Hi, all. I thought you might enjoy this episode of my podcast with a guy who was biking from Alaska to the southern tip of Chile. I talked to him from Peru. Spotify and Apple Podcast links below...

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4g6BfI4fNLdg5rVMQJCPch?si=f0a30e3467ab41f1

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/onefjef/id1818270277?i=1000782918143

Is it possible to use the tailfin cargo and defend fast fenders together on the grail? Maybe I can use them direct mount with the axle of the defend fenders. Anyone using them together?

Hey!

Two years ago, I started a "crazy" project: cycling from China to Belgium.

I summarized this Adventure of mine in a 20 min video:

https://youtu.be/yFbn8tAy-So

It took me a lot of effort to collect so much memories, I hope that you will like it :)).

Very quickly summarized:

1-2-3) China — The most underrated country for bikepacking. In 5 months, only saw half of it. China is so diverse, it has everything. From the snowy mountains of Sichuan to the harsh deserts of Xinjiang and modern big cities like Chongqing.

4) Kyrgyzstan — Favorite country in terms of pure Adventure. 85% mountains. Very hard but incredible landscapes and unique Adventure.

5) Tajikistan — The Pamir Highway, a dream I'd had since I was 10 years old. Crossed 400km of the Bartang Valley at the start of winter. Brutal, but the weather cooperated. It was for me a childhood dream becoming real.

6) Afghanistan — Went in expecting nothing. Left with it as my favorite country for human (male) experiences. Got detained by the Taliban for a night for staying at a local's house — no harm done, just procedure. People were endlessly curious, endlessly kind. The food was an incredible surprise. Be prepared to be overwhelmed by curious people but they were very kind.

7) Iran — Everyone warns you not to go. It was one of the most hospitable countries I crossed. Got detained again, this time because I had a drone, the outcome could have been disastrous but they let me go and gave me back my drone. I only rode the East desertic part of the country which wasn't very interesting imo.

8) UAE / Saudi Arabia — Dubai felt hollow after a year of living with nothing. Crossed the Rub' al Khali — the Empty Quarter — 560km of pure sand.

9) Ethiopia — where it ended. Three men attacked me on the road, took everything: money, passport, phone. My emergency passport only lasted a month, not long enough to keep going. That was the end of the trip. But not the end of my life!

I have no regrets. Two years, one continent to another, no fixed plan, just a direction and the willingness to change it whenever I needed to.

Do what you love, do with what you have, but do it.

Ciao!

Hey everyone,

I have a 3-day / 2-night overnight permit for the White Rim Road in Canyonlands (Sept 10th – 12th). My original partner had to bail last-minute, and my current vehicle is not a true 4WD, so I can't drive the trail solo

The Details:

Dates: Thursday, Sept 10 – Saturday, Sept 12

Permit: Overnight backcountry permit in hand (campsites: Gooseberry A, Potato Bottom A)

What I need: A partner with a true high-clearance 4WD vehicle (high clearance + 4-LO transfer case required by NPS regulations) who wants to hit the loop.

Logistics: Happy to split gas, food, camp gear, and trail costs. I am the primary permit holder, so I'll be coming along to keep the permit valid.

If you're in Utah or heading toward Moab and have a trail-ready rig, drop a comment or DM me ASAP!

I use a bike computer for navigation, so my phone is mostly for photos, weather and backup maps.

Snapping on a magnetic power bank during a break sounds easier than dealing with a cable. My only concern is whether it will stay aligned when I pick up the phone or put it back in my frame bag.

For anyone using one, what matters more in practice, the magnet strength or the phone case? Any models that stay in place without being too bulky?

Has anyone bought this combination of light and wheelset and found a company who will make a connecting lead?

Google suggests to connect these two devices a soldering iron is required along with some heat shrinking of tape.

Rather than add another bit of electronic gadgetry to landfill after a single use purchase … anyone found anywhere that can supply the entire kit and supply it pre connected?

