Mtn Biking with the Airstream

[swebster]

Just got back from a weekend with four of my mountain biking buddies. We spent Saturday and Sunday camping at Otter Creek Park (just south of Louisville) and rode about 35 miles of some of the best trails in the area. One trail follows the Ohio about 300 feet above it then decends withing a half mile to the creek itself, very fast, somewhat scary but a lot of fun.

Cooked dinner and breakfast on the campfire, enjoyed one or two adult beverages and answered questions about the motorhome from several park rangers ("I didn't know they made a motorhome")

Anyway, most of the time I'm posting about some travel disaster so I wanted to say something nice for a change.

[crowbar68]

cool. i often mtn bike while camping. one of my favorites is an 11 mi. trail around a resevoir in huntington,in. there are a few other trails and a shooting range as well. it is a good time. i wear a helmet now after a FEW stitches to the noggin'

donate blood, ride a mountain bike

crowbar

[Road Ruler]

We too have a passion for MTBing. Took up racing 5 years ago and now spend an average of 8 to 10 hours a week on the bikes either riding, racing or training. Yes the bikes ( only two at a time) go with us when we travel with the bullet and the two passtimes work well together.

Trek Fuel 98 (race)
KHS softtail (trainer)
Specialized rockhopper (trainer)
Giant TCR2 road bike ( crosstrainer)

BH.. Giant Anthem (race)
Trek 6500 (hard tail trainer)
Van Tuyl Ti (road bike)

[lewster]

Mountain bike? Did someone mention mountain bike?????

I'm headed to OR in a week to do a bunch of that and road biking, kayaking, of course wind surfing, motorcycling and consumption of large quantities of NW micro-brew (NOT together of course!!) Road riding is also a passion, that was until some f@*k~&g person absconded with my 15 lb. Giant TCR carbon road bike (it's kind-a flat in FL anyway, know what I mean?). Stolen right out of my garage! Hope the insurance check gets here soon!

BTW, if you get the chance to get to OR, there is awesome MTB riding in the Hood River and Bend areas. Some incredible cross-country riding with a 2000 or 3000 ft. climb and descent thrown in here or there . Great down hilliling too if you're into that. See ya on the road..............

[swebster]

Good to hear from other mtn biker/airstreamers. Seems like a good combination. We're already planning our next excursion to Land Between the Lakes (http://www.lbl.org/BITrails.html) for a three day trip.

I'm currently riding a Kona Cinder Cone (hardtail) and use my Specialized Allez on the road...but I'm looking at the new Felt Carbon F5C to get into some endurance racing.

Sounds like we might have the makings of a Airstream Bicycling Ralley. Hmmm.

Lew - that is a major bummer to hear about your stolen bike....yikes!

[gadgetat]

Glad to know others bring their bikes along. Part of the reason I got my Airstream was to provide a home away from home while riding in Northern NH. Hundreds of miles of rarely used logging roads in some of the most remote country in New Hampshire! Normally I've seen more moose than people while out riding there.

Always got my helmet along....donated enough blood over the years!

[bhayden]

Just got back from the maiden voyage with our "new" 1978 Argosy 24. Took it over to Winthrop WA for the mtn bike race this weekend. Trailered with the bikes in the trailer until we figure out a better system. Previously we used a Yakima hitch rack which obviously isn't possible with the trailer occupying that position. Did have our act together in time to take the trailer over to Spokane Memorial Day weekend for the 24 Hour race but take a look at the May Picture of the Month thread for a Minuet 6 Metre set up for mountain bike camping.

Last post on page 5:
http://www.airforums.com/forum...ht=photo+month


The Minuet had a Sportsworks rack mount on back raised up enough to still be able to access the rear bumper compartment. I've got a picture of the custom fabrication that permitted this. There's been previous threads about rear racks being problematic on Airstreams. I'm not convinced 60-100 pounds of bike is going to cause any harm unless there's a serious problem already with the structure of the trailer. After all, that's the same as 10 gallons of water in the waste tanks and if you can't haul out after a weekend without emptying the tanks then that's a problem.

What are the rest of you doing? Bikes in the trailer is great for security. A person on our team had three bikes ripped off of a roof rack while staying at a motel following the 24 Hour race. Bikes were locked to the rack and all three were cabled together and locked to the truck with a thick braided wire cable and Kryptonite lock. Too many stories of stole bikes! But I suspect we're safer at a camp ground than in a hotel parking lot.

