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$6.95 APRIL 2017 Vol.44 No.3 A publication of ADVENTURE CYCLING ASSOCIATION Cyclists’ Travel Guide GEAR UP, GET OUT 12 ROAD TEST: TREK 520 DISC 26 BOUNCING BACK ON THE TRANSAM 44 WEIR: LOOKING FOR BALANCE 64 Letter from the Editor KEEPS ON TICKING A guide for gear and going CONTRIBUTORS ➺LAST spring, as Adventure Cycling was ramping up to MARA ABBOTT celebrate 40 years, I got an email from Tyler Metcalfe. He was was born and raised leaving his (and my) dream job at National Geographic to head in Boulder, Colorado. out on his (and my) dream adventure: riding the TransAm. She has spent the last One of the pleasures of editing a magazine is the ability to live 10 years competing vicariously through others’ journeys, and I was excited for as a professional road Tyler’s well-timed trip. I was thankful to be deskbound, though, cyclist. She has won as word came in that he’d been hit by a car just over the Kansas the women’s Giro d’Italia twice and is a two-time national line and banged up pretty badly. A day or two later, I received champion. Most recently, she finished an email letting me know he was convalescing at his parents’ home in nearby fourth in the road race at the Rio Olympic Oklahoma and had plans to get back on the road — oh, and “sorry, I’ll probably Games. Off the bike, she is a certified yoga miss the 40th party in Missoula.” instructor, a columnist for the Daily Camera, A few months later, I was sitting at a bar around the corner from Adventure and helps sort out the mushy tomatoes Cycling having a beer with Tyler and his cycling partner Adam. He’d gotten back on for Cure Organic Farm at the Boulder the road and would complete his crossing not long after. Not everyone is so lucky Farmers’ Market. She is frequently found (or unlucky, depending on your point of view). There’s always a risk in going: to the hauling ambitious loads around town on her shower, to the store, to work — to ride your local trail or the TransAmerica Trail. You commuter bike. can mitigate it, sure, but taking the risk sure beats sitting in a rubber room. And if Tyler’s unique story is a guide for getting out there, the Nick Legan–led 2017 TYLER METCALFE is dedicated to Cyclists’ Travel Guide is the manual for how to do it. After a two-year hiatus, the Touring documenting travel Bike Buyers’ Guide is back to help you find your first bike or your next. Keep an eye out and adventure, a fact for the glossary, which tackles some of the terms you may not know and can help you line that became obvious up the perfect steed. We review two titans as he lay injured on of touring — Trek’s 520 and the Surly Disc CORRECTIONS: the side of the road Trucker — and talk gear, metallurgy, and after being struck by a • traveling with bikes, but the most important For the second year in a row, we car in Kansas. Fellow cyclist Max Rekowski misidentified the PALM Ride in our piece of the puzzle is holding this magazine. recounts the moments shortly after Tyler was February event listing. We’ve got it now: Read up, then get going. hit: “Every few minutes Tyler would say ‘Hey Pedal Across Lower Michigan. Max, will you grab my camera and make sure • Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capitol, was Alex Strickland you get some shots of this?’” While being mistakenly identified in the February issue attended to by emergency medical teams, Editor-in-Chief, Adventure Cyclist as being on the country’s west coast. Tyler continued to suggest framing options. [email protected] Tanzania only has an east coast. Tyler has no memory of this. EXECUTIVE EDITOR LEAD DESIGNER COPY EDITOR Michael Deme Cassie Nelson Phyllis Picklesimer [email protected] ART DIRECTOR EMERITUS NEW PRODUCTS/COPY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Greg Siple COORDINATOR Alex Strickland Dan Meyer [email protected] CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Willie Weir Patrick O’Grady ADVERTISING DIRECTOR TECHNICAL EDITOR Dan D’Ambrosio Jan Heine Rick Bruner 509.493.4930 APRIL 2017 Nick Legan June Siple Josh Tack [email protected] Volume 44 Number 3 [email protected] ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 03 VOLUME 44 ∞ NUMBER 3 ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG contentsAPRIL 2017 is America’s only magazine dedicated to bicycle travel. It is published nine times each year by Adventure Cycling Association, a nonprofit service organization for recreational bicyclists. Individual membership costs $45 yearly to U.S. addresses and includes a subscription to Adventure Cyclist and discounts on Adventure Cycling maps. For more information about Adventure Cycling Association and Adventure Cyclist magazine, visit