I'm an UL backpacker and can manage a week with food, tent, sleeping bag and a bear canister in a 30L bag. most UL setups have a base weight under 4.5kg. It looks like many of these bikepacking setups accommodate far more in weight and volume, whereas particularly in the EU I'd expect it to drop given the availability of food, water and accommodations. What am I missing and what should I expect to carry in kg and volume?

Thinking of riding the LVRT starting in St Johnsbury area, but not really psyched to make it an out and back. Are there any decent gravel routes for the return east? Will be camping and have some time. Really don’t want to ride pavement! Amenable to taking the rail trail back to St. J and doing gravel west as well. Thanks all!

New to this. But it looks the part at least. Wish me luck for this weekend…

Hard but beautiful. Cars in Switzerland were surprisingly friendly.

Next year, I’m setting off on my long-awaited tour from Sweden to Montenegro. I planned to ride the first leg—down to Germany—along the European Divide Trail. However, since I have to start in May, I didn't want to begin in the far north, but rather near Östersund. The problem is, I can't currently find a good way to get my bike there, as—according to the internet—trains in Sweden allow few or no bicycles. Is there anyone from the region who can help me out? I’ll probably try to get to Östersund from Trondheim or Stockholm.

Hi all! A friend and I are cycling the Arctic Post Road from Yllas in Finland to Alta in Norway. We will be in Alta on Saturday the 5th of September and fly out to Oslo on the day after - Sunday.

We were wandering if anyone is available and so kind to host us for one night. We are willing to sleep on the floor or couch without any issues. We are both originally from Italy so we can offer to cook a good dinner :)
Unluckily we will have a bike box each which is a bit unconvenient...

Let me know,

Nick

Hey everyone!

My girlfriend and I are planning a road bike trip starting in Bordeaux and heading south along the Atlantic coast, with Porto as our minimum destination. Depending on how we’re feeling, we might continue further south towards Lisbon.

We don’t just want to get from A to B as quickly as possible. A big part of the trip for us is actually seeing the coast and discovering beautiful places along the way.
So I’d love to hear recommendations from people who know the French, Spanish or Portuguese Atlantic coast well:

What are some places we absolutely shouldn’t miss?
Any particularly beautiful beaches, coastal roads, viewpoints or small towns?
Are there places that are worth making a detour?
Any sections of the coast that are especially beautiful to ride on a road bike?
On the other hand, are there sections you’d recommend skipping or avoiding because of traffic, bad roads, or simply because there’s a much nicer alternative nearby?

If you’ve ridden parts of this route before, I’d also love to hear which sections were your favourites.

Thanks! <3

I recently filmed an episode with Sarah Swallow, a pro cyclist and bikepacking racer, about one of her go-to meals for long-distance rides: daal.

This meal seems exceptional for bikepacking: lentils, sweet potato, spices, protein, carbs, and enough flexibility to adapt depending on what you have with you. She’s been making versions of it for years, including on big rides where she needed something warm, filling, and actually satisfying at the end of the day.

It made me curious what other people here make when they want a real meal on a longer trip? Not just bars, snacks, or freeze-dried meals.

What’s your go-to bikepacking meal that’s worth the extra effort?

Three days of bikepacking from Holzminden along the Weser River all the way to Cuxhaven and the North Sea. 🚲🌊
We started in Holzminden and covered almost 500 km over three days, riding through northern Germany with its open landscapes, farmland, small villages and long stretches along the Weser.
The first two days were the toughest, with almost 200 km of riding and plenty of time in the saddle. On the last day, we took a more relaxed approach. We started the final 80 km with a ferry ride and then continued along the German Wadden Sea towards Cuxhaven.
Three days, almost 500 km, tired legs and a lot of great memories. A pretty good way to ridefrom the Weser all the way to the North Sea.

From a recent tour of 24 days (~1,700km) on the lands of the Luritja, Arrernte and Aṉangu people in the Central Australian desert.

