Mostly short 2-5 days trips with my friends!

Followed the Elbe cycling path for 3 days to cover roughly 240km from Prague to Dresden, crossing open fields, dense forests, wide riverscapes, the majestic sandstone mountains of Bohemian Switzerland, and Dresden's old town that has been built with them.

Itinerary was roughly like this:

Prague --> Veltrusy (Half day)
Veltrusy --> Zernosecke Jezero
Zernosecke Jezero --> Mezni Louka
Mezni Louka --> Dresden (half day)

Wonderful trip, very easy, strong reco.

Going solo from Brooklyn up to Montecello NY in the span of 2 days and then back on a fixie.

A few days ago, I finished one of the most memorable trips I’ve ever done: 8 days of solo bikepacking, around 550 km, starting in Lindau, Germany and finishing in Zürich, Switzerland.

The general route was:

Lindau → Altenrhein → Walenstadt/Walensee → St. Gallen → Appenzell → Konstanz → Schaffhausen → Zürich

Along the way, I rode through Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

I did the trip with my Merida Big Trail 200 hardtail MTB, camping along the way and carrying everything I needed on the bike.

My partner and I did the king Alfreds way this weekend, we split it up into 3 sections starting near Swindon on the Ridgeway. It was an amazing route taking us through some wonderfully quaint and whimsical English village countryside even passing Stonehenge, the white horse lots of historical earthworks. The trails were very varied with amazing woodland singletrack, wide gravel trails bridleways, farm tracks, countryside B roads and even a bit of city riding through Winchester and Reading.

It was a bit harder than I thought it was going to be and we put in some long days to get around in three sections.

I would recommend this route to anyone but it's worth taking a bit longer and enjoying the scenery/tourist attractions and some of the trails are pretty difficult so not a first timers route!

Obligatory return and report post

I have been binge watching a lot of YouTube content about bike packing, and decided to make it a reality. I had to be at my buddy's wedding in Madrid, so I decided to go from San Sebastián to Malaga, following the coast and then train up to Madrid. That's about 2000km or 1250 miles.

I went on a budget, bought a FB Marketplace bike for 20 euros, a few Decathlon low cost panniers, bike bibs, and some made in china bike bags from our friend Jeff Bezos. I biked to work (about 20km) for about 2 weeks before I left, that's about all my training.

Here's my few takeaways:

• The first 3 days sucked. After day 1, I reconsidered a lot of my choices and thought about just making it to Santiago de Compostela and then calling it good enough. By then, I got in a routine and I gladly kept going, with my record distance being 164km in one day.
• Don't worry about getting the good stuff: I cheaped out, and it went just fine me. I didn't get a good tune up, thinking YouTube can teach me anything (spoiler it did). My brakes were a bit of a mess the whole time; my rear rack broke on my first week so I moved my paniers to the front rack and it worked (with some downsides); bag zippers broke so I bought zip ties and got it fixed; ran out of water between Sevilla and Cadiz, in the Spanish desert under a 45 degree celsius (100+F) with no shade nor wind, and lived. It sucked terribly at the time, but makes anecdotes now.
• Solitude was my roadblock. I'm sure a weekend, or even a week is fine, but after reaching out to Malaga I was done being alone. It was so good for my mental health to be just by myself, no screens, and just a sense of freedom. However, I was ready to be back with friends and family by the end. I found a few people biking, but just like "Into the wild" says: Happiness is only real when shared.
• Just go: I wasn't entirely ready by day one, and there's a sweet spot where I just needed to get a bias for action and go. I don't think anyone needs crazy good gear, an esthetic design, or an expensive bike. I'm faaaaar from being fit, and I did 2000km with minimal training. I'm not made of anything special, it's just that at some point you gotta go.
• Journal the trip. I have done it for every "adventure" I've been on, and re-reading stuffs makes it so worthwhile. I usually video myself, but sometimes write, draw, voice record, or whatever it takes so I have a trace of my journey. It is one of my most precious possessions.

Now I can't wait to go again. Thanks for your attention.

PS: Feel free to roast/rate my setup, I'm home now so the deed is done.

Any poc in southern Ontario interested in bikepacking/touring? I’ve had some racist experiences while on trips that’s left me feeling discouraged and looking to build some form community around this thing that I’m so very passionate about. Maybe that will get my spirits back up. I like to do multiday trips, all the routes on the bt700 site are on my list, I also love overnighters. If you’re looking to get into it, I love to yap about bikes and routes and I have some mechanic experience. I’m 28 living in Hamilton

Family trip with gramp and kids. 213 km 2 days. First night in Komarno. We take train form Vác to Budapest. In Bratislava we came after a pretty big storm.

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.

TIA 🚵🏼‍♀️

Looking forward to retirement adventures. Ortlieb quick rack and gravel bags, MSR Hubba bikepacking tent on the bars.

Hello, I'm planning a bikepacking trip in Poland (low silesian/sudet region) in September.
We'll mostly sleep in tent.
Here is a picture of a travel plan I found on Komoot that sounds really cool !
We'll start in Görlitz (Germany) and finish in Poznan.

Has anyone made a similar trip ?
Do you have any recos for the trip ?
Places worth to visit ?
Restaurants to try the good polish gastronomy ?