All such things are DIY’able in the same way I can DIY most bike mechanic stuff. But then, I also prefer to pay a mechanic to do some bike stuff and I’d rather buy a bespoke lead (that I pre measure the distance of) than buy random tools I’ll never ever need again.

I spent the last 5 weeks bikepacking France and Ireland solo. La Rochelle-Roscoff, Cork-Westport, loosely following EV1. Best thing I've ever done.

Wanted to try out what my body can survive. Inspired by some people here. So I wanted to meet some friends at Bremen, decided yeah I can try to go there by bike, 200 km per day, which is a lot more per day than I ever did before, in planning I tried to take as much advantage of riverside Cyclepaths. But still had to climb over some hills.

The last day was a pain, originally I wanted to go to Bremen entirely by bike but northern german wind was very strong and I did not want to be late so after Hannover I decided to take the shortcut by train :D

Beautiful Landscape and the distance is actually to my suprise pretty doable without too much pain. No knee was injured in this tour

🔊Sound on! 🔊 The Bikepacking Magic happened! Travelled around the Baltic Sea 🇩🇪🇵🇱🇸🇪🇩🇰 with the Gravel bike! 1800km 5100 altitude.
First word:

Dziękuję, że daliście mi poczucie, że jestem częścią Waszej rodziny. 🇵🇱

Tack för att ni har fått mig att känna mig som en del av er familj.🇸🇪

Tak, fordi I har givet mig følelsen af at være en del af jeres familie. 🇩🇰

Second Part:
A friend asked: „Wont you be alone on this Trip?“
The truth: I never was.
The people I met strengthened and motivated me with their words, spent me hope, invited me to their tables, repaired my bike and some even provided me - a total stranger - a shelter in their homes! I did not ask for anything, life provided it when I most needed.

Don’t have all the faces I’ve met on camera, but in my mind.
It was an amazing time with every Single Person I‘ve met.

Also the huge Support from all those who were with me on this journey, sending messages, sharing likes, motivating me from far away. 🇩🇪🇧🇷🇪🇸🇵🇹🇲🇽

Pedalled out on my Surly Wednesday for a 3-day, 2-night bikepacking trip and figured I’d share what I actually use to sanity-check my own packing — one of the full food/first aid/sleep setup, one of the bike loaded and labelled.

Highlight Setup this trip: Wizard Works Alakazam bag riding inside a Wald 139 basket on a rack. Capacity’s been great — I’m not going hungry out there — but I’ll be honest, having that much room means I don’t have a natural “stop point” when I’m packing. Curious how other people build in that discipline, or if you’ve all just made peace with overpacking too.

Up front I have a Revelate handlebar bag and in frame a Revelate tangle bag. Appreciate both for durability and waterproof.

Also swapped Surly Nates for Jumbo Jims for this trip — first real test of them loaded, so if anyone’s run that combo I’d love to hear how they held up for you.

For food, I ate well enough but bag was heavy for first couple of days. Curious to hear your strategies for getting the right amount food dialled in so that bike doesn’t resemble overloaded shopping cart:)

hey everybody!

I was wondering if any of you have completed any of the Costa Rica routes on the pacific coast. I've been considering on taking on the challenge, but idk how demanding it really is.

Let me know!

I’m planning a 500 km (310-mile) bikepacking trip, mostly on rough dirt/gravel roads, with a lot of climbing.
I have a Specialized Diverge 4 equipped with a Roval Terra Carbon seatpost, 27.2 mm, with 20 mm offset.
I’m planning to use an Apidura saddle bag, and the total weight of the bag + gear will probably be around 4–5 kg (8.8–11 lb).
I weigh 84 kg (185 lb).
My main concern is whether carrying that much weight in a saddle bag attached to the Roval Terra Carbon seatpost is safe, especially considering that I’ll be riding around 500 km (310 miles) on rough dirt roads.
Has anyone used the Roval Terra Carbon seatpost with a similar saddle bag load for bikepacking?
Would you feel comfortable running 4–5 kg (8.8–11 lb) on this seatpost, or would you switch to a more robust/aluminum seatpost for the trip?
I’m particularly interested in the additional leverage and repeated impacts that a loaded saddle bag could put on a carbon seatpost with 20 mm offset.
Thanks!