[swebster]

I use a swagman hitch rack on the motorhome hitch. It holds three bikes and still allows me to tow the Beetle behind everything. It has a built in locking system. Since the "bedroom" in the motorhome is about two feet from the bikes I feel pretty safe at night; although we did lock them up on the hitch at night even in the campground.

When we stayed in Vegas last year in a hotel for four nights we put everything inside, even the hitch and rack. Had some of the best biking in a while in Flagstaff on the way home.

When I used to work in bike shops (college) I would tell people, if someone wants your bike, they're going to get it. A lock slows them down or simply deters the casual thief. Removing the target entirely (out of sight) is the best defense.

[GlenCoombe]

Having a MOHO with a rear door and stairs helps get the bikes inside.... we use 1/2 inch plywood with biketights for the front forks.
We did Crater Lake Deluxe in 1998 with a supported tour operator who had permits to ride the old logging roads. These roads are paved low use dreams.
I'm off to Yahats OR in July but alas no AS and no bikes.
My long wheel base recumbent may be heavy but as I tell all the young hammer heads, "anybody can ride a light weight bike!" I get 'em all on the downhill.

[tin sista]

We love them all! Michigan is a great place to combine those interests! Did all of the above Memorial weekend at Wilderness State Park. Photo below. Nice thread, its fun to know so many forum members enjoy similar interests! We wear helmets too!
SWebster--Glad there weren't any travel disasters to report!

[bradk]

One of the reasons we decided to get a trailer this year was for mountain, road, and triathlon racing.

Nic and I have bike-itis and have been afflicted for quite some time. Unfortunately, the tally currently stands at 9 in the household right now.

We're heading to Edmonton this coming weekend with the twinkie for a mountain bike race.

I'm currently trying to come up with a plan that will allow me to put my mountain bike (Intense 5.5) and my road bike (Ridley Damocles) into the trailer as I don't want to spend another 400 bucks on yet another roof rack for the pathfinder. I think what I may do is mount a quick release to an extendable shower curtain. Wedge the shower curtain between the dinette frame and mount the bikes to it. Should work...I think?

Few places in the world have as high quality of trails as Southern Alberta.

Our all-time favorite destination for dirty fun has to be Downieville, California. It's a perfect place to park an Airstream. We can't wait to get back down there sometime.

b.

[Road Ruler]

We too put the bikes in the Trailer. The many advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages.

Side note re Helmets:


Did the Liberty bike race again last night in ST.Catharines Ontario. Wanted to take it easy because the big Lake to Lake race is in 4 days and didn't want to mess up the hardware (my body)!

All went well till the end of the race.

A gal went down in front of me at the finish line ????, and I slamed on
the brakes, locking them up , hit her, and I went airbourne over the handle bars at over 30klm.
Landed on the pavement on my head first with quite a bang and cracked the helmet (now $200's worth of junk, but saved the $1,000,000 head!). Then
scraped my shoulder, back and knee. I'm hurtin this AM but everything still works. I have a big 50K race and Sunday and
still hope to do it. Ouch! lol, Maybe at 56 years old I should find a
safer pass time. Wear your helmet!!!

The girl was bleeding from scrapes on her arm and leg but she was sitting up and didn't seem to bad.

[bhayden]

Originally Posted by bradk

Nic and I have bike-itis and have been afflicted for quite some time. Unfortunately, the tally currently stands at 9 in the household right now..

Only 9? Let's see, 14 complete after selling the tandem, three more frames about a dozen flip top bins full of components and a half dozen extra wheelsets. Mtn bike racing in Winthrop last week and headed to Yakima for a TT this weekend.

Originally Posted by bradk

don't want to spend another 400 bucks on yet another roof rack for the pathfinder. I think what I may do is mount a quick release to an extendable shower curtain. Wedge the shower curtain between the dinette frame and mount the bikes to it. .

We just put down a cheap piece of carpet runner and leaned the two mtn bikes up against the kitchen counter. No worries. Still thinking about a more elogant solution. Especially come cyclocross season loading the muddy bikes into the trailer is less appealing

Originally Posted by bradk

Few places in the world have as high quality of trails as Southern Alberta.
Our all-time favorite destination for dirty fun has to be Downieville, California. .

