Bike Pushing.

[W I S N E R !]

Headed out for a ~100 mile bike/hike overnight tomorrow morning.  It’s about 80 miles of biking (mixed road and off road) and 20 miles of hiking.  The hiking is in canyons and all at once; many water crossings, lots of pushing through bowling ball strewn riverbeds.

My load is light.  Wearing a UD Fastpack 20 for food and small gear.  Bike will be laden with sleep system on the bars and spare clothes/kitchen in a saddle bag.  I want the bulkier stuff off my back for the riding sections.

I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be worth wearing a bigger pack for the hiking section; or at least making sure I can fit everything into the UD pack.  I’m thinking that any extra weight/bulk on the bike, given the terrain, will be no fun to push. A friend is going with front panniers…I think it’s a bad idea and going to be a real PITA on the pushes.

Also likely going to remove my pedals for the serious push section.

Any thoughts on this?  Tips for long pushes in stupid terrain?

[Dena Kelley]

I think your idea of pedal removal is gold. I had to do a 3 mile push last week because I blew out my chain and didn’t have the proper kit with me to do a field repair. It was a pain trying to avoid destroying my shins on the pedals.

[Jeffs Eleven]

My thought was that you can tow more than you can haul, so more weight in the bike rather than your back would be better. But i agree front panniers and pedals would make this more awkward. But light load on bars and saddle bag shouldnt be too bad. Right??🤷🏻‍♂️

Hell idk

 

pedals off is brilliant tho

[W I S N E R !]

Everyone that rides flats with aggressive studs (as I do) knows what they can do to your shins and the backs of your calves…

Generally, I think you’d be right about weight on the bike.  But in this case there are some pretty rough spots where I’m afraid it’ll add to the push struggle.

Well, I guess I’m about to find out about.  I’m going to make sure I can get it all on my back if necessary, seems wise to me in this scenario.

[Bob Shuff]

Where are you headed?

[W I S N E R !]

Riding door to door.  Altadena to HWY 39, Azusa.  Up 39 to East Fork of the San Gabriel River.  Hiking/biking/pushing the East Fork to Vincent Gap.  Riding Hwy 2 back down.  Breaking off at Mt. Wilson Road and taking the Mt. Lowe truck road back down and home.  One night/ two days is the plan.  My partner just bailed so solo it is!

I expect the ~7 miles after the Bridge to Nowhere to be pretty crappy traveling.

 

[BlackHatGuy]

Why not carry the bike on your shoulder instead of pushing it?

[W I S N E R !]

I’ll probably have to…that’s why I’m thinking that leaving the handlebar/seatpost bags on is a bad idea.

[stephan q]

Howdy, I would add a length of webbing to create a tow strap of sorts. Strap the seat post and drag up, or slow the descent, depending on conditions. Free up and not commit to hand on seat at all times. A leash, kinda.

Stephan

[Ralph Burgess]

Removing pedals (as I’m sure you know) would mean carrying a fairly substantial tool with some leverage.   I’d suggest removing them at home before your trip, cleaning and greasing the threads.

If this becomes a regular type of trip, you might consider quick-release pedals.   I’ve never used them, but the MKS Ezy Rinko design is decent quality.  I’m not aware of any other brand offering this.

https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop/components/pedals/mks-us-s-clipless-pedals-rinko/

[W I S N E R !]

Yeah, good call Ralph.  I did reduce the pedal torque before leaving so I could use the 8mm on my multitool to remove them.

This trip proved to be the worst push I could possibly imagine, Type 2 fun for 16 straight hours.  Far more carrying and cussing than pushing.  I went so far as disassembly and putting the wheels on my back but my pack just couldn’t handle it.  Took off all bags and ended up pushing it naked most of the way.

Trip report soon to come for anyone curious…

[Dena Kelley]

Looking forward to the trip report. How’d your buddy fare?

[Dale Wambaugh]

Front panniers get the load away from your legs when pushing and would be okay if the trail isn’t narrow. Some bikes handle okay with a front load, some not as well. I would be concerned with them being too low. I like a front rack with a basket zip tied on top but for light loads like sleeping bag and  pad.

Small back panniers are okay for pushing, or run a small/compressed one on the left if pushing from that side. For stream crossings you can make a few trips.

You only need to remove one pedal :) Good idea though. My shins get ugly if I’m not careful and rough trails would ensure some new scars. If you did lots of stuff like this, you could get quick release pedals. Grease the threads and take a ziplock.

[W I S N E R !]

No time for a trip report for a while, but this gives an idea of one of the many hundreds of crossings I was dealing with.  “Bike pushing” is a bit of a misnomer; more like bike canyoneering.

[Dale Wambaugh]

If your average speed drops to 3-4 MPH, I would question why a bike is involved. I can walk 3 MPH and it is less suffering than trying to push a bike. And I like bikes!

[Alex Wallace]

Bunny. Hop! That.

 

[James Marco]

Yeah, remove one peddle and carry the bike. All the other gear should fit into your pack, but make sure you are not really off-balance. That can be harder on you than banging shins trying to push it. Avoid falling over the bike, of course.

Hmm, seems I am a bit late to the party….

[Pete Staehling]

I am probably too late to the party here, but for future reference…

I would think for long pushes taking one pedal off might be helpful.  I recall seeing quick remove pedals for the folding bike community.  Some were spd and some were platforms I think.  They may have been from MKS, I forget.  The thing is that I’d wonder if even with quick removal if it might mean not bothering with many transitions between walking and riding and therefore walking more than necessary if transitions were close together and frequent.  I guess it would depend on the terrain.

Back in my MTB racing days I remember lots of unrideable terrain where we shouldered the bikes and walked/climbed/ran with them.  I don’t recall the pedals being a problem with that.  We weren’t carrying any gear though so I don’t know how severely that will affect the carrying.  Some guys had a little pad in the main triangle of the frame by the seat for their shoulder (arm through the frame).  Lots of bikes today don’t have frames that allow that type of carry as easily without some other method (nose of saddle over shoulder, seat post on shoulder?).

I would pretty quickly find the bike more of a hindrance and leave it home unless there was a lot of nice rideable terrain to compensate for the hassle of difficult pushing/carrying.

[Pete Staehling]

Just ran across this backpack designed for carrying a bike.  Thought it was interesting and maybe relevant.  Not especially recommending or anything but…

https://bikerumor.com/2019/06/13/outentic-puts-a-bike-on-your-back-modular-backpack-for-long-enduro-portages/

[Dan]

the dedicated bike carry pack idea is interesting , but not practical on mixed terrain with a loaded bike.

If you can make this your self,  Shoulder straps with a loop at each  to pass through itself. Attached to the frame  on Your Top tube and at bottom bracket or chain stay -simpler and easily a removable. Pedal on the hip. if you have a frame bag it should pad round the crank.

A sock or rag over the bed will save you from suffering pedal gash. It may be pedal covers will also on help hike a bike. I strap the crank to the chainstay on the rohloff as they want to rotate on there own. I also have a bit of foam under the saddle nose if I shoulder the bike that way, saddle rails in the shoulder are a Pain in the …

[Author]

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