Paul Brasby's Legacy Rides

Bikepacking buddy Paul Brasby of North Platte, Nebraska sports a lifetime of individual cycling accomplishments in a variety of disciplines. But his legacy will be his family and his impact on each of their lives. In the latest of years of family focused experiences involving cycling, Paul recently rode the Mickelson Trail twice, northbound and southbound, on a 5 day bikepacking trip with his 13 year old grandson.

This is a story worth telling. 

Rather than writing something myself, I asked Paul if I could reproduce his FaceBook posts on this Mickelson Trail ride, which includes some of the family history behind it. He also captured many great images along the way, of which I selected five for each day to show here. To see all of Paul's images, go to his FaceBook page.

Get out there with others. You never know the impact of your actions.

Day 0 

Bikepacking with Papa...

It all started on our son's 13th Birthday when Tony and I went on a 80 mile road ride and ended up at Lake Maloney where the rest of the family met up with us. We celebrated Tony's birthday at the lake after our arrival. Among his gifts were a new tent and sleeping bag that, of course, was set up and used at the lake that night.

Fast forward many years later and Tony asked if I would take his oldest son Anthony on his 13th birthday bikepacking trip. The memories that were made when Tony and I rode together are still fond memories of his childhood to this day.

So it began. Nana would buy a tent and sleeping bag and Papa would take them on an adventure on two wheels. Four years ago, Anthony and I had a great two day bikepacking trip on the Niobrara River near Valentine, Nebraska. We rode to the waterfalls, camped out under the stars, rode through some back roads on private land (with permission), and checked out a herd of buffalo.

This week, Mattis is with Papa on a 6 day Bikepacking trip on the Mickelson Trail in South Dakota. We are doing the Micky Double, as I like to call it. An out and back of the 109 mile Rails-to-Trails system from Edgemont, SD to Deadwood, SD for a total of 218 miles. A one way route that our youngest daughter Tiffany and I did many years ago on a tandem, with Sherri being our support driver. That, too, brings back fond memories!

With loaded bikes and a new tent and sleeping bag, we headed out the door for the Black Hills of South Dakota. This time, we have a new added item for the trip, a fishing rod, for the little fisherman in the family.

Enjoy the pictures. For the Black Hills of South Dakota has become my go to spot for bikepacking.

Day 0...travel day.

Paul Brasby and grandson Mattis loaded up for their big week.

Iconic Carhenge outside Alliance, NE.

Big buffalo welcomes Mattis to Custer.

Strolling around Crazy Horse Memorial.

Living large in a tipi at Fort We-Like-It Campground outside Custer.

Day 1

Day one on the Mickelson Trail with Mattis.

Custer to Edgemont...45 miles on the trail and Mattis got his first half Century with 50.2 miles of total riding.

Day 2

Day two on the Mickelson Trail with Mattis.

Edgemont to Custer...45 miles and 48 miles of total riding.

Day 3

Day 3 on the Mickelson Trail with Mattis.

Custer to Rochford...40 miles.

Day 4

Day 4 on the Mickelson Trail with Mattis.

Rochford to Deadwood...28 miles 31 total miles.

We are now up to date on our trip. Day 5 starts this morning.

Day 5

Day 5 on the Mickelson Trail with Mattis.

Not the start we wanted, but Mattis finished the Micky Double a day early, with a mic drop.

Mattis woke up sick to his stomach, laid his bike over trying to stop, and struggled to hold down breakfast. Five miles into a 27 mile day, Mattis had to stop. With his hip hurting and his belly turning, I was starting to think we may need turn around and head back to our KOA cabin. I gave him a salt tablet, electrolyte tablet, GU packet, Vit-C, and ibuprofen and let him rest for a bit.

Mattis got back on his bike and never looked back. I had a pesky front tire issue I was dealing with, so I told Mattis to start the climb and I'll catch up. I had all I could do to catch him. He had a nice cadence going and, one by one, the miles ticked by. We found ourselves at our overnight stop by 1pm and decided to push on for Hill City. We arrived at Hill City at 5pm and decided to push on for Custer to put our finishing stamp on the Micky Double. We arrived in Custer at 7:05pm. It was a long day, but his spirits were high. What a comeback from a rough start earlier in the day! Proud of you Mattis! Way to push through and finish what you started!!