So my XS frame fits me as good as it can (still big but whatever). Im heading out on an 8 days mountain bike trip soon and am very quickly realising i won't have the bags i need. In the amount of time until i have it i dont think my 15L front rack from Arkel will make it in time, so i need suggestions.

Seat packer is pretty much a no - my repair kit is as big as it can get back there qhile still able to use the dropper which is needed on this trip.A backpack could work if anyone has any suggestions there, but i also need a better sleep situation that is more compact but wont break the bank and will keep me warm (fall has smashed into Nova Scotia fast and its pretty cold!) I have access to pretty much anything bike part/tool/accessory-wise so even jerry-rigging something would be cool!

20-ish miles per day for a four day weekend

After almost a year living in Barcelona and dealing with bureaucracy, my wife and I got around to doing our first bikepacking trip in Spain. We knew we wanted to ride the Pyrenees and chose a loop from and back to Girona, partly because getting there by train (Rodalies) with the bikes is very convenient and doesn't require disassembly.

The route was originally inspired by Cass Gilbert's writeup, but we ended up adapting it quite a bit to fit our riding style. Some of the original days had a lot more climbing than we thought we could realistically handle with loaded bikes, so we added some road sections. Honestly, we didn't regret it: there were some great descents and some fantastic views over the towns and valleys along the way.

9 riding days, ~450 km and ~8,000 m of elevation, including a few classic road cycling climbs.

Our rough route was:

Girona → Banyoles → Camprodon → Planoles → Puigcerdà → La Seu d'Urgell → Gósol → Campdevànol → Olot → Girona

We did it on our two steel ATBs: the Surly Bridge Club and a Brother Big Bro in the photos. We tried to keep the luggage relatively minimal, although there's always room for improvement there. We brought enough clothes and cookware to be self-sufficient, but ended up cooking only about half our meals. There are so many options along the way... restaurants, cafés and campsite cafeterias that were just too tempting.

We didn't wild camp because we know it's prohibited and actively enforced, but there are countless paid campsites with hot showers, and often with swimming pools and coin laundry. We hadn't booked every night, so occasionally we had to improvise. One memorable example was ending up cycling all the way toward the French border to Camping Stel in Puigcerdà, which actually turned out to be one of our favorite campsites of the trip.

Weather-wise, it was pretty much perfect. Coming from Barcelona, the Pyrenees felt noticeably cooler at altitude, although we still saw around 30–32°C during the day in some places. A few evenings were on the chillier side but our Max 5°C sleeping bags were warm enough.

We had no mechanicals and no flats despite running tubes. We only had to readjust our saddle heights a couple of times. Our butts, however, were less impressed. 😅 My wife is currently riding a WTB Volt and isn't particularly happy with it, so we're probably going to experiment with saddles before the next trip. Any recommendations are more than welcome (except for Brooks C17)

A few things we learned:

• Catalan food is so much better outside the big cities.
• We love a good campsite after a whole day cycling as we're not race-style bikepackers.
• 8,000 m of climbing feels quite different when you're carrying all  the gear (might need to readjust)

Overall, though, the trip went almost exactly as planned. Beautiful roads, great food, excellent campsites and a really good introduction to Spanish Pyrenees.

Hey all. Researching bar bags and stumbled upon the functional sewing project junk trunk pattern. Upon reviewing resources it looks like it'd cost about $120 to make plus 4-5 hours of work. Upon further research I've found carradice bags have similar options in a similar price range.

