Still not getting the bikepacking thing
01-28-20, 11:13 AM
#76
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What struck me the most was this: I have been trying to incorporate more dirt into my routes, but I have yet to do even one full day that is all off-pavement and devoid of the conveniences the pavement often offers, much less multiple days in a row. Perhaps the foot travel comparison is hiking from town to town for a week or maybe passing through at least one town with services during a day vs. spending a week in the backcountry.
01-28-20, 11:41 AM
#77
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+1.
What struck me the most was this: I have been trying to incorporate more dirt into my routes, but I have yet to do even one full day that is all off-pavement and devoid of the conveniences the pavement often offers, much less multiple days in a row. Perhaps the foot travel comparison is hiking from town to town for a week or maybe passing through at least one town with services during a day vs. spending a week in the backcountry.
What struck me the most was this: I have been trying to incorporate more dirt into my routes, but I have yet to do even one full day that is all off-pavement and devoid of the conveniences the pavement often offers, much less multiple days in a row. Perhaps the foot travel comparison is hiking from town to town for a week or maybe passing through at least one town with services during a day vs. spending a week in the backcountry.
It's nice that Ms. Bell addressed the bicycle in her article. I find lots of bikepacking bikes to be inadequate to the job. I've done rigid bikepacking (in 1986) and suspended bikepacking now and I'll take the suspended ride over a rigid any day but only for off-pavement riding.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
01-28-20, 11:50 AM
#78
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I'm still hung up on rigid forks so for rougher trails I tour on a fat bike and let the tires do the suspension job
01-28-20, 12:28 PM
#79
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+1.
What struck me the most was this: I have been trying to incorporate more dirt into my routes, but I have yet to do even one full day that is all off-pavement and devoid of the conveniences the pavement often offers, much less multiple days in a row. Perhaps the foot travel comparison is hiking from town to town for a week or maybe passing through at least one town with services during a day vs. spending a week in the backcountry.
What struck me the most was this: I have been trying to incorporate more dirt into my routes, but I have yet to do even one full day that is all off-pavement and devoid of the conveniences the pavement often offers, much less multiple days in a row. Perhaps the foot travel comparison is hiking from town to town for a week or maybe passing through at least one town with services during a day vs. spending a week in the backcountry.
Plus at my age, most of my peers wouldn't consider even regular bike touring, let alone loose surface isolated stuff.
Heck, I even remember a couple of years ago the young gang I know from a bike store said to me even then that there people trying bike packing because it was getting talked about. Just have to be realistic of conditions and using proper judgement.
01-28-20, 01:15 PM
#80
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Indy,
You ride Gap and C&O so often that you pulled those out of your equation :-) Those two trails will give you multiday dirt route (although it is mostly cultivated dirt) :-)
You ride Gap and C&O so often that you pulled those out of your equation :-) Those two trails will give you multiday dirt route (although it is mostly cultivated dirt) :-)
+1.
What struck me the most was this: I have been trying to incorporate more dirt into my routes, but I have yet to do even one full day that is all off-pavement and devoid of the conveniences the pavement often offers, much less multiple days in a row. Perhaps the foot travel comparison is hiking from town to town for a week or maybe passing through at least one town with services during a day vs. spending a week in the backcountry.
What struck me the most was this: I have been trying to incorporate more dirt into my routes, but I have yet to do even one full day that is all off-pavement and devoid of the conveniences the pavement often offers, much less multiple days in a row. Perhaps the foot travel comparison is hiking from town to town for a week or maybe passing through at least one town with services during a day vs. spending a week in the backcountry.
01-28-20, 01:39 PM
#81
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I consider bike touring to be on paved surfaces. I consider bikepacking to include but not limited to unpaved trails and backcountry terrain. Let’s not forget that defining a specific sub category opens up another market for specialized category specific merchandise to sell.
I have been bikepacking and did not even know it. Now I can refer to my panniers as bikepacking equipment. That might look like a road, but it was the Confederation Trail on PEI, no cars allowed.
01-28-20, 01:49 PM
#82
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01-28-20, 01:58 PM
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Never done the C&O. GAP up and back last year and one-way in 2013. Forgot about that, but the GAP has plenty of services along the way. I have never done multi-day off-road having to be totally self-sufficient with food, water and places to sleep.
01-28-20, 02:31 PM
#84
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Very wet.
I thought it was a good trail. They put a thin layer of coarse gravel on much of the trail to resist erosion better than the underlying soil. There were a couple spots where the gravel layer was thick enough to slow me down, I had 57mm wide tires. And a couple spots with uncompacted loose sand. But most of the length of the trail the gravel layer was not thick at all and it had little rolling resistance. I saw a trail crew, I stopped and asked what they used for insect repellent, I do not recall the answers, each had their own favorite. PEI is very proud of having a nice trail system and I thought it was pretty good.
I think this photo is where I got off of the ferry.
