Beth Goes Bikepacking

 

My spot on Lake Superior before the storm hit.

Bikepacking has been in my head for years.  But having a business and a dog to take care of pushed it  down on the list as races seemed to get prioritized.  COVID-19 has provided some extra time so this was the year.

Did it matter that I hadn’t camped without having my stuff in a vehicle in over 40 years?  I like the outdoors.   Ride, eat, sleep, Repeat!  Right?

It wasn’t that simple for me.

There were definitely some funny moments and realizations, but I don’t want to candy coat it.  I didn’t make my 2-3 night plan - only making it one night. As often happens – it had some of what I expected but not all.

Route Planning

I’ve been riding CrusherEX courses as my main focus since Covid brought us the various distance ITT format in 2020.  I love it up in Marquette and Baraga counties. I have learned so much riding the CrusherEXs.  Some of the routes have taken up to 38 hours, which got me thinking – can’t I just carry a little more and sleep?  So why not?  Crusherland it is.

For this ride I loaded all three of 2021’s routes in GaiaGPS as well as last year’s 225.  Studying them - I came up with a plan that would be roughly 60 miles per day and also gave me some options if things went haywire. As it turned out – it ended up with 114 miles with 5,237 feet of climbing – the way back was a beast!

Mulligan Plains heading toward Mosquito Gulch

The storm showed up pretty quick

What Worried Me

• Bears disturbing my campsite looking for snacks.  I surveyed several folks on what to carry - bear spray and food hanging gear – as it turned out, I settled for a bag hanging set up and smell repellent zip locks.  Granted none of my friends had ever encountered bears camping in the UP.
• Unfixable mechanical resulting in calling for help.  I really don’t want to bother people with my exploits. I have many caring friends but still – I don’t want them to have to “rescue” or worry.
• Riding slow loaded – I wasn’t sure how it was going to be up in Crusher land - it’s tough riding.
• Weather – Can’t control it but I didn’t want to deal with it.  Weather won.
• Camping in general – I figured it would take me hours each day just to deal the camping part…. (this was true.)

Preparing

I had a bunch of stuff to acquire to make this bikepack thing happen.  I spent tons of time reading articles, watching bikepacking.com videos and reading reviews, and got advice from friends with a lot of experience.  My 100-line spreadsheet kept changing.  I ordered and returned many items – packed and unpacked things many times. Eventually, I realized, that I just need to go with it and figure out what doesn’t work later.

Training

I had a bunch of hours and long events completed before this trip. My fitness was good.  I gave myself a week to recover from the 36-hour 260 mile Point to Point Crusher and then I resumed intervals during the week and started riding “loaded” on the weekends.  Though I thought I could set up my full suspension bike for the bikepack – I had some trouble with the front pack – not really enough headtube length and a tangle of wires. Trying it loaded – I didn’t like the way it was handling.  I quickly realized why my Salsa Cutthroat is bike of choice for so many bikepackers.  It handled better, even with the front roll weight. Still – riding loaded is no joke. It’s pretty hard.  I was actually surprised by that since I do ride with a lot of stuff when doing the long events.

The Weekend’s Takeaways

• Bikepacking Rules – uhmm…. My reflection on the weekend has led me to believe that I have romanticized bikepacking for years. I follow the Tour Divide, I have amazing cycling athlete friends who bikepack.  I don’t know if they stress out and make big spreadsheets like me.  But for me, it’s gonna take a few tries before I find my groove. 
• I can ride loaded! I got to my first night destination at 2 pm. At least 2 hours faster than I expected.  I actually pushed through Mosquito Gulch faster than I pushed it in July – most likely because I had better shoes and it was drier so I took more direct lines.
• Riding versus Camping?  Am I riding to camp?  No. Not really – especially solo.  Maybe if I was doing this with a friend, the camping part would be featured and relaxed.  But I got to my destination too early, and though the Huron Crossing at Lake Superior is spectacular, I didn’t think about other potential challenges – big party spot for locals on Saturday night, sand is unforgiving camping – especially wet sand, sand flies love to get in the tent with you, there’s no privacy there, being on a cliff above Lake Superior is probably not the smartest place to camp with storms in the forecast – oh – right – I had no forecast other than the sky.  There’s no cell service out there.
• Weather! I survived but…. I did not plan for what to do with the wet versus dry stuff.  I didn’t plan time in for drying.  Because my food plan relied on resupply at L’anse and I didn’t have a forecast for Sunday and Sunday night (though the idea of getting a sandwich and finding a  sunny spot or even a laundromat sounded good) ultimately I decided to cut my trip short  and return to Ishpeming.  I am still a bit annoyed about that.
• Navigation - I figured out how to get back to Ishpeming in a relatively efficient (though uphill) way because I was prepared with digital maps.

It was uphill heading south!

Next Time!

