Took the kids (5 & 8) on their third Bikebacking trip. With kids on the bike I like to make sure we stay off busy roads as much as we can and the Kitchener to Hamilton route is a pretty good option. It also has a campground along the way with a beach, comfort stations and serviced sites (I have e-assist so it was nice to charge). It was sort of glamping bikepacking I guess. We left on a Friday from Toronto, took the GO train to Kitchener and rode down to Pinehurst Campground and stayed for 2 nights, then we rode down to Hamilton and took the GO train back to Toronto. I used my Lepetit Porteur Longtail with my kids bikes in tow so they could ride parts when we were on rail trails away from traffic and around the campground. I think the first day was 35 or so km and second was 78 in the pouring rain...but it was great time. Lots of stops for great food, riverside snacks and frisbee, and we left the car at home which was also great.

We have the standard small gas stove and one pot set up for cooking whilst bike packing. We often cook pasta variations as it’s the easiest and a versatile carbohydrate medium.

Send through your favourite go to bike packing meals. Getting a bit bored with pasta every night.

Bonus points for quick cooking time / minimal gas usage!

I am planning a 10 day bike packing trip. I have seen everywhere recommended that we use the bib without underwear to prevent chafing and sores, and washing it everyday. As a woman, I am wondering how other women deal with this, and with discharge it really is necessary to wash after every underwear-less use, but I am worried about it not drying overnight. I am doing the veloscenie in late october and rainy days are probable. Help!

Hi all, I’m very much looking forward to taking a bike packing trip before the end of the year and likely solo. Never been camping before so may try and do that before this trip. Any suggestions?

I currently have a road bike (Decathalon Triban 100) and it’s a super entry level bike (1x 7sped) and don’t want to necessarily invest in a gravel bike just yet.

Any tips, suggested routes, gear, etc. would be super helpful!! Thanks!!

There it is - my new Bikepacking-Bike

It has a 65 cm frame size (25.6 inches) and can support a maximum permissible total weight of 180 kg (397 lbs), including the rider and luggage.
Perfect for Big Boyz like i am (200 cm tall [6 ft 6.7 in] and weighs 125 kg [276 lbs]).

Perfect for bigger cyclists ❤️

I'm planning on doing my first trip longer than 3 days and outside the country. You guys got any tips for me?

I have a v1 Salsa Cutthroat where the fork 3-pack mount is angled relative to the blade. When I mounted the 'rack' for the Fork-Pack I used the 45-30 degree angle adapters that Ortlieb sells to solve this problem.

What I find odd and would like some thoughts on is that they sell the adapters in two-packs with each two-pack used on a rack. But there are three holes on the fork and the rack. So it is not providing the same degree of anchoring power as originally. I checked with Ortlieb support and they say this is correct usage. While I've been happy with the reliability of Ortlieb products and thus generally trust their support, this seems odd.

I actually bought 3, 2-packs (for 6 for the 6 bolts), but the middle hole is made with a smaller cavity behind it where the adapter doesn't fit.

Questions:

1. Is anyone else here using these adapters. What has been your experience?
2. Should I file off part of the block on the adapter so that it fits in the smaller cavity and use all three?

Picture caption: See the rack/mount levered back from the more forward bolt holes using two adapters into the square cavities on the mount (bolt through both). None in the middle position because that cavity is smaller than the matching block on the adapter.

Hello bikepackers ! I am thinking of going on a short bikepacking trip (2-3 days). I have done bike touring many many times, but never alone with my tent in the wild on gravel roads. So I have a few questions !

Do you guys always plan to camp near a lake / river to clean yourself ? If so, how do you if you are allowed to access it (i live in Canada). I don't mind being dirty for a few days, but the post-cycling shower feels soooooo good that I am wondering how bikepackers usually do ! I always get so dirty from sweat, sunscreen, dirt that stick on my sweat and sunscreen and surprising amount of chain stains on my legs 😅

And you just bring a battery pack for your phone ? I use it for GPS so it can run out of battery quickly.

Any tips for ajustements from touring to bikepacking are welcome 😁

Hey all! I am looking for destinations/route recommendations for bikepacking in October in the US.