The photo below was on Cape Breton Island, this was the only time I had to stop and unload the bike on all of the trails I rode. But that was Nova Scotia, not PEI, so not part of the same trail system.
I thought it was a good trail. They put a thin layer of coarse gravel on much of the trail to resist erosion better than the underlying soil. There were a couple spots where the gravel layer was thick enough to slow me down, I had 57mm wide tires. And a couple spots with uncompacted loose sand. But most of the length of the trail the gravel layer was not thick at all and it had little rolling resistance. I saw a trail crew, I stopped and asked what they used for insect repellent, I do not recall the answers, each had their own favorite. PEI is very proud of having a nice trail system and I thought it was pretty good.
I think this photo is where I got off of the ferry.
The photo below was on Cape Breton Island, this was the only time I had to stop and unload the bike on all of the trails I rode. But that was Nova Scotia, not PEI, so not part of the same trail system.
01-28-20, 02:35 PM
#85
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One thing I can say for sure is the C&O and GAP are not considered bikepacking routes. They could be part of a bikepacking route, connecting to singletrack, but with campsites and towns all along the way, you are never more than an hour from civilization. And you have cell phone coverage most of the way. I think bikepacking requires one to be at least a full day from civilization at some point.
01-28-20, 02:43 PM
#86
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yah I know. I did it on regular bike touring setup with panniers and had no issues at all.
01-28-20, 03:15 PM
#87
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Me too. Have only done part of day trail rides. But certainly see the appeal of trying it out, something new and different. Problem is simply that my biking buddies don't have appropriate bikes, nor riding experience, and the few people I know who do it are 20, 25 years younger than me, so the social\fitness fit doesn't really work out.
Plus at my age, most of my peers wouldn't consider even regular bike touring, let alone loose surface isolated stuff.
Heck, I even remember a couple of years ago the young gang I know from a bike store said to me even then that there people trying bike packing because it was getting talked about. Just have to be realistic of conditions and using proper judgement.
Plus at my age, most of my peers wouldn't consider even regular bike touring, let alone loose surface isolated stuff.
Heck, I even remember a couple of years ago the young gang I know from a bike store said to me even then that there people trying bike packing because it was getting talked about. Just have to be realistic of conditions and using proper judgement.
You don't have to do death defying rides to enjoy bikepacking, however. I also like to ride old railroads here in Colorado. We don't make them into "rail trails", we just make them into trails and roads that used to be railroads. My Cripple Creek trip was a pretty classic bikepacking trip and wasn't all that hard. I'm thinking of dragging my daughter along on a loop around El Malpais this summer.
I like road touring, especially for very long distance/long time frame rides. But bikepacking is a great way to see and do rides that go places where bicycles usually don't go.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
01-28-20, 03:53 PM
#88
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So if I start a day on a paved road into Avery, ID, jump on the unpaved former Milwaukee Road right of way to the unpaved Route of the Hiawatha Trail then an unpaved Forest Service road to the unpaved NorPac Trail and then onto I-90 to the paved Trail of the Coeur d'Allenes I have gone from bike touring to bikepacking back to bike touring all in one day?
01-28-20, 03:57 PM
#89
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I don't take biking buddies along because I don't have them and even when I did have some, they wouldn't have understood anyway. And, although I'm nearly 500 years old in dog years, I won't let that stop me. I just go. I'm even looking at routes that brash young 25 year olds would consider stupidly risky.
You don't have to do death defying rides to enjoy bikepacking, however. I also like to ride old railroads here in Colorado. We don't make them into "rail trails", we just make them into trails and roads that used to be railroads. My Cripple Creek trip was a pretty classic bikepacking trip and wasn't all that hard. I'm thinking of dragging my daughter along on a loop around El Malpais this summer.
I like road touring, especially for very long distance/long time frame rides. But bikepacking is a great way to see and do rides that go places where bicycles usually don't go.
You don't have to do death defying rides to enjoy bikepacking, however. I also like to ride old railroads here in Colorado. We don't make them into "rail trails", we just make them into trails and roads that used to be railroads. My Cripple Creek trip was a pretty classic bikepacking trip and wasn't all that hard. I'm thinking of dragging my daughter along on a loop around El Malpais this summer.
I like road touring, especially for very long distance/long time frame rides. But bikepacking is a great way to see and do rides that go places where bicycles usually don't go.
and as you say, you just use common sense and leave leeway for safety, especially if out in the boonies.
01-28-20, 06:59 PM
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Very wet.
I thought it was a good trail. They put a thin layer of coarse gravel on much of the trail to resist erosion better than the underlying soil. There were a couple spots where the gravel layer was thick enough to slow me down, I had 57mm wide tires. And a couple spots with uncompacted loose sand. But most of the length of the trail the gravel layer was not thick at all and it had little rolling resistance. I saw a trail crew, I stopped and asked what they used for insect repellent, I do not recall the answers, each had their own favorite. PEI is very proud of having a nice trail system and I thought it was pretty good.
