During last weekend's #BivvyAMonth #bikepacking trip to #HenryCoe State Park and Orestimba Wilderness, we all rode to the ride from our front doors, using #BART trains to get to the last station on the San Jose line, then pedaled a big first day of 60 miles and 5000', first on flat pavement, then climbing and descending rugged dirt, before camping above Pacheco Falls at the end of day one. On day two we rode further east into very seldom seen terrain, passing through history, before returning to pavement in the middle of a #randonneur event, then making the long journey back to a different BART line east of where we'd started, and then taking trains home. Day two was 69 miles and 5000', all on #mtb. You can read my trip report here:

https://fastestslowguy.blogspot.com/2026/02/bivvy-month-february-coe-orestimba-with.html
@Morgan Looks like an awesome trip. How miserable were the MTBs on all the pavement? I love being able to use transit to get onto a trip.
My mountain bike tires - Maxxis Rekon 29 x 2.4" circa 28psi - were slow. The other two guys were both running Schwalbe Thunder Burt tires in sizes close to, or at 2.0". I got dropped all weekend by those guys, I think it would have happened even if we'd swapped tires. I'm going to try the Vittoria Mezcal tires, 29x2.4 with the tough TNT casing before my next trip. Or bring my gravel bike. :-)

@Morgan mezcals seem to have a strong following as a do it all fast rolling tire.

I always figure you bias for whatever is the worst terrain for your trip and just deal with the rest but a lot of pavement makes it hard. I mean of you have 5 miles of nasty chunk gravel and single track on a 70 mile ride with 40 miles of pavement, is there an ideal tire? I tend to just inflate my tires more on pavement. That's my use for an e-inflator.

I'm a big fan of doing car-less bikepacking trips. Using the train was great. I did it for my Oregon Outback trip back in October 2025.