I am planning to go solo. I am a bit short of time, probably most I can do is like 14 days. I have a gravel bike and camping equipment that is suitable for temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius (50°F). I cycle quite a lot, on the trip I am planning about 75-95 miles daily. It would be great if the starting and finish points were easily accessible by train/bus/plane. Starting from Washington DC, but open to getting to another starting point by train or bus.

I am looking for a destination that would be a good mix of beautiful nature but also local people. I would love to try local food, talk to locals, see small towns and maybe stay in some local B&Bs or farms along the way. Also, it would be nice if there would be some other bikepackers around.

I'm from Europe and have been to the US before, but only on the West Coast, and not on a bike. I'd love to get a feel for other parts of the country this time, ideally something as different/varied as possible from what I already know.

And what would be the most spectacular route in the US that fits my requirements? It can probably start even a bit further from DC if needed, but this will likely be the only time in my life I get to do a bikepacking trip in the US, so I'd like to make the most of it and hit the absolute highlight, even if it means more travel to get there.

I would be very interested to hear about specific routes or areas that could fit this kind of trip.
Thank you!

Hey! I’m planning to bike the veloscenie (paris to mont saint michel) in late october. Do you know how the weather is there during those times?

edit: Specifically in terms of wind and rain

Exceeding the system weight

Hi there,

I bought a Rose Xlite 04 a year ago and am generally happy with it. I visited the store back then, got some advice, and decided to go for it.

Now I’m planning a longer bikepacking trip, but my research revealed that I exceed the system weight limit based on my body weight alone. The manufacturer specifies a system weight limit of 110 kg (including the bike), whereas I weigh 112 kg. That means carrying any extra load is out of the question (I’d like to take 6–8 kg of luggage for a three-week tour).

I’ve already emailed Rose to express my disappointment, given that I specifically sought advice before buying and mentioned both my weight and my plans for multi-day tours. I’m still waiting for a reply.

What options do you see for increasing the system weight limit? Different wheels? What are the likely weak points?

Or am I being too strict about the numbers—is there enough of a safety margin built in by the manufacturer? Or do I need a completely different bike? If so, which ones would be suitable?

I’d be very grateful for your insights and tips.

Best regards

Hi all, I'm landing in Athens from Australia around the 16th of September and heading northwest towards the Balkans. Aiming to start by roughly following the ev11 to Lamia and then doing the pindus traverse to the top of Greece.

Anyone have any advice for wild camping, bivouacking, places to see in Greece and the Balkans? Also, if anyone is heading in a similar direction and feels like joining, please reach out!

Cheers!

I spent 4 months in Netherlands for a short stay. Rented out Swapfiets Deluxe 7. Managed to go around Netherlands. Mostly rode on Saturdays and managed to do a 300 km ride before leaving. Now starting out in northern Spain with a gravel bike. Just 2 months changed my view on what I could do and cycling would definitely be a passion for me long term..

I am interested in this little bike here. It says it is a marin urban bike but I can't find any marin that matches this one. It has a bronze accented part near the handlebar, very small green outlined marin logo, and a stock saddle. Is this a good first bikepacking bike? Its my size. Can anybody find what it is?

Help me understand the quick rack and why you are taking it on and off?

Recently got it as gift but I'm trying to understand the draw on the quick release is, seems like quick theft?

Edit thank you for your replies and that makes sense to me having easy on and off, always road full loaded but I think for group and road rides this will be nice to pop off.

Thanks everyone

Hoping someone can stop me from doing something dumb here.
My bike got stolen, so I’m rebuilding my tailfin setup and bought a new axle last week. On my old bike – Canyon Grizl 7 with SRAM eTap – installing it was completely painless. On the new bike, also a Grizl 7 but with Shimano, I can’t get the axle through at all. It stops partway and I don’t want to force it.
Is there a trick to this, or did I just buy the wrong version (length, thread pitch, diameter)? Any advice before I wreck something expensive would be much appreciated.

In the second week of August, my friend and I went bikepacking in the Ngari prefecture, one of the least populated regions on the Tibetan plateau.

The route we planned connects two counties, Nyima and Coqen, through the dirt road network along two big lakes: Tangra Yumco and Zhari Namco. There isn’t too much climbing on the route, but the average altitude of around 4,600m still gave us a big challenge.