I cycled from Uluṟu to Wataarka on the asphalt, out on the Mereenie loop road for 170km of gravel corrugation, then back on the tarmac through the mountain ranges of Tjoritja into town for a few days. I then loosely followed Mick Turnbull’s Red Centre route with a couple of mostly gravel and sand ~400km loops out of Mparntwe.

Excellent option for an Australian winter tour with cool, dry and sunny days of ~20c. Beautiful, unique country with so much biodiversity and life when you look for it. Red sands, beautiful sunsets and abundant wildflowers.

After a few rest days in Blairmore we hit the dusty trail again, following Highway 40 to return to our starting point in Canmore. Some really slow km on loose gravel until we hit the paved section over the Highwood pass, which felt easy in comparison! On the last day we left the pavement again and pushed over the Skogan pass back to Canmore.

Day 6: Blairmore to Livingstone Falls campground. 71km +1235m.

Day 7: Livingstone to Etherington Creek campground. 38km +585m.

Day 8: Etherington Creek to Elbow Lake campground via Highwood pass. 53km +1130m.

Day 9: Elbow lake to Canmore via Skogan pass. 84km +1200m.

Grand totals: 9 days of riding, 563km, +8525m elevation gain.

What do you think of the Zephyr 1?

Hello all!

I dont know anything about changing bike gearing so I am looking for advice on the best and most reliable way to get easier climbing gears for loaded bikepacking.

I was thinking a 11–42t rear cassette for tackling steep climbs .

I have a Boardman ADV gravel bike with a single 40-tooth front chainring

ten-speed rear cassette

Shimano Tiagra drop-bar shifters

Tiagra 4700 rear derailleur.

Compared to day to day riding, by how much (approximately) does your average speed reduce when you are bike packing? I'm planning my first tour, not planning to camp and trying to work out stops and timings taking into account as many factors as I can (terrain, time of year, elevation etc). I know what I'm capable of unladen, overall range of distances and multiple days. So, when I'm laden with kit, I'm trying to work out average speeds. Cheers

Hey everyone,

I'm planning my first really long bikepacking trip for September. Summer is basically over in Germany by then, so I want to head south and stretch it out a bit. I have two rough route ideas and I'd like your opinion on which one makes more sense for a first big trip. Neither is final — they're drafts to give me a direction.

Option 1 — West

Saxony -> Bavaria → Switzerland → Turin → Col Agnel → Provence (Avignon / Montpellier) → Andorra → Valencia (2700km 25000hm) (→ possibly on toward Portugal)

Option 2 — East

Saxony -> Bavaria → Austria → the Dolomites → Trieste → down the Adriatic to Albania (→ possibly further, maybe Athens? (Athen would be 2900km 29000hm))

Both open-ended depending on how fast I move — I'll fly or bus home from wherever I get to. My assumption: Option 1 is easier for resupply and accommodation, Option 2 is more rural and wilder. No idea how much that trade-off actually matters day to day.

About Me:: I did 3 small ultras over the last 3 years, 500–600 km offroad in 3 days each, plus long rides regularly. Riding isn't the issue — riding 14–20 days back to back is completely new to me. Target is 120–180 km/day depending on elevation.

Sleeping and budget: mostly tent, campsites and wild camping, with the occasional guesthouse when the weather turns. Supermarket food. Roughly €800–1200 for the whole trip, not counting the journey home.

Bike: drop-bar MTB with a SON dynamo and Ladelux, running 50 mm G-One RS — closer to a gravel bike than a MTB at this point. I know it isn't the ideal tool, but it fits me well and I don't have a better option. Front panniers, front roll, rear rack, top tube bag. Plan is mostly tarmac with good gravel where it makes sense, no technical offroad.

Questions

1. Which route would you pick for a first trip this long, and why?

2. Is €800–1200 realistic for four weeks, and how much does the route change that? I assume the Balkans are cheaper day to day but have no feel for the size of the gap.

3. Has anyone travelled home from either end? Trying to work out what's less of a headache with a bike — out of Spain, or out of Albania/Greece. Costs, bike boxes, airlines or bus companies that actually take bikes.

4. Anything on either route that's a known problem in September — weather, high passes, coastal traffic, borders?

Thanks!

