Are you looking for the perfect bikepacking adventure ? Yes, you’re in the right place!, let’s head to the pedal’s and learn some top tip’s
Over the past few years, bikepacking has really taken off among the cycling community.
It’s a great way to explore new places, spend some time outdoors, and cover more ground than you can on foot.
I’ve been going on bikepacking trips for around Fifteen years and it’s hands down one of my favorite ways to adventure.
But there are some things that need to be taken into consideration before you head out on a bikepacking trip.
How far for your first bikepacking adventure
It’s vitally important not to over estimate how strong you are! you may be able to ride 100 kilometres on a empty bike but loading it up with 12 kilos of bags and gear changes the bike handling a lot.
From the perfect bikepacking adventure to a real struggle for the next few days.
Factors like what gear to bring, how to pack a bike for bikepacking, and choosing a beginner-friendly route are all essential for planning a successful trip.
Long or Short ?
After a number of short and long bikepacking tours myself (including pedaling 850 kilometres from Cherbourg along the Manche and down to Le Lude and Tours in 2021.
Mostly on bike trails, canal and riverside trail’s ), I want to share a few tips and tricks I’ve learned to help you get ready for your first bikepacking adventure.
Ready to roll? Here are my top beginner bikepacking tips to get you ready and stoked for your first tour.
Why Choosing a Beginner Bikepacking Route is a good initial option
Leave those heavy denims at home !
For your first bikepacking trip, you want to choose a route that is manageable, for the Perfect Bikepacking Adventure
Overnight trips are a great way to test out gear, decide if you actually enjoy it, and get a feel for what it’s like to pedal a loaded bike.
Other factors to consider when choosing, the perfect bikepacking adventure are:
- Water availability. Unless you’re prepared to carry all of your water, it’s a good idea to choose a route where you know there will be reliable water sources.
- Logistics. Loop rides are easier to plan than point-to-point rides since they don’t require any external transport, or you can do what i do to see new areas, that is to take the train to the furthest point of your route and ride home.
- Mobile phone coverage. While it’s nice to disconnect from the world, it’s a good idea to plan your first trip somewhere that has reliable mobile phone service in case something goes wrong. Broken derailleurs or a damaged tyre can mean a long walk.
- Terrain. The perfect Bikepacking adventure routes range from rugged singletrack adventures to fast-rolling gravel roads.
- If you’re not accustomed to pedaling and handling a loaded bike, it’s best to choose an easy or moderate trail or road for your first trip, you can see some really good and tested trails here
- There’s no need to tackle something super strenuous your first time around, especially when you are still figuring out how to get your setup honed to perfection.
Essential Beginner Bikepacking Gear
The gear you need for bikepacking doesn’t differ too much from the gear you need for overnight backpacking trips.
We have an excellent 4-day backpacking checklist that details some of our favorite camping gear.
You’ll also need some bikepacking-specific gear, which I’ll go into detail about below and you can also find my complete multi-day bikepacking gear list here. Equipment List
Your Bikepacking adventure bike
For your first bikepacking trip, you want it to be like well, any bike will really do, so the best bike is the one you already own.
Though as a word of caution, if you use a carbon framed bike, and you are a heavy rider, do not be temped to overload the already flexible frame.
Personally i’m a heavy strong rider and i have broken carbon and alloy frames, now a days i only use a steel famed bike for me the Kona Sutra is perfect and ticks all my box’s.
If you bike has been sitting in the garage for a while or you haven’t shown it much love, you’ll want to take it to your local bike shop for a full tune-up to make sure it’s in good reliable condition.
If you don’t have a bike that will work, you can rent one or borrow one from a friend.
or some local bike shops do as well.
Do i need a new bike for my perfect bikepacking adventure ?
I don’t recommend going out and buying a new bike prior to your first bikepacking trip.
First, you want to make sure you actually enjoy bikepacking, and second.
You’ll want to get a better understanding of the type of bikepacking you’ll be doing so that you can buy a bike that fits your bikepacking needs.
A full-suspension mountain bike is great for singletrack trails, but it’s not the optimal bike for multi-day trips on gravel roads.
Once you some riding under your belt and start to get a feel for what kind of longer adventures you want to go on, then you can start to look for bikes that will be best for those kinds of tours.
Bikepacking Adventure bags
There are a lot of different options when it comes to attaching gear to your bike.
