Bikepacking

Bikepacking, cycle touring off-road, is a discipline that has been around as long as people have been riding bikes. However its recent popularity can be linked inextricably to the explosion of lightweight equipment available now. Riders have been freed from the shackles of heavy equipment and can now carry everything they need for an overnight trip without diluting their riding experience.

What is Bikepacking?




There are many different definitions floating around but we like to think of it as the cycling equivalent of Alpinism. An alpinist climbs a route only once, carrying all their equipment needed over and up any obstacles to successfully reach the summit. The successful alpinist minimises gear and eliminates redundancy often finding multiply uses for equipment. They carry the smallest pack possible so as not hinder their progress when walking and climbing and are often cut throat in their packing. Bikepacking follows a very similar ethos to enable a cyclist to experience the same trails as if they were riding an unladen bike.

Gear Freaks?




Like Alpinist’s, Bikepackers tend to spend hours pouring over boxes of equipment before selecting exactly the right combination for their trip. Don’t despair is you haven’t got piles of equipment, where as “Fast” and “Light” were the buzz words a few years ago most kit is now light enough to get you on the trails. The pinnacle of backpacking is bespoke bike luggage but a few carefully thought about bags and straps will be fine. Just remember riding off road can mean you carrying the bike for sometime over all sorts of obstacles, The more ruthless you are with your equipment, the lighter the bike, the easier it will be to carry. The important thing to remember is the adventure should come first, get out there and do it and you can start to buy lighter more guccie kit later.

Durablity




Things break when you are at the furthest point from help. A loaded bike handles differently and things tend to bounce around, stressing seams and load points differently than the designers perhaps thought. Try to keep your equipment, system, as simple as possible. This will not only help with its durability but also the time it takes you to load the bike.

Eliminate Redundancy




Why carry a down jacket and a four season sleeping bag? Could you get away with a three season bag and where your down jacket in bed?

Keep Things Handy




Throughout your day your going to be delving into your bags to get food, water, tools, camera’s etc. Try to plan your system to keep these items handy and accessible. You don’t want open the drybag with your sleeping bag inside, in the rain, just to pull out a spare tube buried at the bottom of the bag. Having an order items are loaded and unloaded off your bike can help streamline setting up camp without getting equipment unduly wet.

What Wrong With Panniers?




Nothing if you are happy with their added weight. They also give you a lot of space... which you will fill stuff! More weight. Panniers can also make it hard to carry a bike for any distance.

Get The Balance Right - Go For a Test Ride




Make sure you ride your bike around the local park before heading out on the trails. Try different configurations of weight and luggage distributions and see how it effects the handling and carrying of the bike. Make sure there are no straps and fixtures that could work loose and cause you an embarrassing tumble. A local sub24hr overnight ride, often termed a microadventure, makes the ideal test ride.

Need some inspiration for suitable trails to ride? Ride them on your own or grab a couple of mates, buy the maps and hit the trails.

Trans Cambrian Way
Pennine Bridleway
Coast to Coast
West Highland Way

If you rather take part in an organised event check out

Welsh Ride Thing
Polaris Challenge
Barebones 200
The Mach and Back

Inspiring Characters we’ve helped along the way

Paul Errington
John “Shaggy” Ross
Sat Nav Sam
Paul Pomfret
Vin Cox
James Cracknell

Bikepacking Guides

PDF download: Thanks to Sim from SingleTrack Magazine for letting us link to their 'Fish out of Water' article: Taking Back Adventure.

Snapshoots

PDF download: Col and Ken on a Welsh ride: Welsh 2 Peak-ender.

Bikepacking Feature

Nick put together a bikepacking feature for issue 68 of Singletrack with team Alpkit rider Paul Errington about bike packing and multi-day adventure racing with pictures from the 2011 Welsh Ride Thing and John Ross on the Iditarod Invitational. See the final piece in the screen room

Products

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