I thought it was a good trail. They put a thin layer of coarse gravel on much of the trail to resist erosion better than the underlying soil. There were a couple spots where the gravel layer was thick enough to slow me down, I had 57mm wide tires. And a couple spots with uncompacted loose sand. But most of the length of the trail the gravel layer was not thick at all and it had little rolling resistance. I saw a trail crew, I stopped and asked what they used for insect repellent, I do not recall the answers, each had their own favorite. PEI is very proud of having a nice trail system and I thought it was pretty good.
Last edited by Russ Roth; 01-28-20 at 09:13 PM.
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01-28-20, 07:25 PM
#91
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... we got a later start then planned and ended up caught out at dusk and the mosquitoes came out in force. My wife had left my good spray in the car and brought her all natural spray thinking it was sufficient, I think the mosquitoes viewed the stuff as seasoning since it didn't slow them down any. They were also a bit of a problem in the early morning when the dew was still on the ground and the trail was in shade but not as bad as dusk. They bit through everything. ...
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01-29-20, 12:22 AM
#92
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When I tour in Northern Ontario in Canada I use an MTB converted to dropbar and use 26" x 2.125 deep knobby tires. Those tires save me from trying to push the loaded bike up a long hill that might have a pretty loose surface of sand and stones. I don't consider it bike-packing and that's because I use regular road touring gear although I do use Arno straps to really cinch my panniers to their racks. I've never had a pannier come off on any of those logging/mining roads.
I figure that bike-packing is done more with the gear strapped directly to the bicycle and with the gear stowed in as narrow a way as possible to avoid getting hung up on bushes on narrow trails. It's the same reason why I stow my sleeping pad lengthwise on the rear rack instead of crosswise.
The green item with the red thing in the middle of it in this image is my sleeping pad that's 28" wide. Compare the amount of space it needs to the crosswise one on my buddy's bicycle to the right of mine.
With a bike-packing setup the panniers would not be used and the bags replacing them would be mounted as close to the center-line of the bicycle as possible with something bulky but light in weight fastened to the handlebar.
Cheers
I figure that bike-packing is done more with the gear strapped directly to the bicycle and with the gear stowed in as narrow a way as possible to avoid getting hung up on bushes on narrow trails. It's the same reason why I stow my sleeping pad lengthwise on the rear rack instead of crosswise.
The green item with the red thing in the middle of it in this image is my sleeping pad that's 28" wide. Compare the amount of space it needs to the crosswise one on my buddy's bicycle to the right of mine.
With a bike-packing setup the panniers would not be used and the bags replacing them would be mounted as close to the center-line of the bicycle as possible with something bulky but light in weight fastened to the handlebar.
Cheers
01-29-20, 11:02 PM
#93
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Thread Starter
I have coined a new term:
Bike trekking.
I still need decide what bike trekking will consist of, but nobody steal it while I ponder.
Bike trekking.
I still need decide what bike trekking will consist of, but nobody steal it while I ponder.
01-29-20, 11:25 PM
#94
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So if I start a day on a paved road into Avery, ID, jump on the unpaved former Milwaukee Road right of way to the unpaved Route of the Hiawatha Trail then an unpaved Forest Service road to the unpaved NorPac Trail and then onto I-90 to the paved Trail of the Coeur d'Allenes I have gone from bike touring to bikepacking back to bike touring all in one day?
You are messing with universal dimensions that should not be touched!
01-29-20, 11:58 PM
#95
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Thread Starter
Nix trekking. I have created "BIKE HIKING"
The newest niche market to hit cycling since gel
It is something every ride worth their salt has done.
Bike hiking consists of confronting difficult even seemingly impossible situations while riding. It takes great stamina, wise choices and of course a bike.
First you have you bike
Then you have a rider.
When rider and bike are forced off their bike for any reason:
Be it the road/path/trail are too steep either in ascent or descent and the rider needs to walk their bike....that is bike hiking
Mechanical problems (flat, snapped chain,etc)
Saddle sores
They must get off the and "hike" with their bike
Get it???
Discussions will be real and maybe at times get heated.
For example; what are the best shoes for bike hiking? Which side of the bike is best to be on while bike hiking? While bike hiking down a descent is the front brake or rear brake better?
Apologies for the poor grammar, I am just too excited about this term that is sure to out number all the other forums
What do you think?
01-30-20, 12:29 AM
#97
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01-30-20, 04:14 AM
#98
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Marcus, glad to see you have a sense of humor about all of this.
re bike hiking--for years I've been following iohan gueorguiev's excellent travel videos, and he is one hard ass who ends up hiking a lot pushing his bike and lifting it over stuff. Interesting fellow, but a serious hard ass, although a humble one.
re bike hiking--for years I've been following iohan gueorguiev's excellent travel videos, and he is one hard ass who ends up hiking a lot pushing his bike and lifting it over stuff. Interesting fellow, but a serious hard ass, although a humble one.
01-30-20, 06:35 AM
#99
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Iohan is the best
01-30-20, 06:45 AM
#100
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