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Joy Ride’s Intro to Bikepacking Overnight, Or...

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...A Most Excellent Bikepacking Extravaganza With So Many Fun People! A week ago, Derik held an Intro to Bikepacking Clinic at Joy Ride. This weekend 11 of us went out to the forest for a little overnight field trip. For some of us, this was a new experience riding fully loaded gravel bikes. The rest of us had varying degrees of experience. On the first day, a few went the long route, four went the shorter route, and four of us inadvertently went the medium route (more on that in a moment). All of us had fun. Day One—The Magnetic Pull of the C-Line We met at the Skep at 10:00. I got a 9.5 mile warmup by riding there from home, as did the majority of the group. We ended up rolling out about 10:30. Weather was looking pretty good (rain was forecasted for the evening). Tim had developed the route (this way, we couldn’t blame Derik if we didn’t like it). There were two route options, a shorter one at about 32 miles, and a longer one at around 45-50. I knew from the start I would do the sho...
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Gravelpalooza #1–Something New, Something Blue

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Yay! We are back to Gravel Season! Today was the first Joy Ride Bikes Shop Gravel Ride known as Gravelpalooza. It was almost like a bride at a wedding...something new, something borrowed (if you consider a borrowed rain jacket), and something blue.  Let’s start with the something blue. That would be the sky. The weather forecast throughout the week had not looked good for today. It was looking like thunderstorms would accompany us along the gravel roads of Capitol Forest. As I was riding from my house to meet up with Bethany for the drive up to the “Y”, I did indeed get rained on pretty good. I had my rain jacket and my awesome Vaude bike gaiters, but the space between the bottom of my jacket, and the tops of my gaiters got pretty wet just riding the 6 miles to Bethany. At least it stopped raining by the time we got to the “Y” (Waddell and Sherman Valley Rds). Twenty one of us started up C-Line. By the time we got to D-4000, the jackets had come off (it’s a bit of a climb). There w...
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(Backup) (Backup) Colleen and Bethany’s 2 Day Bikepacking Adventure

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Day 1: What a Nice Trail, Except for the Pokies! I’ve been wanting to try bikepacking with Sly, my gravel adventure bike. I wanted to do the Willapa Hills Trail (the whole thing, not just the parts I’ve done on my road bike, and my Bike Friday touring bike...aka, the easy parts). My friend, Bethany, did the WHT last April (a day ride, unloaded). She has also wanted to do a bikepacking trip with her gravel bike. The planets aligned, and we were able to schedule a short trip this weekend.  Bethany and our driver (aka her husband) picked me up Saturday morning at 7:00. We arrived at the WHT Trailhead in Chehalis (take the Hwy 6 exit from I-5 South, turn right, then turn left, following the signs to the Willapa Hills Trailhead), and loaded the bags onto the bikes. Here’s Sly, ready to go. Here we are, two bikepackers ready to go!  We had to stop a few times to make some adjustments (mostly just tightening straps), but then we were on the trail! The first part of the trail is paved...
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