Wilderness solo three day tour, 1985, on a early Miyata (?) cheap as all get out mountain bike, upper peninsula tour across the yellow dog plains to L'anse Michigan and return on two lane state highways. I mail ordered the most basic set of panniers from Campmor, strapped my camping gear to the bike, and set off into the woods.

Riding in running shorts and jogging shoes (pre-SPD!), i encountered torrential rainstorms, water sluicing down the road, having a pannier jump the rack on a heinous downhill.....truly an epic first tour.

Later that year, in the autumn, me and a buddy rode mostly backroads and logging roads Marquette to Copper Harbor and it was sublime.