Author: Bike Hermit®

Interbike- Part 1

Post author By Bike Hermit®
Post date September 8, 2014

Interbike
OK time for the annual Interbike trade show in Las Vegas and for my annual rant about the bike “industry”. Why is every bicycling publication, product and advertisement focused on performance? I logged into my show planner on the Interbike website to search for products and companies in the Navigation/Maps/GPS category since that seemed like a logical place to find gear for bike touring.
Here is a pic from the Bike Computer page on the website of one of the leading GPS makers:

Another maker calls their GPS computer “the perfect companion for any professional athlete in training”. What? Talk about a tiny market segment.

I’m sick of being insulted by every publication and company that tells me I need to climb faster and ride stronger and hammer out of the saddle every time I get on my super light, super stiff road bike and to fly through the air every time I get on my full suspension 29’r mountain bike.
What sort of “industry” is so myopic that they think they need to sell the same stuff, with a few tweaks to make it shinier and/or lighter, to the same people over and over again? How does that grow the market? I still think road racing is a beautiful sport but allowing the racing tail to wag the cycling dog (I didn’t make that up. I stole it from somebody but I can’t remember who) is a disastrous mistake and only serves to intimidate potential bicycle riders and to scare them away from bicycling.

For many years, Interbike- the annual bicycle trade show, was held in Las Vegas at the Sands Convention Center, which is sort of a dump. No food or beverages could be brought in so a person either had to walk to one of the adjacent casinos to eat or buy some junk food at the concession stand in the venue. We always stayed at the Imperial Palace Casino because they had the best rates for show attendees. The Imperial Palace has to be one of the oldest casinos on the strip and it is a little run down- the original main entrance is now basically off an alley and the original lobby is completely abandoned. Now the main entrance is what was probably a side or service entrance into the casino back in the day.

The new venue, as of 2013, is the Mandalay Bay and attendee lodging is at the Excalibur. These are newer casinos at the south end of the strip. It’s a hike from one to the other but one that can be made while remaining indoors. The new venue has an outdoor food court, which actually has good food, and a beer garden which last year featured Sierra Nevada Brewing. Much more better! Bike Touring News will be attending again this year as “Working Media”. It sounds weird to say that, but a blog is media these days. And it is definitely work.

Our focus this year is on bikepacking and everything related. While the Bike Hermit is quick to point out the negatives in any situation, there are some people and companies who are going against the trends and against the big players. The suppliers we will be visiting at the show include:
Euro Asia Imports
Old Man Mountain
Revelate Designs
Lone Peak Packs
Ortlieb
Other suppliers who won’t be in attendance but who distribute quality, sustainable products (which we sell) are:
Peter White Cycles; Peter White is the guru of dynamo lighting systems and battery powered headlights and tail lights from Germany. (My rant about blindingflashingseizureinducing bicycle lights is for another post)
Merry Sales; Merry Sales distribute Sugino, Nitto, Ostrich and Interloc Racing Design (IRD) products among others. This t-shirt sums up this post nicely I think-

Bike Touring Tips

Bicycle Route From Boise to Mountain Home

Post author By Bike Hermit®
Post date August 11, 2014

When asked how to get between Boise and Mountain Home on a bicycle without riding on I-84 and without riding the Old Oregon Trail, which is dirt road, I haven’t been able to give a good answer. Until now.
From Bike Touring News to the eastern most exit off of I-84 it is 14 miles. Take Federal Way south past Gowen Road to Memory Lane and turn right to the freeway Exit 59B. Actually, this route does mean about 8 or nine miles on the freeway, but the shoulder is wide and smooth and rumble strips divide it from the traffic. Ride to Exit 71 Mayfield Road. Turn left across the freeway to Desert Wind Road. Turn right and follow Desert Wind as it becomes W. Tilli Road. Turn right on Ditto Creek Road which crosses I-84 to the junction with Old Oregon Trail Highway. Turn left and parallel the freeway into Mountain Home. This is not the most scenic route in the world, but it will get you to Mountain Home and from there Old Highway 30 takes you to points East.