Totals for the day... 65 trail miles and 68.5 total miles.

Heather Heynen's Spearfish 280

Bikepacking is not for everyone. More than anything, it requires gumption and grit. Gumption to get out there. Grit to see it through. 

For a continuing story of gumption and grit, here's an update on the burgeoning bikepacking journey of local fitness and wellness expert Heather Heynen. 

Spearfish 280 map (from bhexpedition.com website)

Two years ago, Heather dreamt up and then completed a three day solo, self-navigated bikepacking trip on a self-created route from home that covered 193 miles and 16,000 feet of elevation gain on every kind of surface. That's a lot to unpack in one sentence, and it's worth doing. Thankfully, Heather eloquently expressed her experience in a heartfelt article How Going Solo Will Change Your Life. Read it.

Last month, Heather's journey led her to tackle Jason Thorman's new Spearfish 280, a challenging single track and mixed surface bikepacking route through the Black Hills of South Dakota. Once again, Heather went right at that challenge and gracefully shared her unvarnished account. Bikepacking The Spearfish 280.

Whether you bikepack or not, her story is compelling and inspiring.

Black Hills Bike Hub Overnighter Series

Last month, Black Hills Bike Hub hosted "Bikepacking 101," a gathering of local cyclists looking to learn more about bikepacking, remove barriers for newcomers to start, and build our bikepacking community. See, Bikepacking 101 - A Brief Report. A panel of five bikepackers bought loaded bikes for a show-and-tell and answered questions from the crowd and from moderators Weston Neiffer and Evan Walterman. It was an evening celebrating bikepacking.

Fueled by the crowd's enthusiastic response, Black Hills Bike Hub offered a group overnight bike ride:  Bikepacking Overnighter Series - Stop #1. In general, the concept was to gather for a group start from Sturgis, ride to a group camp site at USFS Alkali Springs Campground, and then ride back to Sturgis the following morning. It was not a race or timed event. Not everyone even had to ride the same route. To broaden appeal, riders could choose from distinct Single Track, Mixed Terrain, and Gravel routes on both days.

With Bear Butte looming in the background, a posse of happy campers
on the inaugural (BH)2 Group Bikepacking Overnighter cruise over 
the Centennial Trail (Trail #89) en route to Alkali Springs Campground.
(image by Eric Clayborn)

Nine enthusiastic riders joyfully pedaled on that initial group bikepacking ride, four of whom had never before strapped camping gear on their bike for an overnighter. Several noted how their loaded bike handled differently than expected, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. All rolled into camp smiling, with bikes and bodies intact.

Over a robust campfire that evening, riders cooked dinner, talked bikes and gear, shared stories, and bantered ideas for future rides. After a restful night and casual breakfast, the group eventually meandered back to Sturgis. All told, a success on its own and a template for the future.

The Centennial Trail (Trail #89) at Bear Butte Lake looking south toward the Black Hills.

Buoyed by the group experience and determined to build this community, Weston and Evan immediately sketched out plans for the next group bikepacking ride. And it's here already.

This weekend (Saturday, July 27 - Sunday July 28), Black Hills Bike Hub will host a group bikepacking ride out of Spearfish up to USFS Timon Campground, with Singletrack and Gravel routes. Given the start in Spearfish and the camp site at Timon, the routes necessarily will entail some elevation gain on Saturday and some hoop-and-holler descending on Sunday. Check out the RideWithGPS files that are linked in the Black Hills Bike Hub Event posting Bikepacking Overnighter Series - Stop #2. 

Hope to see you out there.

BackBone Grande - More Grassland!

Hey, Jude, don't make it bad

Take a sad song and make it better

Remember to let her into your heart

Then you can start to make it better.

Hey Jude, John Lennon and Paul McCartney (1968)

BLM Road 7043 meandering across another piece of Buffalo Gap National Grassland.