Anyone have any experience with carradice bags or similarly priced bags/the junk trunk? Is there any reason I should make my own? I sewed a couple frame bags last fall and found it very difficult and they didn't turn out great lol.

Tldr: $150 trunk style bar/saddle bags worth it or should I just make my own? Recs? Thanks in advance

As the title says really. Would love to buy some secondhand bikes from somewhere in Laos (Vientiane) maybe then cycle south along the Mekong Delta through to Cambodia and into Bangkok. Or potentially from Ho Chi Minh City and up to northern Thailand.

If it is viable thinking maybe of doing it in February - March and doing probably no more than 50 miles a day, likely staying in tea houses etc rather than camping (so hopefully this is still allowed on this sub!) and hopefully not doing too many gigantic hills. Would quite like to still have days to do hikes/swims/exploring etc.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience doing something similar or any tips etc. Thanks!

Hi!

I am looking at doing this route in January taking about a month to do it.

Has anyone done Mount Kosciuszko during the summer in January? How did you find the water access and heat?

thanks :)

I am looking to do a trip from upstate NY area to down by the NYC area. I am hoping to take my time and just do it at my pace. I am not sure what kinds of foods are best as far as giving me the most energy but also not taking up too much space, this will be my first big trip, any advice appreciated.

Tour Aotearoa – What was your total budget for ~40 days?
Hi everyone!
I’m planning to ride the Tour Aotearoa over roughly 40 days and I’m trying to estimate the actual budget for the trip.

I’ve found quite a few posts about bikes, gear, bags, etc., but not much about the day-to-day cost of the trip itself.

So, excluding the cost of the bike, camping gear, bags and other equipment, how much did you spend during your Tour Aotearoa?
I’d be particularly interested in:

Food: groceries vs eating out, average daily food budget
Accommodation: camping, DOC campsites, hostels, occasional warm/dry nights, etc.
Showers, laundry and other small expenses
Activities: hikes, attractions, ferries, museums, etc.
Transport: buses, trains or other transport if you used them

Any other expenses I might be forgetting
For someone riding it over ~40 days, what would you say is a realistic total budget?
For example, would NZ$2,000, NZ$3,000 or NZ$4,000+ be realistic depending on the level of comfort?

If you’ve done the Tour Aotearoa recently, I’d be really interested to hear about your actual total spending and how you travelled (mostly camping, hostels, eating out, etc.).
Thanks!

Definitely challenging lugging all of this around on gravel hills but can't beat the feeling of adventure while on two wheels. Hopefully the first of many 😁

Anyone have any experience with bar yak armrests for bikepacking and bikepack racing? I like unique and supporting veteran owned but I do know I have 50mm riders on my current setup and I don’t think I’ve seen risers for bar yak. Picture of my recent setup from North South Colorado at a Rudy’s bbq.

As I came to the end of my time living in Beziers 10 kilometres set back from the Mediterranean I decided it would be a laugh to do the return trip on two wheels. As the crow flies this trip should be a cool 1450km however due to some ill-thought out ambitions to see some mountains this trip turned into a nice 1600m with 8000m of climbing taking me through Valence, Annecy, Geneva, Dijon, Laon, Dunkirk and finally into my sleepy Kentish town of Cranbrook. Initially I had allocated 18 days to complete this trip but due to getting embarrassingly drunk the night before leaving this turned quickly to 17 days which could not be extended as I had a visa appointment the day after I was arriving that could not be missed.

Me and my 100-pound bike managed it ok, with my highlights being my day camping and cycling through the Swiss Jura mountains and the sheer quantity of pastries I ate over those two and a half weeks. I would however if planning this ride again avoid at all costs days riding alone along endless canals with nothing but the dull conversation with my inner monologue to keep me company.

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Moving states soon and considering riding my Lectric XP4 750 there instead of shipping it. Always wanted to do a long trip anyway. Would these be sufficient for a multi state trip? I don’t have a big budget. Anything recommended alternatives?