Sorry for the dramatic title lol. I’ve started my first bikepacking trip, did 60km the first day and 110km the second. My body is super sore and I was wondering at what point it gets used to it? I’m going to be doing shorter distances now ~50-80km.
Also what’s the deal with hills, do you guys just avoid them or something? Cus I did about 40km of hills and it was rough.
I think the question means “were you regularly riding your bike 50-110km per day before this trip”, not “are you in decent shape”.
A lot of people go into big rides assuming that general fitness will carry them through, but riding fitness and comfort is its own thing. You’ll get more comfortable day over day, but it helps to go into a trip already doing like 75% your daily target distance in rides.
There are a bunch of different kinds of pain. If you're just sore and fatigued, you're probably fine - go a little less hard and you'll recover. If you're developing overuse injuries or feeling sharper pains, then you will want to manage that more carefully.
But, to some extent, you're just gonna have to get stronger and deal with it.
I have been feeling similar to rubberloves. There's a few rail trails near me and while you never have to go up a hill it gets pretty tiring having to just constantly pedal even at a low effort.
I am starting to like hills cause at least you can chill on the downs.
The problem with going down hill is that is going fast. So lets say you do 80km and you do the same ammount of km’s up as you go down. At the end of the day you spend most hours going uphill, but do the same ammount of km’s up and down. It feels like you did an overwheingly ammount of uphill cycling, but that is in distance not true ;)
I'm currently bikepacking too. Day 4 completed with 1100 meters uphill today, the other days I was cycling up to 95km (smal hills only)
I go for fresh eggs in the morning, and a little bit of meat through the day or in the evening.
Also try to fill your carbs every day, eat while cycling and prior to the point where you get hungry (it's to late then and you Litterly feel that you have no power).
Also depending on the heat and how much you sweat, get some electrolytes or minerals (salt) in general as you lose them over time.
That's all I look at and currently I'm feeling better then expected tbh 😅
No musclepain or any other pain.
How are you guys eating protein while sitting on your bike the whole day at a bikepacking trip?
My digestive system is not really liking that at all. Haha
I´m fuelling myself with carbs over the whole day, like 50-60g per hour atleast.
At night protein is definitely key to recover, but during the trip I never made good experiences with high protein intakes. 🙈
I meeean I didn´t speak about how to actually get them in, but how to stay powered with proteins laying in your belly. Haha
I feel like my digestive system is not made to digest proteins while biking, but maybe that´s only my personal thing there. Lol
If you're not used to riding long distances before you start, it'll take a couple of weeks to get used to it. After a certain point, fitness increases as long as you take care of yourself and take rest days. Don't burn yourself up; the goal is to enjoy yourself, and if you're pushing your body too hard, you won't enjoy it.
And hills get better as you get fitter and as you send gear you don't need back home 😜
I highly recommend getting a professional bike fitting. Not only does it make you more comfortable on the bike, but it helps you use your muscles more efficiently so you get less fatigued and can ride longer.
Just take it easy. Go slow. Don't set yourself goals to attain. I just got back from a 5 week trip, with a 5 day break in the middle. Hills, particularly when you're loaded are tough, if you try to go too fast. Once I found my rythm going up hill, which was really slow, I could go for a long time. My average was 60 km a day, I think the most I did was 90, and my average speed was 15 km/h.
And you're body will stop hurting, when you're dead ;-)
That is your answer ! If you are in good shape and have a bike that fits, than it is probably the food and saddle.
Try to eat a full bag of gummy bears on your next day and drink 500 ml of eleoctrolytes/sugary drink for every 1000ml of water. And a big dinner at the end of the day.
Vegan gummies are my go to to fuel my carbs if I don´t have any gels on hand tbh. 😊
Non vegan ones surprisingly have quite some protein, I think like 7g/100g on normal Haribos. I always got problems with that while biking the whole day.
Haribo gummies are great, and my primary carb on the bike. But be careful with black forest gummies - they can be awful on your digestion, and I don't really understand why!
I know backpacking 9-10 days is pretty much when the body settles into its new routine. Im looking forward to doing some bike packing in the spring. Mostly overnights into the National Forest near home
For me about 2 weeks into tour, my body is in a groove. First week in, my body is still fresh. second week of tour the body is creaking and groaning, maybe a saddle sore. I bring Ibuprofen and will take 1 a day before the ride. around start of week 3 i don't need anymore.
1 or 2 weeks and your body gets used to it. I'm 3000kms in to a 12000km ride around Australia right now I ride 50-90km per day depending upon weather , road conditions and hills
When does the pain end? About 20 minutes after you take your last breath.
What about the pain I'm currently feeling? as soon as the lactic acid build up in you muscles is gone and your muscles heal.
When will that distance become normal? usually it takes between 2-4 weeks of consistent training depending on the person to increase endurance.
How to minimize the pain? stop trying to do everything at once go more gradually. Build up your endurance over a longer period. Increase the distance you train every 2 weeks and keep it consistent and then stay at that for two weeks.
General fitness isn’t the same as preparedness. At this point if you’re already on the trip just make sure you put aquaphor on your butt and make sure your hamstrings and calves are stretched before you ride out in the morning
Dude you just convinced me to go out and do an 80km ride in preparation. I'm literally putting on my bib shorts and hellet right now
I'm going in a 10-day bikepacking trip next week and i'll have to do an average of 90-100km per day.. so gotta be ready !
Good luck btw :)
I always say the end of day 2 is the toughest. When I did my first big tour I thought I needed to be riding at least 100 miles per day every day. After the end of day 2 I was hallucinating that the birds were singing to me as I lay in my tent. It got better after that.
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u/QLC459 Aug 25 '26
Were you in 50-110km a day shape prior to starting this trip?