adventurecycling.org or call 800.755.2453. SUBMISSIONS INFORMATION: Adventure Cyclist accepts stories, articles, and photographs for publication 44 from various sources. We publish stories about bicycle travel and other recreational cycling subjects but do not cover competitive cycling. If you features are interested in submitting a story or article to Adventure Cyclist, please visit us online at 38 2017 TRAVEL BIKES adventurecycling.org/submit CYCLISTS’ TRAVEL for further information and guidelines. GUIDE 12 40 X MARKS THE SPOT ➺ Buy a bike, learn about by Matt Wiebe the one you have, and gear CURRENT ISSUE NOTES: up for the road ahead in “Water cooler talk around here is TRANSAMERICA IN TWO roughly 98 percent bikes, two percent this tech tradition. 62 food — mostly pastries — and opinions PARTS 44 on both topics run the gamut. In this 14 2017 TOURING BIKE issue, we’re sparing you that awkward ➺ A crash interrupted moment when someone brings up BUYER'S GUIDE a cross-country ride but chafing and peanut butter in the same 10 by Nick Legan sentence and giving you the good couldn’t stop it. stuff: the most relevant tech insights, by Tyler Metcalfe travel advice, and gear reviews a 18 MATERIAL WORLD bunch of gearheads could fit on 76 by Dan Towle pages. Bonus two percent: It’s not SOLLEE SHINING 62 pastry-related (this time), but check 26 ROAD TEST: TREK 520 DISC out the return of our ‘Fuel Your Ride’ ➺ This cycling cellist food column on page 10.” llllby Patrick O’Grady – Cassie Nelson has brought a whole new Lead Designer, Adventure Cyclist 30 ROAD TEST: SURLY DISC meaning to the words TRUCKER “road tour.” OUR COVER: by Dan D’Ambrosio Massive views along the Peru Divide llllby Mara Abbott from a 4,900m pass. Photo by Jonas Pischke. 34 HAVE BIKE, WILL TRAVEL by Dan Meyer 04 ADVENTURE CYCLIST APRIL 2017 12 This Month Online ➺ For more Adventure Cyclist-related content, be sure to visit our website at adventurecycling.org/adventure-cyclist. A BIKEPACKING DREAM RIDE We featured a pair of bikepacking bikes in the March issue, but in case you’re looking for more options, check out the incredibly expensive, incredibly capable, incredibly good-looking Moots Mountaineer at adventurecycling.org/ DEPARTMENTS LETTERS COLUMNS mootsmountaineer. 08 Waypoints 03 LETTER from the 26 Road Test 10 Fuel Your Ride Editor Patrick O’Grady Trek 520 Disc 43 Geared Up 06 LETTER from the Director 30 Road Test 54 2017 Impact Report 07 LETTERS from our Mara Abbott Travels with Willie 64 Readers Surly Disc Trucker 66 Corporate Profile: Surly 42 Cyclesense 68 Marketplace/Classifieds Nick Legan The Golden Age 74 Companions Wanted 75 Open Road Gallery TREK 520 DISC A touring workhorse 26 goes disc. $1,360 COURTESY AARON PETERSON FOR TRAVEL MARQUETTE TRAVEL FOR PETERSON AARON COURTESY FAT BIKING MARQUETTE Midwest winters@xxxxxxxxxxxx might not: have the powder Tk tk tk tk tk @advcyclingassocthat sends skiers tk tk flocking tk @xxxxxxxxx to the : Tk tk tkRockies, tk tk tk tk tkbut tk tkone tk tk U.P. tk towntk tk istk tkbuilding tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk @ tka tk new tk tk kindtk tk tk of tk wintertk tk tk destinationadvcyclingassoc .— Tk tk tk tkMarquette, tk tk tk tk tk tk Michigan, tk tk tk tk istk tkgoing tk tk tk tkall-in tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk tk! tk tk tk tk tk tk. on fat bikes. ADVENTURECYCLING.ORG 05 Letter from the Director APRIL 2017 Volume 44 Number 3 adventurecycling.org MISSION Adventure Cycling Association inspires and TOUR TIME empowers people to travel by bicycle. AREAS OF FOCUS Provide the premier tools and inspiration for people to travel by bicycle. Expand Getting ready for prime bicycle travel and integrate bike travel networks for North America. Create the best possible conditions season for bicycle travel. HOW TO REACH US To join, change your address, or ask questions about membership, visit us online ➺ For many of us in North America, Oregon Coast, Louisiana bayou country, at adventurecycling.org or call we’re heading into a great time of the rural Minnesota, and Wisconsin (with lots 800.755.2453 or 406.721.1776. EMAIL year when riding conditions are at their of rail trails), and the Black Hills of South [email protected] peak and roads and trails beckon us to Dakota. SUBSCRIPTION ADDRESS cycling adventures. Of course we want to • Camaraderie: Our tours are big enough Adventure Cycling Association P.O. Box 8308 encourage you to innovate and develop that you’ll meet kindred spirits but small Missoula, MT 59807 your own bicycle trip — but if you’d like enough so you won’t feel overwhelmed. HEADQUARTERS Adventure Cycling Association someone else to organize your ride, please You’ll also find that people on our tours 150 E.