Lightweight Bikepacking: An Introduction

Great article! Well written (as usual) and I appreciated you keeping it simple enough that mere mortals like me could keep up. I'm inspired to go out and try bikepacking after being off a bike for the most part since I was a teen.

One area that wasn't mentioned was Idaho. I saw some very remote and rough dirt roads along the Idaho-Montana border and I'm sure a good trip could be put together there. Off the top of my head I'd be thinking about that dirt road between the Selway Bitterroot and the River of No Return Wilderness areas. That would give you a nice stretch of riding in a remote area.

Richard, as mentioned (perhaps briefly) above two more articles on packs and rackless carry bags will be appearing in weeks to come. They'll review specific pieces, discuss techniques, and build on the themes touched on here.

Luke, the Magruder corridor road splits the Selway and Frank Wildernii, and is an excellent dirt tour. Especially in the narrow window when almost all the snow has melted out but before the road is open to vehicle traffic.

For a pack option that may not be covered in the follow-ups, check out the salsa anything cages. Great for carrying a tent and sleeping bag low on the front wheel. Inexpensive, fairly light, moreso than a full front rack, and the low weight adds stability without widening the bike's profile too much. The softpack approach at Revelate etc. also works well, but this can be a good supplement to that without much added weight. I took them largely off-road over the Pyrenees last summer. The welds are weak and failed after about 2 weeks combined on the trail and road. I replaced them with some bits of wood, rubber, and hose clamps and they've worked well ever since.

Good primer, Dave. One error though. There was at least one more Lost Coast ride done by two Bozemanites. Granted they repeated the original Lost Coast route but their journey is worthy of mention.

bikingthelostcoast.com/

Excellent article. Thanks for taking the time to write it and thanks to BPL for publishing it.

I had taken several paved road camping bike trips in the 70's, but gave up on it in favor of hiking because I really don't like riding near cars. In 2006 Jim and I learned about the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route and it inspired us, so in 2007 we took our first joint bike trip – Banff to Antelope Wells on the GDMBR. We LOVED our GDMBR ride, and would put it in our top five trips ever. We've since taken two more bike trips that mixed dirt roads and very quiet paved roads (2 weeks in Northern California and one week in Central California).

To bucket myself, I'm a Dirt-Road rider, no interest in and no skills for technical riding. The GDMBR is a masterpiece of non-technical dirt road routing. It's ridable by a reasonably fit person with regular old riding skills and a solid reliable bike. I'd say anybody who can backpack for a week and who rides a bike on a regular basis (like commuting to work) can ride the GDMBR. Don't get intimidated by the fantastic videos David included of HellBike trips! The GDMBR includes some technical sections (that can be hike-a-biked by the likes of me), but most of it is ridable by people with no technical skills. The more fit you are, the less time it takes (and more enjoyable it is), but it doesn't require the 80-100 miles/day strength and endurance that one might infer from David's article. We didn't take a camera on that trip, so no photos to share. There's a lot more information about the GDMBR over at bikepacking.net.

Also, I just posted a long-overdue trip report about a one week Central CA trip we took a couple years ago.

I think lower 48 wilderness areas are perfect for hellbiking. Ride to the Wilderness boundary. Put the bike on the back. Come out the other side. Get back on the bike.

Last weekend in the Selway-Bitterroot:

ps. My work may or may not share my views with due to the legality of this practice.

http://www.bikepacking.net for those who cannot read it and it's free.

Great article, I think the quote at the beginning captures everything written above in a small universe:

“Slow enough to see the trees, fast enough to get through the forest.”

Casey, that's an interesting way to carry your bike. I was wishing I had such possibilities while lugging my bike thorough some very exhausting terrain. How are you strapping your bike to the backpack? Don't you have any issues with stability or the bike hitting you legs?

Thanks Casey. That GT looks pretty sweet. Eno hub?

Carry systems will be addressed in more detail soon, but I will say that the concept of the Anything Cage is for me less than impressive. Too much weight and complication (and failure points) for too little useable volume. But I also hate having any weight of consequence on the front end.

Elizabeth, you are correct that the custom frame bags and seat bags from the big three are expensive, but quite simply you get what you pay for; namely, cutting edge materials and construction quality which puts many cottage and mainstream backpacking gear makers to shame.

Fortunately a simple, one compartment frame bag is a very easy MYOG project, and there are plenty of ways to cludge a compression sack strapped under the saddle as a decent seatbag. I used that rig myself for many years. Not as stable or capable of carrying as much weight as a proper seatbag, but perfectly serviceable for hauling an UL sleep kit.

David – Great read, as always.

I do challenge the idea that you need to go to Alaska for a true hellbiking experience. In Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada there are some fantastic (even legal) opportunities for trail-less adventure rides. All is needed is an adventures spirit, willingness to suffer, and imagination.

My favorite "hell bike" to date is the Wyoming Range "Trail." More of a route then a trial this ride follows the crest of the Wyoming Range for seventy-five wild miles. Many of these miles are essentially trail-less and the rider is required to navigate a maze of game trails, barren ground and alpine tundra. (http://youtu.be/luEJ2vCr-Zw)

In the Red Desert hundreds of miles of un-mapped wild horse trails and fading jeep trails provide intrepid cyclist days of adventure and exploration. A GPS and lots of water are essential.

Even Roman in the peak of his hellbiking didn't limit himself to Alaska. Among other epic adventure rides in the desert he completed the Canyonlands Grand Tour. (http://packrafting.blogspot.com/2010/06/canyonlands-grand-tour-1991.html)

More recently Andrew McLean completed a bike/packrafting tour near Canyonlands that is best described as hellbiking.(http://straightchuter.com/2011/08/candy-hearted-rustler/#more-4843)

I'm a bikepacker, but I admit the thought of riding around off-trail on the tundra makes me cringe. All those fragile tundra plants.

I'd love to see a discussion of Bikepacking LNT – especially, off-trail.

– Elizabeth

Yep Dave, Eno. Love it so far.
Got crazy lucky on finding the bike. Chad at Red Barn built it around a NOS 97' Xizang frame that had been sitting at the shop for a few years. When i saw it knew there was no way i'd be able pass it up. Just what i had been looking for: light, simple, durable.

Przemyslaw: The Osprey Variant 52's buckle-based ice axe loops are what makes it great for packin my bike. I put my toptube in one and the downtube in the other. From there its straight forward. Couple more built-in straps around the seattube tube, a couple loose straps for the wheels, velcro strap for the chain, and plenty of attachment points for other gear i didn't bring: skis, packraft, fly rod, ATV, hot tub, etc. Never hit my legs with the fork or hbar. Load felt super solid. Even while bushwacking.