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.
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!
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.
Bikepacking for Nerds 
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