• Simpler set up – maybe skip the tent and the stove on short solo trips. Pare down the clothes. The rear weight didn’t bother me at all and I wished I was able to put more stuff back there because the big front roll, though it worked, seemed really clunky.  The fork bags were nice to isolate specifics.  The tent in the bigger one and the cooking set up and other misc. in the smaller one. Carry less!  Unpacking all the stuff at a campsite with no table and sand everywhere – a mess!
• Less time camping – more time riding or find a bikepack friend who is a pro camper.
• Pick a route with C-stores/restaurants/food trucks – I love cooking at home but I’m still on fence about carrying a stove, pot, and foods that must be cooked on a bike - In all  fairness, I had gale force winds and rain at the Huron so my cooking was limited. My little Snow Peak stove is pretty cool. My foil windbreak was my smartest move.
• Get the weather plan on my inreach – this was the main reason I ended my trip.  The Unknown Weather.
• Have a rain plan – upgrade the rain jacket (it was soaked on the back within 15 minutes – Outdoor Research Helium II).  Tarp?  You know what – I really didn’t like being zipped up in my very tiny tent – regardless of the fact I was  “dry”.  Bivy and a tarp?
• Carry a dedicated point and shoot camera. I would have taken more pictures, but I was mainly using Gaia GPS for navigation and taking the phone off the mount is a PIA.
• If I’m riding in the backcountry, I should have real maps also as a backup and know how to read them and navigate with them because I did stress about my phone getting wet (has happened before) and not charging anymore.

So that’s it.  It was an adventure and a cool way to cap off my summer.  Many thanks to K and T for my pre and post trip home and friendship up north.

Ready to Crush You!

Location: Started and finished at Ishpeming, MI

• Bike: 2019 Salsa Cutthroat with flat bar conversion, Lauf trail fork
• Front bag/cradle: Salsa EXP cradle and side loading dry bag 15L
• Seat bag: Revelate Terrapin 8L
• Frame bag: Revelate Hopper 4L
• Top Tube bags: Revelate Gas Tank and Oveja Negra Snack Pack
• Stem bags -Three Toed (now Johnny D’s)
• Fork bags – Revelate Polecat 3.5L and DOM Gorilla bag 5.5L
• Tent – Big Agnes Flycreek 1 person
• Bag – Sea to Summit Spark 40 degree
• Water filtration – Katadyn BeFree (I carried one filled in stem bag and packed a spare empty – used both at camp.  Lake Superior tastes fine btw.
• Route to Huron Crossing
• Route Back to Ishpeming

• 

  The bike set up

  
  

This is Not Your Practice Life - Part II

 

Cliffs Overlook

Life kept rolling after my 2021 100EX July 2^nd.  A good friend turned 60 and all the outdoor “easy” plans changed with rain and the party rolled into my little house.  Like any food service person – I made it all happen.  Truth - it felt harder than Crushering my way around the UP.

Another thing happened that week.  A 65 year old woman, cyclist and outdoors enthusiast, Leah David Lokan, was a killed by a rogue grizzly bear in Ovando, Montana early in a planned 400 mile bike-packing trip on the Tour Divide route.  That just hit me like a ton of bricks.  I didn’t know her, but her age, the fact she was trying another aspect of our sport, bike-packing, after decades of riding - that she was prepared, experienced in the outdoors, wasn’t alone, was camping in a town… Of all the things that might happen out in the wild – being mauled to death by a grizzly, even in bear country, wasn’t too likely.  But she was gone, and I saw myself in that bit of news.  Some of us are lucky to live to a certain age and have the time to “get after it”.  Try new things, challenge ourselves, discover more.   Leah was there – she’d planned, prepared and bam! Gone.

This ride of the Crusher P2P was dedicated to Leah David Lokan. I’m sure her spirit appreciated the beauty of our Michigan Upper Peninsula.  Each day I try to remind myself to be grateful, aware and productive – always learning.

This spring, I also had the pleasure of supporting a local friend, who after 18 months of Covid life blasting her fitness wanted to get back into shape so she could Crush the 40EX with Maria Diekema’s Lakeshore Mountain Biking Sister’s group of first time Crushers. Maria crushes it every week introducing women in Southwest Mi to riding, learning new skills and building confidence on the trails.

Lakeshore MTB Sisters' Stoke!

For me, it was the combo of Coast to Coast 210 and Marji Gesick 50 in 2019 that guided me to Crusher life. C2C is awesome but I thought it was a long time to ride gravel roads (little did I know that 16 hours is nothing.)  Marji Gesick introduced to me to the magic and power of the 906 Adventure team.  Though I have no desire to race the MG100, I thought – maybe the P2P!  So like many of you, I signed up for the P2P in 2020  and then all hell broke loose with a world wide pandemic.  The best thing to come out of the pandemic for me was the shake up of my life (basically halting my business) and the addition of learning I found Up North.  Mainly, the reminder that we don’t have infinite amounts of time to get shit done, learn new shit, and spread good shit to others. 

