BIKEPACKING IS FREEDOM For the 4th of July holiday, I (Chris Kratsch co-founder of Old Man Mountain) and two long time friends set out on a 3-day bike tour of the Mt. Hood area of Oregon. Our route was inspired by the by 9th segment of the Oregon Timber Trail. The three of us: Derrick Bell, Chris Dodson and I have ridden in the area many times before, but none [...]
A QUICK HOMETOWN WEEKEND RAMBLE For several years in a row, we would embark on a “Motor-Free Memorial Day Weekend”. We’d grab a friend or two, load up our bikes, put a rough route together and leave from our home in Bend, Oregon for a door-to-door 3-day bikepacking adventure in our nearby mountains and forests. This year, the weather was daunting in our nearby Cascade mountains, with snow in [...]
Hell Biking: Who’s idea was this anyway?! A short history lesson Hell Biking was a term coined by Carl Tobin to describe the type of riding and adventures he, Roman Dial and Jon Underwood were doing in the late 1980’s (Note 1). Roman Dial, regarded as the godfather of bikerafting, was the instigator of these tours and their 1988 adventure from Nabesna to McCarthy in Alaska, was considered to be the first ever [...]
Getting the call... So it finally happened. Your bike buddies invited you to join them on a weekend bikepacking trip. They promise peace and solitude, but after a quick google search you start to panic. Anxiety creeps in as you find your way into the depths of the bikepacking world. You spend a few moments hyperventilating, looking at ludicrous prices for bike packing specific bikes, reading extensive gear reviews filled with words and [...]
Filmed by Bike — Launch Party Filmed By Bike Ticket Launch Party April is always a mixed bag in Portland. You could be in a tank top and flip flops enjoying 90º sun, you could be in your snow getup enjoying some spring slush, or anything in between. On Friday the skies welcomed attendees with fresh spring showers, but Portland is always prepared for the weather. [...]
We're looking to find the inaugural President of The Loam and Gravel Society. If you’re comfortable talking to yourself in public, love to ride bikes, and feel ready to lead a very public, secret society; Old Man Mountain would like to pay you $20,000, provide you with some great gear, put you in an adventure van provided by Carefree Camper Co., and send you off to ride your bike all over the western [...]
We’re Going Bikepacking! There’s some semi-cheesy inspirational saying that goes something like this, “Do what you love and love what you do.” Let’s be honest here. We don’t always love a lot of the things we have to do as a small business, like building inventory spreadsheets, solving technology problems, or talking to bankers and insurance companies. But what we do love to do is spend a few days on our bikes in the [...]
Words by Kait Boyle with Photos by Will Stubblefield Why would we load our bikes with backcountry skiing and winter camping gear for 3 days and pedal from home to go skiing and winter camping? As a mountain biker and a backcountry skier, I care about the condition of the environment. Healthy living forests, reliable water sources, and stable trails make my experience on the mountain bike possible. Cold winters, regular winter storms, [...]
Words and Photographs by Michael O’Dwyer The word adventure originated in the 13th century from an old french word aventure, meaning “that which happens by chance” The verb evolved into aventurer "wander, travel, seek adventure, happen by chance. In the 21st century we know the word more as: an exciting or unusual experience with an uncertain outcome. On a dark winter’s day, with time on my hands and hours to kill, I decided to look [...]
Karl Kroll has been on a long road from Chile to Alaska. Over the past year he's taken a break due to COVID-19 but it's given him time to write and reminisce while dreaming about the next leg of the journey. Karl also has a great YouTube channel and Instagram feed where he covers his travels from Warsaw to Istanbul, Georgia, Northern Norway, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Here's a great read about his ride up [...]
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