Thrasher and Dusty all dressed up and ready to go to work. Pumped to ride the whole OTT
Dusty is what we call a humble badass. He won’t brag about his exploits, and that’s definitely part of what we love about him. Dusty developed his “fast and light” approach when he rode his loaded fatbike to get to ice climbing. Alaskans tend to do things the hard way, or should we say, the fun way. He was an alpine guide, having summited Denali five times! In 2017, Dusty and his buddy, “Thrasher” were early OTT pioneers, riding the whole route in 10 days and 8 hours. We sat down recently as Dusty was driving from the Bay Area to Alaska to reminisce about his OTT through ride, learn more about his work with Revelate and hear how life has changed since their impressive OTT ride.
OTT setup. This is what we call fast and light. You sure this is Everything, Dusty?
Tell us more about your background as an athlete. Did you grow up doing mountain sports?
You know, I didn't really have a background in that sort of thing. I wasn't into organized sports. I was way more into skateboarding and snowboarding. When I moved to Alaska, I got into alpine climbing and then the shift to long-distance biking thing felt pretty natural. It seemed like a slightly safer replacement at times.
Dusty climbing in the Wrangle Mountains, AK. Ice climbing is gnarly! Photo: Andrew Burr
Did you start doing mountain climbing right when you moved to Alaska?
Canadian frozen waterfall insanity. Photo: Josh Hoeschen
I was more into backcountry snowboarding. That evolved into snowboarding to access climbing, and then focus on the climbing took over from there.
When did you move to Alaska?
Oh man, it was 2007
Where did you grow up?
Pennsylvania. Elverson, PA
Was mountain biking your summer sport?
I got into it a bit later. I was a little reluctant to do it, just because the alpine season…I used to guide on Denali and that was my Alaskan summers. But in 2013 I started biking a lot more, still climbing a ton, but the biking started taking over. I guess sometimes I get obsessed…fixated on one thing when it's new and give it all I can..
Dusty and crew ride their bikes to get to the ice climbing routes. Here’s to car-free adventuring! Read more about this trip
When did you do your first bikepacking trip?
The first trip I did was with Eric Parsons (Revelate founder) We went to Interbike and, after the show to Oregon to meet up with the manufacturer (mountain feedbags were made in Eugene) We went over to Cougar Reservoir and over to Oakridge and rode up the Middle Fork trail to rode up the North Umpqua Trail. Up middle fork and over to The Umpqua trail, then back up and over to where we picked up the start of Middle Fork. That was the first real bikepacking trip that wasn't cabin-based where we were out camping. I was sold from there because it was like a lot of backcountry traverse trips where we would get dropped off and go from point A to point B.
Tell us about your work at Revelate Designs?
I've been there for over 11 years now. My role has evolved with the needs of the company. I started off doing random shipping and helping with odd sewing tasks. That evolved into doing more sewing work and helping with the custom frame bags. When we stopped doing custom bags it ended up turning into more design and R&D work. That's still a lot of what I do - the R&D work, Eric does the majority of that and I take on the other portions. During this time I took the reins on material procurement for our production facilities in the United States. That's a busy job shuffling materials, making sure they have the materials for the P.O.'s they're creating. Basically I'm working with them from start to finish. When they get a pattern, Eric and I go through the steps with them, making sure the product is the way we want it to be. Then they start the production and I make sure they have the materials they need throughout the manufacturing process.
Do you incorporate what you learn on trail into your designs?
All the time. I always bring prototype bags I'm working on. In fact on the product I tested on the OTT was the first variation of the Pronghorn. My buddy and I had two different versions of the same bag. I had one of the first variations of the Spinelock bag on that trip as well. That shows how long each product is in the works. It was three years before the Pronghorn was released. In fact, I tested it on the Arizona Trail 750 before its release as well.
How long did the AZTR750 take?
I came in just under 8 days. An hour and half shy of 8 days, I think. The route changed because of landslides, so now it's the AZT800. I really want to do the same course so I could compare my times. But it is what it is. It's still an amazing ride, and I will definitely be back to give it another go!
How does it compare to the Timber Trail?