Tags Bike Touring, Lifestyle, lightweight touring, Planning, Traveling

Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route

Bear Pete Trail, Idaho Hot Springs Route Secesh Option

Post author By Bike Hermit®
Post date August 6, 2014
4 Comments on Bear Pete Trail, Idaho Hot Springs Route Secesh Option

So we found the Bear Pete Trail and rode it. Here’s proof.
Watch for the new page with links to posts with current-ish conditions of these routes. The page link will be in the right column.

Bear Pete Trail from Aileen Frey on Vimeo.

Idaho Our Trips

In The General Vicinity

NO WHINING
My initial response to this misery is to put the blame on someone and then to either make hurtful comments to that person or pout; preferably both. This is not the way I had wanted to go. My route would have been much easier and would have involved effortless pedaling through be-flowered high mountain meadows with cool breezes at our backs, and butterflies. Instead we have been climbing on a dirt road for the last six miles and we still have two more miles to the summit.

Also aggravating me is the thought of the person I hold responsible- Sky King- sitting at the top right now waiting for me and almost certainly judging me for my lack of restraint at the Salmon River Brewery last night. They had barley wine. What was the Bike Hermit™ supposed to do? I am stewing at the top of the pass where we stop to eat lunch. I want to whine and to express my temper, but nobody else is complaining and so I keep it to myself.

It is looking less and less likely that we will make it to the Bear Pete trailhead today. The Bear Pete Trail is a 15 mile section of the 172 mile Secesh Option of the Idaho Hot Springs route map put out by Adventure Cycling Association. Adding to my frustration is my self imposed expectation of responsibility to the thousands of faithful readers who depend on this blog for all their bike touring news. I want to report the actual conditions of this trail, especially since we have been told by a local that it is almost un-rideable even with an unloaded mountain bike. The people at the McCall Ranger District of the Payette National Forest were very helpful and were able to tell us where crews had been and where they were currently working to clear downed trees from the trail.

MORE BIGGER TIRES
The more bikepacking I do the more I am convinced that three inch tires are the way to go. On this trip we are four people; two riding Surly ECR bikes with 29×3″ tires, one on a Salsa Fargo and me on the Big Dummy with three inch wide tires. You’ll have loose gravel and sand, boulder strewn singletrack, and off piste corrections in bikepacking and those sectors are smoothed out with bigger tires. Lack of traction also becomes less of a limiting factor. The disadvantage may be on paved sections but lately our trips have been mostly in the backcountry on “varied” surfaces. That said, the 29×3″ Surly Knard tires on the ECR roll surprisingly fast.

bike for bikepacking — Surly’s ECR 29+. The three inch tires are fast but they still give plenty of traction and comfort.

surly big dummy for touring — The Surly Big (fat) Dummy with Rabbit Hole rims and 26 x 3 inch tires

We camp in the puckerbrush on the northwest side of Granite Lake, about a mile down a single track trail, where we are protected from the RV campers. After setting up camp we ride a half mile further along the trail and discover a broad meadow with slow moving spring fed streams where we filter water into our bottles and bladders for the next day. Some sort of horned beast walked through our camp in the middle of the night; two of us heard it snorting and clomping around on the granite outcroppings.

picture of bike and bottle cages — Salsa Anything Cage with Surly Junk Straps and Revelate Designs Mountain Feedbags doing extra duty for collecting water.

FAILURE AS AN OPTION
Two of us decide to push ahead the next day on the trail to Upper Payette Lake and maybe beyond to the Bear Pete trailhead, while the other two return to McCall the way we came yesterday. Soon- and this may come as no surprise to those who have been bikepacking with me- we were lost. The “trail” we had been following was only intermittently visible but was marked at intervals with two or three rocks stacked one on top of another. And the bigger downed trees blocking the way had been sectioned, creating passageways through which we could wheel the bikes. The trail shown on the forest service map I carried worryingly indicated a different bearing than the trail we were on, but there was no sign of another trail. We arrived at the top of the drainage where a great granite blister of the Idaho Batholith blocked our passage and we turned back.