2020 brought two rides of the 225EX (1^st one fail), a 100EX and 40EX.  But “Race Day” weekend of July last year when the crazy storm happened, and I got stuck in the swamp brings me amazing appreciation for not only the weather of this 2021 version of “Race Day” weekend – but also the community of it.  2020 Crushering taught us self-reliance.  Sure, Todd took pity on me and others and helped us out when things got dire – but for the most part we were out there alone. I rode twice solo unsupported last year and again this year on the 100EX.  No way would I have ever dreamed I’d be confident enough to do that if I think back in 2019.  It’s a Crusher education package. 

I don’t know what got into Todd’s head this year, but he just decided to have a big ole Crusher party.  I’m pretty sure future Crushers should not expect that – but I am really super grateful to have been hauled up to Copper Harbor by my special gang –Crazy Train Tandem – ( Mike Clark, LTP (Linda Thompson Poeder), Molly and Katie to get the full P2P experience.  My gang is the best! Being a solo act like myself makes logistics for point to points particularly difficult so my “team” is extra special to me.

How we gonna fit all dis?

Cinnamon roll head size check on the way to Copper

Trailend Campground checkin

The gang at Checkpoint 2

Despite all the fancy 906 support (Houghton, Arvon -the most out of body experience given the time of day, Dishno burrito – had to skip that since we were drilling for the cut-off) – we still had a good hard ride.  Crazy Train had to dump at 110.  Cramps hit Mike hard.  More adaptation and work has to be done to manage heat and dehydration when you’re old like Mike and me.  But the disappointment was palpable. But Crazy Train loaded up the tandem and stuck it out with Katie, our angelic support, and cheered Molly and I to the end.

Despite me saying that this would be my last event where I had to stay up into a second day.  Both Molly and I thought we improved our staying up skills (granted she’s less than half my age and should be able to ace that arena)!  Never say never – maybe I can stay up and ride better?  Who knows.  No Red Bulls, 5-hour energys or caffeine pills have been partaken yet.  Fearful of heart attacks at my advanced age.

Mt. Arvon Fairyland 

AAA Road breakfast 55 

P2P versus EX?  Definitely EX for me.  P2P is great for those who want a racey feel but there’s too much civilization for my taste.  It’s more of a gravel race til you get to L’anse.  It was dry so definitely an easier year in that regard – as long as you don’t mind sand.  I was definitely looking for puddles when the heat started trying to take me out in the last 15 miles.

Special mention to my BaseCamp training teammates Rhonda Wright, who I heard won the women’s P2P coming to MI from Nebraska and Nate Edel from Minneapolis who completed the 225EX on his trusty Jamis gravel bike sporting 38cm tires (all he can fit).  Ride what ya got and get after it!!

If you like company, whether P2Ping or EXing– always choose to Crush it the “Race Weekend”.  It was so otherworldly to have riders all around after almost 2 years.  And there were awesome support teams out on the course, including ours.  Thanks for all the water – especially the “Hammer guy” who saved my ass twice on Sunday.  I think if I were to do P2P again, I’d have to #belikelisa and ride to Copper.  One of my favorite Saturday moments was on that sandy descent in South Range when Lisa and Tristan rolled down, dismounted, hiked past me and then Lisa says “it’ll be easier to run it” – and off they went running with their bikes to the bottom.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You – 906 Adventure community, Todd, Stacey, Tara, and all the volunteers.  You created an extremely memorable day for us. You are empowering a ton of kids and old Beth to be better versions of ourselves through outdoor adventure.  I’m already scheming my next Crusher trip.  It is still only July after all.  A link to my 2021 P2P ride can be found here.  If stick around town a bit after you crush it, you might be lucky enough to enjoy some true Up North magic through the haze of your fatigue.

The Great Lake in all its glory

 #leahdavidlokan #dontchasepain #dohardthings #rideon #basecamptrainwhereyoubelong #becauseican #crazytrain #algerbikes #wildcardcycleworks #oldbitchesracing

This is Not Your Practice Life

 

“This Is Not Your Practice Life”  (credit - M. Bultemeier 2017)

Here are some notes for all you 2021 Crushers from my July 2, 2021 CrusherEX 100 ride along with some Old Bitch wisdom.  Take it or leave it. You can find my ride and more pics at my Strava.  

My prior CrusherEX experience: 2020, I rode the 225 twice  - first time off course DNF at 118 – 2^nd trip completed w/ my awesome downstate gang. I rode the 40 and the 100 solo unsupported in between the 225s. 

bike and cockpit setup

Unpacking the bike

2021 - What did I run?

