Our First Bikepacking Trip with a Kid: Exploring Sedona, Arizona by Bike with the Family
It is our first family bike packing, trip. We're. In Sedona Arizona and, we are going on a, overnighter. As a family, this, is an experiment, so far little. Dusty's pretty excited, we're, gonna do all we can to stay safe as a family, and enjoy. A night, out in this beautiful, landscape. This. Is also our first time taking the trailers overnight, this will be an experiment, normally, I've got all my bike packing gear on my bike. But. With a baby and all the stuff that a baby requires, a trailer made a lot more sense a. Little. Bit different riding with the trailer. The. Tail wags the dog a little bit but it, carries the weight depending well. I'm. Excited, for this our first bike packing trip is a family. She's. Happy it's. Weird it takes a, little. Extra energy, to get accelerated. But once you get momentum, like the trailer pushes, you to kind. Of weird. So. Part of this route is from robbers, roost, which. Is on bike packing.com I, went. To ride with GPS, downloaded the. Coordinates. Uploaded, them to. My. Walker element, bolt and now I can make sure I'm always on the right track. And I don't miss a turn all right this might be crazy. We're. Gonna take the Diamondback, Gulch OHV, Trail. It's. Gonna be interesting with trailers. As. With any bike. Packing, trip you just need to be prepared to hike a bike when it gets tough. Really. Interesting how the trailer, effects your side to side balance. It. Tips the bike side to side and it pushes it a little bit every now. Lavery, accent. Really. Awkward, I don't. Feel that on the cup exit my daughter's in. That. One I do feel the surging, and the pushing in it but it doesn't want to twist your bike. Because. This is tied straight to the axle, like that when the trailer, gets. Bounced or wants to tip it tries to tip the bike to take. Some getting used to but I'm sure by the end of this trip I'll be used to it is. That fun. Hey. Little dusty, how, you doing. Hi. Are you having fun. You. Haven't so much fun oh we. Need to tighten the back that's what. It. Is a lot, slower, moving, with the kid in tow. She's. Hooting and hollering back there she is having fun. I. Want. To try Paul on that. All. Right little dusty you ready here. We go, that. Thing rides really nice behind, this little light. Whoa. That's. Weird feeling. It. Wants to sear you it. Kind of wants to serpentine, back and forth is he correct back and forth it's. Hard to just get it steady. Yeah. That will definitely take some goodies. This. One surges a lot more than my other trailer could be the weight. She's. Like a little sponge, at this age she's just soaking everything in in, a situation like this where something's new and she's just like soaking, it all in she just gets really, quiet. Cute. I. Got. To say I really like how this trailer has the entire front mesh panel and I, love that there's no zippers, to get in and out it's just these two little hooks that is extremely. Well designed it's, cool she's got a little roll bar in there she ever did flip and a five-point harness. Something's. A little loose when it, on. Weights, and there's play in it there I. Don't. Know if it's the preload, collar no, something, else I have. To play with that but I'm getting a little noise.
It's. A trailer. Trailers. Are supposed to be noisy right. Add. A little bit of the steering effect I. Am. Really impressed with. That cub X it's cut some really, cool features on it. I'm. An eagle right now it's fairly. Flat if we're honest. Surprised. What this, little trailer will pull. Through without anything, crazy going on. All right many ATVs, later where the, coast is clear this. Is gonna be the hardest climb yet. Trying. To keep my momentum going. Gotta, stay seated and I spun out. I'm. Gonna push my trailer, up and then come back and help test. Are. You trying to call the daddy, let's. Go rescue the girls, steep. Rocky climb, here. Part. Of the experience oh yeah. It's. So loose. Good. Keep that momentum going you can't stop and start again with these things. Alright, I'm making it up this one it's smooth enough in. The steeps I can. Keep my. Maybe. Smart. Yeah. We discovered, it's better to walk on the drive side because, the trailer. Goes right work Tess's. Legs are there, you go, oh. It's. Me and. It's weird you have to stay seated, because. In some ways your trailer kind of wants to pick the back wheel off it's weird little. Dusty's a trooper, I think she's ready for a less bumpy road. That. Was smooth, huh. Yeah. Bummer. My kedge mount broke, off for my bolt so I'm. Gonna have to put this in my pocket, I find. That when it's bumpy, and a, little bit steep. It's. Gonna be better for me to get off because what. Well. As you can see the trailer pushes the bike and. I, can't slow down enough to go over these bumps slow for dusty. This. Would be spicy, on a bike. With no trailer. Ok. I'm sliding I can't do anything you got to hold it back. Ok. This. Is tricky even with two people all. Right let's give this 15, feet see what happens. We're. Down whoo, that wants to push all. Right we're walking this. Interesting. Sensation I, have. To weight the bars a. Ton. Cuz, it just wants to push with all that weight going behind it.
