Rounadabout Manchester Route- Gravel bikepacking in Vermont and Eastern New York

Just a quick, this is what we did, it was fun, and go have at it post. 

The road to IP Road

I call it the Roundabout Manchester. I've had it on paper (or pixels) for about 4 years and it was pretty awesome to finally do it. I only live about 40 miles (an hour) from the start so it was sort of inexcusable to not do it. However, it wasn't a dog friendly route (even if I had a trailer those Cat 2 climbs would absolutely suck. It's a gravel bike tour with some abandoned Vermont Class 4 roads. 

Lots of good camping, resupply at good intervals. You can do this as an epic day ride, challenging overnight, or a 3 or 4 day trip. We did 4 not so equal days but it worked out great. At camp almost every day with plenty of light. 

D&H in Granville, NY

Camping in Green Mountain National Forest

Exploring the Adirondacks by Bicycle - Bikepacking Wilcox Lake Wild Forest

With ~2 million acres of public land open to bicycles within and adjoining the Adirondack Forest Preserve, the Adirondacks are a blank canvas for exploration by bicycle. Just don't expect to ride your bike the whole time while finding which trails are rideable and which are not.

His Name is Marshall Church

His name, Marshall Church, loosely translated means American Wilderness. Read on for a little history lesson on why there was a continuity to my naming scheme.

Bob and George Marshall built the American wilderness movement in part based on the adventures of their youth in New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve; Senator Frank Church turned that movement into federal law protecting millions of acres with the Wilderness Act of 1964, which was heavily based on Article 14 of the New York State constitution -the Forever Wild clause.

If we peel away one more layer: It was Verplanck Colvin's surveys and lobbying for creation of the Adirondack Forest Preserve and Forever Wild that allowed the Marshall's to adventure in the Adirondacks in their formative years. The Adirondacks were in essence the birthplace of the federally conserved American wilderness and the modern conservation movement.

In total the Marshall and Church names have 3.4M federally protected wilderness acres including my favorite place that isn't the Adirondacks, the 2.3M acre Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. However, the scope of land preserved thanks to my trail dogs namesakes (Colvin Harrison and Marshall Church) is in the millions of acres and a good part of why the US has 12% of the world's IUCN protected wild lands but only covers 6% of the earths surface.

1996 Trek 7900 Multitrack Garage Queen Drop Bar Adventure Bike

Rear end detail of a Trek 7900

This bike has been really good value for me. I paid $265 for it in 2021 with the express plan to drop bar convert from a flat bar 8spd to a drop bar 9spd. Other than the shifters, bars and cassette, I was able to do the upgrade maintaining the stock Shimano XT drivetrain. Along the way I've minimized expense of marginal upgrades. Every upgrade is with purpose and with the idea of building a more robust bike for gravel and bikepacking/bike touring.

Shown in the photo are the latest upgrades. 36H Velocity Cliffhanger rim on a Shimano XT hub. I prefer rear wheels (and fronts) with 36 spokes. It makes the wheel significantly stronger, not much heavier and makes repairing a (less likely) broken spoke easier. The upgrade happened after the original rim blew a spoke on the last 3 miles of a 200+mi bike tour. I've always preferred more spokes then less. I don't care about marginal weight, just durability, so I used it as an opportunity to get a stronger wheel. Oddly enough the original Trek wheels are really good. So I was surprised I popped a spoke on smooth terrain. Moreso because before I got the bike it was hardly ridden and when it was it was a fit woman using it on bike paths. Spoke fatigue shouldn't be a thing. 

In the background (out of focus) are the Avid Shorty Cantilever brakes. These may appear to be a boutique upgrade but they have the stopping power of V brakes with the modulation of cantis and the ease of setup of a V. These are the best of all worlds and are about the best upgrade for a rim brake bike you can make. These are the equivalent of adding bigger rotors or going hydraulic on a disc brake bike. With bike loads in wet conditions these are much appreciated. 

The rack is a Tumbleweed Mini Pannier which is a fantastic steel rack that should outlast the bike by a few decades. 

Trek 7900 at Cohoes Falls. Cohoes, NY