Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Colorado Trail Gear List

I can’t recall if I’ve ever published a packlist, so maybe it’s about time I did. This list has been developed over many years of outdoor adventure and I’ve done a fair amount of research on each piece of gear. Yet, it is important to remember the focus should be on the adventure, not the gear. Go with what you have and get outdoors!

The packlist doesn’t change much from trip to trip, so this is pretty representative of my typical bikepacking packlist. For the sake of organization, the list has been separated into 3 categories: gear, bike build, and bikepacking bags. A few points I took into consideration:

  • Added gloves, leg warmers and down jacket for cool mountain temps.
  • Tarp without bugnet, because of the late season bugs were not an issue.
  • Large Olympus camera was a luxury, but I wanted great pictures. A smaller camera would have been fine, except for the many scenic opportunities in the San Juan Mountains.
  • Water bottle on downtube and 2-liter water bladder were not needed.
  • Reading book was a luxury, but given the lengthening Fall nights a book helped fill the dark hours. Podcasts or reading books on iPhone could have sufficed.
  • Casual shorts were great, especially for comfort during extended hike-a-bike and around camp.
  • Bike gearing: given the mountain terrain I spent a long time in low gears. A 30 tooth chainring might have been more ideal.  



Gear list (from top left to bottom right)

Pearl Izumi bike shorts
OR Helium II raincoat
DIY silnylon rainpants
GSI Soloist cookset
Platypus 2 liter water bladder
MSR Pocketrocket stove
Toiletry kit
DIY wallet
Sunscreen & bug spray
Bike lock
Petzl Tikka headlamp
Spike the dog
S/S tech shirt
Hat and headband
Gloves
Pearl Izumi leg warmers
DIY tarp w/stakes
Emergency & First Aid kits
Leatherman multitool
Spork & knife
Chamois butt’r x3
Hand sanitizer
Compass
Pearl Izumi headband
Socks- 2 pair
Cycling gloves
Boxers x2
Icebreaker midweight L/S shirt
Icebreaker midweight bottoms
Tyvek ground cloth
Visor
Electronics kit
MSR water purification
Bandana
CO Trail Databook
Reading book
Olympus M10 II camera
Iphone 5 (for Gaia GPS)
Bike repair kit
Shorts
Thermarest ProLite-small sleeping pad (not shown)
Western Mtn Summerlite sleeping bag (not shown)

Journal (not shown)
Arcteryx Cerium LT down hoody (not shown)



Bike build

Advocate Cycles Hayduke frame
Rockshox Reba 140 fork
King Cage top cap and bottle cage
Cane Creek Forty headset
Shimano XT brakes, rear derailleur, 11-46 cassette
Jones H handlebar
White Industry hubs built with WTB Scraper i45 rims
Schwalbe Nobby Nic 27.5x3 tires
Praxix Works Cadet crankset and bottom bracket
Thompson Elite seatpost
Time XC8 carbon pedals
Brooks Cambium 17 saddle
Lezyne Microdrive Floor HV pump
Lezyne Power bottlecages

Bikepacking bags

DIY handlebar pocket                 OR 10-liter stuff sack           Bedrock Bags Tapeats (handlebar)
DIY framebag                             Modified camera bag            Bedrock Bags Dakota (top tube)
Oveja Negra Gearjammer seatpack


So enough out the gear... my next post will delve into The Colorado Trail adventure!











2 comments:

Unknown said...

Glad to see you're back at it and posting to your blog again. What are some of your favorite podcasts for when you choose to listen instead of read?

Andrew Yapp said...

Thanks for reading! I haven't ever saved podcasts on my phone, so please suggest some.