That's. A scary. Feeling when, your front brake locks up and just pushes, and you. Don't. Have balance or. Braking. Parta. By cracking is knowing when to push. Hike, a bike's definitely, a little bit trickier, with the trailer. She's. Calling to her her daddy. The. Stroller handle start coming in handy and pushing, this rig up the hill. So. The trailer, has suspension. And it works quite well. But. If it starts to get me bouncing, it. Wants to tip the bike side to side it raises a center gravity will keep that momentum you, got it. Yeah. All. Right let's take a little break, oh, you. Are, a good support let's get that helmet off of you. You. Get some rocks here, let me help you let's. Get the rocks out of your hand there you go now you can eat the strawberry they look like, rocks it's a little confusing. Well. We've. Been on the trail for, three. Hours. And. We've only gone seven, point seven miles. This. Road with a little harder than I thought it'd be. Backcountry. Diaper change. You. Want some in your other hand too, just. Want a drink of water. Yeah. That, looks nice ahead, good. Well. Little Dusty's had it and I don't blame her that's no fun sitting in there. So. I think we might make this camp for the night. Free. At last. Good. Little sport. Usually. On our bike packing trips Steve and I can push through just about anything but it's not really a mind over matter thing in this situation, which. Is you know it's good for us it's gonna teach us to slow down a little bit huh. Go, down and, play in the dirt you know it's good like we're learning a ton by doing this it's nice that we're close to home and it's nice that there are a lot of different, roads out here so we have, the opportunity to kind of. Kind. Of play it by ear. I'm. Super, proud of her. It's. Easy for two adults to push through the pain but it's not fair to ask a little one to do that alright, we've gone eight point nine miles. We're. Gonna be on a forest, road crossing, it really soon and, tomorrow. We're gonna catch that and just take the forest road back and cut our loop short so a little dusty can have an enjoyable time. It's. Like a clubhouse, in, here. Come. Here my friend you were such a good sport today, I.
Forgot. My beanie so I'm gonna look like a dork all night. But. Man is it beautiful out here. Little. Dusty is having a blast, but. She didn't get her Wiggles out because she was sitting in the trailer the whole time so we're gonna, take her on a little walk to get her Wiggles out she likes playing in the tent so much I couldn't get her to walk away from the tent at first. She. Ate a lot of dirt today. Hopefully. We're getting some of those Wiggles out pretty. Cool that because we have the trailers we could haul a whole gallon, of water up here that's usually a big limiting, factor, in the desert. This. Is the coolest product it's a Vargo. Titanium. Bot, it's a bottle and a pot in one we. Love it. Well, we know what to get her for her next birthday, our own little headlamp, you, like that. Take. Dad. Hi. So. Fun camping as a family, those, beautiful, clothes. She. Did pretty well I'm really proud of her she. Gets a little bit better at sleeping in the tent every time we do this hi happy girl. She. Likes this camping, thing she, was born into the right family I. Believe. If you start them young kids. Love camping, it's inconvenient. For mom and dad big, time, it's. Often inconvenient, for the kid but. If they're used to it most kids, learn, to love camping, we. Hope she loves camping, her whole life. Ready. To eat. Show. Me what you got. Fun. Yeah. Put some more dirt in there. That. Ended up being a pretty good camp spot it was pretty warm for us and we had the sound on us right away which really helps things warm up in the morning too we're, just gonna start packing up camp and, then we'll get on the road again I think, we took these trailers, through way more than what they were designed for. But. So far nothing's broken, no flats, and. The. Suspension, surprisingly. Works. And does something and makes a difference we're gonna modify our route and just take smooth fire roads all the way back and, shorten, our trip a little to keep it enjoyable for dusty so. That she doesn't come to dread going bike bagging. Yeah. That's your chariot, let's go. It's. Cool we learned a lot and now we kind of have a better idea of how to create a great trip for, her oh. I. Forgot. I'm. Riding with the trailer and it surges a little bit. The. Balance, is so weird for the first two. Minutes with the trailer. Right. Now we're leaving the Diamondback, Gulch OHV. Trail. We're. On the dirt road now off the OHV trail which means a little, bit smoother, ride. So, yesterday the only time we broke a sweat was pushing, our bikes up those hills. Been. Pretty slow going cuz of the bumpiness of the route we chose. We. Can go a lot faster now, on. These graded, roads I think. This is what the trailers were meant for not what we did yesterday, but. They survived I was, a little worried about pulling all the weight and the. Trailer but. Aside. From pushing. Up. The hills yesterday. The. Exertion, levels been you. Know fairly low. We're. Gonna get some nice used today as we head back towards Sedona. You. Really don't feel the weight of these trailers until you get to an uphill or