I’ve been working away on a story for Bikepacking.com about a recent 4-day ride that I shared with Sage. It’s called The Climb By Which All Others Will Be Judged and revolves around a formative climb that changed what you believed yourself to be capable of – and what a bicycle is capable of too.

In this case, the crux of the route was the climb from the valley floor to Benito Juarez, one of the eight Pueblos Mancomunados in the Sierra Norte. It accrues a massive 1500m in elevation, which is enough to blow anyone’s mind, let alone a 10-year-old’s! I’m so proud of him for making up there and having fun in the process. We’re definitely not a ‘racer’ family, or Type 2 Fun Kind of People (Suffer Now, Enjoy Later), so we camped halfway up, and took lots of bite-size breaks to make it more digestible. Still, however you slice or dice it, this was a big ‘un.

If truth be told, we initially toyed with the idea of either hiring a vehicle to take us up there ((which we’ve done in the past to reach Ixtepeji), or taking the e-bike and ‘shuttling’ (the latter of which I’d be up for trying). But this time, it was 100% leg power and it worked out great.

Once we made it up into the mountains – reaching 3200m in elevation – we climbed a lookout tower, made twig fires for roasting marshmallows, raced our 1:18 scale Losi RC cars (of course we packed them!), and generally spent lots of time off the bike too, clambering up rocky outcrops and inspecting a dense world of epiphytes and magueys. On the way home, we bought a bag of dog food so Sage could feed the strays he saw, before tucking into a triple-scoop icecream from our favourite paleteria by way of celebration.

All this aside, it’s been a complete joy to see Sage more regularly these last few months. It’s like a big piece of the life jigsaw has been found. We’re already concocting ideas for our next trip – I think the ride out to Santiago Apoala, linked below, would be perfect for us.

In the meantime, here are a few photos, with more to come in the Bikepacking.com story.

Update: read it here!

The Route

The Bikes

Bike-wise, Sage was fortunate to borrow the Jones Spaceframe SWB again; with every trip to Oaxaca, he’s growing into it more and more. We now have a seatpost that’s cut to his lengt, so it can be lowered if need be. And when he’s here, we dial in the brake levers a touch. The big tyres afford lots of confidence and it’s a really comfortable riding position for his growing body.

Sage is running a Tailfin rack at the back – one of the new shorter ones, which positions the load closer to the seat tube for improved handling. Tailfin’s pannier attachment system really is impressive – it’s very well made and incredibly secure and quiewt. Up front, there’s a Yellow Cat Industries handlebar bag that’s the perfect size for a few easy-to-grab layers, a trusty Revelate stem bag (either to stash a water bottle, or for purchased succulents!) and a Revelate/Jones framebag with reliable, chunky zips. All in all, it’s a pretty amazing setup for a 10-year-old (-;

Sage carried his sleeping bag and his clothes. Although I’m sure he could have hauled more, I’m acutely aware that as a 10-year-old, riding a bike should be about having fun – popping off curbs, carving corners, bunny hopping topes, enjoying bursts of acceleration . So it’s nice to keep your bike feeling like a bike, if you know what I mean. No need to make bike touring feel like a slog, right? There’s plenty of time later in life for that (-;

I was riding the Jones LWB HD/e, sans motor. With it’s 29 x 3.25in tyres, I love the cruisy feel of this bike – I can load it up with anything and it pretty much feels the same, and as stable as it is, that quick handling front end always keeps it fun. I’m running full mudguards (made in the US and available direct from Jones), my lovely and colourful Wizard Works framebag that’s sewn in the UK, my faithful BXB Goldback (size large), a stout OMM Divide rack, and a set of luxurious Buckhorn panniers made from waved cotton.

Sage rode good chunks of the climb ‘solo’, and we also made use of our red Tow Whee too. This elasticated rope – aka the Magic Bunfee – is a game-changer for more challenging family bike tours.

We brought along two 1:18 scale RC cars (of course), which I packed into my panniers. Sometimes bike touring should be as much about the time not-riding as the time riding, whether you’re an adult or a child! A big bag of marshmallows and some dog food (for feeding to street dogs on the way home) completed the more unusual aspects of our gearlist!

Oh yes, and happy holidays!