Planned a route from my house to the Crags Campground at the base of Pikes Peak, up to the summit, and back home that passed by all my favorite climbing areas. Cynical Pinnacle, The Castle, Sheep Rock, Big Rock Candy Mountain, Longwater Dome, Turkey Rock, Scorpio Dome, Parachute Rock, Devil’s Head, and the Malay Archipelago. I tried to stay on as much dirt as possible. Mostly gravel, with a decent amount of single track and a little bit of pavement.

The trip took just under 45 hours door to door. My bike is a rigid single speed 26” Surly World Troller with a 28/19 gear ratio and a dynamo headlight/charger. 171 miles of biking with 18,100’ of elevation gain, and 13.5 miles of hiking with 4,400’ of elevation gain to get to the summit of Pikes Peak.

Just got back from my first ever bikepacking adventure, cycling the Ring of Kerry combined with the Skellig Ring over 4 days and covering around 215 km in total. I was carrying camping gear and had plenty of rain, some serious climbs, a few gear issues, and even a broken ferry that added an unexpected 23 km to one of the days! The Skellig Ring was definitely the toughest section, but the scenery was incredible. I also met some genuinely great people along the way, which made the trip even more memorable. I started the trip wondering if I was biting off more than I could chew, and finished it already thinking about where to go next. Absolutely hooked on bikepacking now!

Did a 1.5K bikepacking trip across 19 days. Riding straight through the Alpes.

Loved every second of it.

3 month old bike with Tubeless ultradynamico rose JFF 45mm tyres. Was ok for first few weeks then started to go down every night. Kept topping up / riding anyway, and discovered this slow side wall leak (sprayed muckoff on it to reveal any leaks).

Went full flat on a commute and had to put in an emergency inner tube to get me to a bike shop. Had it full reseated and sealed for 24hrs. Held fast for a week and I thought it was resolved.

Had a mini ride on Saturday and it's started up again. Did the muck off trick and it's the same side wall slow leaks.

Im so pissed with Tubeless, it's been a nightmare so far. Instead of the supposed no-flats and self seal, I get flats every day!

Defective tyre?

Any advice much appreciated - suppose to have a 115k ride (Brother Big Un) in Kent in 2 weeks and really want this resolved before that.

Thanks!

Edit: I'm running at 50 psi for commutes... Could possibly be too high? Maybe I'll drop to 40

£200 for the bike, £40 for all the bike bags second hand, £2 for the front fork box. I just have a regular hiking backpack tied to my rear rack with bungee cords. Its got me this far without any problems, i hope it gets me further.

I shouldve listened to what people said about not getting frame bags with zippers

Solo round trip from Glasgow. 5 days, 7 ferries, 400km.

Weather was amazing, only rained on the last day!

Route was

Day 1 Glasgow>Troon>Arran

Day 2: Arran>Kintyre>Islay

Day 3: Islay>Jura

Day 4: Jura>Tayvallich

Day 5: Tayvallich>Portavadie>Gourock>Glasgow

Day 1 - Mostly deep forest double track, raining off and on all day with low 40s to low 50s.
Day 2 - Climbed into the alpine moonscape of the Plains of Abraham on Mt St Helens. Sunny and mid 70s.

Just came from my first long trip, 1250 km or such, on a very low budget. It was ok, but I think I am carrying too much. Can't point my finger on what to leave home though. This is my list of stuff (including what I wear at any time). What would you leave home?

WEARS

2 bike pants

Helmet

Sunglasses

2 t shirts

1 long sleeve

1 rainproof poncho (also used to cover bikes and gears in case of rain)

1 towel

1 pair of sandals

1 pair of shoes

2 pairs of socks

1 swimming suite

1 modular trousers (the ones you can extend and shorten)

TOOLS AND BIKE STUFF

2 spare tubes

A light lock

general repair kit

a few plastic bundles

Front and back light

SLEEPING

A tent

A mattress

Inflatable pillow

Sleeping bag

Liner (sometimes used alone, sometimes in the sleeping bag to avoid making it dirty in case)

FOOD (cooking was the standard, not the exception to the diet)

Gas cooking stove

Snacks for when riding

mineral salts

a single decathlon stove-pan with fork spoon and knife

a steel glass

Usually I'd carry about 3 liters of water and food enough for 2-3 days at all time. Finished my last day with no food left and sometimes, when shops were closed for a couple days in a row, I was happy about it

MISC

Mobile and charger

headphones

a solar charger

1 rope for drying clothes and every possible need

first aid kit

creams for my soft buttock

sunscreen

toothbrush and stuff

Some toilet paper

Documents and stuff

Head torch

Still figuring out how I want to attach it so ignore the cords :) The rectangle on the non drive side is a phone pocket and I’ve put a detachable velcro divider inside. Taking it to Dartmoor soon hopefully might post the full rig I’m just so overjoyed right now at how it turned out

Day 9 of a long solo bikepacking tour (Bavaria → Morocco), roughly 900km and 7,500m elevation so far. Been going great — loving the daily rhythm, meeting people at campsites, no issues at all until today.