There's a lot more hike-a-bike on it. I feel like the OTT is one of my favorite rides ever because it was hard, but I don't remember having to hike a bike much on it. Maybe I've blocked that out, but…I don't remember too much suffering. You know, we slept 8 hours every night, so we definitely had rest. There was one day that we had to make a big push so we cut our sleep short. I was just more refreshed with the Timber Trail. It would be interesting to do the Timber Trail at race pace all in one go as that's when you realize how difficult the trail can be. On the Arizona Trail, I only slept 2 or 3 hours a night. Before the Grand Canyon, I had my longest sleep, about 5 hours. The Grand Canyon hike was fine, except for the mules coming up the trail with the people that kept yelling for you to get off the trail and to the side. Also, the mules didn't like the bike on your back and would get a little angry. Other than that, it went well. I did the hike during the daylight, I think it took about 10 or 11 hours. In the end, I just wanted to be done, so that’s probably why I just kept walking.
Your Timber Trail ride was one of the fastest in 10 days and 8 hours. How did you do that?
I don't know. We were just having a good time. I technically only had 6 days off work and then midway through I called my boss, Eric, and asked “Do you mind if I push this out a little bit. I'd like to finish this route and I'm having a good time.” My buddy I was riding with only had 12 days off work. We had a time constraint, and he asked me if I thought we could do it in that time. I was like, absolutely! so we just set off at that pace. It was fast, but we still stopped for food and picked up burgers or burritos. We still slept at night. It was fun. We were exhausted at the end of the day from the huge pushes. We rode from Chemult into Oakridge was a 100-mile day. That's when my brake failed, the Oakridge Mercantile folks hooked it up and I got a new brake to finish out the trip and they mailed it back to me. Great folks at that shop! We had big days, but we still slept. Obviously, racing is different, but as far as doing it quickly, 8 hours of sleep pays off when you have a lot of twelve-hour days.
What did you eat on the OTT?
Mostly we did convenience stores and restaurants. We brought Mountain House Pro Packs. I don't know if they still make them. The Pro Packs suck all of the air out of the packaging. We brought enough for three days, because we didn't know what the supply situation would be. We had an interesting time getting to the start. We know we didn't have time to grocery shop, so we even brought food down from Alaska. We ended up with plenty of food on the trip and didn't even use the last of our Mountain House until the last night of the trip. It was easy to get food for each day on the trail. We'd stop and get a burger to eat there and get a burger to go, often times this would be our dinner meal, It felt pretty deluxe!.
Did you do any special preparation?
Oh man! Not much preparation because it was pretty last minute. I was supposed to go on a trip with Eric in Alaska. In late August it can be really rainy, it had been raining for a week and I wasn't very motivated to start in the rain. It would just be kinda cold, hovering just above freezing. I felt a little bad but I told Eric I didn't think I was into it with the weather. then my buddy had been asking me about the OTT and he was like “you should go, you should go, you should go!” We ended up booking the tickets on a Wednesday and flying on a Saturday. It was late August, during the eclipse. It was incredibly hot. It was way too hot for me. I actually had a hard time with water, especially at the beginning. And then when we ran into fires where it crossed over the road after Mt. Bachelor. We learned that the whole section had been closed off, the Met-Win and trail 99 that goes into Sisters. We ended up diverting around that on dirt roads into Sisters and then picked it up the trail from there. That was the one section we didn't get to ride. But before that on the Edison Lava trail was such a good route.
What's your normal? How much do you do in a year?
That's an interesting question. My wife and partner Christina and I do a ton of biking. I started getting into racing more and more. I would do the Kenai 250 every year, which is a 250-mile race on all the trails on the Kenai Peninsula. Tons of long rides basically. I would get out of state to do a couple trips when I was able. I would come down to the Southwest in the winter time. I love desert riding. It's super fun, because it's the opposite of Alaska. It's good to get a little break in the middle of the Alaskan winter. Normally in other years without Covid it's been easy to get out and go on mini trips.
What's your COVID normal? How you been doing less?
I've definitely been doing less biking. Things have changed in a good way. My wife and I started a mountain bike guiding business in the summers. it's taken up a lot more time than expected getting it set up and figuring out a good balance. I also started up another business clearing trails for the local bike organization Singletrack Advocates as well as a few othere trail organizations in the area. Summers just got pretty crazy. I'm still biking a lot, I just don't always get out on those 65-mile or 8-hour mountain bike days or try to get a 100-mile bike ride in every week or so. Some of that dwindled down because of work-related stuff, but definitely still heavy on the biking. And with COVID a lot less traveling. My wife and I got married last year, we got a dog, and started a business, so I would say it's been busy! I'd love to get down and do the Grand Depart on the OTT, but summers are a little hard for me perhaps maybe a ITT later in the fall?
Any particularly special moments for you on the OTT?
