Bikepacking Tour Bucket List - Need Suggestions
 

Greetings, tour enthusiasts,

As I enter the twilight of my biking years (enter hell, I'm there, as I sit, knees embraced by ice from today's ride), I have one last trip on my bucket list: "a bikepacking tour somewhere." I've done solo, long-distance, road tours multiple times, and have seen enough corn and soybeans and farm dogs and breathed enough diesel exhaust and shopped in enough "Dollar General" stores for three lifetimes (I'm writing from the USA) , but have yet to tackle anything off-paved-road. Sitting in my shed at the moment is a fairly new, unappointed, Surly Krampus that is begging for adventure.

So my question is: assuming you were a reasonably fit and marginally sane 60ish person, who doesn't need or want gaggles of other humans around him or her for moral or immoral support, has sufficient finances for one last splurge, doesn't mind sleeping on the ground, doesn't have a support crew, and who is able to convince his or her ever-patient spouse that a month or two leaving them to do house chores all by themselves is somehow a good thing, where would you go? Anywhere in the world is fair game. The clock is ticking - I have literally one shot at this and I don't want to miss.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, and happy trails,
M.M.

A tour that involves the Icefield Parkway in Canada. When I rode it (on pavement), I started in Missoula, MT and went into Glacier National Park and while I had planned an off-road, camping kind of trip, a major flooding event forced me to re-route and I ended up following the ACA Northern Parks route all the way up to Jasper. It took about a month and is one of the best trips I've taken. I wrote a detailed journal of the ride, if you want to see some photos and learn more.

Another suggestion I have is Northern Italy. I'd include Slovenia and Switzerland, as well. You could fly into Ljubljana and head west to, say, Geneva or keep going into France. I've done various tours in these areas and none of them fail to impress.

Great! Thank you for the ideas. I did the Icefield by car, so I know the area (gorgeous!), but the Italy tip is new to me. Grazie!

Adventure Cycling's Idaho Hot Springs Loop or the Great Divide are both excellent off-road options. You can get paper and digital maps of each to ease planning.

Otherwise, have a look at all the routes on bikepacking.com. Bikepacking in Europe tends to be more luxurious than in the US. You pass through small villages with resupply options way more often instead of relying on gas station food here in the US.

Valles Caldera, New Mexico. Lots of forest service roads, really pretty area. Maybe north rim Grand Canyon. Theres a trail along the rim, perfect for that bike. Bicycle Touring Pro did a trip and video here, looked lovely

Or

Vermont. Tons of gravel roads, a lot of National Forest so you can camp in a lot pf places. Vermont State Parks are also many, pretty and well sited. Theres a thread here. https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1...ip-report.html

Also West Virginia, same reasons, tons of gravel roads, all in National Forests, so lots of camping opportunities

.

Thank me when you get back: :thumb:

https://bikepackingscotland.com/

Either the Eurovelo 6, 8 or 9
https://en.eurovelo.com/#routes-and-countries

Baja

Sardinia, italy

Baja and the Great Divide are on my list.

You'll get so many different answers!
I would want to ride in Europe near the Atlantic Coast. France, Spain, Portugal. Maybe starting in Ireland and heading south. Not sure if something like that exists off-road, something like https://en.eurovelo.com/ev1 (looks like parts are unpaved).

Only in your sixties? You have time for more than one long trip.

arizona, new mexico, utah.....

this is outside of tuscon

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3ce97c52e1.jpg

Around the world. I drew out the first part for you. After this west toward Europe. You should probably loop through China as well.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4b6e1430d.jpeg

The next one on my list. Canterbury to Rome.

https://www.viefrancigene.org/en/

76 y.o. Nils Gustaf 'Stålfarfar' Håkansson riding from his home in Sweden over the Alps to Vatican City, 1961

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1eed800727.png

This was his 'short' tour. Two years earlier he'd ridden from Sweden to the Holy Land (Israel) and back. :)

Next summer I will be doing either the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route or the Western Wildlands route or a combination of both in the Western USA. At this time the plan is to do this trip unsupported with my e bike.

don't forget to pack a couple of these. :innocent:

1,000 ft. Extension Cords | McMaster-Carr

https://www.mcmaster.com/extension-cords/

That is Ethernet cable, not an extension cord, Damn
I have enough battery capacity.

This might sounds crazy, but Japan has a whole lot of tiny rural mountain roads that are half abandoned yet ridable.

Is the Great Divide Route Open to e-bikes?

I would think at least a lot of it is because it uses a lot of Forest Service roads that are open to motor vehicles. There are even paved public roads sections.

The question I have is battery charging. I don’t know anything about how much ground one could cover on an ebike, but I believe there are some sections without services that take the “average person” days to cover.

I have an 81 yr old friend with a Trek Verve ebike. With the 11amp hr, the published min range is 38mi and the published max range is 88mi.

He really wants to ride the C2C, so he's been doing a lot of trial runs loaded with camping gear. When loaded on paved routes with lots of climbing, his actual range has been around 24 miles. He brings 2 batteries so in his situation, he can go around 44 miles before needing to charge his batteries. He's thinking about bringing 3 batteries. I don’t know how long it takes to charge each battery. I'm assuming 3hrs or so per battery.

In Oregon, e-bikes are considered motorized vehicles so if a trail or road is closed to motorized vehicles it's closed to e-bikes. I've explained this to my 81yr old friend, but he's stubborn and willing to break the law to do his ride...

I've watched a YouTube video of some guys who rode a motorized version of the Continental Divide Route on motorcycles. It was a different route than the bike route, but looked epic. I'm not sure how often they had access to electrical outlets, but it seemed to me there were times they went two or three days without services.

You forgot Nevada!!! 😬 😉 But yeah, the great Southwest is my kind of riding, especially for "getting away from people", lol. Certain parts of California are pretty cool too. Like the Imperial Sand Dunes. 😎

OK, I can see the inflatable paddle wheels in my mind just fine, but where am I supposed to carry all the fishing gear? 🤔😁