Is it Spring Yet?
The bush by our front door is covered in red blossoms. They just sort of showed up one day, big and bright. There are yellow daffodils in the neighbor’s yard too, and purple and white and pink crocuses. Spring is tip-toeing in to Portland. I am ready. I have had enough of the winter weather, the greyness and the rain. I have also had enough of resting in one place. I want to get on my Brompton and ride off into the distance. But on days when the clouds part and I can see the still-snow-capped hills, I am reminded that we must continue to wait if we want to ride across the north without camping in snow drifts.
We are trying to be patient, but we are eager and excited about our next trip. Our venerable Surlys sit on the sidelines as we delight in our Bromptons. We relocate the Brooks saddles, replace the handlebar grips and migrate our cycling computers. We take the Bromptons with us everywhere, chatting about them with people at coffeeshops and restaurants and the post office. We have begun to realize that it is simply impossible to take these amazing machines anywhere without drawing attention, and we are reveling in the opportunities to dazzle and amaze as we show off the fold.
I am reminded of how it felt, two years ago, when we were just starting to put the pieces together for our first trip. The excitement, the wishing we could leave sooner, the necessity of figuring out small details like how to pack and what pair of pants to bring. This time around, of course, we don’t have to get rid of an apartment full of stuff. Everything that we are borrowing this winter, we can just hand back over to the friends that lent it. Nor do we have to untangle ourselves from jobs and prepare ourselves, mentally, for living on the road. But we do have to figure out how to pack. And, considering the size and load limitations of the Bromptons, this is a rather big part of the puzzle of our next trip.
Half of the puzzle is simple. On the front, we will make use of the Brompton Touring Bag. We’ve been riding around with these for awhile now and love them. They are enormously spacious and attach easily and smartly to the bikes. After considering backpacks and duffels for the back, we are currently leaning toward large saddlebags, which have the advantage of not interfering (as much) with the fold. The question of what will go inside each bag is still unanswered.
Our goal is to carry no more than 40-50 pounds of gear each, including all the technology and tools and food and camping gear. (This will be a circus-like feat for us, as we had nearly 70-80 pounds of gear each at the end of our last trip, having whittled it down from 140 pounds at the start!) We’re researching all the ultralight everything, trying to shave off a few pounds here and there. A new 3-pound tent instead of our current 5-pound one. A cook set that will no longer include our beloved paella pan. We’re becoming even more minimalist on this trip. And we’re excited about the freedom we’ll gain by severely limiting our stuff.
Our goal is to head back out on the road in mid-May. In some ways, it feels like an impossibly long way off, but I know that it will pass quickly and I shouldn’t dilly-dally over renewing my passport and other such details. As we continue to fine-tune our gear and start plotting our route, we’ll post our discoveries and plans here. And I will keep watching for new signs of Spring and the signal that it’s finally time to get back on the road.
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But on days when the clouds part and I can see the still-snow-capped hills, I am reminded that we must continue to wait if we want to ride across the north without camping in snow drifts.
Ain’t that the truth! Though spring comes early in the valley, it comes late in the mountains. I tried to do a cross-Oregon trip in early May of 2009, but had to resort to Plan B (up to Vancouver) when I realized that I would be dealing with snowed-in mountain pass after snowed-in mountain pass. But don’t worry, late May will be here before you know it!
Wow. 40-50 pounds! If you’re looking for lightweight options, do visit backpackinglight.com and visit their bicycling forum, and browse the gear articles. It’s not cycling specific, but there are guys who hike thousands of miles carrying only a couple of kilos (sans food & water). If you think a three-pound tent is light, there are people making a 6 ounce tarps with twice the living space!
You could also check out http://www.rayjardine.com/adventures/2010-TransAm/index.htm under “gear” for a lightweight guru’s approach to a trans-continental cycling.
Of course it’s all about trading comforts (comfort camping vs. comfort riding), but I think that with your Bromptons, you could probably get away with the touring bag alone (and perhaps lightly filled or empty backpack for excursions). The mostly cottage-industry supplied lightweight gear market has more options than ever, and your trip sounds like the ultimate one to check it out.
I wish you all the best as you pare down to enjoy another great adventure.
Is the Daphne in bloom? One of the most lovely reasons to be in Portland in the spring-time!
Have a wonderful time out there in the world.
Would you mind sharing what you used to replace the grips on your bromptons? We bought ourselves a pair with wedding present money and have been noodling about changing the grips since then, but it would be our first DIY bike project and is slightly intimidating even though it’s simple as such things go.
Thanks!
I, too, am anxiously awaiting to depart on my next tour. In two months and 10 days (June 1st) I fly to San Diego, ride the ACA Southern Tier to Pine Valley then head north on the ACA Sierra Cascades Route until I get back home to Olympia, WA. CAN’T WAIT!!!
I’ve been following your adventures avidly for many months. Having done some touring myself with my bicycling partner, I was amazed to see your comment, Laura, about finding a three pound tent. Ours is four pounds; please tell me what brand of tent it is. I want one!
Best of luck getting ready for your new trip.
Julie
@Andrew our camping gear is fairly light. It is all the electronics (laptop, hard drives, camera, batteries, video camera) that skew our weight. All that stuff weighs in about 15-20lbs. To make the site possible and to be able to work/write from the road, we’re carrying a few things that ultralight folks probably wouldn’t even consider.
So it’s tough. If we were to JUST travel and not share the trip or try to work, we could probably tour with about 25lbs, which would make the hills considerably easier 🙂
I was most anxious to hear how the backpack on the back would pan out as that would be optimum for us. Can you share a bit more pro/con to that idea and why you decided against it? Thanks!!
Derek,
We REALLY prefer to not have our body carry the load. It is doing enough work pedaling all the weight up hills, so we like the bike frame to do the carrying. For us, its just extremely uncomfortable to have a backpack on because of the sweat and additional stress to the back, arms, etc.,
That said, we know a lot of mountain bikers that integrate a backpack in some form. I’m supposing it is mostly a handling and cleareance issue when going over rough terrain. We are typically not going on technical singletrack, so the bike carrying the load is no hindrance to us.
Best,
R
20-25 kg sounds quite reasonable. I wouldn’t really want to go much heavier, though.