front of bike — Bikepacking 101 with Revelate Designs and Salsa Anything Cages

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT
Being lost and disoriented is unnerving. Even though all we had to do on this day was follow the stream back down to the main trail, I still could induce a minor panic if I let myself. That’s why, when I was back safely in front of the computer and found the Adventure Cycling GPS files page for the Idaho Hot Springs Route, I immediately downloaded the files and the apps for my Droid phone. The app for Droid is called Locus (there is a free version but I splurged for the Pro version for $8.75) I used Dropbox on the phone and the computer to upload the files and it was ridiculously easy. All the instructions are on the Adventure Cycling page linked above.
Now that I have a backup for the map I feel a little more confident about trying some more sections of the route. This is some rugged, remote and unforgiving country. A small mistake can turn into a large problem and I might as well take every available advantage. I will still take my paper map and $13.00 compass though.

Please remember we carry bags, racks, tools, components and complete bikes for bikepacking and bike camping at the Bike Touring News Store

Bags/Panniers/Racks Handlebar Bag Saddlebags

Ostrich S-2 Saddlebag

Post author By Bike Hermit®
Post date July 22, 2014

The Ostrich S-2 saddlebag is a traditional canvas saddlebag meant to be attached to the loops built into the rear of most leather saddles. These are made in Japan; “Excellent Equipment of Pack and Carrying Gear for All Cyclists at Heart” Nice! It has been discovered, although not by me, that this bag also fits on Jones Loop Bars as if it were made for them.

saddlebag on bike — The Ostrich bag is self supporting.

These Top Straps are Handy for the Odd Jacket

handlebar bag — The Ostrich S-2 works brilliantly with Jones Loop Bars

Podcasts

Around the World on a Bicycle; An Interview With Leana Niemand

Post author By Bike Hermit®
Post date July 17, 2014
1 Comment on Around the World on a Bicycle; An Interview With Leana Niemand

Leana Niemand has ridden her bike in more countries than most people will ever visit. She started in South Africa seven years ago and as she says “..once you’re on the road, there’s just no reason to stop” Bike Touring News caught up with her in Boise last week and recorded our conversation to create the podcast which you can listen to by clicking the player icon at the bottom of this post.

We were impressed with Leana’s unassuming and relaxed demeanor and were a little surprised by her uncomplicated approach to touring. Hopefully we asked the questions other tourists and would be tourists might have about traveling in other countries and about what it’s like to travel alone. This episode is about 40 minutes long. By the time you read this I hope to have this and other podcasts in the iTunes directory so it will be easier to listen to on other devices. The iTunes podcast channel will be called “Bike Touring News Podcast”.

Advocacy/Awareness

Idaho Hot Springs Maps

hot springs and mountains — Snakepit Hot Springs, Idaho.
Photo by Casey Greene

Adventure Cycling Association has recently released their Idaho Hot Springs Maps. There are two maps; the Main Route which describes a 517 mile loop beginning and ending in Idaho City and the Single Track Options map which outlines about 227 miles of optional loops off the main route. The main route is divided into a sort of figure eight with the inclusion of the Lowman Cutoff. There is a spur into Boise for those who want to start and/or finish in Boise. Like all Adventure Cycling maps, these are well researched and very detailed with easy to follow cue sheets and descriptions of conditions to be expected. As of this writing we only have one complete set of the maps available in the Bike Touring News store but will be getting more- these have been popular!

Adventure Cycling Association also pioneered the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route which is popular on the bikepacking circuit, and from all the response we’ve seen, the Idaho Hot Springs route is going to be as popular or more so. We’ll try to get some reports from people we know who have done the hot springs route or portions of it. If you have experience with any portion of the route please share it in the comments and/or send us a link if you have an online journal you would like to share.

Crossroads Music

Little Jimmy Scott

As I write this I’m listening to David Byrne’s song Heaven as interpreted by Jimmy Scott. Jimmy Scott passed away Thursday, June 12, 2014. He was 88. This article at theguardian.com highlights five of his performances and gives a little bit of background about his life and career. I became a fan of his during his second career and so I guess I might be accused of being a Jimmy Scott hipster. I’m always mystified by his phrasing and by the way he can completely transform a song and make it his own. At first I thought the same pianist played on all his later recordings because the accompaniment is inspired, but when I researched it I discovered that he recorded with Michael Kanan, Junior Mance, Renee Rosnes and others- all great pianists, but it’s interesting that when playing with Jimmy Scott their playing is transcendent while still completely in service of the song and the singer. The only conclusion is that Mr. Scott himself was the inspiration for these players during the sessions. Rest In Peace, sir and thank you for the music.

