BIKEPACKING: Slate Springs Overnight

OVERVIEW

What do you get when you combine backpacking and biking? Naturally: BIKEPACKING! Don’t know what that looks like? Check out Bikepacking 101 at the end of the description.

Over the course of two days, we’ll attempt to tackle the 52-mile Slate Springs Loop in George Washington National Forest. This route follows primarily dirt roads and relatively smooth doubletrack around and over the summit of Reddish and Flagpole Knobs

Prerequisites:
–You must have been mountain biking at least a few times or have some other equivalent riding experience. There are no technical trails on this route, but you need to be comfortable handling the bike on a chunky dirt road.
–I’m going to arbitrarily, but strongly, suggest you have at least three nights of backpacking experience. This will be equally as challenging as a backpacking overnight, with some additional challenge/complexity introduced by the bike element.
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THE PLAN:
MON/TUES – I assign you a bike and give you your bikepacking bags so you know how much space you’ll have and start packing
SATURDAY
-7:00AM Rally at the Shred Shack to load your bike up for real
-9:00AM Depart, grab some Bodos
-11:00AM Wheels rolling from Wolf Ridge Parking lot in GWNF
-Pedal 26 miles Northwest to the summit of Flagpole Knob. Will probably take us 4 hours
-Set up camp for the night, pop wheelies, look at the stars
**It may be cold and windy overnight – pack a warm sleeping bag and pad
SUNDAY
-Wake up, drink coffee, eat brekkie, load up bikes
-Pedal 5 miles to the summit of Reddish Knob, then gradually descend for 20 miles back to the car, with the option to drop bags and ride a little singletrack if we’re
feeling up for it and have time
-Waffle House???
-Return to C’ville by 5:00PM (subject, as always, to the possibility of unexpected delays)
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CLUB PROVIDES:
-Bike
-Frame bag, handlebar bag, and seatpost bag
-Helmet
-I’ll assemble our repair kit with any spares we may need
-I’ll get us a stove and tents which we’ll divvy up Saturday morning
-First aid kit (just so we’re clear: you could totally crash and break yourself doing this if you’re careless, but we’ll have plenty of time to take the descents at a comfortable pace)

YOU NEED:
-Everything you’d normally take backpacking, except the pack. You should have a pretty good idea of what you need if you’re signing up for this trip, although I am glad to discuss the finer points with you
-Daypack: Enough capacity for some layers and personal items, but small enough to bike with all day (club has a couple bags small enough for this). Highly recommend one with a chest strap for biking
-Sturdy shoes: Something you can comfortably pedal and hike in. We’ll likely have to push our bikes for a short section
-Comfortable Riding Clothes
-3L water capacity, ideally in a hydration bladder
-Food: Something you can make with just boiling water

Recommended for biking:
-Gloves (mandatory if it’s cold – $10 Mechanix work gloves are great)
-Sunglasses
-Windproof layers – it can get really chilly going downhill because of the wind
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Driver Needed – Someone with a hitch to carry a bike rack ideally. Gas reimbursed etc.

THE LOOP: https://bikepacking.com/routes/overnighter-harrisonburg-va/

BIKEPACKING 101: https://bikepacking.com/bikepacking-101/
^^An AWESOME resource, mandatory reading