Ultralight Multi-Day Mountain Biking

[digaaron]

Greetings all,

There's a story of mine in the latest issue of BIKE mag, "Four Days Wild," about a four-day ridgeline ride in northern Montana that two friends and I took last summer. It was a great ride and we figured out lots of nifty tricks for taking self-contained, multi-day rides on technical singletrack with really light gear. Anyone who wants to learn more about multi-day mountain biking might want to check out the ultralight mtb pages (full disclosure: that I made) Adventure Cycling has up at:

www.adventurecycling.org/ultralight

There's a good discussion on how to pull it off gear-wise, plus a detailed packing list and a photo gallery from our trip. If anyone wants to cut straight to the eye candy, the photo gallery is here:

www.adventurecycling.org/features/ultralightgallery/gallery1.cfm

Personally, I find riding in the backcountry for days at a time to be about the funnest thing there is. And, yes, I know funnest isn't actually word. But it should be. In fact, when they finally get around to actually putting funnest in the dictionary, they should put a picture of a multi-day backcountry mountain biker with it.

I'll attach a few pics from our trip (that aren't in the photo gallery) to show you what I'm talking about.

Cheers,

Aaron Teasdale

[mimbresman]

In the mid-1990's, Ray Molina and I did a similiar 5-day excursion using similar techniques, riding the Copper Canyon in Mexico. It was an awesome experience.

[yon8raps]

I've done a bunch of fully loaded (yes) touring, and recently tried a quickie that would definitely be considered ultra light! Tried to get from Sac to Auburn via the pioneer express trail that runs up folsom lake to the old auburn dam site...carried a small backpack with water filter, beer can alcohol stove, cookpot, light sleeping bag, backpackers fishing pole, lighter and papers. What a blast! One of the big drawbacks to touring with panniers was the process of taking all the crap off to get some real mtn biking in...The lighter the better. As soon as I get my priorities straight, I'm looking forward to a sweet month of forest service roading around the Sierra...In the summer here, you can go very light and stay pretty comfortable.

[rockhound]

I am truly envious...looks gorgeous. I miss being out west.

[phlatlander]

Great stuff Aaron - very inspirational. Though I look at your minimalist gear and wonder, "Where I would carry my beer?" :) I bet you still got a buzz, nonetheless.

[jhl99]

I read the article in Bike. The photograph at the old cabin is something else.

As I recall, the trip was planned to be 4 days, but was shortened because the food supplies where underestimated.

That is one of the pluses and minuses about off-road touring in the eastern U.S.... you can pretty much always find a place to get food because the true backcountry isn't that extensive.

Except for overnighters I'm always hauling panniers--I need to work on that.

[Spalls]

Thanks for the photos - it looks like an awesome trip. I have been working on slimming down the load while backpacking the past few years, but have not applied it to a bike trip yet. I am hoping for this summer...