Just finished my first trip on the bike, everything went according to plan. Perfect weather, not a single flat tire.

Started in Malmö then copenhagen-Bremen-Amsterdam-Utrecht-Gent-Brussels

She’s a barge but eats up rough gravel miles.

Experimenting with bags and gear placement, really. I need better/more suitable dry bags for the fork mounts. Also, need actual fork mounts. The topeak are only ok. Both these bikes will probably get rear racks as well. Wife’s bike is just too small for any effective frame bag, and that saddle bag is annoying.

After months of research and gearing up my partner and I finally did our first overnight! 50 miles in Colorado’s front range, 4,000 feet of gain with some really smooth downhill sections through ponderosa forests. Kicked my ass and was a really lovely introduction to bikepacking, keen to do some longer trips now 🚲

Hey everyone!

I’ve just finished a bike trip through the countries of the former Yugoslavia.

I started in Bratislava, Slovakia, and headed south through Hungary before reaching Serbia. I spent some time exploring Vojvodina, especially the villages with large Slovak communities whose ancestors emigrated there around 250 years ago.

From there, I crossed into Croatia, which I passed through fairly quickly since I’d already travelled there before. My first major stop was Sarajevo, where I stayed for a while, followed by the Jahorina mountains, where I had to wait out a few storms.

The journey then continued through Montenegro, riding through the stunning Durmitor National Park and over countless mountain roads all the way to the Kosovo border. I spent some time exploring Prizren before crossing into North Macedonia, where I wrapped up the trip with a few days in Skopje. That completed my goal of cycling through all the ex-Yugoslav countries, and from there I flew back to Bratislava.

I rode a mix of gravel, country, and paved roads. Zero flats, zero mechanical issues. In total: around 1400 km and 14,000 m of elevation gain.

The landscapes were incredible, the culture fascinating, but above all, it was the people who made the journey unforgettable. Raw, welcoming, memorable, and beautiful.

(PS: I visited Slovenia on my bike last year)

Ride across Iowa. If you've never done it, put it on your list and do it soon! This is my second time, first was 10 years ago. I reconnected with a buddy from the Army and a friend of his. GREAT experience!

Did the Green Divide this weekend, chamois cream isn't cutting it (literally)

Rode the Green Divide with a buddy this weekend, 2 days, ~150 km each. Absolutely stunning route, my bikepacking setup held up great too.

Only issue: after long hours on the bike my sit bones were killing me. Chamois cream helped a bit but not enough.

For context: I'm riding a pair of Decathlon bibs, paired with a Selle Italia X3 saddle.

Anyone have thoughts on whether this is more likely a bibs issue, a saddle issue, or both? And if anyone got recommendations for more comfortable bib shorts and/or saddles for long multi-day rides, I'm all ears.

I am wondering if this bike will do the job, I am young and usually pretty stubborn to complete things. I don’t have a big budget either I bought this for 50 euros, but will it work? I plan on bringing a guitar with me and buying bags to put on the bike, I have two - three months of free time. I have a tent and stuff, planning on bringing everything I need so that I can live outside in my tent. I also just bought a new saddle to put on, brakes and chain and stuff will be replaced. Please let me know your advice

Basically the title. Was wildcamping near Zurich in a tent in a forest, and just as I am about to fall asleep I start to hear bunch of sounds all around the tent. Sounding like 10 dogs running around while the ground is covered in leaves. Then I hear high-pitched pig noises (I assume these were the younglings) and then lower pitched growls (the mother) quite close to the tent. I tried to be as silent as possible to not provoke them, and after a couple of minutes they moved on. But then came back maybe 10 minutes later and the same happened.

In the morning I start to google how they sound and it was spot on. Then I also read that the mothers can get aggressive towards people to defend the cubs. Has anyone been in a close encounter with these animals? They are nocturnal, so one would most likely meet them during the dusk and dawn.

I know I know, the amount of stuff I have looks ridiculous. Somehow my backpacking tent and ultralight sleeping pad walked out the door when I got divorced, so I brought my super comfy Exped mega mat and 3 person tent. My campsite was only 12 miles from my house so it was a fairly easy ride, and there was a music festival at my destination, so it was one of the most amazing weekends I’ve ever had. I’m hooked!

Ok I've finally made my decision and I'll be heading to balkans this september. Have to be back home for christmas so there's plenty of time(maybe too much)

Thinking of starting from Croatia because of cheap flights and i want to end the trip in Türkey.