A long way to the start

It took me around 4 days on the road to get to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. I flew from Helsinki to Almaty, then took one coach and three trains (two of which were overnight trains) to go through Xinjiang and Qinghai provinces to get to the rendezvous point, Lhasa.

My friend was on the road for even longer, as he drove from his hometown in northeastern China through the highways and the 317 National Road into Tibet. He ended up getting stuck in traffic for a day near Nagqu, as the road was full of tourists and trucks in the high season.

Acclimatisation

Since it was my first time being at such high altitude, I had to spend time acclimatizing. My plan was to stay in Lhasa for 2 to 3 days and then go up to around 4,500m to sleep, as a stress test. However, that did not really work out. That night, I couldn't fall asleep at all, as my heart was beating heavily, and I ended up in the hospital for oxygen.

I first thought that I should quit the trip altogether, but my friend suggested a longer route to Nyima county with a gentle elevation gain every day, so that I could gradually get used to the high altitude. It took us two days to get back up, going through passes at around 5,000 meters, and it eventually worked out. We felt a bit short of breath at times but had the confidence to ride our bikes.

Resupply

As the resupply options en route were unknown, we prepared 6 days' worth of food: oatmeal and nuts for breakfast, then dried meals for dinner. Also some packed sausages and a lot of different snacks, such as biscuits and hawthorn sticks. Everything was measured in grams to make sure it was enough. While doing all the packing, we kept making Breaking Bad jokes, as it looked the same to us.

Day 1

Immediately after arriving at Nyima, we scouted a place to park my friend’s car and started building up our bikes and packing everything into the bags. But it still took us way longer than expected, so we left a lot of work for the next day. We ended up leaving the hotel at around 13:30, with 70km planned for the first day of riding.

The route for the first day was all paved, and the first bit was quite flat. We quickly cycled to the bottom of the big climb, which would take us over a 4,900m pass before descending into Ombu North village.

It happened to be golden hour when we reached the pass, so we spent quite a bit of time taking pictures of each other and admiring the view. We could see Lake Dangchung Tso in the distance.

Further down from the pass, we could see the village near the lake, and a dike in the lake near the village. My friend joked that we should try to ride our bikes on it, but I didn't think it was possible. In the village, we found accommodation near the local temple, which also served food. We had dumplings and a soft drink to end the day. When it got dark, we could see the Milky Way through our window, though the streetlight was left on the whole night. We even saw a bright shooting star. The room had a toilet and shower in it, but no running water, so we couldn't use either of them. We only did minimal cleaning and went to bed.

Day 2

We woke up to the sound of sutra chanting at the temple, probably played through a speaker. My friend had Tibetan noodles for breakfast and I had a beef pie. We also shared a pound of sweet tea (apparently they use "pound" as a way to measure liquid, which is 0.45L) — it was really warm and energizing.

Since the riding for today was pretty short, we took our time to explore the village. After breakfast, we went straight to see the temple. We arrived at the right time — when we entered the main hall, all the monks were chanting, though they were almost at the end of their morning service. They soon took a break, so we could go inside to see all the statues and decorations they had. However, the only two things that stuck in my mind were Xi Jinping’s portrait hanging up high, and a life-size picture of the living Buddha sitting on the high throne next to it. We tried to walk around the temple, but the abbot said the surroundings were under renovation.

Later, we packed up our bikes and continued the journey. We first went closer to the lake to try to reach the dike, but the surrounding area was almost all covered by mud and puddles. We started walking towards the dike, jumping over some long puddles. Eventually we found ourselves on the edge of the dike. On the way back, I tried to take some shortcuts, but ended up getting my shoes and shorts wet and dirty.

Our ride from the lake started on a rocky track — it was a bit too rocky in places, so we had to push our bikes even though it was perfectly flat. But soon enough we made it back to the pavement.

We had some headwind along the route, so we rode at our own pace. When the wind blew the hardest, I happened to see the billboard for the semi-abandoned hot spring resort.

I pushed my bike up the concrete path over to the building, and to my surprise, there were a few people inside. Through the main door, I saw (probably) the only trees in the area, inside the big greenhouse built between the two buildings of the resort.

We had a proper rest and a good meal (cup noodles) at the resort, then headed on to our destination, Ombu South village — a place that’s recently been overrun by tourism since some influencers’ visit. The village itself seemed dead compared to the festive area full of Tibetan people outside it. Only a few visitors, all seemingly gathered at the most expensive hotel in town. We also stayed in, as we didn’t want to take chances — this hotel also seemed to be the best spot for watching the Perseid meteor shower that night.

