Truckin'

Tomorrow, Saturday I’m heading out on a ride to Fort Collins. Kate is running the Colorado Marathon up there on Sunday, so I’ve decided to take the Long Haul Trucker out for a long haul. My destination is a campground up in Laporte, near the entrance to Poudre Canyon. It should be about 80 miles from home.

My big summer goal is an unsupported, cross-Colorado ride. I plan on doing this around early August so I have plenty of time to get into form for it. As preparation, I’ll be doing the Triple Bypass, which is a one day 120+ ride over a couple mountain passes. I’ll also be doing a fair amount of road races and training. I should be in relatively good shape for the ride, but I want to get in some practice packing and loading my bike and riding under the weight of a lot of gear. So tomorrow will be my first test, and the first true trek of my Surly LHT.

To prep I’ve created a gear list, which admittedly is somewhat overkill for a one night camp out, but one which might begin to resemble the packing list necessary for my cross-CO trip. Tonight I laid out all of the items on my list and weighed them on an old scale we have…one which is not the most reliable but close enough for round 1. I’ll be packing a saddle bag, handlebar bag and 4 panniers. Here’s a run down on the various items and weights of what I’m taking tomorrow.

GEAR	WEIGHT
Me	154 lbs
Surly LHT	31.5
Backpacker Tent	4 lbs
Sleeping Bag	2 lbs
Sleeping Pad	1 lbs
Crazy Creek	1 lbs
Stove and Fuel	1 lbs
Small Pot and Utensils	1 lbs
Headlamp and Batteries	.10 lbs
Lock and Cable	4 lbs
Tools and Tire	1.5 lbs
Personal Items	.5 lbs
Camera	3.5 lbs
Netbook	4 lbs
Toiletries	.5lbs
Clothes	7 lbs
Tevas	1lbs
Food	3.25 lbs
Approx Total	49.25 lbs (packed)

Overkill right? But my strategy isn’t too far fetched. At 80 miles, the ride tomorrow will cover the distance and terrain that I plan to try and handle on the plains when I ride across the state (my big mileage days). I think packing heavy and seeing how it feels isn’t a bad experiment. Sure I’m toting an entire bag of GORP …but I do have a marathon to watch Sunday and all that running makes me hungry. I figure I’ll need to cut some weight on incidentals in the future: lock, Crazy Creek chair, etc. I’ll need to make room for more fuel for the stove, more food, more clothing however I probably won’t have to plan for quite the weather that I fear I may have to contend with tomorrow night.

Even with what I feel is an excessive pack list for a weekend on the road, I didn’t fully fill any of the panniers. So I’ve got room to grow, which is promising yet ominous when I think about pedaling around a big loaded with 75+ lbs of stuff. Nevertheless, I’m in very high spirits tonight looking at my piles of gear. A couple weeks ago I was training by doing Coach Carter's infamous Weights on Bike (WOB’s…the big gear runs up Lookout). Tomorrow I’ll train by doing Weighted Bike…I wonder which I’ll like more in the long run?