Bikepacking 101: The Fundamentals of Bikepacking – The next is a video recording of a LIVE YouTube internet occasion that happened on January 31, 2018, by which TOURING-BICYCLE (the Bicycle Touring Professional) shared his information on the fundamentals of bikepacking.
When you don’t need to watch the video intro, please click on right here to skip to begin of the bikepacking webinar.
What’s Bikepacking?
Bikepacking is backpacking with a bicycle. It’s mountain biking mixed with the talents and strategies you may use on a long-distance, multi-day mountain climbing or backpacking journey.
As a substitute of carrying your meals, water, clothes, tenting tools, and many others in an enormous, heavy backpack that presses down of your again, waist and shoulders, bikepackers use a sequence of small body baggage, seat baggage and handlebar baggage to disperse the load of their gear throughout the body of their bicycles. This lets you comfortably journey your bike with out the load of all of your gear always urgent down in your physique.
How Is Bikepacking Totally different From Bicycle Touring?
Bikepacking is bicycle touring. The truth is, bikepacking is only one of many several types of bicycle touring.
Whereas bicycle touring is often described as a multi-day biking journey the place you journey for days, weeks, months and even years on finish beneath your personal energy (with out the help of a motor) and is often carried out on paved roads or bike paths with the occasional dust or gravel highway driving required, bikepacking usually refers to off-road biking on dust or gravel roads and single-track trails.
The best way that bicycle vacationers and bikepackers carry their gear can also be totally different. People conducting a conventional road-based bicycle tour will often carry their belongings in a set of pannier baggage or in a trailer that they pull behind their bike, whereas bikepackers have a tendency to hold their belongings in a set of body, seat and handlebar baggage which are strapped or mounted to the body of their bicycle.
However bicycle touring doesn’t simply imply “highway driving”… and bikepacking doesn’t simply imply “off-road driving.” It’s not unusual to listen to the 2 phrases (bicycle touring and bikepacking) interchanged with each other.
Generally you will notice or hear somebody say that they went bikepacking, when in actuality, what they had been doing might extra intently be outlined as conventional road-based bicycle touring. And there are different cases the place folks may say that they went bicycle touring, when in actuality, the exercise they take part in was truly one thing nearer to off-road bikepacking. These two phrases could be swapped backwards and forwards. Nevertheless, bicycle touring usually refers to a road-based bike tour with using panniers or a trailer… and bikepacking usually refers to an off-road biking journey the place all the required clothes, meals, tenting tools and kit is carried in a set of body, handlebar or seat baggage which are secured to the body of the bicycle.
In the end, bikepacking is only one of many several types of bicycle touring.
What Gear Do You Want For Bikepacking?
There are actually just a few issues it’s essential to begin bikepacking to your self.
After you’ve gathered these few important objects, there are different items of kit you may need to add to your total bikepacking record. These additional objects may embody:
Click on right here to view my full bikepacking gear record. Be happy to make use of this packing record as a template to your personal bikepacking adventures, however please don’t assume that that is the one and solely strategy to pack for a bikepacking journey.
What Sort of Bicycle is Finest?
One of many huge benefits to bikepacking over conventional bicycle touring is that just about any kind of bicycle can be utilized for a bikepacking journey. Whereas mountain bikes are the commonest kind of bicycle used on bikepacking adventures, it’s not unusual to see highway bikes, touring bikes, hybrid bikes and even electrical bicycles getting used for bikepacking excursions. So, should you already personal a mountain bike of any variety, then you definately’ve doubtless already acquired a motorcycle that you should use for bikepacking.
That being mentioned, there are a selection of various bicycles in the marketplace which were designed particularly with bikepacking in thoughts.
Whereas mountain bikes and bikepacking bikes have many similarities, there are some things that make bikepacking bicycles distinctive when put next with the mountain bike fashions you could be aware of:
Wider tubeless tires – Most bikepacking bicycles now use tubeless tires, that are light-weight and self-patching. The broader your tires, the extra comfy they are going to be in off-road terrain (with some sacrifices to hurry).
