Bike Packing, B.P.R. Style. A Comedy of Bad Decisions

The Judd’s 1st Bike Packing experience? What an EXPERIENCE!

For those of you with ADD or similar issues, check out the summary. For the rest of you, details are below.

The Summary:

  1. If you can’t sleep with the WILD THINGS, don’t try to hang with the WILD THINGS. Don’t understand? Read the details below.
  2. Riding with 30+ pounds of gear (that’s 13.6+ kilos for my metric based buddies) is like riding on the 2nd morning of a 24 hour race. Yep, you start out ‘fresh’ but the additional gear makes you feel as sluggish as if you just put in 140 miles.
  3. Sunscreen! If you’re a gringo – put it on! AND not just on your face, dude. It’s spring. That tender pale skin BURNS!
Ok. For all of you that have some free time and some interest. Here are the details – details that only The Hustorian can document. (Yes Mother. It’s HU-STOR-IAN. On purpose, by demand.)
Just Because:
  1. Just because you are scared of the dark – doesn’t mean you need to pack a 357 and hollow point rounds. Save the 2.5 pounds.
  2. Just because you are scared of the dark – doesn’t mean you need to pack a single person tent and a teddy bear. Save the 3.0 pounds. (Even though $350 says it’s 1lb 14 oz.)
  3. Just because you like to eat – doesn’t mean you need to pack the kitchen.
  4. Just because you like battle axes and knives – doesn’t mean you need to pack an entire set of ‘cutlery’.
  5. Just because you live on Modus Hoperandi – doesn’t mean you need to pack in 500mL of Crown Royal. (Figure that one out, dude.)
  6. Just because you have 3 favorite hats – doesn’t mean you need to pack all 3 hats.
  7. Just because you are a data GEEK – doesn’t mean you need 2 GPS units.
  8. Just because you are a data GEEK – doesn’t mean you need a 7 day supply of batteries.
Riding SOLO:
The events could have unfolded differently if I wasn’t riding solo. But that’s life. What were the other B.P.R. dudes doing?

  1. The Morale Chairman: Hanging in Vegas, trying to raise funds to pay for his bike packing gear. I hope he was ‘lucky’.
  2. The Lt Col: I’m convinced The Lt Col only rides when he is getting paid. Yes, The Lt Col only rides on the weekdays during the work hours. What a life!
  3. Prob-eee: Prob-eee is as Prob-eee does. The HAZING PERIOD is over for Prob-eee. I will say no more. Prob-eee will be treated as an adult from now on.
  4. Rhino: Cruising the Arizona Trail looking for water. I hope he found some.
The Decision to Bail – Decision NOT to CAMP:
  1. Man. Cedro is DRY! I was prepared to build a fire at the camp. BUT I experienced the conditions at Cedro and said “NO WAY JOSE”. I didn’t want to be that dude that burned down the Cibola National Forest.
  2. I got lost. Not really. I could always backtrack with the GPS track. But what kind of man does that? Yeah. I missed a few turns and couldn’t find the trail to my desired campsite. And I wasn’t going to set up camp and party down at the local meth lab.
  3. The Judd’s Pad had: a) cold beer, b) the NCAA tournament.
  4. If I bailed on Saturday, I could return on Sunday for more miles – more miles to find the campsite AND get lost again. (Yes, that happened.)
Lessons Learned:
Eliminate EVERYTHING. The single speed experience is hard enough. Add in 30+ pounds and it HURTS. GET RID OF EVERYTHING! All you need is…. don’t have the answer, yet.

  1. Ditch the 357. If you’re not gonna use it – leave it at home.
  2. Ditch the tent. If you can’t sleep with the WILD THINGS – stay at home.
  3. Ditch the stove. If you can’t live without your SpagettiO’s – stay at home.
  4. Ditch the food. If you can’t live on berries and grass – stay at home.
Mechanical & Equipment Issues:
  1. Damn seat post slipped – routinely. I MUST figure this out. Otherwise someone will confuse me for The Lt Col. That’s right, The Lt Col has the lowrider style.
  2. 1L Platypus H2O containers SUCK! Yep, one started to leak. Screw it!
The Ride(s):
The Rookie Outing: Saturday = 43 Miles
Finding a Campsite – The Day After
Saturday – The Rookie Ride – Wrong Turn at ‘The Y’
Sunday – Correct Turn at ‘The Y’
Sunday – Lost Meadow – Definitely felt LOST – But Wasn’t
The Pics:
The Gear – Way TOO MUCH Gear – But it’s TRAINING!

 

Ready to GO!

 

Just a Sheep and a Tree
Same Tree – Different Day – Different Sheep
 Good Place to CAMP?
Party Down with the Crown!
I HATE Hard Alcohol
Like I said, I HATE hard Alcohol
Drinking Ska brew, eating freeze dried food, watching the NCAA Tournament
In my camping clothes – of course!

 

The Bivy on The Deck
How long did this last?

 

The Planned Campsite – A Day Too LATE!
The Judd thinking… I’m about to get LOST! Again! 
But GPS (a fully charged GPS) saves the day. Again!

 

4 thoughts on “Bike Packing, B.P.R. Style. A Comedy of Bad Decisions”

  2. Hey Mr Cyclebound (Ms? Mrs?), I'm impressed. Great observation. Well, I was planning for a number of hours of quiet time – before the full moon rose and the werewolves showed up. Oh well. Next time I'll take the cliff notes.

    Like

  3. That would be a Mr. I just pulled that book off the shelf the other day and headed out north of Flag for a bit of a ride so it was easy to spot. The picture adorning your webpage is the key to my identity by the way. Hope to see you in Gallup in a few weeks.

    Like

  4. Mr Cyclebound, Mr Photographer. Ok. I'll keep your identity secret. The entire crew will be at Gallup. Ready to roll at 7AM. See you there.

    Like

Leave a comment