My introduction to bikepacking (Part 2) - The learning curve

We left off the previous post at the point where I had made the decision to start bikepacking, had committed to an incredibly long trip to Serbia, and had purchased a bike. Those items turned out to be the easiest decisions as the hardest parts were yet to come.

When we first started discussing the ride, the plan was to ride 50-80 km per day. That may not seem like much, given that I have done 300km day rides and multiple centuries, but when you consider this distance is covered on a fully loaded bike, through varied terrain, in the middle of summer, suddenly the prospect of making it all work seemed terrifying.

I need help

When you are already struggling with how to accomplish something, what do you do? You rope your wife in, that’s what you do! Somehow I was able to convince my wife that it would be a good idea to join us and miraculously, it worked! Suddenly, we were a group of three, planning a month-long journey to Serbia. We bought my wife a new bike and for the next task, we had to figure out the process of how to bikepack.

We both started researching online and reading everything we could. We also jumped onto YouTube and watched lots of videos (thank you Duzer) to try and understand how bikepacking actually works. Slowly it started to come together. Now, we just needed the stuff to make it all work.

The gear dilemma

Finding the right gear for Bikepacking can be a daunting challenge. While we had a great deal of camping gear, much of the gear was meant for car camping or and was not as functional as we would need for bike packing. Thus began the phase of heavy research. We stated with the creation of our gear list, itemized what we had and what we needed. Our highest priority was to figure out how to carry all of our stuff. We quickly found frame bags and various fork cages as well as decided on using the non-trendy "rear rack". We stitched together some handlebar bags to create a lightweight setup and invested in dry bags to carry most gear. Our tent was far too heavy so we ordered a new tent that was light and compact. This was enough to get us started and the only way to figure out how it would all work was to get out on the trail.

Our first (real) Bikepacking trip

It was Easter 2021 and we decided to try it all out for a night. The weather was still very spring like with semi warm days and occasional below freezing nights. We were still learning how to properly pack, which meant we had way too much stuff and needed to use backpacks to fit all of our gear. Off we went and for the most part the trip started out smoothly. Within a few hours we hit our first challenge where we ended up in one of those situations where you choose a hike- a-bike or a long pedal. We decided to go for the shorter route which meant a long uphill push and then a tight rocky woods section which was mostly mud and lots of walking. I was thinking that our bikepacking career was going to be short-lived as surely Rebecca would like this arduous form of travel. But on this point I was wrong, as the trail eventually spit out onto a remote path and past some local farms. It turned out that Rebecca enjoyed the adventure of such challenges as much as I did which was important because there were many such excursions waiting for us in our future.

The rest of the route was mostly trouble free other than having to lift our bike over a few fences to get to our final seaside camping spot. We warmed ourselves with a hot meal and enjoyed the peacefulness of our surroundings, content with the satisfaction of having powered ourselves, with our gear and food, all the way from Stockholm. The night was cold but our bulky sleeping bags kept us warm and the calming sound of the archipelago lulled us to sleep.

The next day was the return trip as this was a short one day experiment. We were fortunate to wake to sunshine and a somewhat mild, though brisk, April day. On the ride home we encountered varied terrain from grass paths, to smooth gravel , to heavy construction grade gravel roads. This was all good training as we learned to expect anything and understood that the distances we would cover would not always be easy. We arrived home a bit tired but with huge grins across our faces. We had survived, and at the same time , we both loved the experience. We were hooked, but planning for the next trip would have to wait since the kids had prepared Easter dinner for us!

Practice, practice, practice - Building our bikepacking knowledge.

We took on a few more one-nighters along known routes outside of Stockholm (three to be exact), and our setup as well as knowledge improved. Our first learning was to ditch the backpacks. Though backpacks offer a great deal of extra storage, they are not comfortable to ride with and add more weight up high on the bike which inhibits maneuverability. In addition, they can be hot and make for a sweaty back. To address the loss of our backpacks, we bought gear and made some of our own, adapting our setup to our needs and slowly improving with each trip.

These short overnight trips taught us what types of gear we really needed and what types of equipment we could live without. We learned which gear was too heavy, or took too much space, which clothes were comfortable, and how to maximize the usefulness of every item we carried. Quickly replaced were heavy sleeping pads, bulky sleeping bags, extra pans, and unnecessary clothes. Our gear list was further itemized and new metrics were added such as weights, and potential to be upgraded. We slept in forests, along the ocean, and in an old Nordic graveyard/ outdoor church (the first of the Christian influence in Sweden). Our bodies were adapting and we quickly learned how to save energy and what we were capable of. We got lost more than a few times and experienced many more hike-a-bikes as we learned how to find the best routes (watch out when using Strava heat maps). Now we were ready for the next step, a multi-night adventure.

Or first multi-day Bikepacking trip

We were finally starting to feel like real bikepackers. What is a real bike packer? Haha , I don’t really know but at least we were finally starting to get the hang of it. For our next adventure, we decided on a multi day trip. We would ride around a nearby lake, a four day trip riding around 75 km per day. As the trip approached, we double and triple checked out gear. We went through our bikes thoroughly. And we hoped….

We hoped that we would be able to make it a couple of days without nursing our sore arses. It was a test. A test of our planning, a test of our packing, and a test of our endurance. Would we pass the test, or would we fail miserably and give up?

Time for the gym, but I will get back to this soon ...