Today’s stage had a ~900hm climb and in the last 10km before camp I started noticing a twinge in my right knee on that climb, got more noticeable with each pedal stroke as it went on. By the time I rolled into camp it wasn’t sharp pain, but pedaling was clearly affected — had to ease off.

Some specifics:
Location: right knee, front-left of the kneecap (so medial side, roughly where the pes anserinus tendons sit — not behind the knee, not lateral)

Only hurts under load/pedaling. Walking is completely fine, no limp, no pain going up/down stairs.

No redness, no swelling, nothing visibly off.
Never had this on the right knee before on this bike/setup. I’ve had occasional minor twinges on the left knee in the past that came and went on their own — this is new territory (right side, different spot).

Setup: flat pedals with running shoes (ASICS), not clipped in — been running this combo the whole trip and trips in the past without issue until now.

My gut read (and a first-pass AI opinion I got) is overuse — cumulative load finally showing up at the end of a big climbing day, possibly combined with the foot not being fixed to the pedal (some medial knee wobble under fatigue) or saddle height drifting slightly off over the trip. No fall, no sudden twist, nothing acute.

Has anyone had knee pain in this exact spot (front-medial, pedaling-only, no swelling) on a long tour? What ended up being the actual cause for you, and what fixed it long-term — saddle height, cleats vs flats, cadence, something else?

Trying to catch this early instead of riding through it and turning it into something chronic.

Hi! I’m local to Snohomish county in Washington state. I’m curious if anyone knows of any groups, events or fun rides in the area where I might meet others like me… I feel like we’re a bit of an oddity and only ever see each other on the trail. I’d love to spend more time riding with new people and discovering new routes in the area.
I know this is a huge limitation, but I’m not on social media other than this. I plan to keep it that way to preserve my personal values.

If you have any suggestions, please share! Otherwise I’m going to have to create some group and I’m terribly awful at administration of this stuff! Haha. I’m full of great ideas and little execution.

Hi everyone, me and a friend are planning on doing our first bikepacking tour along the Veloscenie (Paris to Mont Saint Michel) in October and we wanted to include some camping. We want to know what are people's experiences wild camping along this route or in France in general? Thanks all

Hi all,

As in the title, if anyone who has ridden a route in the area could provide some advice I would greatly appreciate it.

A couple of months ago I did my first bikepacking trip from England to visit the Cinelli factory near Milan, and now want to return to Italy to cross the country. I crossed the Alps via the Splügenpass down to Lake Como, and this time if possible I'd like to go past Lake Garda. I have read some warnings about the climb to Brenner Pass from Innsbruck being traffic-heavy, hence why I am asking for alternatives. Ultimately, I'm trying to look to where I can fly to, cross into Italy on the bike, and descend down to Garda, but I'm open to other options in that area east of Como. I'm on a gravel rig and am fine with offroading.

Ta.

Some things I’ll keep in mind for the next trip
1. The Rochford saloon has an incredibly mediocre cheeseburger, I’ll probably eat a mountain house instead
2. The lady at the snack counter in Rochford was incredibly kind to my dog, I will stop by again
3. I need to hit the lost cabin beer garden in hill city, I didn’t have time this trip and it will be a priority next time.
4. A screenshot of the trail pass is not good enough. I was hassled by some people who were checking passes and only the physical paper will do. They still allowed me to continue my trip though.
5. Really no where to camp in between deadwood and hill city, I should probably have found a campground in advance but lucked out this trip

Experienced traveller and cyclists here, currently planning a multi-year bikepacking trip through 6 continents and roughly 100 countries.

I've got most of my kit sorted already, but I can't seem to figure out the best stove to bring. Here are my thoughts:

1. Multi fuel stove (like the MSR Whisperlite): would be ideal if I can make it work, but I've heard they can need quite a lot of maintenance, especially when burning low quality petrol which will sometimes be the only thing available to me.

2. Alcohol stove: would work for simple meals, also very cheap to use, but I'm not quite sure how easy it'll be to get my hands on fuel for this kinda stove, especially in islamic countries.

3. Brs3000/ MSR Pocket Rocket: a bit more expensive to use than the alcohol stove I believe, also I'm worried I won't always easily find replacement canisters, but except for that they're brilliant.

