Say It Ain’t So
The skiing is still awesome, but anybody that’s chatted with Tim or Mickey Spades recently knows that their minds have shifted to mountain bike season. Mickey, whose season has already started, is all abuzz about Borderland this and Bay Circuit that. But all that enthusiasm is mild compared to his jonesing about Little River, which he says I “just have to ride.”
Meanwhile, even though Tim’s still got snow on the ground up in New Hampshire, he’s psyched for biking season too. On the skin track with him, the conversation topics revolve so much around Kingdom Trails, Green Woodlands, Bear Brook, and Franklin Falls that it seems he’d rather be swooping down single track than harvesting the sweet corn the Whites are offering. And then there are his ambitious bikepacking plans.
While I’m still psyched on a ski season that may run through June, I’m committed to the bikepacking (and somewhat intrigued to investigate all the other gems they’ve been riding). As a result, I’ve already been out on the bike several times, trying to log some miles. Most of the mileage has been easy—on local bike paths or on parts of my usual mountain bike circuit in and around the Blue Hills. My primary goal is to build bike-specific fitness so that “surviving” a bikepack with these two speed-demons won’t be that miserable.
The bikepacking objectives have also forced me to start updating some of my archaic biking kit. Out are the non-descript, tired shoes from when I got my first mountain bike in 2004, as it is not clear they’ll survive a multi-day trip. In are some new kicks from 5.10 that Mickey Spades recommended. And while I’d rather be spending money on a new ski setup, I’m probably also due for a new bike helmet.
The thing that has me most excited in all the bike conversations is the DIY approach to bikepacking. For instance, do I really need a new $100+ rear saddlebag, when the kayaking dry bag that the DIYers recommend (and that I’ve been experimenting with) works almost as well? Likewise, long ski straps are perfect for attaching items to the front handlebars; do I really need a bar-specific bag? Next up—trying to build a frame bag. We’ll see how these “hacks” turn out.
