We packed our bikes in the living room, a trial run for a much bigger trip! Our drop bars certainly limited bar bag space, okay, noted. Is it unnecessary to bring six extra zip ties? is four enough? How much food do we eat in a day anyways? This pile both feels huge and tiny. Will I regret not bringing additional shoes? The questions were tossed around as we threw titanium trowels into piles and wiggled bottles into newly mounted cages. A few hours prior, my best friend Johanne and I were invited on a bikepacking trip with two of our favorite people, Ashlee and Brooke. We had raced collegiate cycling with Ashlee and she was the senior who had handed us, the freshman, the bottle of Fireball at the bonfires and insisted we play in the no-lights/beer-shotgun/midnight short track relay before we lined up to race the next day. She’s the most delightful bundle of fun and kindness. Brooke, her partner, matches Ashlee’s splendid-ness and has quickly become another one of my favorite people. Ashlee and Brooke were following a 150 mile route through Cedar Mesa - a desert similar to Moab where the rocks, wind, petroglyphs, and occasional tributaries can all stop you, for various significant reasons from the stunning nature of it all to the winds that will quite literally stop you. Johanne and I are in the middle of planning a bikepacking trip through Alaska, we are knee deep in spreadsheets and our reliance on luck to plan this trip. Although Alaska and Cedar Mesa and notably different, this felt like a great trial run. We strapped gear to our gravel bikes and set off. No more than five miles in, we were quickly stopped by yet another feature of the desert- fine and expansive red sand. In our excitement to try out bikepacking on the gravel bikes, we had both overlooked this now very obvious component of the route. In the shed before we left, I had even had my hands on my fatter gravel wheels/tires and shrugged, choosing to keep my 35mm slicks on instead. Que: regret. Also que: CX challenge accepted. For hours, we floated/sunk/exclaimed as we navigated nearly 20 miles of sand pits on the skinniest tires I could have chosen, ah lol. I may have only started racing CX last year, but growing up surrounded by desert sand and making questionable decisions like this one did give me a leg up on learning how to race through sand pits. I guess I’ll add this weekend to the list of unexpected race preparation on this little bike that can do it all :) The sand persisted, and we finally camped, laughed, ate meat sticks, built fires, and dug our toes in the dirt - all the best things, really. We climbed up the Moki Dugway - it was incredible. As you approach the canyon wall, it’s nearly impossible to see how or where the road could possibly weave to the top of the canyon. We basked in sunsets, gasped, and did lots of pointing into the distance. Our four days were filled with sandy miles, sandy walks, packed dirt riding, and lots of skirt-skirting around corners. We made little notes as we went: bring an extra Voile strap for big bottle, put titanium spork in front accessible pocket, yes to a block of cheese per person, worth it to bring real coffee and carry out the grounds. Johanne and I leave for Alaska in three weeks. Soon all the spreadsheet details will be zipped up in tiny compartments and we will be out there hopefully not fending off grizzly bears. For now, we are filled up with appreciation for sandy weekends with some of the best pals around. Cheers, bikes, for bringing us all together. All photos courtesy of the one and only Ashlee Wilson, words by Emily Schaldach.
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September 2022
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