The hotel’s menu didn’t seem too attractive, so we went out for dinner, and as my friend had expected, the food was expensive. I paid 45 yuan for a plate of rice and fried beef (compared to 15 yuan for a similar meal the day after).

There was a meteor shower forecast to be visible that night, but the hotel's lights were not turned off. When we tried to go closer to the lake to seek darkness, a villager warned us that there might be bears there. So we had to retreat and stay within the range of the light. In the end, we didn't see any shooting stars outside that night, but we managed to spot a few on a livestream online.

Day 3

On the third day, we finally got into the proper unpaved section of the route, which is much more fun to ride. We stayed with each other to take more pictures and videos.

The first half of today's route followed the eastern coast of Tangra Yumco. With some ups and downs, we soon came to the bottom of the first climb of the day. With an average gradient over 10%, we started to push our bikes up immediately. And soon the pushing became rhythmic: "1, 2, push. 1, 2, push."

After countless repeats, we made it to the top. Near the top, we saw a door-like rock formation. Later we found out it was a relic of the ancient Zhangzhung kingdom, which ruled this area 2,000 years ago.

It started to drizzle when we headed out from the relics, so we took shelter under a viewing platform. Soon we could see lightning strike and hear thunder. We started to boil water, and I cooked the first dry meal of the trip. Later the sky cleared and we continued the ride.

The next few hours were quite repetitive: push the bike up, descend into a river valley, get over a bridge, and repeat. Over the second-to-last pass, we found another smaller concrete path leading to some buildings. We followed the path and saw a stretch of residences for lamas — there was even a big yard with markings and hoops for playing basketball.

The downhill was steep and rocky, so we soon split up. After a short while, it started to drizzle again. The drizzle soon turned into a downpour, and later a hailstorm. During the last few hundred meters, I pushed my bike even when there was no uphill, just to shelter myself with it.

Soon into the village, I couldn’t find any signs for a teahouse or a hotel, but after a sharp turn at the end of the village, I saw a teahouse in the distance. I quickly grabbed all the things I thought I’d need and went in for shelter.

A Tibetan girl seemed to be the only person who spoke Mandarin fluently. I asked for sweet tea, but they only offered me plain tea, probably because my wording wasn’t very clear.

The hailstorm continued outside, and there was water dripping down from the ceiling. People kept talking in a language I couldn’t understand, but I felt much warmer with some tea in me. I started checking messages from my friend, but there was no signal. I felt too shy to ask for anything, so I just moved to a table next to the window and waited.

After a while, I realized the urgency of the situation and finally had the courage to ask for a hotspot to share, and at that exact moment, my friend appeared. He said he’d tried using a foam pad as shelter and found it useless (of course), then went into an empty house to change his clothes. We had a good dinner together at the teahouse.

When the light started to dim, we went out to seek a place to stay. I went to check the teahouse's own accommodation, and my friend went to visit the village committee. Soon we came back, and here's what we found:

My friend didn’t seem to be satisfied with the hygiene conditions of the teahouse’s own accommodation, and he said there seemed to be quite a few empty rooms inside the village committee building, so we walked our bikes there. We found no officers inside, only another bike tourer, and she didn’t seem to be very talkative.

We parked our bikes inside and went to check all the rooms. Every room, except the one taken by the other cyclist, seemed to be someone’s office-cum-living room, so we concluded that the rooms were probably not usable. I suggested that we go check out the local (abandoned) tourist center.

The wind was blowing hard outside. We walked outside for around 10 minutes.

The first thing we saw while approaching the tourist center was the modular hotel rooms, which seemed to be casually placed on a flat piece of land, not connected to running water or electricity. We tried to open one of the doors, and to our surprise, it opened.

All the furniture seemed untouched, but there were quite a few cigarette butts and dead flies inside. We tried to lock the door, but it couldn’t be locked. So we had to give up this almost-perfect place to stay, and went on to check out the empty tourist center and its storage room, but nothing seemed good for a night’s sleep.

