6 years ago I finished the Colorado Trail Race. For the Tour Divide, I aimed to place all gear on my bike with the bulk of the weight on the handlebar. The price I paid for this beauty was some very cold weather near the end; as in cold enough to quickly freeze my tent while setting it up at night. POSTED BY: Sean on Thursday October 16th, 2014 in Bikepacking, Gear While preparing for the Colorado Trail Race, I re-organized my gear placement to account for more singletrack riding. The Colorado Trail is a multi use trail that runs 500 miles (529 by bicycle) from Waterton Canyon in Littleton, Colorado to Durango, Colorado. This kit ended up being much smaller than my Tour Divide kit because I only needed one USB wall charger and three different power cords. Just a week before I got to Silverton there was a storm that dumped more than a foot of snow in the mountains, but luckily it melted before I arrived. Extra quick-link If you have a bikepacking bucket list, the Colorado Trail is probably on it. This is a good question to cut down on the stuff that rarely gets used. Sign up to receive a monthly newsletter from the site. See more ideas about bikepacking, trail, mountain biking. I use them in and around camp, and also for rainy days or cold mornings when first getting started. Trash bags That effectively turns half the trail into a hike-a-bike. If you haven't already I'd highly suggest reading the introductory post which briefly describes the Colorado Trail as well as details my experience. Richard Forbes If you’re going to bike the Colorado Trail, you ought to have some backcountry experience under your belt already. The final additions are the extra items necessary to make that specific trip possible/better. Every trip I do produces a gear list that is slightly different than the trip before. Salsa socks Scotch-Brite cleaning pad Tyvec ground cloth It seemed that everyone agreed that it was their favorite multi-day river trip in the area, but I was never in the area early enough to catch the spring flows. These photos follow a chronological progression of my bikepacking trip on the Colorado from Denver to Durango starting on September 16th, 2016. I like to plan for almost the worst and hope for the best. I originally budgeted 6 days to get to Leadville but neglected to factor in the first wilderness detour, where you bike over 70 miles to bypass just 25 miles of the Colorado Trail. Personal hygiene kit Click here to read Colorado Road Bikepacking: A Colossal Adventure, This post filed under topics: Bikepacking Colossal Gear List Road Salsa Crew Sean Mailen Skills Touring. It wasn’t anything crazy, but I consistently biked at a minimum from around 9 AM until just after 6 PM for the rest of the trail. The only thing to do now is plan out that next adventure; Trans-North Georgia? Be conservative and don’t get hurt out there - it could turn into a big ordeal. And it's not just over gear; I do the same over maps, routes, resupply... the whole thing. In 2015, there were more than 150. I’ll add links below as the articles come together. Having lived in the state for the past five years I got to see small communities, forest roads, lakes, and campsites that I never knew existed. It's December 2017. Pearl Izumi arm warmers Gear Recommendations and Packing List for Bikepacking the Colorado Trail Packing for an extended bikepacking trip isn’t drastically different from that of a hiking trip, but there are a few critical pieces of gear that can make a world of difference. A major selling point to me of the Sony RX100 M2 camera is its ability to charge off USB unlike my older Olympus EPL-2 (it also takes amazing pictures). PackTowl Homemade 3/4-length rain pants Topeak mini pump With a few ideas in mind I reached out to Thor at Alpacka Raft, and he suggested this stretch. The Peak Elite AC served me well but I should have replaced it years ago. Any questions or opinions? The last time I did a significant solo trip was roughly 2 years prior with a 27 day kayak trip down the Grand Canyon. The author enjoying a prime section of the Colorado Trail, which overlaps briefly with the Monarch Crest Trail here. Revelate Designs Viscacha Seat Bag Sign up below for an email newsletter from the site. Ear plugs I have picked up a Big Agnes sleeping pad since the trip to replace my old leaking Peak Elite AC. The Southwestern part of the state also tends to have more precipitation, so be prepared to deal with rain and even snow at the higher elevations. My gear list for the Colorado Colossal trip was a slightly slimmed down version of the gear list I’ve developed over the years on other bikepacking trips. 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