Ultralight Bike Touring and Bikepacking (Book Review)

Ultralight Bike Touring and Bikepacking: The Ultimate Guide to Lightweight Cycling Adventures by Justin Lichter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was something I picked up at the public library. I suppose since this isn't the kind of guide you take with you, it is an OK book for a library to have, but I should probably buy myself a copy for reference if I am serious about some overnight rides of any sort. Not sure I am.

The concept here is that most bicycle touring is done in with a "heavy" approach, often with special racks for the front and back that have so-called pannier bags attached. The "ulralight" bikepacker instead uses a combination (usually) of handlebar bag, a slightly elongated bag that attaches behind the saddle, and a "frame bag" that fits into the triangle of space under the top bar - between the rider's legs, basically.

I am sympathetic to this approach mostly because of how my approach to commuting evolved - I used to have these ginormous pannier bags for a back rack on the bikes I used to commute. They were silly large, and from time to time I would more or less find enough crap to haul to/from work to fill them. A lot of weight, and eventually I began to feel they were ruining (or at least not helping) my enjoyment of my rides. I started using a messenger bag and found that if I forced myself to live within the smaller amount of space and made better decisions on what to take with me, it was enough.

This book is advocating much the same approach for longer bike trips of various kinds. The two co-authors (Justin Lichter and Justin Kline) have a light style and there is some amusing stuff about travels in Central Asia - well, amusing for me because I am somewhat interested in that region. Note all of their chapters are relevant for me - for example, "bikepacking for speed and endurance" - eh, not so much my interest.

Anyway, they mention somewhere that packing light and staying away from the heavy bags on the front and back on racks can mean better maneuverability, which seems attractive to me, but also that it can be a better approach for older riders. Amen!

Even though I wasn't equally interested in all parts of this book, it's only about 150 pages so I just read it from start to finish. A nice read.



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In Connection with Nothing in Particular

From a digitized children's book

Jest-nuts by Bridgman, L. J. (Lewis Jesse), 1857-1931
Published 1903
Topics Nursery rhymes
Illustrated lining-papers
Publisher New York, Boston, H.M. Caldwell Company
archive.org/stream/jestnuts00brid#page/n48/mode/1up

Moscow Extreme Weekend Cycling Event

It was a bit chilly for Washington today, but I wanted to test out some different cold weather gear and went for about a 7-8 mile ride in the middle of the day. It was around 18 F or about -8 C - my winter stuff worked OK to keep me warm, but riding back I was a little slowed by a steady cold wind. Ugh.

But this weekend in Moscow there was a winter "Velo-Parade" that was held despite unusually cold conditions there (even for Moscow) with a ride-time temperature of -27 C, or about -17 F. Yikes! I guess I have nothing to complain about.


Poster available to print and post from one of the event organizers, http://i-bike-msk.ru/

There is this story in Russian, from the Russian News Agency TASS. There is a shorter version in English. It says in English, in an example of less than great translation, that the participants were "recommended to be accurate" which in Russian was really something like they were told be careful. Perhaps a machine translation. There were about 500 participants. The "Ministry of Extreme Situations" (which is a Russia national agency for emergency response; basically some EMTs) was at the start and finish, but apparently no one needed assistance. This was the second such "winter bicycle parade;" the first one in 2016 had about 3,000 riders but the weather was more seasonal (again, for Moscow) although of course still below freezing. More seasonally appropriate "bicycle parades" have been organized in May in Moscow for several years, as well as in a few other cities. These events are in support of (Russian) public awareness of cycling and advocacy for more cycling infrastructure. The events are not races but more of a fun ride, although in this case, in rather extreme (for most) conditions. This winter ride seems to have been about 6 kilometers each way, along the embankment of the Moscow river, or (coincidentally) about 7.5 miles, just about what I rode today in (by comparison) almost tropical conditions.


News video from MetroNews.ru (in Russian) of this winter event

Московский Велопарад 2016 from Let's bike it! on Vimeo.

Organizer produced video of the 2016 spring Velo-Parade in Moscow, in late May

The spring ride in 2016 claimed more than 30,000 participants.

Winter Riding

Lucky Run Trail in Arlington VA that was given advance treatment to slow development of ice

This is the bike trail near my house, which is treated to slow development of ice, largely for cyclists I suppose but also helpful for people on foot. (Alas, as a dog owner I am less enthusiastic about this.)

I took this while riding a bike with studded tires, however, so while it is nice, I prefer that extra insurance against falling down. Today is Sunday and I'm not riding, but I am thinking about whether to ride the bike with studded tires or my regular commuter bike tomorrow. The Mt Vernon Trail will almost certainly have some icy spots.

I don't much like falling down. I guess I said that.

Cycling Winter Shoes

After Christmas I decided I needed some new cycling shoes. I saw these online "Giro Alpineduro MTB Shoe" that were $199.99 (or in other words, $200) for a closeout price of $95.99 (or half price, more or less).


No, these don't look like 200 dollars worth of shoes, I guess

Which doesn't include the cleats (the brass thing that attaches to the bike on the sole of the shoe) but I have a bunch of extras, so I didn't have to buy those (for an additional 20 bucks . . . ). And yes, one pair of shoelaces are orange and the other black. They give you two pairs of shoelaces in two colors and the shoes arrive with two different colors of shoe laces on them, so you can swap out one color if you like. Or not.

It will be nice to be able to have a pair of cycling shoes for winter that are OK for walking - the cleats are recessed so it just like walking in a pair of low boots - OK, a pair of low boots that have very stiff soles, which is good for cycling but a little unpleasant for much walking. Still, better than regular road shoes for walking.

Also, it is possible to wear these when riding my winter bike with studded tires that has regular metal platform pedals without taking the cleats off the bottom of these shoes.

The sizing of bike stuff that is sold with European sizes for which the online sales outlets give US shoe size equivalents are amusing - as in, wildly inaccurate. Fortunately people make comments about the items and give good analysis of the sizing problems so I was able to figure out the right size to order - and was lucky that they had any in that size at all since these were a closeout item.

In the 1890s during the so-called bike craze, 100 dollars was a typical price for a good name-brand (say Columbia) bicycle, but then the craze collapsed after 1897 or so and the prices fell considerably. Today if I go to a box store, I can still buy a bike for less than 100 dollars, which is incredible, but it uhm won't last very long - not surprisingly. (And weighs 50 lbs, give or take.) But if I want some good winter road shoes, I consider myself lucky if I get them for the same price that I can get an entire bike for!

Well, sort of. Crazy world.