My buddy Paul and I left the shop a week or so ago on an S36O tour. If you’re familiar with the term S24O, it refers to a sub 24 hour overnighter. I’ve extended that to be a sub 36 hour overnighter. This concept is related to getting out for short quick bike tours that are simple and local. A lot of folks think of cycle touring in terms of riding from one ocean to the other. The concept of shorter tours brings this wonderful pastime within the scope of more riders and fits the schedule and lifestyle of far more of the cycling community.
We ended up leaving a bit late (about 1:30 in the afternoon) as Paul’s decision to go was last minute, so we rode over to his house and he tossed his kit into his Radical designs cyclone trailer ( quick packing is always a trailer perk!) and we were on the road. He pulled his trailer with his ICE Sprint RSX with hardshell seat, and I rode my Azub 5 (almost identical to the new Azub Six) with Ortlieb panniers.
Our route was a loop from our shop in Bend, east to Prineville Reservoir, down the Crooked River canyon to Prineville, then west to Redmond and back home to Bend. Total distance, just over 100 miles and a couple thousand or so feet of climbing.
We kept a fairly brisk pace leaving town, and stopped at Alfalfa Market to grab a couple beers to have with dinner and continued up some substantial climbs to where we topped out before the screaming descent to the reservoir.
I always am interested in how one style of bike or trike performs in relation to another type of machine so it was interesting to see how the bike with panniers rode in relation to Paul’s trike. Some folks, myself included, consider that a trike will be slower than a bike in most cases. In this case, a somewhat high performance trike pulling a trailer was pretty much equal in performance to a full suspension, fairly heavily built touring bike with panniers. Paul, weighing in at around 30 lbs less than myself, usually has the edge on climbs; I usually have the edge on the downhills. We are pretty evenly matched on the flats.
We rode a fairly brisk touring pace out to the reservoir and for an end of the day reward, dropped into a screaming 45 mph downhill to the dam. Fast and twisty, we dropped like rocks toward the canyon. What was surprising, was that in an even Steven, no pedal roll out test between the trike and bike, we were perfectly evenly matched! Around a couple of the hairpins though I backed off from Paul because he was taking them so fast, his trailer was sliding sideways like a rally car through the turns. If he lost it and wadded it up into a ball, I didn’t want to be a part of that!
We stopped at the dam to admire the view and continued down into the canyon in the evening light.
Reaching the perfect campsite at a BLM campground a few miles down canyon, we set up camp alongside the river, cooked dinner, and enjoyed a campfire and a shared flask of single-malt scotch before turning in. It was a delicious 42 mile ride that day.
After a wonderful night’s sleep next to the sonorous lullaby of the nearby river, we woke up just before the sun hit our tents. The temp climbed above freezing as we packed up and headed down to Prineville for a mid morning brunch at a great local cafe.
Heading toward Redmond on the same route the ACA TransAm route follows we took the back way through Redmond and headed south along one of the Oregon Scenic Bikeway routes into Bend. We ended the trip at just over 60 miles for the day.
We averaged 13.5 mph for the tour, a comfortable pace that is a bit faster than my overall average I used to ride when I toured on a DF bike but in a whole other universe where comfort is concerned. The Azub is set up with a MEKS/SASO carbon fork and a rear shock which smoothed rough spots and cattle guards on the road more than Paul’s rear suspended ICE trike did, but the Azub, to be fair, has much more suspension travel. Even with the hardshell seat, Paul has no complaints about his trike. It’s an almost perfect balance between performance and comfort. And the Radical Designs trailer is a beautiful piece of kit and performs wonderfully, even when drifting sideways around hairpin curves!
After this short tour, I would have to say that after touring for almost 40 years of my life on nearly every conceivable type of touring machine, the Azub 5/6 is hands down the best touring bike I’ve ever ridden fully loaded.
As to which is better to tour, trike or bike, I don’t think for the most part there’s a substantial difference in performance between the two. What it comes down to really is what you prefer to ride. Which makes you happiest rolling down the road? If I’m doing a tour that includes substantial sections of dirt, my preference would be towards the bike, but other than that, it’s a pretty even toss up in relation to performance and efficiency.
I’m going to try and do more of these short two to three day tours this summer. Just as most backpackers don’t think they have to set out on the Appalachian Trail to do a backpacking trip-they regularly plan overnight trips out on weekends. There’s no reason to not consider doing the same on a bike (or trike).