Additional eyelets on the body/fork – Bikepacking bicycles often have additional eyelets constructed into the body and fork of the bicycle, permitting you to mount additional water bottle cages, entrance and rear racks, and numerous accent baggage/cages.
No suspension or shocks – It’s good to have suspension or shocks once you’re driving downhill over bumpy terrain, however a bikepacking bicycle wants to have the ability to go wherever, so most bikepacking bicycles don’t have suspension of any variety (as shocks are inclined to make it harder to journey your bike on flat and uphill terrain).
When you already personal a mountain bike, then you can begin bikepacking with the bicycle that you’ve now. However should you don’t but have a bicycle and also you’re focused on bikepacking, contemplate buying a motorcycle that’s constructed particularly with bikepacking in thoughts. You may then use that bicycle for bikepacking expeditions and for normal mountain biking pursuits as nicely.
Which Kind of Bikepacking Baggage Do You Want?
There are a variety of various bikepacking baggage accessible to you. Nevertheless, the commonest bikepacking baggage you might be prone to encounter are the:
Regardless that bicycle vacationers ought to make each effort to pack the load of their gear on the frames of their bicycles, many bikepackers select to hold water and small, light-weight objects (comparable to meals and/or a rain jacket) inside a small backpack or hydration pack that they then stick with it their backs as they journey.
When you’re simply getting began with bikepacking, contemplate buying solely a seat bag and a handlebar bag to start with. Then, should you want extra room, add a small backpack to your bikepacking gear record. When you nonetheless want extra room for clothes, meals or tenting tools, contemplate using a body bag. After which add the smaller prime tube baggage, accent baggage and stem/bar baggage for added storage choices.
Day by day Distances & Velocity
The common road-based bicycle vacationer often cycles at a charge of roughly 10 miles (16 km) per hour and covers, on common, roughly 40-100 miles (64-160 km) per day. Whereas most bikepackers, who’re touring on dust or gravel roads and single-track trails are often biking at a pace nearer to eight miles (13 km) per hour and overlaying a distance of 25-75 miles (40-120 km) per day.
Tenting Gear & Methods
Whenever you go bikepacking, each effort ought to be made to make your bicycle as compact and as light-weight as attainable. Nevertheless, the tenting tools it’s essential to conduct an in a single day bikepacking journey within the wild means that you will be required to hold some fairly giant objects with you in your bicycle.
Bikepackers, due to this fact, are inclined to undertake one of many following tenting strategies on their biking journeys:
Tent – Offers you with probably the most safety from the weather, nevertheless it’s the most important and heaviest of all of the tenting choices.
Hammock – Small and light-weight, however solely works in forested elements of the world. Plus, you’ll have to pack a tarp to sting over the hammock, in case it rains or snows at night time whilst you’re sleeping.
Tarp – A easy, light-weight tarp is admittedly all it’s essential to shield your self from the weather in sure conditions. Lay the tarp down on the bottom or string it up within the bushes overhead. I don’t suggest this system for newcomers.
Bivy – A small, light-weight, waterproof bag (just a bit bit larger than a sleeping bag) that you just sleep in at night time to guard your self from the weather. Small and light-weight, however delivers little safety from the weather.
Bikepacking 101: The Fundamentals of Bikepacking
When you’d prefer to study extra in regards to the fundamentals of bikepacking, please click on right here: htts://www.bicycletouringpro.com/bikepacking On the backside of this web page you can find a lot of totally different articles, movies and sources you should use to plan, put together for, and execute your personal bikepacking adventures wherever on this planet.
BEFORE YOU GO: Please depart a remark under and let me know one factor you realized by watching my free Bikepacking 101 webinar on the fundamentals of bikepacking. And in case you have a buddy, member of the family or cherished one who could be on this bikepacking data, please share this text/video with them. I’m certain they’d recognize you sharing this with them… and I do know I’d recognize it as nicely.