michaelbiker

Beautiful ride north of Manly, Sydney. The sound from the cicadas is mental this time of year. IMG_8635.mov

The podcast interview with Kevin Vermaak on escape collective is quite interesting. He goes into quite a lot of detail how the epic started and what it was like at the time. One thing that stood out that is related to this is that for every mountain bike that was sold in 2003, 25 road bikes were sold and that large organised road events were way more common than mtb events. Things have changed dramatically since then with fewer and fewer road events and a ton of mtb stage and single day events. Gravel could go this route too, who knows but if the growth of sales in gravel bikes is a lagging indicator of where SA is headed then there would definitely be a lot more gravel focused stuff.

Two weeks and I am there!

Bought from them many times. They can be a bit annoying sometimes as they don’t always have stock and then you need to wait until the item “reaches the warehouse” but they’re pretty good if they have stock. You can also cancel orders after payment which is great if you get buyers remorse or they are simply taking too long.

These are great: https://www.ravemen.com/FR/FR160.html They are well made and completely hidden under a Garmin out front mount provided it has the quarter-turn adapter underneath. The larger FR300 can be used to charge other devices.

Be careful of using ti bolts for stems or seat post clamps or anything that holds something important together - particularly the no name ones from China. They aren't as strong as steel bolts even if they don't corrode. I have been using them for a while but for things like bottle cages and also for the extra holes in my frame for rack and fender mounts. They do look pretty though.

You haven’t mentioned if you are already a cyclist or not. If you are just starting out then no bib short / saddle / shoe combo is going to shield you from suffering on the bike. It’s kind of a right of passage. There are things you can do to help - good shorts, bike fit, bike that fits, shorter rides etc but at the end of the day you need to build time in the saddle and be quite consistent about it. It gets better though and more fun with putting in time. A bit like any hobby really. I would estimate it takes about a year of consistent riding to get good legs. If you are coming from road to MTB then you’ll be fine. Maybe do a skills clinic if certain bits of trail scare you. Most importantly though, ride as much as you can. Otherwise the bike and equipment will end up on the classifieds here and someone will get a bargain.

Doi Kham, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Thanks Chris. I don’t bike pack that much but I do pack my bike a lot and visit some off-the-beaten-path places - Laos, Thailand, Northern Greece etc. So bike frame material is actually quite important to me from a traveling perspective (light and strong which is why we picked Ti bikes). Off topic but before my last flight I watched a baggage handler literally throw my bike bag on top of my wife’s bag in front of us (each bag weighed 25kgs). I was pretty certain it wouldn’t have survived but there was not a scratch on either bike. Titanium and Evoc cases FTW!

Nobody assumed it was weak. I just don't think it's the right material for this use case.

Excited to try these out next month on my gravel bike! Nothing like being barely in control, with zero grip on single track while in the drops... Pucker factor 10, fun factor 10!

Again for bike packing, weight should be the least important thing. Get something that is well within your total weight limit (bike, human, luggage) - that might even mean an mtb wheel. Don’t go exotic - in other words how easy is it to source spares. Make sure it’s compatible with as wide tires as you can safely fit in your frame. The tires will make more diff on corrugations than the wheels. Oh and make sure sealant is topped up and tire pressure is checked at the start of every day. Most sh*t happens when you ignore maintenance. I just did 8 days through Northern Laos and it was a ritual for our group to do maintenance every evening. Clean and lube chain, clean off mud, check pressures, check brake pads etc. There are no spares in Laos and the roads were atrocious, if your bike breaks and you can’t fix it you’ll need to get on the next bakkie / train / flight home.

Weight with all those bags and equiiment should be the least of your concern. Steel or titanium FTW. Plus you don’t need to worry about wrapping everything in tape. Particularly on a raw ti frame. You can just polish the scuffs out.

Riding next to the highest mountain in Thailand. Such a hard but beautiful route.