Never been there, I stay mostly east coast. I took the Surly on a wonderful multi-day bike trip on the Great Allegheny Passage last Sept. She performed well and carried my overloaded panniers just fine. I'd had a pletscher kickstand mounted on the bike a few yrs back (and I loved the kickstand) but got spooked that it'd ruin the chainstay area so I removed it. On my GAP trip I didn't use a kickstand and it really would have come in handy with my loaded panniers and handlebar bag. I recently purchased a click stand and think it'll do nicely on my next multi-day bike ride this year ... the Katy Trail.