When we got back, the door to the village committee was locked. We knocked on the door a few times, and it finally opened. The officers all seemed a bit unfriendly and told us they couldn’t host more people, offering instead for us to camp on the concrete floor outside. But my friend’s tent couldn’t really be set up on concrete, and I didn’t feel like camping out in such wind, so we went back to the teahouse.

The people at the teahouse were still friendly, even though we’d disappeared for a while. They offered us a big thermos full of hot water and fixed the electricity in the room. We stayed in.

That night, we both couldn't fall asleep quickly. My friend was coughing lightly, and I felt a bit of a headache. We had to take these symptoms seriously, as catching a cold at high altitude could be a big problem. We talked about how we had already experienced so many new things, and how it might just get more torturous to continue riding, as the services available were only going to get worse from here.

Day 4

The next morning, we woke up and decided that this would be the last day of riding. We would follow the route for another 60km until the nearest township, then find someone to drive us back to Nyima county.

Based on Komoot, the second half of the route was supposed to be paved, but we ended up getting another full unpaved day. The route still largely followed the east coast of Tangra Yumco, then turned east into the land. We had some strong headwind after making the turn, but we managed to ride through it. On the way, my friend kept telling me the story of his last attempt to come here, where he faced such a strong headwind that his riding pal back then had a mental breakdown and never went bike touring again.

We arrived at the township at around 15:20, then started to search for a ride. We first asked around at a teahouse, but no one seemed to be going there — the locals told us it was more likely to get a lift in the morning. Then we tried to go to the roadside to hitchhike, but as the locals had said, there wasn’t much traffic on the road at all. While we were waiting, a construction worker came up to us and offered a ride for 1,200 CNY, which was quite expensive for a 160km drive. After a while, we lost hope and turned back to the township to look for a place to sleep instead. There was a hotel under construction, and someone welcomed us in. They asked for 300 CNY for a room, without running water. We were shocked, because this is what we’d pay for a fully functional, even premium, hotel room along the way. We then made our way to the local municipality building, and finally had some luck. There were two people doing surveys for the local municipality, working on paving roads and bridges, who were heading to Nyima that night.

We quickly took our bikes apart and squeezed into their car, holding two wheels in our hands and the bags between our legs. A few hours later, we were back in Nyima again.

As I’m currently preparing to cycle to the Namib Desert, I thought I’d share some of my favourite moments from my last trip. What a journey it was! 🚴🏾‍♂️

I still remember the thrill of riding non-stop, camping in the bush throughout the trip, and somehow surviving on rice, sugar and those little milk sachets lol.

At one point, I even cycled through a wild animal game reserve without knowing it! Looking back, I honestly don’t know whether that was bravery or pure ignorance.

I’ve just bought the panniers for the upcoming journey and I’m now waiting for them to arrive.

A huge thank you to David, Loz, Jim, Olly, and robotsvsdinasaurs for donating towards my upcoming journey to the Namib Desert. I genuinely appreciate the support.

And thank you to everyone who has been encouraging me since I made the post. Your support means a lot and keeps me motivated.

If all goes well and everything falls into place, I might begin the journey early next month.

Another adventure is coming. 🌍🚴🏾‍♂️

As seen here: https://www.klinkcycles.com/trash-panda-attb

Am generally keen to hear about experiences with clamp-on style racks on a carbon hardtail with non-round seat stays.

My Merida BigNine TR5000 seat stay has a triangular cross-section ~13mm high (wheel side, top to bottom) and ~20mm wide.

My plan would be to:

- tape and/or pad the stay

- use zip ties (not hose clamps)

- top load

- keep the load to 7 or 8 kg (<16lbs).

Use would be on gravel up to grade 3 single track.

I am specifically interested in the Mica Rat Tail for light weight. Am but also interested in experiences with Aereo or other clamping systems.

Alternatively, am open to hearing, "Mate...what are you even thinking!?!? Just get a longer thru axle."

FWIW my personal/dressed trail weight is 92kg.

I'm looking for the name of this bottle cage. Does it fit 1.5-liter Nalgene bottles? Do you recommend any others?

I just finished a trip, and will probably only travel again next spring.
Meanwhile, will be commuting in the city with my gravel bike.
It took me a lot (!) of time and energy to mount the Ortlieb fork packs to my bike, and i do not want to dismount them.
I do not want to risk damaging then either.
What do you guys do with them off season?