SUPÉRIEUR ROYALE BIKEPACKING TRIP
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My grandfather rode his bicycle around the Fraser Shipyards, where he worked and spoke Polish with co-workers. When I was 14 years old I rode my bicycle 75 miles one way from my house to see its shores, and did not make the return ride home due to exhaustion. When I was 15 we got trapped on the North Shore because of a benzene spill in Superior, Wisconsin. I decided to attend university in Duluth, where I could see shifting ice on the lake every winter morning. In 2003, my friend Frank and I rode our bicycles 1200 miles around the entire lake in 11 days.
THE BIKE
Long hours of pavement mixed with gravel and off-road conditions meant that bike and gear choice would be key. The All-City Cosmic Stallion with 650 x 47 Teravail Cannonball gravel tires would provide the comfort, efficiency and riding position needed for the various terrain we would cover on the Supérieur Royale.
The 650c diameter wheels would lower the center of gravity, which would be more stable, especially at high speeds on pavement. The smaller wheels also allowed me to run a 47mm wide tire to provide more flotation on soft surfaces, and cushion on rough surfaces. I ran the tires tubeless and had zero flat tires along the 600 mile route.
The 650c diameter wheels would lower the center of gravity, which would be more stable, especially at high speeds on pavement. The smaller wheels also allowed me to run a 47mm wide tire to provide more flotation on soft surfaces, and cushion on rough surfaces. I ran the tires tubeless and had zero flat tires along the 600 mile route.
Two-inch wide sections of hockey tape where the straps mount to the bars prevented the bag from twisting or migrating along the tops of the bars. The Revelate feedbag held several Salted Nut Rolls and Clif Shot Bloks. Meanwhile, the gas tank bag was a great place to store sunscreen, money, riding maps, etc.
I always pack my Big Agnes Lost Lake sleeping bag inside a 6-liter Sea to Summit eVent dry bag. It compresses super small, and fits perfectly inside size medium and large Revelate handlebar bags. Having two layers of moisture resistance against your sleeping bag never hurts. My handlebar bag also carried a wool hoodie, rain jacket, microfiber towel, spare bibs, shirt, and underwear.
My Outershell Drawcord Handlebar Bag mounts like a gem to the daisy chain webbing on the harness of the Sweetroll. I lined the interior of the bag with open-cell foam to pad the camera body and lens. This set-up endured significant front wheel strikes in potholes, and super aggressive rocky sections of road. A pair of Teva flip flops secured behind the harness of the Revelate bag added even more padding.
This super attractive thing on the underside of my downtube is a tool roll I sewed myself. It is not attractive, but it holds all tools and items needed to repair my bike. It just barely clears my front tire, chainring, and non-drive-side crank-arm.
The inside of the tool roll has mesh pockets with length-wise vislon zippers for the closures. A few modifications were made after the below photo was taken, but here is a list of contents (including items added later):
- Tubes x 2
- Park Tire Boots x 2
- MSW Patch Kit
- Upholstery Needle and Thread
- Spare Brake Pads
- SRAM 11-spd quick links x 2
- Spare 2-bolt cleat, bolts, and mounting plate
- Derailleur Hanger
- Presta Valve Adapter
- Leatherman
- Crank Bros. Multi-tool
- Zip Ties
- Spoke Wrench
- Spare Shift Cable
- T-9 Boeshield Lube
- Wolftooth Pack Pliers (added later)
- Chainring Bolts (added later)
Surprisingly, my Topeak Mountain Morph pump fit perfectly on the back side of my seattube, with 4-5mm of clearance. A generous amount of Gorilla tape and electrician’s tape goes around the shaft of the pump and comes in handy.
On the back of the bike a Revelate Viscacha bag stored the following items:
- Thermarest Neo-Air sleeping pad
- Big Agnes Sleeping Giant pillow
- Tarptent Double Rainbow Tent
- Tyvek Groundsheet
- Optimus Terra Weekend Cookset
- Snowpeak GigaPower Auto Stove
- MunieQ Tetra Drip Coffee Maker
- Opinel Knife
- GigaPower Stove Fuel
Dangled off the back was a Snowpeak Insulated Ti mug, because you know, it isn’t bikepacking unless you dangle a ti mug! I also had two Voile straps wrapped around the seat bag for when I needed to stow my rain jacket and trucker hat there. They also came in handy when I needed to secure a jar of peanut butter inside the Ti mug (more on that in a later post).
Lastly, the frame bag stored two 1-liter Platypus Softbottles for water, tent poles, tent stakes, ti plate, emergency medical kit, spare camera batteries, spare lenses, and miscellaneous food. I carried two pairs of socks, two pairs of bibs, one pair of overshorts, two wool shirts, a rain jacket, a wind vest, a spare cycling cap, and a microfiber towel. Although we stunk at times, overall, these basic gear choices worked very well. The only piece of gear I ditched along the way were some folding Timberland camp shoes that I did not use and were taking up space. If it had been any colder (coldest night was 45 degrees fahrenheit) I would have needed a down puffy.
Stay tuned for the next post about the first few days of the trip!