The unique and mercurial Potomac River Report, Sup-A-Bike style

[esskay1000]

So today I had perfect weather to do something I've been meaning to do for a long time, SUP with my bike on it and bike with my SUP on it.  Years ago I was inspired by the "Lost Coast" guys, including the legendary Roman Dial who traveled across one of the most rugged and remote coasts in the world with Alpacka Packrafts and fatbikes.  The rafts can carry the bikes so they had two modes of travel and could deal with diverse terrain and water.  Check out Roman Dial's page about the trip here with a cool vid - http://packrafting.blogspot.com/2012/01/yakutat-to-glacier-bay-lost-coast-south.html

So I always dreamt of substituting the packraft with a SUP, and today I did.  We had 20-30mph winds from the Northwest in the DC area, perfect for downstreaming the Potomac.  I put my bike on my C4-ISUP and smoked downriver for 8+ miles, and then biked back on the C&O Towpath with my board on my bike.  It rocked!  Winds were so strong I was cruising on my board at 5 - 6mph without even paddling for much of the trip.  Now I'm dreaming of all the ways I could link up cool trips and do SUP/Bike overnighters that combine roads, trails, and waterways.  Possibilities seem endless!

Here's pics of my setups....  Anyone have experience with doing this?

[jondrums]

This is really cool and unique - I love to see people get crazy ideas and go for it.

[PonoBill]

Very cool. I used to use my bike for southside downwinders, made a trailer to drag my F18. Needless to say a bike pulling an 18 foot downwind board is a little strange looking. Also a bit too susceptible to wind gusts.

I also built a rack on my e-trike to carry a downwind board. The theory was to be a one-man shuttle again when I couldn't get folks to team up for a viento. But then Vientos got popular and now there's even a shuttle van.

But I love the idea. I'll give this some thought.

[esskay1000]

Thanks guys, I'm really excited about it.  One thing I'm looking at is a lighter inflatable.  My C4 is awesome, I've had it for 7 years and it's my go-to river SUP for when I might have some rocky run-ins.  But it's 25 pounds, plenty light enough for my bike rack but I'd like to go lighter so I also have the flexibility to wear it backpack style without too much discomfort on the bike.  I found this in my searches, they claim to be the lightest ISUP at approx 15lbs.

http://air-sup.com/os/index.php/front-page/airsup-9foot-6inch-inflatable-sup.html

Also claims to float up to 240, which is plenty since I'm only 175.  Amazon even has these for $599, anyone know if they're any good?  If so I'm thinking I could drop 10lbs off my setup and could handle 15lbs  on my back while I'm riding easily.  I can add more hills on the bike segments 

[Off-Shore]

My first SUP was an inflatable and I did a lot of one way trips with it, mainly getting back by taxi / cab, but never in my wildest dreams did I think about taking a bike with me.. That is awesome! I just would not have thought it possible. My experience paddling different iSUPs is light = weak, and heavy = strong, so whilst a lighter board may get you up the hills quicker, you may find it more easy to damage / puncture on the way down, especially with the extra weight on it..

[esskay1000]

My first SUP was an inflatable and I did a lot of one way trips with it, mainly getting back by taxi / cab, but never in my wildest dreams did I think about taking a bike with me.. That is awesome! I just would not have thought it possible. My experience paddling different iSUPs is light = weak, and heavy = strong, so whilst a lighter board may get you up the hills quicker, you may find it more easy to damage / puncture on the way down, especially with the extra weight on it..

I agree Off-Shore, there's so many inflatables out there, but I've only found a few under 20lbs for board weight and most of those were 18-19lbs, so I'm kinda wondering what corners they're cutting on that board to get it to 15.5lbs.  I am however able to place the bike on top without any pointy things hitting the board at all, so I'm not as much worried about a puncture from the bike as I would be about the overall stregth/durability of that AirSUP board.  Also wondering as you said how well it would float me and the bike together.  But just 15lbs, even with the ultralight backpacking movement that's a pretty nimble load, I could dream up all kinds of one way trips and multi-sport excursions.....

[Off-Shore]

The way Red explain their construction is it is a "board within a board" so that might be why other boards are lighter. If I were you I'd try and get as much info on the construction of the iSUP you are looking at and see where they have cut corners and if it matters. Here is a vid I found online on the Red construction.