downhill. That, little Cub X carries, weight so well though it, sits right over the axles, and I. Mean. Whether there's 20 pounds in there are 40 it it. Pretty much rides the same on the flats it's pretty cool it's, nice all the cars and side-by-sides. Are. Super. Careful. And Kurtis they all slow way down and they pass us. Here, come a beautiful, red cliff. And. It's beautiful, here. All. Right we're gonna consult, our map and. Find. The shortest way home and give little dusty a break. How. About a drink. Would. You like a drink. She, was ready for a break. That's. A rock I think. We got about six, maybe seven miles, to the car. All. On smooth Road again if, you feel like not enough people stare at you in life tri. Bike packing on a gravel road where lots of cars go by you will get plenty, of stairs but, it's good I like to think of us as ambassadors, for the sport showing people that, are paying 200 bucks an hour to get toured, around in jeeps that you know what you don't need to pay a tour you can just get out here and enjoy it yourself under, your own power and you, can do it as a family we've. Had a lot of great advice from a lot of friends who have kids and go camping with them and take them backpacking, and hiking and, gping, and mountain, biking they. All tell us make, it fun for the kids it's an investment, you're. Not gonna get the payback today, it's not gonna be your favorite bike packing trip today but. In three or four years when they've done 20 of these and they're, on a tag-along bike, that's, when it really starts becoming fun and we're investing in her future and our, future as a family, so it's still fun but, it's not the same type of fun as when, you just go out with your buddies you.
Sing. In the mommy finger song I. Got. To say I do like this kickstand how it will hold my bike up, all. Right let's go all there's no traffic. So. Glad we got the model with suspension. On that and the model with the plastic, tub in the bottom I don't. Know if the camera is picking it up as she's singing to me. All. Right we're here at Diamondback Gulch OHV trail. That's. The trail we took, yesterday. To start, the bumpiness and, a, seat pushes, so I made, a lollypop now we're retracing, our steps back, to the car. Yeah. My certain, level hits up, those. Hills. Man. The thing I miss most. Compared. To my last bike packing trips are. The plus tire surprisingly. I. Don't. Think I'll ever buy crack without bless tires I love, them for this stuff. Way. More traction. A little more confidence. Better. In the sand. Man. Dusty, absolutely. Loves camping. We're. Still working on finessing, the riding experience with, her but. Just reminds me like we need to get out and camp with her more whether. It's bike packing, or car camping. She. Loves, it. What. A fun trip. Nancy's. Been a good sport I can't believe it well. We've reached the end of our trip, it. Has been a fun learning experience bike, packing as a family, and with trailers. So. To go bike packing traditionally, without a trailer, you need a really lightweight sleeping, shelter, you need a lightweight sleeping, pad need a lightweight sleeping bag and you need all the bags to carry it on your bike and that can run thousands, of dollars if you go all out, what's, cool about a trailer, is you can have, a $50. Walmart, bag an $80. Amazon. Tent you, can bring a full gallon of water and you, can experiment, with bike packing without, having, to dump. A ton of money into it now, yes the trailers, $450. And that's not cheap but. It can serve other purposes beyond, bike packing like you can put your groceries in it if you ride to the store you, can load stuff. On top of these rails and this rear fender is the same height of it so, I could put like a forklift. Pallet on there and carry the whole thing on there you, could take it to trail work days and load all your tools in there you can put a chains on there and because, this is the single rear wheel it can ride on single track which is really cool you, could use it for your groceries if you don't drive your car to the store it's. Got a lot of functionality, beyond bike packing, where with the bags I mean, you can still carry stuff but they're really specialized, for bike packing, this has been a super, fun experiment, it's, allowed us to bring. Little dusty on our first bike packing, trip get. Her more exposed to the outdoors and learn ourselves more, about trailer travel and more, about camping, with the kid I'm. Really glad that we finally got out and took her bike packing, it's one of those things where it's easy to overthink, it and then it just becomes something that never had Vin's I'm, glad that we just finally said let's just do this today with every bike packing, trip there's 10 reasons not to go right before you leave but you just gotta push through them and say we're we're, dedicated, we're gonna make this happen every. Time we go on a bike packing trip it's worth it and we're not gonna let the excuses keep us from going and I'm so glad we pushed through it, was a great experience. We learned a ton that we'll take to our future experiences. And it's, so cool seeing our daughter interact, with nature and being, together as a family this was a fun time thanks, for watching there's a party in the mountains and you're invited.
2020-04-12 15:08