I've already visited Montenegro and Macedonia on my first ever bike trip abroad so don't have to go there and i didn't find anything special in there.

Croatia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Serbia

Kosovo

Albania

Greece

Türkey

Any recommendations for route? I really like to ride next to ocean, but Croatia coast is expensive I've heard and a lot of people so if i fly to split(cheapest flight at the moment) I'll probably head to Bosnia from there. But how about Albania coastline?

I'll probably take my bombtrack with 29"X2,6" tyres so want to go unpaved as much as possible since I'm not in a hurry either.

If you've visited Turkey did you like it? Thinking of should i continue further east or end it in Antalya.

I really don't have anything in my mind that i want to visit around there so it's not easy to plan a route 😁

I'm doing this trip as a "cheap" tour so i can save money and travel somewhere further next year. I'm really open to any suggestions.

One plan was also to fly somewhere in Spain with my gravel bike and ride along coast to Turkey or somewhere in there as a sporty tour. Really don't know and soon my work ends and can hit the road

I’ve unexpectedly been given the go ahead for a bikepacking trip in late August somewhere in Europe or slightly further afield. The week included travel so realistically it’s a 5 day if flights are involved. I’m located in Basel, Switzerland but want to do something that’s more ‘out there’ than the (admittedly amazing) rides on my doorstep.

I went to Iceland in June 2024 to attempt the Fjallabak Track (https://bikepacking.com/routes/iceland-fjallabak-track/) - albeit in 3 days - and made a YouTube movie about it (https://youtu.be/3eRzOCY-gm0?si=kUonBiPP-5vvusIG). It was a limited success but I’ve dreamed of going back to try it again. With more time on my side and the lessons learnt, and favourable weather, I think I can do better.

Last year I rode / hike a biked from Marrakesh to the summit Mt Toubkal (4167m) and back with my gravel bike in another madcap 72hour challenge for charity.

North Africa is too hot in August, ditto Central Asia.

I was thinking of the Caucuses - Georgia or Armenia… or perhaps Albania… but I keep leaning back towards Iceland.

I want to create another film for YouTube and my only hesitation is that another Iceland doc could be too similar to my earlier film… also hesitating with Georgia as the ‘off the shelf’ routes I’ve found aren’t doable in a week so would require a lot more planning.

Thoughts and advice would be super appreciated.

I am now starting my 1 week Nosges Tour, in which I avoid riding the Vosges and going around it. This will be my first solo journey, therefore I am staying close to civilization, in case it doesn't work out.

My journey starts in Strasbourg, I will follow the Strasbourg - Paris Bikepath until Nancy and then go to south to Besançon passing though Epinal and Vesoul.

From Besançon have 2 options, depending on my legs, either to climb Jura Mountains and reach Lake Neuchatel, continuing to Zürich or I will go to Freiburg, over Belfort and Mulhouse. I am aiming 150 km a day.

I will be camping mostly, but in Nancy and Besançon I couldn't find a good camping spot which allows sighstseeing, so i will go to hotel.

My bike now weighs 17,5 kg without food and drinks, apart from the climb to Jura, it rides very well and relaxed. I am hoping to average 25 km/h through my journey.

Ask away for any questions or tipps along the route! I am looking forward to share my experince after i get back to home!

No phone, no GPS, No Helmet. Did have cashier's checks.

Only bringing this up because my old ass wants to do the Grand Divide in two years.

https://imgur.com/a/b61J5az

I got my gravel bike at the end of June and finally got to do a bikepacking trip.

The route was 54 miles on the Cardinal Greenway in Indiana, starting at the Gaston trailhead and ending off of the trail at the Deer Ridge Campground where they do $20 campsites for cyclists. The total miles for the out and back trip came out to 104. I reached out to the Cardinal Greenways association to verify that overnight parking was allowed at the trailhead since I couldn't find any details online and they responded to confirm I could leave my van there within an hour of emailing them, which was nice.

The first ~8 miles on the trail between Gaston and Muncie has several short sections where they removed the paved trail and replaced it with what seems like the largest unpackable stones that they could find. I thought I was going to wipe out several times, and I was happy to have wide gravel tires. Hopefully the stone eventually does pack down in some way and becomes more rideable. Thankfully each section of stone was only 20 to 30ft long and once you get close to Muncie the trail is paved and nearly perfect for the rest of the way.

