Sometime circa 1989 when I was on the order of seven years old, my dad bought my family matching Schwinn mountain bikes. I rode mine to school, to the neighborhood pool, to the ice cream shop down the road, really, anywhere I could convince my parents to let me go. That bike got ridden until I T-boned a car at the end of a neighborhood street four years later when racing my annoying neighbor down the street. A broken collarbone didn’t deter me from riding bikes after the accident. Since then, I’ve dabbled in pretty much every form of cycling possible – road racing, cyclocross, XC mountain bike racing, track racing, being a courier riding a fixie around the streets of Boulder and Denver dressed in hipster clothing, 24-hour races, and then the crazy ones: Colorado Trail Race, Tour Divide, Iditarod Invitational, Arizona Trail Race, Stagecoach 400, Dixie 200 and the likes. Eventually, my body gave up on me (and anyhow, I was getting sick of the sleep deprivation) and I settled into the slower-paced life of a bike tourist intent on finding the best pastries and huevos rancheros the world has to offer. I’ve found myself fascinated with long single-track routes that most wouldn’t be stupid enough to try on a bike. Recent tours include riding the full Arizona Trail 750 route and the nearly 4,000 mile Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, the first known attempt at the route in 30 years.
Eszter Horanyi
Photo courtesy of Sarah Uhl
Advice on what to carry? My version of bikepacking involves riding trails. Often, technical trails. While touring on the road lets you get away with extra weight, every little bit of weight is going to detract from the experience of riding fun trails, so lighter is always better. And the less stuff you have, the less stuff there is to lose. Assuming “normal” riding conditions – low temps in the 30s and highs in the 90s – with resupply options at least every three days, I bring normal riding clothes – two pairs of shorts (a must for any female bikepacker), a jersey, socks, arm warmers, knee warmers, full-finger gloves, a pair of baggy shorts (both for public decency and for sleeping in), hike-a-bike friendly shoes, and a rain jacket. For camp, I’ll bring a long-sleeved baselayer, a light down jacket, thin hat, and a pair of fuzzy socks (this is my major luxury item, I’ve done enough damage to my feet over the years that my feet get cold uber easily). I bring the normal set of tools, a tube, patch kit, duct tape, zip ties, etc. I generally have the capacity to carry about 130 oz of water, which will get me through 6-7 hours of riding pretty easily, assuming I’m not in direct sun at 100 degrees.
For sleeping during race, I take the sage advice that Ethan Passant once gave a tourist at the rafting company we both worked at after he finished racing Tour Divide in 2011: You’re so tired at the end of the day, you could curl up in a flower pot and fall fast asleep. I’ve raced without a sleeping bag and used Reflectix as a pad, but really, trying to sleep without a chamois on in one of those Heat Sheet emergency bivvys in the middle of a wash in Arizona was maybe the most uncomfortable sleeping situation I’ve ever put myself in. But…you’re not meant to be comfortable when you’re racing.
 
For touring, I take an old 40 degree sleeping bag unless I know it’s going to be really cold, seemingly more for its placebo affect these days any anything. It’s been on more trips than I can count and sure seemed a lot warmer when I first got it for the Colorado Trail Race in 2011. Still, paired with an Adventure Medical Kits SOL bivvy, I can get a decent night sleep down into the mid 40’s and survive into the mid 30s without too much complaint. I do take a full length Big Agnes pad, which I think does a lot.
 