·       Full-suspension mtb

·       Maxxis 2.35 Ikon front 21 psi, 2.25 rear 24 psi (same tires as all trips last year – I rode a Cutthroat w/ Lauf and flat bars on the 100 last year and on the 1^st 225 attempt).

·       2 liter backpack – one 28 oz. bottle – one BeFree .6 L filter soft flask for filtering and backup water (didn’t need for back up water). Filtered at Yellow Dog, gifted water at Huron and Outhouse.

·       I packed 4650 kcal – 1000 of that was Tailwinds – there was 1160 left (200 in Tailwinds).  I planned for 17 hours.

·       I carried enough stuff to get stuck out there (cold temp things; SOL bivvy, etc.- DM me if you want a detailed spreadsheet). Because I had no bail out option - meaning friend up there who could find me – my approach is, it’s better to have than have not - as evidenced by the number of riders who bailed attempts in 2020 because they lacked some essential gear item – including their attitude (*credit @rebeccarusch). Being a weight weenie produces limited advantages at CrusherEX - unless you are going for an FKT. Maybe I should get a friend up there just in case I have an unfixable mechanical someday. 

• ·       The 2021 course is stunning – do it. (the 2020 course was also stunning but this is stunninger).
• ·       The toilets at Al Quaal will be locked before you start your 2021 ride.  I’m certain this was intentional. Get your poops out someplace else or start your ride after 7 am.
• ·       It’s “harder” than 2020’s course – but what that means is you get to see all the cool stuff from last year’s 225 without riding 250 miles.
• ·       Your feet will be wet.  If you take your shoes off to cross a river, they will simply get wet on the next two track you find - meaning, giant puddles.  It’s still nice to check your feet and change your socks once (unless you are a FKTer).  I changed mine at Arvon.
• ·       There are cool things to see, hear, and smell – do it.
• ·       You might get hurt – I endoed in the gulch and knocked up my knee a little, but I knew better…..you only get so many of those when you Crusher.
• ·       Embrace the place. Yes! you will spend all day or more Crushing and then you have to find that darn Last Bluff single track trail and get that done before you can ride the half mile to the finish line that doesn’t exist. Ishpeming is a special place.  There are trails everywhere.  They are hidden between buildings and dump out on round-abouts. Come a day early – check out the area. It was just dark when I reached Last Bluff. I walked and pushed my bike a lot while the locals were shooting off fireworks and I could see fast food signs along the 41 strip and ponder what I would eat when I finished.  Ishpeming has this duality of forest in the city.  It was built around piles of rock and the trails were built through it – it’s unique.  It took me 70 minutes to get out to the streets again.  If you are a badass technical night rider – cool, but maybe pre-ride it so you don’t blow your Crusher a half mile from the finish line.

along the way

I intentionally rode the 2021 course the 2^nd day it was offered so I could NOT get intel from other riders. I wanted to experience it “blind”.  I wanted the challenge and I felt since I was familiar with the area, it was safe to do so.  BUT – regardless of how much time you spend looking at other riders’ Strava, prowling the Facebook group or how well your friend says he knows the area and will guide you, there are no navigation shortcuts. As I mentioned – off course, sucks. You can read about mine from last year.  

Yellow Dog

Study the maps.  Zoom in – take notes, make a cue sheet. (I made one, I didn’t refer to it, the mileage will never line up exact. But taking notes helped me remember the potential trouble areas.  I ran Garmin 1030+ for nav, a Wahoo Bolt just for data, a phone with GaiaGPS w track up but not “recording”.  GaiaGPS sorted out any questions that Garmin was asking.  But in some of those spots I knew the area from last year’s 225 so that was an advantage. I also carry an Inreach mini  - which I got after ending up in the swamp for 5 hours last July. Despite all this, I was very nervous before I left on July 2^nd.  That is good.  It meant I would stay alert.

on the way to the outhouse

Checkpoint #3 eluded me. I had the waypoints loaded to GaiaGPS – Dodge City was the only checkpoint I wasn’t sure about. My GaiaGPS showed it was off the course slightly. As in life – it was probably right in front of me, and I just couldn’t see it.  I spent a good half hour hunting until I decided it was time to carry on. As Al up at the Huron Crossing said when I told him I would be disqualified; “If that’s the worst thing that happened to you today, you’re having a good day”.  He was right.  I did have a good day.  I’d like to note that Al is a master at making his days “good.”  He and his wife, Michele, set up a heated hot tub at their camp spot on Lake Superior, Huron crossing. (They are from Vallejo, CA). I looked at it and thought what it must be like to rest in that tub in the dark with the stars and the Great Lake Superior rolling in.

Looking for the bra tree

Michele and Al's hot tub on lake superior

As Marci says; this is not your practice life.  We only get one.  Make it count.  Go have an adventure.  Crusher P2P is my next one. Thanks to Todd Poquette and all the volunteers at 906 Adventure for providing the opportunity. See ya out there.

never stop moving