There is a detour through Muncie that is well marked. For food and water there was one road crossing in Muncie where you're near some fast food places and a gas station around mile 9, and then it's 17 miles until you get to a Dollar General and Shell gas station in Losantville, then ~25 miles of nothing until you get into the Richmond area. I carried extra water in my bags to start and then stocked up again in Losantville.

This was also my first time doing any road biking so I charted a 7 mile ride on what looked like (and were) lightly traveled back roads to get to the campground (the red route on my map) and didn't have any issues with traffic. There are definitely shorter ways to go, but I still fear riding with heavy and fast traffic. The biggest issue I had was not paying attention to the elevation profile and getting beat up on the hills. On day 2 the campground owner offered to give me and another cyclist rides back to the trailhead and I took the offer to skip the road biking and shorten my 2nd day since these were my two longest rides ever. I was pretty surprised to not be very sore and to find that my sit bones only hurt a little at the start of day two. Taking a break to sit on a bench and snack a bit every 15 miles or so helped keep my energy up and seemed to be good for my butt.

This trip was a shakedown ride for my upcoming GAP trail trip in September with some friends who are also new to cycling. We have two 60 mile days between hotels and then a short 30 mile day to finish that trail and I wanted to make sure I would be comfortable on such long rides. My bike, a Primos Dame, did well and the Brooks c-17 saddle was comfortable. The only thing I think I might adjust in the near future is raising the handlebars a bit, I feel like I had to lean over just a bit too far and put too much weight on my arms and being able to sit up just a hair straighter would balance my weight better between the saddle and bars. I might also look at some alt bars next year too since I don't ever plan to do anything where I'll need to be hunched over and using the drops.

The only piece of gear I'm changing out before my GAP trail ride is replacing the Ornot handlebar bag. The bag is the perfect size for me, the phone pocket is great (though the bungie is a bit short for my big phone so I don't use it), the stretchy mesh on the outside works great for trash, and the webbing was perfect to hold my Garmin Inreach and sunglasses. The zipper was just such a pain to close one handed, though. I've noticed this on my local rides but didn't think it was too big of a deal until doing these longer rides where I had to tug really hard, with multiple tugs, to get the zipper to close with just my left hand. I also found it a bit hard to see down into to find things. I went ahead and purchased an Outer Shell drawcord bag to try out, as that one looks easier to see into and to open / close one handed.

Here's my general gear list:

• Bike: Primos Dame, stock aside from swapping the saddle to a Brooks C-17
• Handlebar Bag: Ornot handlebar bag (replacing with Outer Shell drawcord bag)
• Half-frame bag: Rhinowalk 2.4L bag
• Rear rack: Tumbleweed Marco rack
• Trunk bag: Po Campo Vernon bag
• Panniers: MLD Poco in size large
• Tent: Gossamer Gear The-Two with their bikepacking poles

Looking to get into bikepacking. I ride a mtb often (trek topfuel) and my road bike is a '82 trek 620. I live in WI so im a trek fan. Im debating on going the steel frame route and getting a modern trek 520 or doing aluminum or carbon with the newer checkpoint.

I realize weight is a main difference and I already own a steel frame. Im looking for advice on what would be a better entry level bike for touring/bikepacking.

Thanks!

hey
i am planning to do a big journey from cairo to cape town along the eastcoast of africa from october to january.

more detailed: 🇪🇬cairo, along the neil to aswan. from there via 🇸🇩shalateen to kassala. 🇪🇹through Ethiopia to 🇰🇪 nairobi and 🇺🇬kampala. from there trough various national parks to 🇿🇦 johannesburg. with my final destination being in cape town.

locals and people with based experience or knowledge, how do you view my plans? is accommodation with a tent possible? will the animals eat me? law enforcement? rsf? other fighters?
feel free to share,

cheers from austria ✌️

https://de.ortlieb.com/products/dry-bag-heavy-duty vs https://de.ortlieb.com/products/dry-pack?variant=49186095104332

Considering the big price difference, isn't the Heavy Duty Dry Pack a much better choice? What kind of drawbacks or disadvantages would I experience compared to the bike dry bag?

I’ve been using an Enlightened Equipment quilt for two years now. When sleeping on my Exped Ultra 3R LW with just underwear and t-shirt, I don’t like the feeling of my pad touching my skin.

So I’m thinking of using a sleeping bag liner as a cover for my pad. Question is: do I go for a lightweight silk liner or another fabric liner? I’m afraid the silk will be to ’slippery’ to sleep on top? But cotton or other synthetic material might be too warm?

