The Rig

So, for the trip, I'm going to be riding a Trek 7.3 FX - many thanks to Jeff at Dirty Harry's for getting me dialed in. The Trek is sort of a "hybrid"... it's got 700c wheels, with geometry similar to an X-C mountain bike, but it's fairly light, and also has mounting points for my racks and fenders, which is pretty key. After riding bikes from a number of manufacturers, I kept coming back to the Trek... It's got a Shimano Deore mountain group - nothing too crazy, but certainly good enough for plunking away on the road. I swapped out the standard 700x32 tires for 700x28s - not quite as low profile as a standard road tire, but still fast and light(as well as being a little cushier for the long miles), and small enough to fit under my 35mm fenders. The fenders, by the way, are from my man David at Planet Bike, and I can't say enough good things about them. They're light, easy to set up, and do a great job of keeping the bike and drivetrain clean and dry when it's nasty out(they got a good workout the past few days in the torrential downpour).













For the luggage - I decided against using a trailer given that I'm packing pretty light, and haven't noticed much effect on the handling of the bike. I could have dragged along more stuff, but in this case, three pannier bags are enough. They're heavy-duty waterproof items from Ortlieb, a German manufacturer who makes amazing stuff.

Otherwise, the bike has been easy to deal with... I debated the advantages of drop bars vs. flat(I'll be adding bar ends before I get to the mountains), but aside from a slight aero advantage, and perhaps a couple more hand positions, I was happy as is.

The next part of the whole deal was the pedals from Bebop, which have proven light, tough, and very easy on the knees so far... more on them later.

Other safety items I added to the bike are the absolutely blinding front and rear LED lights from Planet Bike, and a waterproof front handlebar bag from Ortlieb to hold my wallet, phone, etc...