In a non-race situation, if I knew that I was going to sleep out for more than three to five days in a row, I’d probably opt for a warmer bag, but like food, when given the chance to bank some sleep in a town, I sleep hard and then accept being not 100% rested when out on the trail.
For carrying junk, I go for a Revelate Designs seatbag, Sweetroll, front pocket thingy, Gas Tank, and a frame bag if I’m not too lazy to take my water bottle cage out. I also carry a pack that is normally reserved for water and important personal effects, but will get loaded down with more weight on sections of trail that have a lot of hike-a-bike. There is nothing worse than pushing a heavy bike up a hill.
Eszter Horanyi
Photo Courtesy of Scott Morris
Advice on what to eat? Eating depends on the goal of the bikepack. If you’re racing, keeping calories going in at a pretty constant rate is important. I always tried to get at least 300 calories down an hour and then a larger chunk of food every four hours. Racing, I’d eat anything from Snickers Bars to gummy candies (I pretty much did the AZT 300 on mango gummies from Trader Joe’s) to nuts for snacks (mixing cashews with Skittles works pretty well). Chocolate and nuts if it’s cool out, gummies and drink mixes if it’s hot. If you’re reliant on gas station food, Slim Jims and string cheese makes for great dinners, and Starbucks Vias cannot be consumed without mixing them with water first. The 450-calorie Apple Pies pack a punch for next to no weight and Fritos have the highest number of calories (and the lowest number of ingredients) for the weight. Now, for leisure packing, a whole world of food opportunities can open up if you’re willing to carry weight, which I generally am not. I’m willing to carry a burrito or sandwich for the first night out’s dinner, but other than that, I don’t carry much that isn’t calorie dense and light. Breakfast is usually oatmeal with whatever fixing I can find (Swissmiss packets, peanut butter taken from continental breakfasts, jam packets taken from restaurants, M&Ms, dried fruit, Almond Joy bars, etc) with some sort of pastry dessert, lunch will often consist of tortillas with cheese and salami (and mayo packets if I can find them at a grocery store deli area, double bonus points if I can find ranch dressing packets), and dinner will be either an instant rice packet or mac and cheese, spruced up with hot sauce from a grocery store deli. I generally go for eating big in towns and then running a little lean on food when out on the trail, a technique that has definitely hosed me in the past, but generally works out okay.  After a big breakfast, I can ride for 4-5 hours without having to eat. On our four-month CDT trip, we rode into most towns with only a few calories to our name but developed a strong ability to sniff out a diner that would serve breakfast all day.
Eszter Horanyi
Photo Courtesy of Scott Morris
Size, specs and species of your ride? My go-to bike is my carbon Salsa Spearfish. Light, solid, and bright orange so that it shows up well in pictures. I’m a big fan of full-squish for the type of riding that I do. It helps reduce fatigue, increases comfort, and all in all, is a lot more fun than trying to get a rigid fork down a pile of rubble. Thoughts on essential bike equipment? Bar ends. Totally not hip. Totally key for allowing for different hand positions. Water purification method? I go for a Sawyer in-line filter hooked up to a Camelback bladder. That way I don’t have to sit in a swarm of mosquitos next to a body of water and filter. Grab some water and run. Stove/fuel strategy? For racing, there’s no need for a stove. You’re not meant to be comfortable. For touring, I carry an MSR PocketRocket that I picked up 10 years ago and it is still going strong. It requires a little advanced planning as the isopropyl fuel canisters aren’t available everywhere, but a large one lasts forever as long as you’re not trying to boil water in freezing conditions. It’s efficient and reliable and gets me fed quickly, which is important in my book as I tend to get the hangries if I don’t eat soon after stopping for the day.
Eszter Horanyi
Photo Courtesy of Scott Morris
Thoughts on essential gear for staying alive? Bright lights and clothing if you’re on roads. Bearspray if you’re in the northern woods. iPod to pass time on long boring roads in order to prevent insanity. Also good if you’re grumpy and don’t want to talk to your riding partner. Favorite trail/bikepacking recommendations? Being a winter-in-Arizona gal, I have a special love for the Arizona Trail. The AZT 300 route is amazing, especially with some edits to take out some of the more brutal sections. The 40 miles from Kelvin to Picket Post should be on any bike rider’s bucket list. There are also dozens of loops to do in the Gila River area, including riding on the slickrock playground of Area 52. The scenery and riding in the area is unparalleled. As a summer-in-Colorado gal, the Colorado Trail is also high on my list of awesome trails to ride. It was my first experience bikepacking in 2004, when with no backpacking, let alone bikepacking, experience, my boyfriend and I thought it would be a good idea to do a thru-ride of the trail. We sent 10 lbs of gear back in Bailey on our second day on the trail when I discovered that no, I didn’t need three pairs of clean underwear. It was also my first bikepacking race in 2010, so it holds a special place in my heart. And aside from that, it’s amazing riding. Except for Sargents Mesa. It’s haunted in there. The explorer in me has to recommend the Continental Divide Trail. While the route that we rode last summer was a little ridiculous in the level that we tried to stick to the trail, a fusion of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route with the CDT could make a really cool singletrack/dirt road tour.
Eszter Horanyi
Photo Courtesy of Scott Morris

 Want more awesome info from Eszter? Head over to her website… Zen On Dirt.

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