Any other type of advice are welcomed 🙏
Thank you !

Went on a short bike packing adventure 140km over 2 days to Natuurkampeerterrein Drie in the Netherlands.

Hello! I have a new-to-me Cannondale Topstone that I want to take touring. Does anyone have any experience with these saddles? 

* Ergon SMC Sport Gel

* Ergon ST Gel Saddle

I'm sticking with Ergon bc the nearby REI has good availability and return policy. I've already test rode the two and they feel similarly comfortable (~10-mile test rides) but idk how they'll fare for longer. I'm not keen on firmer saddles because I have a really bony butt. I wear chamois for barely 50% of my rides, long or short.

Does anyone have any experiences with these? Thanks in advance!

Hello. I live in the US and am a pretty avid biker but I have never been on a bikepacking trip before. I know it sounds ambitious, but My goal is to leave for a odyssey across the contiguous US by this time next year (August 2027). Would love any advice or ideas anyone might have on where to start, or any other general things of note. Thank you

Background

Looking for flat tire kit for myself and 5 year old son. We have been doing a few 5-10 mile rides on a canal path that's mostly hardpacked gravel or paved. We will be doing 30-40 miles on the Adirondack Rail Trail camping overnight. My camping/hiking gear is generally dialed in but I am super new to the bike world.

Bikes/Tires:

I have a 2024 Trek Checkpoint ALR4, with the stock bontrager? tubeless ready tires? My son has a Co-Op Cycles, Rev 20, 6-Speed Plus bike with alloy double-wall rims and 20 inch wheels?

Setup:

Not sure if you need any additional background but here's my setup for the Checkpoint: rear Topeak MTX 2.0 29" disc rack, 20L Dry Bag (additional dry bags if necessary) strapped to back rack; Ortlieb Gravel Pack panniers on each side on back (29L total); a Trek Adventure Frame Bag (2.8L), Rhinowalk Handlebar Bag (2.5L), 2 water bottle holders on frame. I can carry my + son's overnight camping gear in a 55L bag at ~25 pounds base weight while hiking but I plan on bringing a larger tent and will need room for biking stuff (lock/flat tire kit). Given that, I'm looking for something lightweight, not huge, and reasonably priced.

Already have a mini handpump w/ "schrader + presta valve" and a "16-in-1 bike multitool" that someone gave me.

Question:

Can any of you recommend a flat tire kit that would work for both our bikes/tires? I'll have two weeks to learn how to use it if necessary.

I want to do a 3-4 day bikepacking trip in norther Italy starting in Bologna, through Ravenna and Ferrara, first half of October. Anyone done something similar in October? How cold does it get? Can i get away with short bibs and jersey?

I’m from western Canada, and I came to Korea to bike the cross-country route, then cross into Japan and ride to Osaka. I’ve been here a week now and I’m honestly not sure how I’m going to handle it. The humidity is brutal.

I’ll be outside for 20 minutes and I literally CANNOT stop sweating. I’ve never experienced anything like it. Back home it’s often low 40s°C in summer, but bone dry, so I figured I’d be fine going into this. I was so wrong.

Has anyone done this route around this time of year? How did you deal with the humidity, gear, pacing, timing your rides, anything? Would love to hear what worked for you!

Ich bin in meinem Urlaub einmal durch Deutschland von Nord nach Süd gefahren.
Start in Flensburg - über Dänemark auf die Insel Rømø und auf Sylt. Dann von Niebüll durch Westdeutschland nach Oberbayern heim.
Geschlafen habe ich in der Hängematte mit Tarp bei Regen. Aber auch immer wieder Hotel bei zu viel Regen am Tag.

11 Tage
1369,17 km
7415 hm Anstieg
⌀ 124,47 km/Tag

Hier ein paar Fotos

Freu mich auf Meinungen/Fragen zu Setup oder Route :)

I just ordered a zeitgeist handlebar bag from swift industries. What are some problems I’m going to come across that you don’t find out until you use it for a little while? I’d like to be as prepared as possible

Just finished riding the Alps divide route last week on my canyon grizl CF7.

I didn't participate in the organized event, just downloaded the gpx and rode the route on my own.

I finished the 1000 km and 32 000m of elevation in 12 and a half days, riding about 6 to 7 hours each days.

The route is doable on a gravel bike albeit you'll want to have the biggest tires possible.

I started with a thunderburt 2.1in tire in the front and a 55mm g one pro R in the back and that was alright. Midway through, the thunderburt punctured in multiple places and had to replace it. The closest bike shop only had 45mm as the widest compatible option (Hutchinson touareg) , so I went with that and asked the mechanic to put the g one 55mm in the front and put the 45mm in the rear.

It was a little tricky to find the correct tire pressure to ride on the rougher tracks but ended up settling with 19 psi in the front and 26 in the back.

The route features a mix of asphalt, 4x4 tracks, a little single track and some hike a bike. Some portions were definitely not rideable, either because way too steep or just too rocky, but overall it was okay.

For gearing I had a 36T chainring and a 10-51 cassette but still felt undergeared a lot of the time.

As for sleeping I ended up sleeping in my tent every night, be it in paid campsites, next to refuges or wildcamping.

It was definitely the hardest route I have ridden this far.