Even though I'd love to just bring a multi fuel stove and call it a day, I'm afraid that low quality petrol will make it more prone to failure. The maintenance and complexity of it also doesn't really appeal to me.

What I'm leaning towards is bringing a BRS300+Small gas canister, but also throw a tiny alcohol stove in my cook kit as well. I'd mount a bottle of alcohol on my bike and mainly use that for cooking, but in case I can't find any alcohol for a while I'll have a backup.

What are your thoughts on this? Am I making the right choice here? Does anyone have experience with taking the Whisperlite around the globe?

Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone, I was looking for some advise for the next section of my world tour. I would love to have cycled the pamir highway but unfortunately it will be close to winter by the time I reach it and I am not prepared for the harsh conditions.

I’m trying to plan an alternative route that goes from Aktau > Beyneu > Nukus > Bukhara > Samarkand > through northern Tajikistan (alternatively I could go round to Tashkent > then back into Uzbekistan before reaching Osh. Something like the screenshot provided:

I tried to do some research into this sort of route but couldn’t find too much other than the roads might be a bit delapidated at parts, and I should bring plenty of water for long remote stretches. Does anyone have any good resources for a route similar to this? My biggest concern is that I’m stuck on roads that feel unsafe to be cycling on.

Hi! My partner and I are currently bikepacking. He wants to include his dog in our next section coming up. We are planning on cycling the Baja Divide and then crossing over to mainland Mexico and continuing on down through to Panama.

My concerns are that his senior dog is really reactive towards people and I'm worried that being in places with a dense population will stress him out. Is it pretty busy along this route? Also, will having a barking dog make things like crossing borders and finding accommodations difficult? His dog is also really reactive towards other dogs since he got attacked by some dogs. He has some PTSD if you will. I've read a lot of reports of getting chased by dogs daily on these routes, I can only imagine having a dog will make that worse?

Another concern is we planned to be off pavement on the Baja Divide. I haven't heard a lot of good things about using bike trailers off roads but my partner claims his 50 pound dog being strapped into the back rack will be totally fine and not affect his handling on loose sand and gravel. I cannot imagine hauling the weight of that plus water. Does anyone have any experience with that?

Also, my last concern is that he has never biked with his dog before so we don't even know if he'll like it.

Thanks for the advice!

Quick report about my trip from Samarkand to Kashgar over the Pamir Highway. So far it has by far been the most challenging part of my tour around the world!

I have to admit that I did little to no research before starting this. I wasn’t really aware of the lack of facilities, road closures, no offline maps, no cooking equipment, and I didn’t have a (working) water filter. I could only carry 4L of water and rode on 40mm tires. Luckily I was with a friend who did have a water filter. Finally, I had major issues getting cash as I only had Mastercard with me, while nearly all ATM’s only accept Visa.

The Pamir mountains are absolutely stunning though! My favourite part was the descent to Qalai Khumb, the first town on the Afghan border. This is also where I got food poisoning, which left me in bed for nearly a week. Most of the locals were incredibly friendly and hospitable. Although, you do notice that the Pamir Highway is getting more tourists nowadays. Kids were constantly asking for money and would sometimes throw stones at me.

In Murghab I left the Pamir Highway and took the Qolma Pass border directly to China. After a few interrogations and two complete searches of my bags I was finally let in. On the route to Kashgar you ride by mountains of 7.000+m, really beautiful! Also loved the smooth tarmac and being able to eat proper food again. In Tajikistan I survived on bread and Oreo’s. I’m very excited to ride through China next!

For anyone considering doing the Pamir Highway, definitely do some research. Feel free to ask any questions if you have them!

Hi everyone! Reddit has been a source of honest trip reports and reliable beta for me for years, so I thought I would finally take the time to add my own.

This was my first multi-day trip. I am a very experienced rider, but newer to bikepacking. I went Denver to Durango, self-supported, in 10 days. I live in CO and love riding and backpacking up in the alpine, so this was a dream trip.

Riding notes:

I was expecting ~70k’ of elevation gain, but it ended up being closer to ~80k’. I don’t mind climbing though, so morale was good the whole time while I was on the bike.

Waterton Canyon to Kenosha pass felt like it went pretty quickly. The Lost Creek Wilderness detour provided easy miles. Following that, the descents into Breckenridge, Copper, and Camp Hale are all amazing. In the moment, I was not too fond of some of the riding in the Arkansas Valley, but I think I may have been negatively biased by how hot these days were... in retrospect, it was amazing. The San Juans were absolutely beautiful, and aside from the few hiking sections, the riding was pretty mellow. I had to bail on the exposed Clear Creek pass section due to a storm, but was able to climb back up and enjoy the rest after taking shelter at tree line. Overall, the climbing was punishing and dealing with the monsoon weather was mentally exhausting, but I've never felt more rewarded by any other riding I've ever done.

