Route Brief: 

Bikes and Gear:

Bikes:

Salsa Fargo. Size Medium. Build Kit: Sram Apex 1 Mechanical (1X11). Stock build.

Surly Bridge Club (Grandma's Lipstick colorway).  Size large. Build Kit: Sram SX (1x12). Stock build.

Gear: 

Plateau Passage was our first truly epic biking trip and required some serious consideration into supplies, gear, and nutrition.  Much of segment five of Plateau Passage consists of gnarly single-track, so be sure to bring a proper trail ready bike, we strongly suggest riding something with mountain style tires. The Fargo and Bridge Club share many of the same attributes, upright riding position, rigid fork, ample cargo room, and geometry supportive of long days over rough terrain. A key differentiator between the two lies in the Fargo's drop bars (Cowchipper handlebars) and its carbon fork. However, the Surly is extremely affordable and can handle anything you may throw at it, even fully loaded with gear. 

Water scarcity was a real issue on this ride, so it was paramount to plan for no access to water for one to two days at a time. This meant riding heavy, loaded down bikes. Each rider carried seven to eight liters spread across a five liter bladder, and a few bottles of water. Every opportunity at water was utilized, and our MSR trailshot filter worked overtime to replenish supplies, we also carried iodine capsules in the event the filter became unusable (we tried to avoid this as the taste of iodine is awful). Water is quite bulky and often hard to store on the bike, but we found that carrying the water closest to the center of gravity on the bike is best (on the fargo that meant inside of the framebag). We found the Salsa frame bag to have extremely strong material and zippers, we could shove our five liter bladder inside and use all our strength to zip the bag shut and forget about the contents until we needed to use some water. This is worth mentioning because while many small boutique bag makers exist; the big companies, specifically Salsa, also make high quality accessories at a more affordable price. (We are also huge supporters of Apidura)

Among the other tools we used, the Garmin inReach explorer was a key component. Following the route proved to be extremely challenging and the inReach proved quite useful, although we found the interface to be quite clunky and preferred to use the bluetooth to connect to our iPhone and navigate through the application. In addition to the navigational features of the inReach, the device also offers a few paid features such as messaging, SOS, and weather reports, all of which proved to be quite useful. We can't recommend a GPS device enough for any bikepacking trip for both the ease of navigation and for the peace of mind associated with ability to communicate and access to SOS features. 

Nutrition on this trip left much to be desired, we opted for mostly fresh and packaged foods from the grocery store instead of using dedicated camping meals (Freeze-dried MREs). 

If you're planning a trip and are unsure of which direction to go in with any of your adventure riding decisions, let us know, we're here to help! Message us!

Bottom Line on Bikes and Gear:

Both bikes passed the ride test with flying Colors, and as did our camping equipment. We had room to improve on packing (always best to avoid riding with a backpack), nutrition, and navigational skills. Plateau Passage was an incredible experience and humbled us in many ways, but it was the ride we always look back with fondness.

Interested in bikes or gear? 

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