Loaded Shakedown May 19-20 2026

Thu, 21 May 2026 22:28:54 -0700

New adventure with the new bike. The Stargazer and I headed to Dugout Lake via the loosest path possible.

It was a good shakedown and reminder that sand is only good for beach volleyball and David Hasselhoff. The trip was beautiful, fun and properly humbling.

While making my way to Sisters I took a combo of seldom used fire roads and some often used Singletrack. It was high desert pretty!

The bike did a great job of keeping me upright all but once on my way to the lake. Intersections on forest roads take the worst of braking and acceleration, creating moon-dust pits and my slow speed while climbing caused me to loose momentum and my front wheel at the same time. It was the kind of crash where you look to see if anyone is laughing at you and then move on.

The leadup to my accommodations for the night was steep and loose, so the going was slow. The humbling began. It would have been fine if I budgeted my 5-6mph (moving and resting) speed I usually do when bike touring on dirt. I budgeted 9-10mph though, so the Garmin grade assisted mental math kicked in. I’d make it to camp at 7:20pm-ish with sunset at 8:30pm. Keep riding and pushing!

I had the lake to myself until about 10am the next day. I didn’t have much time to enjoy it that night, but did the following day. It’s a large pond with frog sounds to help lull you to sleep along with the wind through the trees. I waded in to grab some water to filter and it was at least as warm as the air temperature, around 52* freedomheit, so not a chilly morning dip.

Riding back into Sisters I took the dirt road all the way back until the High School; a route I didn’t know existed even after riding past it dozens of times.

**What did I learn? **

I like the 4-pannier setup. It gives me plenty of spots to store gear and not have to endlessly lash gear to other gear. Everyone always touts weight savings of less bag weight while ignoring the 3 minutes strapping Crocs onto the outside of your bag while hoping they don’t end up in your spokes later.
I like my new foam mattress. It’s HUGE, but does not require three rounds of deflation and fiddly stuffing. Also, it’s goat head proof! Ochocos, you can’t stop me from sleeping now! It’s also the perfect solar panel platform! We’ll see if it holds up.
My drone is not coming with me. I’m not Ryan Van Duzer and managing my phone and action camera charge and footage is enough for me. I’m not even sure where/if it’s legal…. Falls under less is more.
Water filtration. Final answer is the Sawyer Squeeze and Cnoc bags. The UV pen met its match in Cold Springs CG. I pumped the first pumps of the season from the well and was greeted with a bottle filled with algae water. It was a reminder that what may slow the Sawyer will be gross and less effective for the Steripen.

By the numbers: Day 1: 42mi and 4800ft. Day 2: 13mi and all downhill ;)

Next trip will likely be a ride up to Little Three Creeks Lake and then to Scott Lake (lair of the black bear that didn’t eat our burritos or children).

GGT 2026 on Seventeen Forward

Loaded Shakedown May 19-20 2026