trunk rack?

[DeniseGoldberg]

I think she means a Mule with a capital M. It is a model of hydration pack...

Ah, and here I thought she was talking about an animal! (I still wouldn't recommend carrying more than water on your back though...)

--- Denise

[SadieKate]

(I still wouldn't recommend carrying more than water on your back though...)

Mtbiking is a bit different. You have to be able to kind of "throw" the bike around underneath you. Your bike can get pretty sluggish if you put weight on it. It really changes the handling to put weight at different points on the bike.

Roadbikes - yes, put the weight on the bike. Mtbikes - weight on the body but not too much.

Nanci, do you use that setup offroad?

Brandi, have you searched over on mtbr.com or bikeforums to see what the mountainbikers are doing? You may be happier with any extra weight lower on the bike like front or rear panniers.

[Brandi]

I will check it out. The mtb site that is. And to clear one thing up. The road we are on is mainly fire roads. Not any tech riding. unless you want to. There is a side route if you are feeling adventurous. But we won't be jumping any rocks or anything like that.

[DeniseGoldberg]

Mtbiking is a bit different. You have to be able to kind of "throw" the bike around underneath you. Your bike can get pretty sluggish if you put weight on it. It really changes the handling to put weight at different points on the bike.

Thanks for the clarification - that makes a lot of sense. Sorry for any confusion I added to the issue with my own confusion! Then I suppose when you're riding a mountain bike off-road it would matter whether you were primarily doing technical mountain biking or riding on a relatively flat surface.

--- Denise

[SadieKate]

Well, I've ridden some, maybe all, of the route Brandi is doing (Telluride to Moab). Yes, it is forest service roads but . . . the year we did it there was freshly laid gravel for the logging trucks. Things got really squirrelly at times. Also, you get any storm damage you'll have a lot of ruts and/or mud to negotiate. No, I wouldn't call this a technical ride but you need to find a kind of happy medium equipment wise. You'll sit on your saddle a lot more than normal for a dirt ride but any washboarded roads can be rough and tiring and force you off your saddle. If you hit any newly graded roads, you could have a fun time also - could be good or bad. This ride is an odd mix and you don't know what you'll get. Weather and the friendly road maintenance crews could be popping up anywhere. The road report was from last week is not a guarantee.

This sounds kind of negative. It's not. This is the only non-singletrack mountainbike trip I go do again in a heartbeat. A spectacular area.

[Nanci]

I wouldn't take my set up, as is, offroad as in on trails. It has too much side-to-side sway unless you are riding very quietly. I think it'd be ok on fire roads if not loaded to capacity. I have a _big_ Camelbak that I've taken offroad, but it's not a current model, and I can't think of what it's called. I'll look when I get home.

http://home.alltel.net/nlevake/Dillbird/dill8.htm If you look at the bottom of the page, it's the blue pack that Dill is in. He's in a two quart Rubbermaid container, to give you an idea how big it is. He's actually in the helmet pouch. (Like, you rode your bike to school/work and carried your helmet in, in the Camelbak.) You can put a 100oz bladder in there, plus there is a whole huge compartment for clothes, plus mesh pockets on the sides, plus some smaller zipper pockets.

You could borrow it, Brandi, if you want. Or I think we have some BA military one we don't use. But big packs like that are quite warm, even though the part that rests on your back has some sort of support/channels for cooling.

Nanci