When creating the BackBone Grande, I ventured east from Ardmore through private ranch land solely to access primitive public roads within a sufficiently large tract of public land called Buffalo Gap National Grassland. Over an all too short 12 miles, those challenging near-roads vary from decent dirt to barely more than compressed tire tracks surfing a seemingly endless sea of grass extending as far as the eye can see. In Spring, after rains but before grazing, the tall grass renders much of that path practically indiscernible. It's a Day 1 message that this route is outside ordinary. BackBone Grande (Miles 0-46) - Buffalo Gap National Grassland; BackBone Grande (Day 1) - Right Vibe Right Away.

Emerging from that stretch of Grassland, I took the route westward toward the village of Oelrichs for possible re-supply and camping. Although just 46 miles into the route, it seemed like a good idea to swing by there, as re-supply is limited until the route enters Custer about 80 miles later.

Then I rode the entire BackBone Grande route last year and stayed in Oelrichs. Uffda. The commercial campground was little more than a mowed field with an outhouse, the convenience store offered very limited supplies and indifferent service, the bar had limited hours, and the cafe was permanently closed. I concluded that next time I would not stop at Oelrichs at all, but simply disperse camp at the Limestone Butte Reservoir back in the Grassland at about mile 44.

Rough dirt Road 1F crosses private ranch land before turning into BLM Road 7043.

That experience changed how I looked at that part of the route. I realized that I did not need to turn west toward Oelrichs out of the Grassland. With that freedom to wander a bit, I looked closer to see what's straight north, or even a bit to the east.

Shazam! Instead of riding 2 miles west on U.S. Highway 18 toward Oelrichs to reach county gravel north to Smithwick, I can ride 2 miles east on U.S. Highway 18 to access another sizable tract of Buffalo Gap National Grassland. If I can find a way to generally move north through that tract, the route could later turn west to connect with the existing BackBone Grande route near Smithwick.

The Bureau of Land Management hard copy map of the area showed three possible ways through, but satellite images looked marginal, at best. Primitive roads skirted, and occasionally crossed, private land. Time to scout it.

BLM Road 7043.

So, I grabbed a big mug of coffee, a bag of trail mix, and my paper maps and hopped in my Jeep to find out. Several hours later, I worked my way through. Score!

Here's the primo way, as shown by the screen shot below of the RideWithGPS map. From Limestone Butte Reservoir, BLM Road 7026 rolls north about 2 miles to T-bone into U.S. Highway 18. Turn right (east) on that paved highway for 2 miles and then left (north) on graveled BlackTail Road (1F). After 2 miles of good gravel, BlackTail Road abruptly turns 90 degrees due east on an increasingly rougher surface for about 5 miles before entering Buffalo Gap National Grassland on primitive road 7043. Shortly thereafter, Road 7043 turns left (north), away from a better defined, but unmarked road. Then it's another 5 miles of meandering barely-track, running generally north-by-northwest, to finally emerge on graveled Smithwick Road (1E). From there, it's about 8 miles of good, winding county gravel into Smithwick.

All told, the 12 miles from U.S. Highway 18 to Smithwick Road covers about 5 miles of rough road and about 7 miles of near-road 7043. By traveling a few miles east from the original BackBone Grande route and by meandering a bit through the Grassland, it adds about 12 miles overall compared to the original route on county gravel straight north to Smithwick.

But what a great add. This section sings in sweet harmony with the rest of the BackBone Grande. It's in.

Combined with the earlier stretch through Buffalo Gap National Grassland, the BackBone Grande now explores about 30 miles of remote prairie on rough roads and near-roads through the Grassland, with 360 degree views of little but endless waves of grass on rolling hills. This could very well be the same views that people saw hundreds of years ago. It certainly causes pause to contemplate.

Almost 30 miles of rough roads and near-roads traveling through Buffalo Gap National Grassland.
All part of the BackBone Grande bikepacking route.

I love finding little known gems like this and then finding a way to incorporate them into a bikepacking route to ride myself and to share with others. This piece now replaces the county gravel road from Oelrichs to Smithwick in the original BackBone Grande. 

And now that I'm out there, I may look for even more of that sweet Grassland to explore.

Here's a link to the revised RideWithGPS map. BackBone Grande - RideWithGPS Map.

Here's a link to the page collecting all my posts about the BackBone Grande. BackBone Grande Page.

Hey Jude, The Beatles (1968).