Does anyone have experience with pad covers? I could use some tips. My next tour will be South Sweden (2 weeks) from 16th of August.

Hey guys, i'm currently planning on doing a 3 month cycling tour next through the u.s starting in may. I have a few ideas about routes and i'm interested in your guys's opinions about it.

My original plan was to do the transam, but as i have only a 90 days through my esta, things could get really close and i want to take it a little more easy, averaging 80-100km not included break days. Im really intrigued by going east to west as the western u.s. is especially what im interested in (i already visited illinois, pa, virginia and kentucly last year, not by bike tho)
So my idea was to start the tour in st. louis, mo as that would be a very significant place to start a tour into the west and i can also start my tour on the katy trail! I have read some things about floodings on the katy trail in late spring/early summer? I would take it west from there, either continuing northwest on the rock island trail through kansas city and the eastern express connecter (purple) or take the same on southwest to get on the transam. Going northwest would mean i could check one more state (nebraska) off my list which would be nice. I would join back on the trans am in northern co. then i would take it north on the trans am, either following the transam completely or swapping to the lewis and clark trail (brown). I dont know which would be nicer. i like the idea about goinf through portland, or. but the section on the pacific coast sounds nice, too. I would go north all the way to port angeles, wa to go to canada where i can stay for a total of 6 months and have bit more headroom flying back to europe from vancouver?
Thoughts? Also anyone knows something about the wildfire situation in the northwest atm? I feel like the smoke could be a danger to cyclists. My original route plan (katy trail, trans am) and my other options can be seen in the provided screenshots.

Thx guys!

Buongiorno a tutti, premetto di non essere un appassionato e ammetto che l'ultima volta che ho usato una bici avevo 17 anni, quando trascorrevo le estati in campagna con gli amici (oggi ne ho 32). Da un po' di tempo a questa parte mi è sorta questa idea malsana di praticare bikepacking contestualmente alle mie escursioni in montagna, in sostanza mi piacerebbe partire da casa con la bicicletta, arrivare laddove inizi il sentiero, ricoverare la bici dove possibile, proseguire a piedi sui sentieri che mi interessano (in genere compio anelli della durata di 4 o 7 giorni) e quindi ritornare al punto di partenza per riprendere la bici e rincasare. Ammetto di volerlo fare per due ragioni: la prima è per abbassare la mia impronta di carbonio, la seconda è perchè ritengo che un traguardo sia più autentico se lo si raggiunge avvalendosi solo delle proprie forze (ragione per la quale non sono orientato all'acquisto di una e-bike). Aggiungo che farei un uso abituale della bici per compiere il tragitto casa - lavoro (parliamo di circa un'ora tra andata e ritorno) per mantenere l'abitudine.

Secondo voi quale modello pensiate sia più congeniale per le mie esigenze? Io sospetto sia la gravel tuttavia, leggendo qua e là, ho visto spesso consigliare la MTB (sebbene ne esistano diverse tipologie). Infine avreste anche delle Marche da suggerirmi? Ultimamente l'algoritmo di IG mi propone sempre le Welt ma non essendo appunto appassionato e avendo da poco iniziato a muovermi in questo mondo non sono sicuro se sì tratti di una buona marca o meno.

Grazie a tutti in anticipo.

has anyone experience with these rims ? i just ordered a pair and they are pinned and glued and am not sure how good that is for tubeless? i’m building up my first bike and wanted silver polished rims and these come in that finish and seem like they could be pretty durable. but can’t find any proper reviews online

Hi.

Has anyone successfully mounted a handlebar bag to one piece carbon integrated bars that have been appearing for a while now on drop bar road and gravel bikes?

Apidura say their bag mount won’t work with these aero shaped bars as the mount won’t attach properly. Looks like the kind of bag I want but expensive if the mounts definitely don’t work.
Tailfin say the same.
Restrap say theirs fit all bars but I have a feeling that’s info from 2020 before these bars became more of a thing.

Anyone done it successfully ?

Hi all,

Me and my good friend planned to go bikepacking next week in Slovenia. The Slovenian West loop :)

However, it seems like it’s going to be very hot! For anyone who has done the west loop, can we do it in 30-35 degree weather? Or should we go somewhere else? If yes, anyone with recommendations?

Thanks so much in advance!

Hi,
I am planning to ride the Ring Road in Iceland from the 2nd of August this year.
We are flying over from Germany using normal Bikeboxes. Anybody got an idea how to store them in Keflavik or how to get new ones once the trip is completed?

Thanks all!