[Wetstuff]

E-K, Seems like a great idea.  I think I would have reversed the trip however.  Biking upwind in those nasty winds 'till I was simply too tired to pedal farther.. then a relaxing iSUP return.  Still, good one.

Jim

[esskay1000]

E-K, Seems like a great idea.  I think I would have reversed the trip however.  Biking upwind in those nasty winds 'till I was simply too tired to pedal farther.. then a relaxing iSUP return.  Still, good one.

Jim

I considered that Jim but didn't want to carry the pump while on the bike, it's light enough but kinda bulky.  And the good thing about the C&O Towpath is that even on windy days you're mostly buried in trees so the winds weren't too bad.....

[supthecreek]

I love it! Creative (although high maintenance) use of SUP

I used to have a great full sized filding bike on my boat... perfect for what you are doing... eliminates the bike building on each end of the run.
Shop carefully... lots of less useful bikes in the mix
look for
FULL size rims... not a clown bike
easy setup, single easy fold
fold in pedals
quick fold handlebars
enough gears
weight

then you just need an auto inflate SUP.
 

[DavidJohn]

I've done a few downwinders like this.. 

[spookini]

Couple questions  :

If you flip that board, are you confident everything would stay secured to the deck?
If you flipped, are you confident you'd be able to right it?
If you fell fwd (or back) are you sure you wouldn't impale yourself on anything pointy..like a chainring?

As far as airsup, I think they are (or were) a Zone sponsor.  Shoot them a PM and see what they say.

[esskay1000]

I love it! Creative (although high maintenance) use of SUP

I used to have a great full sized filding bike on my boat... perfect for what you are doing... eliminates the bike building on each end of the run.
Shop carefully... lots of less useful bikes in the mix
look for
FULL size rims... not a clown bike
easy setup, single easy fold
fold in pedals
quick fold handlebars
enough gears
weight

then you just need an auto inflate SUP.

I've been looking around at folding bikes, but I already have too many bikes (you've heard of the N+1 rule  ),  I'm a MTB racer and a quasi-road racer as well.  To be honest, putting the bike back together is just the wheels so no big deal, barely 2 minutes.  The one thing I like about the bike you showed is the folding pedals, that would allow the bike to ride a bit lower on the board and add to stability.

[esskay1000]

Couple questions  :

If you flip that board, are you confident everything would stay secured to the deck?
If you flipped, are you confident you'd be able to right it?
If you fell fwd (or back) are you sure you wouldn't impale yourself on anything pointy..like a chainring?

As far as airsup, I think they are (or were) a Zone sponsor.  Shoot them a PM and see what they say.

Great questions.  Yes, I did think about the "what if I flip" scenario.  I had things strapped downed/carabinered so well that I'm 100% confident the bike and everything would have stayed.  However, I don't know if I would have been able to right the board easily.  I thought about trying it in a controlled environ, and I still may do that.  The bike I'm using is my 25 year old Giant - it's a beloved treasure but I also know it can take it since it's a steel tank.  So I wouldn't have too many qualms about dunking that bike to test things out.  She'll survive.

As far as falling, the only thing that I saw that would bloody me up in a fall would have been the front chainrings, and I'm thinking of maybe just bringing a sheet or two of bubble-wrap to help mitigate that.  A nice lightweight solution.

Great questions and input everyone, I appreciate the feedback, esp since i want to take this idea further and keep pushing it.  Keep 'em coming!

[esskay1000]

I've done a few downwinders like this.. 

Cool bike!  I've considered doing that as well, didn't know how to lock the paddle but looks like you came up with a neat solution there on that concrete post.  I'm also a workout junkie and love to run, so maybe some days I'd have no problem just bringing my running shoes and getting a nice 7 or 8 mile run back to the car.

To give everyone an idea what it looked like cruising w/the bike on the board, here's a short GoPro vid.  My apologies to all the GoPro haters, but there's no selfie action if that makes you feel better.  The post-rain, muddy Potomac River looks so much less spectacular that all the beautiful azure-colored water that is in many of the vids posted here.  But it's what I have