Adventure Advice with B- Gear for multi-sport adventure!
One of my favorite ways to play outside is to ride my bike somewhere to then tackle another part of the adventure. Riding my bike to the foot of a mountain to run/hike up is a self supported feeling that makes me quiver like my cats tail when I get home. The satisfaction of summiting the mountain is compounded when you saddle back up and begin your journey to the next destination. These make up monster training days that are not only super fun, but are excellent practice in honing many skills. Lessons in route planning, nutrition and body sustainability are some of the topics you’ll pick up in the school of self-supported adventuring!
In addition to bike/run adventures, I also do this for swimming too! In all honesty, the set up in pretty identical. The differences in adventure sport are all marketing and I hate that garbage. While In the next few pictures you’ll see “specific” pieces of gear, you’ll notice (or start learning!) that everything is interchangeable.
You’'ll notice a collection of photos on here from various fun training days doing combos of bike/run/swim and back to bike again. For the entire concept of simplicity and getting started, we will focus on a simple bike/run day.
WHAT’S IN THE BAG?!
What’s in my frame bag?!
Front bag
Contents of front bag
The contents of my bags here are from one of my current favorite bike/run training days. I ride about 20 miles to a small but effectively steep little mountain called Bradbury. From there, I lock up the rig, swap my shoes and do like 5 laps to break 1k ft in elevation gain. Then of course, I get to ride back home!
The state park system is one of the amazing features of being a Mainer. Not only are the parks pristine, but the employees are just the same! You’ll notice in pictures 2&3 that I have 2 different locks. Depending on the adventure, I’ll have up to 3 locks with one of my cable locks being longer and thicker. All of this is based off where and how I’ll secure the bike. I try to lock up my bike to the ranger station or in a more wild scenario, I’ll go pretty deep into the woods and lock my bike up to a tree. I try to good deep into the woods, like in a place where I might not even be able to find it again… If you have service, I’d suggest dropping a pin because I have done this more than once! hahahaha
With the exception of my phone (and if it’s really hot, a bottle in my bike bottle holders) this is all that I carry!
Front Bag-
This is just an old compression sack held onto my handlebars by 2 Voile straps and my Ottolock
shoes
sunscreen
2nd lock
water bottle/phone holder
Frame Bag-
A revelate designs half-sized frame back
cash/credit card
state park pass
snacks!!!
3L camel back on the “big” side
I also carry a small seat pack for my tools. Do this for every ride!
In every training adventure, you have to remember to fuel. These days, I am not trying to see how far I can go on very little. I’m currently trying to pack on muscle for my career as a Firefighter and for future adventures I have planned. This “Bradbury day” will take me roughly around 3 hours to complete- sometimes more, sometimes less! So I make sure to pack enough snacks to eat 150cal every 45ish minutes and finish 12ish oz of water about every hour. My lack of specifics here is intentional. Not every person or attempt will be the same. Some days you’re more tired and hungry then others you feel like a stud! It’s all based around your goals and where your “body battery” is at that day.
I’ll wear a pair of triathlon shorts and whatever bike jersey i’m feeling that day. If the ride is even shorter or your transition to run place has water, you can even ditch the frame bag! Fill your bottles to the brim in your holder and just stuff your snacks into your pockets. This is an even lighter set up because the bag weighs something too and an friend said to me after hiking the Appalachian Trail “the bigger the bag, the more you’ll carry” This is a fact!!!
I hope this inspires you to explore and keep everything a little more simple for you. We all have big ambitious goals and that is awesome, but we often get a little loss in the process. If you have a big, hopefully scary, adventure planned that you’d like help on, head over to “coaching” tab or click this goofy photo of me for my coaching/consulting services.
As always…
BE GOOD TO EACH OTHER
Coaching/Consulting with B