and has offered me a place to stay for the night with a shower and hot breakfast. Bonus: She runs a dog rescue… lots of cute doggos!
My proposed route, starting from San José del Cabo working clockwise. Each color represents a planned riding day.
Second, I’ve decided to cut out the trip to La Paz, saving myself ~30 miles of highway riding. Instead, I’ll route from el Triunfo via Los Divasaderos to La Ventana, where I’ll spend two nights to get cleaned up and restock the bike. I found a cute AirBNB there which should be perfect for my needs. Then I’ll to Enseneda de Muertos (it has been renamed by entrepreneurs as Ensenda de Sueños to appeal to property buyers…) for a night, before starting down the coast past Los Barriles, through Cabo Pulmo, and back across the mountains to San Jose del Cabo.
My new bike arrived from The Pro’s Closet in late August. For months I had been eyeing the Bombtrack Beyond+ ADV. When I saw it on sale for 50% off MSRP, I couldn’t pass it up.
Since receiving the bike, I’ve built it up with a mix of on-hand and newly purchased parts: 1
I’ve ridden ~50 miles or so, including about 7 miles of trails at Big Finn Hill / St. Edward State Park. The trails were a blast! Riding on 29X3″ tires reminded riding BMX bikes on the dirt trails along Cypress Creek, jumping makeshift jumps, riding up, down, and around dirt berms on the edge of our developing neighborhood. This is going to be fun!
List updated 11/17/2023 based on changes/additions since initially writing this post. ↩︎
Bikepacking for Nerds 
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