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Kootenay River Bikerafting Loop

I originally had a 4-day Kootenay River bikerafting loop planned for this weekend, It definitely involved hot springs. Life got in the way, and drying out an iPhone that had spent some time submerged, delayed the start and cancelled the 4th day, I set out from Radium late Friday afternoon. My bike was loaded with…

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Another Quick Overnight With Jeremy and Girls

The Planned Group Jeremy and I had not gotten out for a bikepacking overnight since the weather turned winter. I planned to take my family, and invited Jeremy and some other friends to add to the fun. The Actual Group By the time Saturday rolled around, it was Jeremy and I and a daugher each.…

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Redemption

Back in June my friends and I went for a bikepacking weekend up the Cascade valley, it was fun, except for the mud, rain, and the broken arm. This weekend, Jeremy and I set out with our daughters for a night at Lake Minnewanka’s LM11 campsite. Our prime goals were “no whining” and “no broken…

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MYOG Part 4: Sleep System

[Editor’s note, I know this is technically the first published, but I wrote it as the 4th in the series. Read them in any order and they should still make sense. Also, I get asked a lot of questions about my tarp.] MYOG Sleep Systems, introduction Canada can get cold. The Canadian Rockies can get…

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Castle Wilderness – New to Us Route

I tried to talk Tadhg into bikepacking the Alberta Rockies 700 but he thought that sounded like a 2 week rather than 2 day ride. So, in the tradition of compromise, I scaled back. I may have to do it solo next year. I did want to do a new and hopefully a bit challenging…

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Mud, Sweat, and Tears: Family Bikepacking in Marginal Conditions

Jeremy loves to take his family on bikepacking weekends. That’s mostly because he loves his family, but also because he loves riding bikes and sleeping outside. He was kind enough to invite me on a weekend ride to celebrate his birthday and to have fun with the kids. For bikepacking with kids, it is very…

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Spring Family Bikepacking Indoctrination Weekend.

When you get outside with your family as much as I do, you start to want to get other families hooked (or maybe that’s just me). With that in mind, I convinced This Mom Bikes that we should do another family bikepacking weekend on the Elbow Loop, this time as a two night trip. We…

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Why?

I get asked, like most winter cyclists, “why?” The situation varies between riding with my kids a couple of blocks, to riding in extreme cold, to riding and pushing through snow to go sleep outside somewhere. The implication is that it’s too hard to be worth it. Some of the questioning comes from a mistaken…

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