Bikepacking is pretty much backpacking on two wheels — a bike. I think it’s a gem of a way to experience the world, as it tends to take you off the well-trodden path.
“It’s any adventure that involves riding your bike and staying overnight.”
Bikepacking: getting started
So if you’ve never been on a bikepacking adventure, where do you start?
1. Get a bicycle.
2. Set a date — you may never feel 100 percent ready, but just pick a date, stick to that date, do what you can in between, and that’s enough.
3. Invite a friend.
4. For longer trips, a spot GPS (tracking messaging device) automatically sends emails to your mom or sends for different levels of help if activated when there is no phone connection.
5. Pack light — bring a small tent, sleeping bag and mat, cooking utensils, lightweight waterproof clothing, matches, camera, and harmonica or another small instrument.
6. Take care of your body and your bike. Pack food, water, a first aid kit, and a bike repair kit.
7. Wild camping is good — you are braver than you think. This is the best way to learn new things about the world.
8. Listen to your body. If you push yourself too hard, you might end up doing damage to yourself, which may set you back. Pace yourself — you may even see more wildlife this way.
9. You are only lost when you want to be somewhere else.
10. Your adventure is your own — there is lots of advice online to draw from, but every trip is unique, so learn as you go.
California Dreamin’: famous bikepacking trail
Here are some photos from a bikepacking route in Southern California that follows the path of a famous ride called the Stage Coach 400.
Part of the trip goes through the high desert and used to be an ocean, the Gulf of California. The landscape shows channels left behind by underwater mountainous regions.
You can see fossils of reef and petrified forests. It’s a geological dreamscape.
Think local
If you can make your bikepacking adventure as local as possible, that’s a step in the right direction for reducing your carbon footprint, and you’re getting fit at the same time.
With so much of my time these days spent in front of a computer, there is nothing better than disconnecting from technology for a while to refresh your batteries. By choosing something physical, challenging, inexpensive, and out in nature, I find I really gain perspective.
Remember, you are braver than you think.
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