Adventure bike – Specialized AWOL

^ yep agreed have deleted, here if anyone is interested https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/289742/#comment13100880

Cali pt1.

Landed in Oakland, got our rental and made our way to South Lake Tahoe. We camped at campground in the town and found a lbs for some advice on where to go. Star Lake was apparently the place to go. We were told to expect 3 hrs of riding to get there, which seemed odd because it only looked like 10k on the map. Anyway, we got warned about bears and getting permits and stuff, which was all very new to us. Did some preparation and was ready in the afternoon.

We got going and quickly realised why the ride there was going to take a while. The first half, was a pretty straight gravel road, but averaging 10-12%. Quite rough on a loaded bike – and of course, I never got my 11-42 cassette in time, so I was stuck with 38-36. Needless to say, there was some pushing. Once done with the gravel section, a single-track appeared. We continued to climb, but the trail was amazing. Much fun even when going up. We had to make a quite a few photo stops and ended up spending 2,5 hours up, with like 1,5 in moving time.

Star Lake appeared and was pretty magical. Wild terrain and at 9000ft. I'm not gonna tell the whole story about that night, but it involves a creepy guitar player that didn't respond to us, fear of bears, a quick sunset ride and very little sleep.

The next morning we had our eggs and bacon before heading down. The descend was simply stunning. I had the most fun I've had on a bike in a long time. Bikes performed perfectly fully loaded on the single-track, really finding their purpose.

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Pt2 later!

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Incredible. I wish I'd hired a bike when I was out in the bay area

So awesome.

Great pictures, thanks!

great great great. more reports please!

Not sure if appropriate, but following the prolly famous comment, this is now on the radavist!

@larsenroad hope you don't mind me mentioning it. Trip looks awesome!

Not at all, thanks!

I'll get on with pt2 here soon.

Trip looks great!

I've spent a lot of time in the South of France this summer and a lot of it has very similar terrain if you want something that's closer to home. Lakes everywhere, high, low, big, small etc. So much singletrack everywhere too.

Looks like M-X AWOL^ will soon also be calling Oslo home!

Would love to join you for a Nordmarka ride some time in the fall (pretty new in town still).

Hey guys, new to forum but came across this thread a little while ago and found it really interesting. I've also just moved to Oslo with my AWOL (rode it here from London on a 2 week tour) and would defintely be up for an AWOL owners ride in the forests if there's one happening! Done a litle bit of exploring already around Sognsvann/Tryvann but some local input would be great for new routes! Cheers, Leo

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Cool, welcome to Oslo!

Should definitely go for a spin. Maybe there are some lurkers here that wants to join too.

Meanwhile I recommend this nice gravel loop in Nordmarka: https://www.strava.com/activities/646488056

Cool, thanks - I'll check it out!

I've spent a lot of time in the South of France this summer and a lot of it has very similar terrain if you want something that's closer to home. Lakes everywhere, high, low, big, small etc. So much singletrack everywhere too.

Indeed, and Spain too which look almost identical to America as well.

Where is that seat bag from please?

Which one? I see three on the page :)

Sorry, I meant the camo one that has a label "bikepack". But the black plain one looks nice too. Perhaps you can tell me where I can get both? :)

Yea, that's mine, it's from Bikepack.pl. My friend got his from a guy in Boulder, don't remember his name.

@larsenroad I know you have a flat bar now, but was this the camo bar tape you used; http://m.ebay.nl/itm/Road-Bike-Bicycle-Handlebar-Bar-Tape-Army-Navy-Green-Camo-/191658580653?nav=SEARCH
Did you like it?
Thanks and nice thread:)

Thanks! Yea, looks like the one. It's nice and comfy, but not very durable.

Pt 2.

After Lake Tahoe we drove south and had a stop in a small town in the forest. Ate burgers at this joint and got talking with some locals. They warned us from Yosemite and said we should go to Mammoth and ride our bikes instead. We got some sleep at a motel (xmas light and breakfast pics) before driving through Yosemite. We originally had planned to camp in Yosemite Valley, but the guys we spoke with were right – so packed with tourists and we just kept going. So we went to Mammoth were we stayed at a campground up by a lake (not as scary as the one in Tahoe, but still with bear warnings) for two nights. Mammoth has some really nice trails, so we did a long lightweight trail ride and rested up by the campfire.

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