My Alaska Top 10 Gear List

I biked more than a 1,000 miles during the winter of 2013 in Alaska on roads, trails, beaches, ice and more ice, glaciers, and anything else that I could run my 45Nrth Husker Du's across. My Ti Mukluk took me wherever I asked, and did so with style, grace and incredible endurance.  It is without a doubt the finest bike I have ever owned, period, end of story....

During this trip I encountered sunshine, rain, sleet, snow, more snow, and lots of snow, along with  temperatures that ranged from a low of -36 to a high of 45 degrees.  Planning and executing a self supported bike trip that spans those types of conditions is challenging to say the least. 

As part of my ongoing attempt to pull together and share my thoughts and my lessons learned, I have come up with my top 10 pieces of gear (non bike related); a few honorable mentions; and a short list of what dissapointed me the most.  In the coming days I will add some more detail to why I chose what I did and why the gear that worked, really worked.

Grand Prize: My Prototype Hyperlite Mountain Gear Mid

Top 10:

1. Patagonia Houdini
2. Patagonia Cap 4 Hoody
3. NeoAir X Pad
4. Bryjne Wool Fishnet top
5. RBH VBL Socks
6. Wool Buff
7. Sea to Summit UL Sil Backpack
8. MSR Universal Stove
9. RBH Gloves
10. Exotac Tool

Honorable Mention:

1. Goal Zero Guide 10 Plus packs
2. Apple Ipad Mini
3. Princeton Tec Light
4. O/R Insulated Sleeves

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Fatbike festival, Homer AK

Most Dissapointing:

1. Mammut Ultimate Hoody
2. Nokia Lumia 920
3. Swedish Fire Steel
4. Delorme InReach

More details on why stuff worked and why it didn't.  I love the fact that the two top pieces of gear on my list cost me less than $200 combined and were worn more than 90% of the ENTIRE trip.  They are without a doubt two of the most amazing pieces of clothing available to the outdoor enthusiast.

Photographic Gear:

• Nikon D800E - Still the greatest camera I have ever owned
• Zeiss Makro Planar 50/2 - My goto lens
• Zeiss Distagon 21/2,8 - An unbelievalbe wide angle lens
• Zeiss Makro Planar 100/1,4 - One of Zeiss's best pieces of glass ever!
• Sony NEX-7 with Sony 50/1,4 - This was my goto grab camera while on the bike

The kit worked brilliantly, albeit a little large for a bike tour.  However, I knew that with two months in Alaska I was going to encounter stunning scenery and I wanted absolutely the best gear possible for that trip. 

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Note: The links above are to the products on BHPhoto, my preferred source for photography kit.  Purchasing using these links provides me a small commission and costs you nothing.  These small commissions help me to pay for the web site and the exposure site where I share my stories and images.

Porcelain Rocket Bags

A big thanks once again to Scott Felter for his support.  His Porcelain Rocket bags are simply mind blowingly awesome!!  I have used them non stop and had 0 failures or issues.  Scott recently built me new custom frame bag for the alaska trip with the double zip side panel.  This allows me to more easily get larger items in the bag such as stoves, fuel bottles, or even insulation layers.  Scott's attention to detail is evident in all of his bags and can be seen by the many happy customers going into extreme environments with his kit. 

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For this trip I will only be using a Frame Bag, a Handlebar bag, and a Top Tube ditty bag.  On the back I will forgo my Booster Rocket pack and instead go with a rear rack and two Ortlieb panniers.  Aesthetically this runs against my grain, but the extreme conditions, remote nature of Alaska, and the scarcity of resupply points demand more storage than a typical bikepacking setup.

This image shows nicely the advantage of the Panel Loader.  With this style bag, you have 2-3 options for how the bag is opened.  The top, horizontal zipper is a 2 way zipper that can be opened from either the left or the right side.  The vertical zipper goes from top to bottom.  If you open both zippers, the panel opens wide for the insertion of bulky objects.  This allows the following combinations:

1. Zip the top from left to right and access the panel from the top
   
2. Zip the top from right to left and access the panel from the top
3. Zip the side from top to bottom and access the panel from the vertical
4. Zip left to right, top to bottom, and the panel opens out

No more fighting to squeeze something through the zipper.  The beauty is in the details, so notice how Scott has added a flap in the corner to protect the two zippers from water immersion. 

Thanks Scott, the bag rocks!!

Patagonia Capilene 4

Ok, I am almost done talking about gear, at least for the most part, because once I hit the road/trail in Alaska, it will be a different story... However, with that said, I have found what may be one of the finest base layers ever!! The Patagonia Cap 4 hoody, which I had read about over on Backpacking Light, is simply spectacular. It is comfortable, breathes amazingly well, has the full zip of the famous R1 and lastly, it just wicks the moisture away.

Two different rides, yesterday and today, and I am very impressed. Today I just wore it under my Pat Houdini and was very comfortable. I have been such a wool fan that it feels like I am cheating on a GF, but I am really excited about this piece. For AK I will use it as a mid layer over top of the Bryjne wool fishnet top. This combined with my soft shell should take me down to 0F when riding.

Updated Lake MXZ 303 Winter Shoes

It looks like Lake is not resting with what has been a big success for them but is instead continuing to evolve their winter cycling boot with the new MXZ 303 model.  This looks interesting, I just hope that it is built on a wider last than before.

A couple of things I noted in the press release is the addition of insulation in the Toe Box area and a new foot bed liner to help insulate your foot from the cold that seeps through your metal cleat.  The boots still have the same style lacing which I must say I actually liked when in the deep cold.  It was easy to operate and never did fail.  However, if you are going into the wilds away from support, then this is simply one other thing to break.

The Lake's are notoriously narrow, which is so detrimental to keeping your feet warm in the winter. I am still banking on the 45Nrth Wolvhammers as my first option, but these are intriguing because of the price differential.  The Wolvhammers are more than $100 more expensive and since I am going to mod my boots with a special deep winter overboot, this may be a better route.  

Buy a couple of sizes larger and order the wide version.  Bikeman.com has them on pre-order now.

Winter Bikepacking Kit

Here is the first pass at my clothing & camp setup for the upcoming winter Bikepacking expedition in Alaska.  This kit is a derivation of the setup I used last year in the Gaspe/Chic Choc mountains.  The main difference is that I will be going into colder and more extreme situations which will cause me to carry a bit more food, clothing, and fuel.

The following is a textual layout that will be updated with the appropriate weights once I re-weigh everything.  Some of the numbers are holdovers from last year and should be correct.  I will also map out visually where everything fits on the bike and how it is all packed once the setup is complete.

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