All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

Blackbird looks really nice with that ADV style SW Motech luggage. Never would have thought those styles would work so well together. The black doesn’t hurt.

 

The luggage works great, and makes the bike perfect for multi-state jaunts, but man, the fuel economy plummets with that flat-sided luggage in the wind.

 

Why the eff am I obsessing over this?!


https://bikepacking.com/event/rockstar-va-2019/

 

Because Harrisonburg is amazing.

really though I’ve been tossing around the idea of doing the SM100

 

I would love to try a long ride like that....
May take my buddy up on his next gravel grinder offer... just because... 40-50 miles is typical for them I guess....
Id have to use my Salsa....

 

Anybody out there in Bikes and Tacomas land ridden in Duluth? We are going to be in Minnesota around Memorial Day for a wedding and trying to decide if it’s worth combining with a bike vacation. Would probably fly/drive/rent. Though I could be talked into driving from the Left Coast. We are intermediate trail/XC riders, prefer rough natural terrain, no jumps or big drops but like flowy stuff too, used to climbing but wouldn’t turn down a lift.

 

By the way, since it’s the “giving season”, all of you Bikes and Taco’s folks who ride in Santa Cruz, or plan to, we’re working on a pretty awesome new trail in the Demo Forest. But of course, building trails costs money, so there’s a fundraising program here:
https://mbosc.givingfuel.com/mbosc-return-of-sawpit

The terrain is similar to the existing Braille and Flow Trails in the Forest, but the plan is to make a trail that is rougher and more natural than Flow, yet more sustainable than Braille. I’ve seen parts of it and it will be awesome. Volunteer Dig Days coming up, and always (well, usually, check the website www.MBoSC.org first) work crews there on Fridays for drop-ins (see what I did there?).

 

Three years ago I drove to SLC with the bikes (California to SLC via Massachusetts, but that’s another story) and met up with my wife at the airport there, and we rode in Montana and Wyoming. Been to Moab and St George several times, but Park City and of course Colorado are pretty tempting. But it’s a lot of miles, and my wife/riding buddy has limited time off work so she doesn’t like to waste it on the Interstate.

 

Mototote is an awesome product

 

I'm going to offer no real input for biking, so ignore the rest if you'd like, but I went there on a work trip once and I have to say Duluth is one of the coolest cities I've ever been to. Just based on the amount of things I came across in my short time in the city/tourist areas, and the terrain of the city in general I HAVE to believe the biking there is awesome.

 

If you're a Garmin or Strava member, you can use their heatmaps to find areas to ride. I use them often when traveling to create/select routes used most frequently by the locals. You can break it down by use type; running, trail running, road cycling, mountain biking, gravel cycling.

 

I see your 270 mile race... and raise you another 280:
https://www.transvirginia.org/grand-depart/

I recently added both events to my bucket list, but will likely start in smaller chunks. I just built my first dedicated bikepacking rig, as well, so I think I need to do this in baby steps...lol

Great breakdown of 50-80 mile segments you can do at your own pace:
https://www.transvirginia.org/trip-itineraries/9-day-camping-itinerary/

And, if you're REALLY baller (or just plain nuts), you could always add the TransWNC to the mix for another 314 glorious miles through Western North Carolina to Georgia:
https://bikepacking.com/routes/trans-wnc/

 

This girl I know just did the trans Virginia...and then the massanutten ring in the fastest known time for a female which is like 70 miles sketchy AF trail up the massanutten mountain. Crazy! Haha

 

Awesome. I’m training for BC Bike race next year. Bucket list ride

 

Bikeflights! Or just rent one in PC. I'll come get you from the airport. Depending on time of year we could hit Northern Utah, Idaho, Colorado, or the red rock parts of UT.

 

She sounds like a badass! Good stuff.

My current top cycling hero is actually Alexandera Houchin who rides everything on a singlespeed with full beast mode engaged. She sounds a lot like your friend:
https://bikepacking.com/news/alexandera-houchin-2019-tour-divide/

 

Im switching from Jeep Liberty CRD to a Taco soon. I'm definitely all about the bikes and bike trails. What racks do you all like? I have the spareMe2 rack now. Probably would want to sell it to another Jeeper and get a hitch mount rack to carry the bike(s) Then i can also put it on the pop ups bumper too.

 

Tailgate pad

 

Tailgate pads and 1up racks for the win.

Seriously, though, the quality and simplicity of the 1up racks are simply unbeatable IMO. Worth very penny.

 

Interesting. I was planning on keeping a tonneau cover over the bed most of the time.