Washington can hold it's own with most places for road and mtn bike riding. How about a nice climb up to watch Mtn St. Helens rebuilding? Everything else from rain forest to high desert. Not far from downhill heaven at Whistler or the sick stunts of Vancouver Islands infamous North Shore. Idaho's Sun Valley to the east and Oregon's Hood River and Bend to the south.

Downieville has got rave reviews from everyone I know that's been there. Better than Moab is a common refrain and pretty centrally located for a rendezvous

[flyfisher]

I'll probably be riding my Cannondale in Montana beside the Yellowstone River practically every day for the next 3 months straight. I go from one end of the RV park to the other, sometimes several times in the same day. Does that count?

[bhayden]

OK, you'll probably notice the Obrea isn't much for single track but I did ride it on dirt roads today on an easy spin following yesterdays TT

This might be a little harder with the mtn bikes and you'd certainly want to wash them first but flipping up the cushion of the rear double bed made for a great place to transport the bikes:



I'm thinking instead of bungy cord to the window, which wants to open the window, with a little custom work I could put fork mounts in the plywood that would be totally hidden (recessed) when the cushions are in place. Could get three bikes in for sure with the bed pulled out. If you had the double twin arrangement I bet you could do four bikes this way.

Even if I go with a rear bike rack having the ability to lock the bike inside the trailer, out of sight out of mind has some definite appeal. For one thing "my precious" (as Gollum says) TT bike won't get rained on. HEAVEN FORBID!!!

[GlenCoombe]

BHayden, I'm not certain what the plywood looks like under your cushion but if you could mount the "bike tight" front fork clamps on a piece of plywood that you could flip then this would get it out of the need to be recessed.
Bottom line is that you don't want to be digging into the bottom of the cushion.
Also consider the orientation of the two bikes. Most of the inertia is sideways in your present configuration. I like mine inline with the direction of travel as don't like sideways effort on my dropouts. Just MHO.

[bhayden]

Mine are front to back. They're on the rear bed that parallels to the side of the trailer. Not clear in the picture I guess. I couldn't get back any farther so show the whole set-up. I thought about flipping the plywood but haven't gone back to check if it's symetrical. That still leaves the problem of the bolt heads. The fork mounts are designed to take a csk screw and a nut/washer on the back side. The plywoods not thick enough to counter bore a recess. to hold the nut. I figure holes for the fork mounts and a board across the span would give some added strength anyway that would be a good idea with the load of the bikes on a bumpy road. A groove for keeping the rear wheel in place might not be a bad idea also.

What you said though made me think more about the front gaucho. I'd still mount them front to back but put the rear wheel on the floor. I'll have to check clearances but I think with our 24' there's enough up there you could fit three bikes and still walk past them and use the kitchen/bath while traveling. I wouldn't be able to turn them head to tail but that doesn't always work anyway. Would also like some way to keep the rear tire from hopping around in transit and permanent fixtures in the floor are out. I might end up with mounts in both locations. It's nice to have options when you're trying to stack road bikes, full susupenion, hardtails, etc. Often times I feel like its a Rubics Cube trying to get them to fit on the rear hitch mount rack ;-)

-Bernie

[3Ms75Argosy]

sigh... to tall for me though! I'm more of a 48cm guy. Just used my Giant OCR3 (upgraded to about OCR1 status) this w/e for the Flying Wheels Century. My friends are doing Tour De Blast (up and around Mt. St. Helens) this w/e, I have to work though.

9 and 14 bikes? See, I'll have to tell the wife that I'm falling behind! Only 4 bikes here!

Nice to see bikes and AS's together again!
Marc

[GlenCoombe]

Bernie, photo's don't always tell the whole story...I thought you had them on the gaucho sideways...my mistake.
I've managed to get four in the back of the bus... long ways, the only trouble was my LWB kinda was in the way of either the fridge or the door to the head.
We use the removable board with bike tights so the whole deal is on sections of plywood to begin with. This saves wear and tear on the floor too. No chain lube and mystery gunk on the carpet or floor.

[swebster]

Went back and rode Otter Creek again this weekend. There was an XC race about three miles away at Ft Duffield. Which meant there were about a million bikers in the park all day Saturday and early Sunday. A group of three passed me on one of the climbs along the river...made me realize just how slow I've become. I miss those CAT3 legs.