Trucke to Yosemite 3-Day (Mis)Adventure
A Tale of High Expectations and More Than A Little Hike-A-Bike
When the Gingerbeard Men go on a bike ride, they have some Type-1 fun, but a whole lot of Type-2 fun.
When Will first invited me to join him on his 'exploratory' bikepacking route from Truckee to Yosemite, I was pretty intimidated. The stats seemed inhumanely difficult: 110mi, combined with 13,000' of climbing, with the added difficulty of carrying food, water, and camping gear seemed like an epic ride by itself - but that would just be the first day. We would in fact be doing that for 3 days in a row. But with a few short mtb-specific bikepacking trips under my belt I was hungry for more - something a little more substantial than a quick overnighter, as fun as those were. Additionally, I still hadn't made it to Yosemite after being in California for almost 4 years, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Plus, the chosen weekend lined up perfectly with a conference I was attending in DC - fly to the conference on a Sunday, present Monday morning, hang around another day and a half, then fly back to Cali and go ride bikes for 3 days. I couldn't say no to an opportunity like this. And lastly, I knew from the past few race seasons that I had a certain fitness advantage over Will in terms of 2-3hr races, and I was also getting into the habit of doing epic all-day road or mtb rides every weekend anyways.... so how bad could it be?
Read on below for tales of epic exploration and heroism - or just two smelly dudes riding bikes through the mountains and taking pictures.
When Will first invited me to join him on his 'exploratory' bikepacking route from Truckee to Yosemite, I was pretty intimidated. The stats seemed inhumanely difficult: 110mi, combined with 13,000' of climbing, with the added difficulty of carrying food, water, and camping gear seemed like an epic ride by itself - but that would just be the first day. We would in fact be doing that for 3 days in a row. But with a few short mtb-specific bikepacking trips under my belt I was hungry for more - something a little more substantial than a quick overnighter, as fun as those were. Additionally, I still hadn't made it to Yosemite after being in California for almost 4 years, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Plus, the chosen weekend lined up perfectly with a conference I was attending in DC - fly to the conference on a Sunday, present Monday morning, hang around another day and a half, then fly back to Cali and go ride bikes for 3 days. I couldn't say no to an opportunity like this. And lastly, I knew from the past few race seasons that I had a certain fitness advantage over Will in terms of 2-3hr races, and I was also getting into the habit of doing epic all-day road or mtb rides every weekend anyways.... so how bad could it be?
Read on below for tales of epic exploration and heroism - or just two smelly dudes riding bikes through the mountains and taking pictures.
Day 0: Hooray, Miscommunication!
Day 1: More misunderstanding, a little bit of hike-a-bike, and What The Hell Am I Doing?
Day 2: Rednecks, Golden Skies, and Where'd the Road Go?
Day 3: Hike-A-Bike Hell and a Brewery Bail
Gear List
- Specialized Diverge Expert (2015)
- Challenge Gravel Grinder 38mm tires [Not tubeless at the time, but I've since converted and they're fantastic!]
- Mountain Hardware HyperLamina Spark sleeping bag [good to 35deg]
- REI Stratus inflatable sleeping pad [seriously comfortable]
- Revelate Terrapin seat bag
- Camelbak Agent backpack with 3L bladder