The East Texas Showdown is a bit of a hallowed name here in Texas, particularly in gravel and bikepacking circles. I’ve always watched it from afar, telling myself it would be out of reach for one reason or another.
“Oh, I gotta go grocery shopping that weekend,” I would tell myself. But thanks to a stroke of luck I’m going to ride in the East Texas Showdown.
Gravel bikes — and adjacently, bikepacking — can feel like a bit of black art at times. It never feels like there’s one right setup for a ride, and that can be doubly so for bikepacking.
Just about every region requires different things, and rider preference skews bike and gear setups even more. Here’s what I’m bringing to East Texas Showdown 2023, which is expected to have a fair bit of rain.
‘The Brief’
The 2023 East Texas Showdown is the third edition of this bikepacking event. It’s hosted by Patrick Farnsworth, also known as the host of the Bikes or Death podcast. Really, East Texas Showdown is more an entire weekend event than one solitary thing, which made getting in fairly tough.
An acquaintance saw that I was on the waitlist, realized they wouldn’t be able to go, and offered their spot to me. No more excuses at this point, it was time to go.
There are three rides to choose from: the 400-mile Showdown, the 280-mile Slowdown, and the 160-mile Lowdown. All three rides meander through Sam Houston National Forest, one of the biggest public land areas in Texas, about an hour or so north of Houston. This is the third annual event hostess by Patrick Farnsworth, host of the Bikes or Death podcast.
I’m doing the middle 280-mile Slowdown, with 11,000 feet of climbing through chip-seal pavement, gravel, dirt, sand, and what I’m guessing will be a bit of mud. While Texas has experienced a mild winter with minimal moisture, the heavens are keeping us cool with a 90 percent chance of rain on Friday, with plenty of rain already on Thursday. Love that for us.
With that out of the way, here are my three goals for my gear:
- Stay as dry as I can, even when I’m soaked.
- Ensure I can navigate through the night.
- Be light and fast enough that I can outlast delirium induced by not sleeping.
If it’s not obvious, I’m going to attempt to finish the ride without sleeping. That means riding through the night, hopefully without rain. This isn’t the hardest thing in the world, but I love sleeping and staying dry. We’ll see how it goes.
‘The Kit’
With that out of the way, here’s what I’m bringing to a rainy East Texas Showdown.
I’ll be riding my trusty OPEN WIDE gravel bike. This one is the ENVE Edition, which swaps for a topographically-inspired paint scheme and the ENVE Adventure fork with mid mounts.
I’ve ridden thousands of miles of singletrack, gravel, and road on this bike, and I’ve come to really appreciate its breadth of capability.
The rest of the bike uses a Campagnolo Ekar drivetrain, ENVE SES 3.4 AR wheels, Zipp SL70 XPLR handlebars, and Pirelli Cinturato Gravel H 700c x 40mm tires. With these old Shimano SPD pedals (and without the bags), my size small bike weighs in at 17.2 lbs (7.8 kg) on the dot.
As of now, I’m taking three bags for the trip. Starting from the front is a Revelate Designs Mag Tank top tube bag. This is the standard strap-on style as opposed to the bolt-on variation so I can move it from bike to bike.
I’ll likely carry a second dry bag inside, especially for the Garmin Spot tracker we’ll need to carry. Otherwise, this top tube bag is going to hold quick snacks and a cue sheet for potential food stops.
My frame bag is a size S Blackburn Outpost Elite bag. This bag has plenty of spots to secure it along the frame and has nice weatherproofing in my experience. For all intents and purposes, there are two compartments: a small, envelope-sized slot on the left side, and the rest of the bag on the right.
The left side will contain my battery pack and USB-C cable to charge my computer and lights if needed, and it’s high enough that the cable can reach my bike-mounted light or computer while they’re in use.
The main compartment will be separated into smaller bags. The bottom bag will be for my tool kit with a tube, tire levers, multitool, extra sealant, a tire patch, and small parts like chain links and an extra derailleur hanger.
Above that is a second bag for toiletries, namely sunscreen and chamois cream. Inside that will also be a small first aid kit. Third will be a smaller bag full of Tailwind Nutrition Endurance Mix, which I’ll use to make sure I’m getting some carbs, calories, and sodium as I drink water.
The rest will likely be heartier snacks, be it the rice cakes I’m bringing with me or whatever I can find at stores along the way. Those will float around in the bag so they’re the easiest thing to grab while riding.
My seat bag is the Blackburn Outpost Elite Seat Pack. This bag system consists cradle that attaches to the saddle and a detachable dry bag designed specifically to fit within the cradle.
This will be the home for extra clothes, including a wool base layer, arm and leg warmers, a thermal cap, another pair of socks, and a lightweight rain jacket. No Shakedry here.
All of this packs down pretty nicely, with enough space for me to carry the one things I hope to never touch: my down blanket.
The rest of the bike will consist of a water bottle cage on the seat tube and by the bottom bracket. Why no water bladder? I have a tough time drinking enough water when I use a frame-mounted system, and I definitely didn’t want it on my back if I could help it.
Up front will be my trusty Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt computer mounted above the stem and a Magic Shine MJ902S light on a standard Garmin mount, with the battery pack stowed in the frame bag. Doing so frees up a little bit of handlebar real estate while taking advantage of the Garmin quarter-turn mount it has.
The light has a massive battery too with up to 62 hours of runtime, so if my electronics-specific battery pack dies I can use this to charge my computer or phone.
I’ve ridden through the night before, though all of that was on the road and I was fortunate to have street lights for much of it. That won’t be the case here as I ride around Sam Houston Forest.
I’ve gone for a MagicShine RN3000 light to mount on my helmet so I have a light pointing forward and one for where my eyes go. Both will be extremely powerful, so I shouldn’t have vision-related issues when I run out of sunlight.
I’m wearing a Rapha Merino base layer, Rapha Cargo Bib Shorts, and a custom Contender Bicycles x Giro jersey. These maximize my on-body caring ability, with eight pockets between the bib and jersey. I’ll also likely wear a Pearl Izumi Thermal Leg Warmer and Arm Warmer, Giro shoe covers, Merino socks, Shimano SPD shoes, and Giro DND gloves.
I’ll wear clear glasses, a Giro Aether helmet, and likely a neck gaiter. Outside of snacks, the pockets will hold my cash, cards, phone, and spot tracker if needed. Shout out to my Ornot House Wind Vest, one of my favorite pieces of gear that will be with me the entire ride. I am. hoping the thermal warmers paired with my Merino base layer will keep me warm even as I am wet, but those materials can only do so much.
The total bike weight without food or water is 28.3 pounds (12.8 kgs). I’ve done multi-day bike trips, tours, distance races, and the like, but all of this is still way out of my comfort zone. I’m sure there are a few things I will have missed not having, or maybe the rain and potential mud might make me regret doing this ride. Who knows.
Let’s ride!
Still here after reading all of that? Well, you can follow me as I ride the starting Friday, March 17th at 8:05 AM CDT through the link, or on my Instagram at @kool_alvin. Learn more about East Texas Showdown at bikesordeath.com/east-texas/showdown.
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