Investing in a full bikepacking bag set-up is expensive, so I recommend using what you have already first.
i had the novel idea of first attaching a dry bag to my handlebars using a old trouser belt.
A 1.5 L bottle of Evian water fit’s nicely into most bike bottle carrier’s and makes a long tasty refreshing drink.
buy cheap and buy twice !
If you are looking to purchase some beginner bikepacking bags, here is probably the oldest and best bike packing company that makes durable and waterproof gear, yes, maybe not cheap.
i much prefer Ortlieb bike equipment and their panniers, but they also have a full range of bikepacking bags. Panniers allow you to carry more gear, but keep in mind that you’ll need a rear rack.
buy the strongest rack you can afford, not the lightest, as in the field on a cycling Tour, very few people weld Alloy or Titanium, should it Break.
Also, depending on the terrain you’re riding, panniers can bounce around a lot, but a sure fire way to keep them on the bike is to use a bungee cord, this prevents the pannier from accidently jumping off the rack if you hit a bump.
Tooled up
Your’e riding along happily, when suddenly the gears start jumping, you stop take a look, see nothing so continue riding, usually a short time later you lose the ability to pedal.
Oh and its started to rain, Oh dear the day just got a whole lot worse, now by the side of the trail, you discover your chain is broken.
You could be in for a long walk to a bike repair shop,
even if you can find one open, but its so eaisly fixed all you need is a chain rivet pin extractor to press out the old pin, many of the tools pictured above have this feature.
Now remove any broken plates then use a quick link spare part, they often come with a new Sram or KMC chains to rejoin the chain, and hey presto, your’e on your way again in no time.
I need a favour please
Sorry to interrupt, but i’m just an old guy in his 60’s and i created this site in an attempt to generate some cash for my cycling journeys, i try to ride most days of the week, its just a hobby really, but this hobby has really saved my life.
You see 12 months ago i had this Terrible Accident, potenially it had the ability to put me in a wheelchair for life.
You see i was working in my Garden on February 22, 2023 , clearing some trees so i could erect a fence to help keep the Wild Boar from digging my garden up, although i have felled many trees, when i cut this one it fell awkwardly and some how collided with me and hit my back and pelvis.
Before this happened i had cycled 3000 kms so i was quite fit.
Back to the tree…..
It resulted in a ride in a Ambulance and hospital procedures, the doc said i would never ride bike again, i honestly thought my life was over, i really do live for the bike, its my everything, as ive been riding over 50 years, it couldnt end like this surely.
Rehabilitation
It has taken almost 12 months for the huge Haematoma, the 3 fractured vertebrae and fractured Coccyx to heal and bruising to fade away all without the use of any painkillers and to become almost pain free.
I have only achieved this by riding the Bicycle and a walking, upto 70 kms a week,
During 2023 i racked up 13,000 kms on the bike, often in the surrounding area where i live in the heart of France.
My Tour de France
2024 has begun and the Bikepacking i wanted to do last year, but because of injury i could not, have now moved to this year, after all i’m a year older.
I leave in a few days time From Nantes, September 19 2024 to be precise, Cycling south to Royan then the canal du midi, direction Toulouse, then Avignon and hopefully i’ll get a few days rest at a friends, before cycling up Mont Ventoux, the plan then is to continue to Col d’iseran, but a lot depends on the weather, it can snow early in the year as the road is at 2700 metres altitude, then to cycle over to Dijon – to be continued….
Can you help ?
Currently i have only 50 euros to take with me, its really not a lot is it… hopefully with the kindness and generosity of people i know and the ones i don’t yet know, they may or may not help me.
I need to generate around 40 euros a day to sleep safely in a campground at night about 10 euros each night and to feed myself, nothing fancy but a pastry costs around 1,50€ and a coffee 2,50€ i guess i will have 6-7 pastries each day and a couple of coffee’s, plus some shopping for a decent meal at night to cook on my camping stove, in order to ride around 120-150 kms each day, i know in the current economic climate its a lot to ask people, but if you have a heart and i know that you do and you like to see people succeed in life.
please make a donation to my daily living fund, if you enclose your email address when you make a donation , i will add it to the live tracking link platform and you will be able to see my route on a daily basis till the end of the final day.
i’m really hoping that i can complete part one of this my Tour de France