On day 2 of my tour in the Appalachias, my phone recorded that I hit 55mph on this bike with this load. The bike continues to be incredibly stable when loaded. It was also raining cats and dogs on the downhill side.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2ce33f59f.jpeg

Here’s the record from the phone. I’m not sure I believe that I hit 55mph but that is what the phone recorded. You can actually see that I hit 55 in two places. I never thought about slowing down nor that the bike was unstable.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...789d923f8.jpeg


On another trip, I hit 35mph on this bike with knobbies. The 35mph speed was reached on pavement but the map below shows speeds up to about 30 mph on a relatively rough dirt road.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f7fa67d7c.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...967f38be6.jpeg

I will admit that the mountain bike is a bit less stable than the touring bike. The load is carried higher and I ride it in situations where the terrain is rougher and steeper. This is the result of letting my mind wander.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2fba8aa40.jpeg

I tend to crash more often on the bikepacking bike because of the terrain and road conditions. I’ve only crashed once on my touring bike and that was because my daughter stopped short and I ran into the back of her bike. Bikepacking crashes have a bit more “yard sale” component to the crashes.

You were receiving some benefit of the doubt from a few people, myself included. But with that comment it clears up for me why you really post.

By the way, it looked like a candid picture taken by one of the other tourers. It doesn't appear they were asked to say cheese.

Some campgrounds even put you and your tent waaaaaaaaaaaay over there so that you don’t spoil the camper crowds’ fun

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c34dc733a.jpeg

I might have given them cooties!

Isn’t hypothermic delirium everyone’s idea of fun? I know I can’t get enough of it! Maybe next time I’ll lose a couple toes!

Some of you take yourselves too seriously.

They do look gloomy.

It's a joke based on the expressions on their faces, not an attack on your core existence.

Relax.

Go for a ride.

BTW you can pack a tent in a van, they are not mutually exclusive.

Did I not write that people were nervous? Don’t quit your day job, unless it’s as a comedian.

I truly hope the mods are letting you amass enough rope to hang your self. Then again, I’m sure you don’t care. You’ll just be back as another sock.

It was a candid photo. I usually don’t like it when people pose. I was toting a lot of film camera equipment, including a bunch of medium format stuff.

“Cooties I can handle.”—Mia Wallace, “Pulp Fiction”

Sorry, did not read your dissertation on why they looked gloomy. They just appeared gloomy and a van comment seemed apropos.

Deason on a roll...

Very few of your comments are apropos.

Guess two sentences was too much to ask of you.

And why would a van comment be apropos to a situation where people were there to ride without support? You’re not making any sense.

If y’all are so certain he’s a troll, why do you keep responding? No self-control?

he worst part of being way out in a filed like that is that you are deprived of the steady soporific mechanical hum of the various campers' generators which said campers need to operate TV, A/C, and microwaves ... (because there is no reason camping needs to be any different from staying home.) Those generators are so relaxing ......

It is hard to fall asleep when the only think you can hear is nature.

If you go through life looking to be offended, you'll usually find an excuse.

Because some of us detest restaurants and hotels. Buy enjoy waking up beside a lake or river with the nearest person miles away maybe catching a fish for breakfast
The water bottle that I have for the bottom bottle cage has a cap over the bite valve

Nay. They were all plugged into the grid. I don’t find motorhomes and campers using generators in commercial campgrounds. I did have someone who ran their generator this spring on the edge of the Purgatory Canyon in southeastern Colorado. One of the quietest places I go to and he ran it all night. I wanted to go throw sugar in his tank.

People do lots of other weird crap at commercial campgrounds, however. Had someone show up at a campground in Harper’s Ferry after dark. They set up a very large camper tent with a television. They turned it on and then drove out of the camp. I don’t think they ever came back and the TV went on and on throughout the night.

I also experienced a booty call…at least I heard the results of a booty call…in a tent ghetto in Pennsylvania. I was awakened at about midnight by car lights going past my tent. About an hour later, I heard a woman screaming “Yes! Yes! Right there! That’s it!” I had to get up at about 3 to go to the bathroom and could see the second car at the campsite. About 4 in the morning the car lights went back past my tent and when I woke up in the morning, there was only one car again.

And before someone chimes in here about how I’m complaining, this is all part of the adventure. I remember more details about trips on my bike than any trips I’ve ever done in a car. I remember…like viscerally…a clam linguine meal in St. Charles, MO. Or the famous pig stampede my daughter and I witnessed when she was about 7 or the calf we witnessed being born on the same trip. Or the only 12 year old single malt whiskey that a friend shared with me. Or the bear that ran across a road in New Jersey…the only bear I’ve ever seen in nearly 50 years of tromping, riding, and camping all over the mountains of Colorado. Touring isn’t about what’s the start or the end of the ride, whether it’s on a single day or over weeks, it’s the bits in the middle what happens between point A and point B.

He is in fact that. Easily one of the best I've seen. I ask myself the same thing. Why indeed does everyone pile on his o.p.'s? Even worse, why do you all let him goad you into turning on each other?

I think it has to do with "giving him rope." Up to this point he has eluded BF's IT sleuths. I don't know much about how socks operate but hopefully the more he posts the better chance of penetrating whatever screen he's hiding behind. As to what's going on with his two apologists, haven't a clue.:foo:

IT will not find anything because there's nothing nefarious to find.

Some posters need read posts more carefully. Perhaps they require emojis, as my 12-year-old does, to discern inflection and meaning.

^^^ Being seen as a sock is more complimentary to you than the alternative. :rolleyes:

I actually like the OP's style---somewhat---and I admire his talent for inspiring resistance and fro stirring up controversy between other posters. He is doing a quality job, and I appreciate it.

He is encouraging us to u our games .... helping us to learn how and why not to feed trolls, if nothing else.

Which brings us full circle.

Looking at a loaded-to-the-gill bike does not inspire me to want to try bikepacking. The idea of a "credit card" trip holds more appeal. Perhaps that will change after our trek to Montreal. I do enjoy racking the bikes for an RV adventure.

There is no offense taken, just calling out someone who is posting pointless threads, and trolling. Now, had he on another useless thread, regarding colliding things, said, "Oh, sorry, I thought the image I posted actually had the information on it, but I see now it didn't. Sorry about that. Here is what I am taling about..." Then I wouldn't treat him as a troll. I would say, "No problem, thanks for clarifying." Instead he is either trolling, or simply arrogant and a jerk, and will be treated as such.

If the forum blocklist would actually block threads they start too, most of us wouldn't get involved.

I do competitive cross country skiing. Most people don’t find cross country skiing fun, they prefer downhill.

On some cross country forums, downhillers question the sanity of trekking for miles on long floppy skis. Doesn’t cause a stir. Hmmm. .