Honey stingers and tailwind all day every day!! Tuna packets for special occasions.

A few details about the rig:

Santa Cruz tallboy with a mix of revelate, oveja negra, salsa, and handmade bags.

I brought a Big Agnes Copperspur (just the rain fly) and was glad I did, because I had some surprisingly rainy nights. Slept in an old REI magma bag that did just fine, but is now retired…

Cook system was a 16oz Nalgene, voile strapped to my downtube. I cold soaked for this trip to save weight. There are lots of opportunities to get hot food and coffee as you pass through towns.

Water system was 1.5 L on the bars for riding, and 2 smartwater bottles on the fork, empty, on standby for longer dry sections. I think I only used this extra capacity twice. I used a steripen for this trip.

Already planning on doing it again soon! Would love to shave a few days off ;)

Cheers!

This is my "second" time crossing the country (the first was riding from Chicago to Seattle so not exactly crossing). I flew from Santa Barbara to Seattle, built the bike in the airport, slept at an airport motel for the night, rode up to Blaine the next day then came down the entire way to the Mexican border along mostly the Pacific Coast Highway.

Going to Blaine from Seattle took 1 day, so I was actually on the road for 16 days and did 1,823 miles (2,934 km), averaging about 114 miles (183 km) each day. The longest day was 163 miles (262 km) going from Blaine to Shelton, the longest ride was 253 miles (407 km) going from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border, and the shortest day was 32 miles (51 km). Over 100 miles (161 km) a day is an awkward pace as it really sucks all the fun out of touring and yet it's nothing that competitive (I spent more than 2x the fastest known time). The fun and chill pace is probably 3-5 hours of moving time a day but I had to do this due to time and budget constraints.

This trip didn't happen around the best time as during my first day Warmshowers went down (and went back up right when I started my final ride) and a timber fire caused Highway 1 to close around Big Sur, but I am still really happy that I accomplished it - type 2 fun as people call it.

I spent 7 nights at campgrounds, 6 nights at motels (including the night in SeaTac), 1 night at a friend's house and 1 night at home in Santa Barbara - I am not rich, I am just a graduate student who borderline cannot afford the city... I got chased by a dog once, got brushed by a pickup truck once, met numerous riders doing different parts of the PCH and one guy doing the Pan-American Highway. The itinerary that I took:

Day 0: SeaTac to Blaine, 133 mi/215 km, Birch Bay Campground

Day 1: Blaine to Shelton, 163 mi/262 km, motel

Day 2: Shelton to Astoria, 129 mi/208 km, Fort Stevens Campground

Day 3: Astoria to Newport, 130 mi/210 km, motel

Day 4: Newport to Coos Bay, 107 mi/173 km, Sunset Bay Campground

Day 5: Coos Bay to Crescent City, 134 mi/216 km, motel

Day 6: Crescent City to Eureka, 83 mi/134 km, motel

Day 7: Eureka to Leggett, 88 mi/142 km, Rock Creek Campground

Day 8: Leggett to Gualala, 106 mi/170 km, Gualala Point Campground

Day 9: Gualala to Creekside Loop Campground, 87 mi/140 km

Day 10: Creekside Loop Campground to San Francisco, 32 mi/52 km, hosted by friend

Day 11: San Francisco to Monterey, 121 mi/195 km, Veterans Memorial Park Campground

Day 12: Monterey to Paso Robles, 120 mi/193 km, motel. I did this ride on Aug. 23 and technically Highway 1 was open momentarily amid the burning fire from Aug. 22 to Aug. 27 but I missed it... probably wouldn't have been a good idea to go through anyway, this is not saying riding inland to Paso Robles was anything enjoyable...

Day 13: Paso Robles to Santa Barbara, 131 mi/212 km, home

Day 14 & 15: Santa Barbara to San Diego/Mexican border, 253 mi/407 km. I started this ride at around 5:30pm on Aug. 25, went through LA and Orange County at night and arrived at the border at around 2pm the next day, then I caught the 4pm Amtrak train back to Santa Barbara.

Regarding the gears that I used, I have a titanium bike with aerobars, a 7 liter backpack with a 2.5 liter reservoir, multiple frame bags, one-person tent and sleeping bag, two sets of kit, two 10,000 mah power banks, an electric pump (and a backup hand pump), among other things.

Feel free to ask me anything about the trip and feel free to connect with me if you also want to do long-distance stuff around California!