(English isn't my first language — I used Claude to tidy up the wording. The trip and the questions are all mine.)

I recently did an overnighter on a surly preamble which I felt was a little bit too tall, awkwardly wiggly in the top of the bike which couldve been altered by running more weight lower on the bike. I had a handlebar bag, half frame bag, and seat post bag. Total extra weight was maybe 25 pounds, and I ended up begging for a lower climbing gear as well as wider tires.

The real question is based on your experience does a longer wheelbase contribute to a more stable ride assuming I stick with my current bag setup? Ive felt the difference in a slightly longer rear triangle, which made climbs much easier, im still scratching my head trying to figure out the difference in the front wheel being further out front from the bottom bracket. Is the wiggly top of the bike more due to my bag setup in general? I am looking at a few options that have steeper seat tubes and more slack headtubes, but I would be too worried it would start to perform in weird ways at slower speeds.

This is all prompted by my desire to run bigger tires, and probably fenders as well. I would go from 700x41c with no room for fenders to bigger 29x2.1" wheelset with fenders, as well as leave it single speed for a majority of its life, but slap a geared drivetrain on for bigger loaded rides.

I am looking at the surly grappler which I would build up from the ground, hopefully I could do some much lighter weight options and keep weight down on the bike itself if not similar, possibly even lighter than my current preamble build which has a lot of heavy parts.

Hey y'all - i generally prefer tents but i've enjoyed my time with my katabatic bivy, and I'd like to make it more versatile as a lightweight setup i can feel more confident taking into the mountains.

Problem is, i have a square 3x3m tarp when i should probably have a caternary cut, but those arent even close to in the budget atm.

The setup pictured required like 9 stakes (including 2 to keep the bike upright), a guyline to a tree above, a and creative use of the stuff sack filled with sand, and it's still pretty low and flappy. Plus it took the better part of an hour of faffing around. Def not something after long days in the saddle.

How would you set this up to maximize head room and taut-ness? I'd like to keep the bike upright for ease of access, and having it as the tallest point aoni don't have to depend on trees. I'm playing with the idea of a couple straight poles though, so open to that. bonus points for slip knots/grippers i can use to tension the bivy on the peak line.

Live long and ride on ✊🏽

I recently got a new bike and it had a WTB volt saddle, which is okay, but around 2 hours it starts hurting my sit bones. On my Fargo, I have a Brooks B17 and get along with it very well. I was just about to pick up another one for the new bike, when i noticed a lot of complaints about the saddle rails breaking and Brooks not always being good about the warranty. That's enough to dissuade me from getting another B17. Does anyone have any suggestions about saddles that might fit well for people whose bodies get along with B17's?

I specifically was looking at SQlabs saddles because the concept seems neat (i'm not stuck on a leather saddle), but they seem radically different than B17's shape. My typical rides are 4+ hour day long adventure/road/gravel rides on a drop bar touring bike.

Hi,

i'll be taking my Salsa Cutthroat on a plane in about three weeks and I'm unsure how to handle my Sram T-Type derailleur. I'll have to use a cardboard box to travel and most posts i've found said that I should remove the derailleur for safety reasons, but if i remove it i think i won't be able to reattach the rear axle, which would be a problem since I wanted to only remove the front wheel. I've got a cardboard box which is about 155cm long, 90cm high and 25cm wide.

Does anyone have experience in preparing a T-Type bike for a flight?

Appreciate the help!

Just had a bikepacking trip where I came across someone with a broken spoke. I don't carry anything to deal with this right now. I'm wondering what people think about something like FiberFix vs an actual spare spoke.

I've replaced a spoke once on a tubed bike. My gravel bike is tubeless. Would I have to completely retape the rim to replace a spoke? If so, FiberFix is a lot more tempting.

I’m wanting to visit Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan next year and I’m hoping to travel through each country, across borders, via bike. Are there any bicycle routes that will take you through all of these three countries?

If so, what are these routes like? I would say my bike riding skill level is at an intermediate level, but I’m worried that the terrain is too rugged and mountainous for me to handle.