The Closure Tour: Experimental Phase 1

Experimenting with load and light placement.

Yesterday I mentioned this idea I have for an over-night tour and as you can see from today's title, I've tentatively named it "The Closure Tour". Hopefully, if this all goes well, you will learn why I chose that title for this endeavor. 

That said, I wanted to start delving into the experimental phase of the idea and show where I am at with regard to equipment, thoughts on loading, and other sundry details. 

Here to the left you can see the Elkhorn Rack* which is carrying two dry bags on Salsa Anything Cages attached to the Elkhorn's Three-Pack bosses. I've lashed the bags to the cages with old-school toe straps. Same goes for the Sierra Designs tent on the deck. While neither of these bags serve as 100% waterproof solutions in case of rain, (well- the Salsa bag, yes. That's probably okay here), I don't anticipate pulling the trigger on going if there is rain in the forecast. As I've said here before- We don't get rain in a kindly fashion, generally speaking. It usually comes with a fair amount of lightning and wind. So, if a storm is forecast, the "launch date" will be changed.

Oh yes! I have a window already chosen for this trip and it is the first week of August. So, there is some reason to be a bit intentional with regard to getting this figured out now,. That and a commitment to doing the trip is necessary. I've talked about doing something like this for years and have not gotten around to it. Hopefully this plan will see a fruitful ending. 

Anyway- I digress. Note that I have several tail lights affixed to this set up. I am leaning toward the strap mounted lights here as they are further toward the rear and out in better view than the single seat stay mounted light would be. The Ravemen tail lights have a really stout clip which fits on the toe-strap very tightly and I have that strapped to the bags quite firmly. I really don't foresee those hopping off the straps. I think this will be my set up there. I'll probably remove the seat stay mounted light for now.

Detail showing how I snapped the bag closure around the rack stay.

Inside the blue dry bag I have my sleeping bag. A 40° bag that is pretty light and packable. It has synthetic insulation, so I don't have to worry about moisture too much. I think I could get one of those compaction bags and make it smaller, but- well.....I don't have one of those, and honestly? This is okay. 

The black Salsa Expedition Dry Bag has my gear for a stove and camp cookware, personal items, food which is in a separate plastic jar, and some odds and ends I'll use in the tent at my campsite. I mocked a fuel canister up which has water in it now to mimic weight of fuel. That's in this bag also. I need to buy a lighter though, or confiscate one of my wife's long-nosed butane lighters we use for barbecuing and for the lighting of candles. 

The 'full monty' side view.

Of course, I have Bike Bag Dude bags on my bike at all times. The Garage Top Tube Bag and Chaff Bags will hold repair and food items. I'm not anticipating having a lot of spares along for this trip. The main issues will be tire related if I have anything go wrong, in my opinion, so I'm not going to do anything different than I would for an ordinary ride in this department. 

My third dry bag is an Outdoor Research handlebar bag which is out of production now. I have my Thermarest pad rolled up in there. I also will have changes of clothing in there. A spare jersey and short insert with socks is likely all I need there. I may stuff a small camp pillow in there as well. 

Note that light and mount under the dry bag.

My plan is to try to get off on this trip in the dark. That means I'll need lights, and if I have lights, I need a place to mount them. That OR dry bag takes up a LOT of real estate. My lights that mount off a handlebar would struggle with all that bag sticking out of the front of the bike. 

I could go with my steer tube hack to mount off the front fork boss. However; I don't really like a super-low light mount without a higher mounted light to compliment it. If I have just one light, I'd rather have it be higher than lower. And centered rather than off to one side, which is an issue for me when I mount the light off a fork leg. 

What to do? Well, I have had a Minoura Space Bar extension mount sitting around which was last used at Dirty Kanza about ten years ago or more now. I grabbed it and ditched the steel band mount. I found an extra-long threaded bolt and managed to mount the rest of the Space Bar off the fork crown. That places the light just above the front tire in a centered, more or less, position, and low enough to easily clear the OR dry bag. To run the light, I will use the Raveman remote button attached to the handle bar.

I may use a helmet mounted light, but I don't think I will. Chances are I won't be riding in the dark more than a few hours on two separate occasions during this trip with the oddball chance that I get caught out after dark on Day 1.  I'll take my chances there. I may also have a camp light which, if I really needed it, could be that extra light source for identifying signs and whatnot. 

I plan on using cue sheets for navigation. That cue sheet stack will go into a clear sleeve that I can attach to the OR dry bag. I do not plan on using a computer or a GPS device. 

So, I've done a little test ride to shake things down. I'll be doing an actual gravel ride soon to really put things to the test with this set up. I'll also be doing some practice setting up and packing back up for camp. Stay tuned for more soon......