The tires that i was using are good in mud. the problem was that the clay surface was pretty hard except for a thing coating of wet clay. The wet clay just slid on the harder clay under it. It was rather like riding on black ice that has a thin layer of water on it. Very tricky. Fortunately it was not that long of a stretch.

I was mostly joking about the studded tires but i did think that if there had been kilometers of that surface the studded tires might have been handy to have.

Cheers

That won't keep kickstarter from trying!

Agree to disagree. For me not to get thorn flats or pinch flats in the last 5 years I would call game changing. As well as riding through deep( to some degree) snow and still be able to pedal. Not science fiction but not on a bike yet. If these are marginal what would you call breakthrough? The fat tires have open up whole new seasons and exploring possibilities not possible prior. Cycle to the North Pole anyone? beach, desert, mud and such?

I went straight to tubeless on my new used fat bike. Orange Seal, rim strip and one layer of 78mm tape. No leaks. I wish all tires were that easy to remove and install. While not on the level of the iPhone, it certainly is a leap in technology that brings mountain biking to a new level. I really hate falling off my bike, and anything that helps in that regard is a great advance.

Until I was in my 20s, a phone was something attached to a wall and a cord and didn't do anything other than voice dialing. If someone called and you were on the phone, they got a busy signal. If you weren't home, you had no idea that they had called or what they called for. You had to pay extra to call someone outside of your immediate vicinity, and you had to spin a rotary dial to enter the number. Also, you had to remember all the numbers or have them written down somewhere.

Now I have in my pocket not just a phone, but a small touchscreen computer with access to pretty much the whole sum of human knowledge. Can communicate by image, voice, or text; synchronous or asynchronous. Plus run a whole host of computer programs, take pictures, take videos, scan bar codes, map my location on the surface of the earth and give me directions wherever I want to go. Stores all the contact information for everyone in my personal list, and can access same for just about anyone else who wishes to be available and some who don't. Oh, and most of the time it's completely wireless and I can take it just about wherever I want.

That's a breakthrough.

Agree silly to argue, though; we're just quibbling over the semantics of how big a change needs to be before you call it a "breakthrough."
I'm going to guess you're 30 or less. Live a little longer, you'll see some breakthroughs.

I must confess that I like quibbling, when the implications are worth it.

Innovation specialists make a distinction between incremental and radical innovations. Radical innovations render prior art obsolete. Incremental innovations make prior art better. A big difference.

So, one way on considering the future of cycling would be to ask -- what will make (touring) bicycles obsolete? Or touring (on a bicycle) obsolete.

Another way would be to ask -- what will make (touring) bicycles better? Or touring (on a bicycle) better? (the first question focused on equipment, the second on the experience)

I haven't begun my touring days yet, but I like to picture myself as an old man riding a beryllium-frame bike with an e-Rohloff and a cargo trailer-drone following like a lemming.

30? Add 20 + years. I thought the discussion was about the future of touring bikes not phones. Incremental, major, revolutionary? How to classify? For bike packing and off road touring, I would say Fat bikes, and tubeless fatbikes are a major break through tech wise. And and until you have ridden one you won't know. IMHO. Able to ride on sand and snow. Opening up vast uncharted areas for exploring. The path not taken before.

It was the cheaper tents that had no problem and my lightweight tent that broke. The pole was just not strong enough and it snapped. Cheaper heavier sturdier poles survived.

Interesting that such a simple concept as bigger wider tires could have such a big effect on cycling.

People still wander off in the backcountry to camp in the middle of nowhere in a one person tent on their backs, despite the fact that that we have everything from primitive campsites with nothing but a fire ring and a pit toilet that you can pull a car up to all the way up to five star resorts that they could use.

So long as bikes are allowed on roads, I don't see it changing.

Most cheap tents I've seen use brittle fiberglass poles. When I was in Iceland, all the locals used this style of tent - I thought they were insane.

No, they were experts at properly staking and guying out their tent walls, and placing their tents in the hummocks of hills or near a sparse treeline for a windbreak. I never saw one collapse.

Did you use all the guylines? Did you orient the tent's sloped side into the wind? Did you have everything taut or was there flapping? I have seen ultralight tents from Big Agnes survive some serious wind. I was in one!

I didn't talk to the other campers since a lot of them packed up and left right after the storm, all I recall seeing was torn fabric, not sure if any broke poles were involved though there were tents that collapsed, nor did I go around to see if they had put their tents up properly so can't answer that point either.

So which Big Agnes model tent? You said $600. My Copper spur 2 is meant to shed wind particularly well. Both of my BA tents have aluminum poles which might bend but can't snap. I've had a couple of cheap Xmart tents that died from pole failure. The poles did not snap but simply degraded sitting in the closet.
Does anybody have anything to say about the durability of Zpacks tents?

We have 2. One has roughly 200 nights, the other 80.

Still perfectly waterproof. One pole has snapped. (zpacks_ carbon fiber) Not clear how -- happened at night in the tent used by our kids. Likely scenario is a loose stake, tent folds over the kids. Kids wake up and try to get out of the tent, step on a pole, and it snaps as if it were cheap, brittle plastic.

Would repurchase same tent without hesitation (with aluminium poles). Not so much because it is so light (well under 1kg) but mainly because it folds to the size of a loaf of bread. Set up in a minute. Break camp in a minute.

They are only rated as a 3 season tent not a 4 season, which is ok if you know for sure you won't be dealing with really bad weather at some point. They do make a better fabric you can order as an option for any of their tents for $15 but I wasn't able to find out if that $15 buys you a 4 season tent or not. Also according to reviews I've read they recommend using a ground sheet even though Z say's it isn't necessary yet they sell them.

Here is one such review, note a few of the hacks the guy did to improve the performance of the system: No Solvent Required - The ZPacks Altaplex Shelter Review | Keith Foskett This review was done before the latest batch of new models were introduced and if you read the last part of the review it sounds like some of the issues the reviewer experienced may have been at least partially resolved. Overall I think it's a decent tent, I would opt for the $15 (check on the cost because I'm not sure if this is for the .67 ounce or the .74 ounce) better .74 ounce Spruce Green fabric option, and get a ground tarp even though Z says those things aren't necessary, I'm not sure though why someone would need to spend almost $400 on a tarp when you could go down to some home improvement place and find a far less expensive suitable option.

Edit; not sure where you'll be camping with your tent but keep in mind something, if you plan on doing some of your camping in the desert, the winds can sometimes come up very strong and will of course pick up the sand and sandblast your tent, this is one reason for having a 4 season tent, not to mention it will last longer than a 3 person tent. But if you're not going to be doing potential harsh weather camping and not going to be out for long, maybe 3 weeks at best than a 3 season tent for most things will be fine.

One thing would turn the touring world upside down: hoverbikes. "Where we're going, we don't need roads! Or trails...or solid ground...or even land, come to think of it..."

And some cyclists would end up dangling upside down, too.

I also like the proposed bike lock that contains a nasty surprise for the thief; it spews out a vomit-inducing gas when cut or broken. It'll probably be outlawed after the first protesters lock themselves to something with it.

It was a Copper Spur 2. As was the one my friends Laura and Katie , Blackburn Rangers, broke on their Great Divide journey.