Cockpit Handlebars and Stems Touring Bike Components

Jones Bars

Journalism is a tough business. Those not involved don’t understand the sacrifices reporters make in order to enlighten and entertain them. As an example, I could not get the wi-fi connection to work at the Woodland Empire brewery and I had to walk almost 200 feet to Pre-Funk tap room in order to find a decent connection. Somebody’s got to do it though.

It’s always encouraging to me when I talk to an entrepreneur who has been involved in the bike business for a long time and is still so excited about what they do that they will talk my ear off about their product or service. Channing at Old Man Mountain is one example, as is Chris Kostman at Rough Riders- Any Bike Anywhere (Chris, why are there no new blog posts?)
Jeff Jones has to be included in this company.

He is an iconoclast who developed his own line of bicycle frames and what may seem like a somewhat unconventional handlebar; The Jones Loop H-Bar®. Surly Bikes even commissioned an extra long version of the bars from Jones for their ECR, Troll and Ogre bikes. We have sold several sets of these bars and are currently experimenting with them- the Bike Hermit has them on the Big fat Dummy and Sky King has them on the ECR.

We even installed them on a Surly Disc Trucker, an experiment which revealed that bar end shifters fit.

The other interesting feature that has become apparent, thanks to friend Wendell, is the ability to annex bags ostensibly made for saddlebags, as seen in these photos:

handlebars and bags — Jones Loop Bars, Revelate Designs Harness and a Salsa Minimalist rack.

The astute reader will notice that in most of the photos the ends of the bars have a thick foam grip. These are ESI grips for the Jones bars and they come in two lengths; 6.25 and 8.25 and two thicknesses; Chunky and Extra Chunky. Surly chose to not use the matching grips on their bikes…an oversight I hope is remedied in the next production run.
Some of the pictures also show padded tape wrapped around the welded junction of the loop part of the bar. This turns out to be a fine alternative hand position with these.

Two widths; the original 660mm and the Surly inspired 710mm. Two colors; black and silver. Aluminum or titanium. One clamp size; 31.8. Mr. Jones doesn’t allow us to sell them online but if you are in Boise, we have them in stock. Otherwise, order from jonesbikes.com

Frame Bags Saddlebags Touring Bike Accessories

Revelate Designs Frame Bags for Bikepacking and Bike Camping

Post author By Bike Hermit®
Post date May 15, 2014

Bike Touring News carries the full line of Revelate Designs products (when we can get them; these things are popular and, since they are all made in the US on a relatively small scale, sometimes they are out of stock). We are also one of four Authorized On-Line Dealers in the U.S.
Revelate Designs “are innovators and builders of the highest quality bikepacking and adventure cycling gear available anywhere. Alaska born and 100% Made in USA“. This is bike gear that is designed for rackless lightweight touring, bikepacking, bike camping and expedition touring. Many customers use individual bags, such as the Mountain Feedbag or the Gas Tank, to complement their traditional pannier setup for touring.
A couple of years ago I wrote this blog post featuring Eric Parson’s trip on the Lost Coast of Alaska in 2008. Eric is the founder of Revelate Designs (which was originally called Epic Designs).
Last year at Interbike in Las Vegas we spoke to Eric and recorded this interview:

In this video I describe some of the features of the bags and talk about how they are designed to fit on the bike. The benefits of the modular concept of this system become apparent when one starts combining bags to create a bikepacking setup; the various bags fit without interfering with one another, plus bags can be removed or added depending in the length and/or duration of the current trip under consideration. And- this is where Eric’s structural engineering background becomes evident- the incorporated stiffeners and straps create a very solid and sway free coupling to the bike.

For people with bikes which are not designed to be fitted with racks, Revelate Designs frame bags can be a good way to increase the bike’s usefulness. Even those with a traditional touring bike and pannier arrangement can always use another place to store food, electronics, jackets, sunglasses, etc.