We bivvied at Fish Lake. before? the Old Cascade Crest section, I was going off of the fact that I thought there would be a lot of water, but then I realized we were on a ridge the whole time, so I ran out of water a few hours from our next water source. I was like “Oh my god we've got to descend at some point” But the riding was unbelievably awesome in there. Once we got onto the dirt road we found a nasty pond/lake and ended up filling up on water there. We were just haggard. It was amazingly rewarding doing that ridge though!
Because of a fire closure on a short section before the hot spring, we ended up in Idanha. It's hard to know when you roll into a town where you can bivvy, but found a campground and knocked on the door of the camp host. She came out and said we've got these little cabins if we would like, plush! Then they invited us to their barbecue. It was awesome. They were great people from all over the place. It was a good time. That was the funniest experience at the most random location.
Any suggestions for folks wanting to ride the Timber Trail?
You guys make it pretty easy with your write-ups and descriptions. I would say just read the write-ups and do your homework. Don't pass up water at all…ever, even if you're just topping off. Sometimes in sections where water is less abundant, plan on having quite a bit longer days to plan on camping at a water source versus going past it or stopping short of it. I would also say even if it’s a hundred degrees it still gets wicked cold at night, especially when you're up high. I brought a pretty light-duty bag and it was cold most nights, especially when we got up to the Mount Hood area. So my choice of sleeping bag was not ideal, I call it the “suffer sheet” because it's not much of a sleeping bag anymore. We brought a Black Diamond Beta Mid. We would find sticks and set it up that way. We still talk about it all the time. My buddy still has the flyer on his fridge from the presentation we gave at the local bike shop right when we got back. It was still a new route when we rode it. I think we were like the 5th or 6th people that rode the whole trail at the time. It was awesome!
What surprised you about the Timber Trail?
You go through such dramatically different climates. You start out in the high desert and then you're on Winter Rim and you're high up there and it's a cool type of desert environment. But the baby heads! They surprised the hell out of me. You go from desert to high alpine and you're cruising through all these volcanoes. It surprised me that some of those trails even exist. When I'm out there, I was like “how did they even find this?”
What inspires you the most on trail?
As soon as I get to interesting, technical singletrack with views, Aw man! It just makes me so happy to be there doing it. Like the climb to Crescent mountain in the Old Cascade Crest through those big trees…it's pretty impressive. I would say the type of terrain and riding is what inspires me to go out and do it. I really like technical, challenging singletrack. If there are sections of that with some good flow sections, it just makes me so happy. Even if I'm exhausted, I just get a huge smile on my face.
What do you want to tell the world?
Just go do the Timber Trail. Do a portion of it, do the whole thing. My favorite section isn't going to be someone else's favorite section, so just pick something that looks good, go explore and just do it, and have fun. It's still one of my favorite trails that I've ridden. My buddy, Thrasher and I talk about it all the time still, so I'd say it left a very lasting impression. I highly recommend it.
Do you have any events planned in the next year or two?
Not at the moment. I'd still love to get back to do the Arizona Trail Race. I saw the Trans Georgia race looks really cool. Right now it's hard to plan. I think about the Arizona Trail Race a lot, the Colorado Trail. But it's tough because of the time of year it is. I'd go back to Scotland and do the Highland 550 again. I did that in 2019. It was very wet, and cold and I think it's underrated. It has great singletrack, amazing scenery, and it's the same latitude as Alaska so you get a ton of daylight. There was one section where I wished I had a downhill rig. I'd like to get back to doing one race a year that's out of state. That was my goal for a while and then COVID happened, so… We started Alaska Bike Adventures. We specialize in singletrack soft surface riding. We do a little bit in the winter too. We'll start doing more multi-day trips in the near future.
Dusty and Doom fatbiked through Alaska’s frozen backcountry to Bristol Bay via Lake Iliamna. Photo: Andrew Burr
Further adventures of Dusty
Interview on Bikepacking.com Neil Beltchenko In-depth on Dusty’s Revelate product work
Journey to the Middle of Nowhere. Big frozen Alaskan fatbiking with Doom
Tires and Ice: Fat-Tire Biking into Alaska’s Hinterlands to Search for Frozen Bounty on Climbing.com
Dusty’s OTT trip write up on Revelate’s site
How a Hardcore Alpine Climber Got a Job Making Bikepacking Gear on Revelate’s site
Christina and Dusty’s tour company Alaska Bike Adventures
Singletrack Advocates (STA) is a group of mountain bikers and recreationists working with the community to preserve, maintain and create singletrack trails in Anchorage, Alaska.