Words and images by Mark Watson Figuring Out the ‘Packing’ in Bikepacking Bikepacking can encompass rides from overnighters right through to multi-month tours, and consequently a lot of variation in the gear and supplies you carry. I like to adapt my setup to suit the type of trip as well as the length of my packing list. Following are a few tips for streamlining your … Continue reading Pack for the Ride
Words and images by Sarah Swallow “Embrace the journey, not the destination” – Ralph Waldo Emerson. My partner, Adam, and I crossed paths on the 2017 inaugural Baja Divide grand departure. Since then, our shared love for adventure and the sea has led us back to the Baja Peninsula and the Gulf of California every year. Nestled in central Baja is a spot we’ve grown … Continue reading Adventures in Baja
If you’re a bikepacker who’s used to touring speeds or social rides, and are considering racing, or even just some rides with longer days, this blog post is written for you. Continue reading How to go faster without pedaling (much) harder…
Words and images by Stephen Shelesky Equal parts joy, escapism, and self-therapy, I’ve found a lot of reasons to gravitate towards ultra-cycling. Since entering the sport less than two years ago, riding ultra has led me through one of my largest life transitions to date and increased my self confidence tenfold. Ultra takes many forms, bikepacking races being one of them. One of the pinnacle … Continue reading Bridging Identities During the Silk Road Mountain Race
Words by Mateo Paez. Images by Mateo Paez and Stephen Shelesky I am just home from 21 days in the Nordic territories, Iceland and Norway to be exact. Eight flights, four trains, seven buses and a few miles by bike in between, that is 1,343 miles/2,261 kilometers pedaled total. I am fortunate enough to compete in these events but also write about them, for the … Continue reading Ultra : Ascending & Descending – 21 Days beneath an Arctic Lunar Phase
Words and photos by Sarah Swallow Having fun together is vital to relationship satisfaction, according to the Gottman Institute. The research shows that the stress that couples experience must be balanced with a certain amount of connection and fun to build a positive relationship perspective. In other words, we need to have an archive of fun experiences so that when times are tough, those positive … Continue reading Bikepacking for Couples Part II: Strategies for Experiencing Joy and Managing Conflict
Words and photos by Sarah Swallow The setting was the Bolivian salt flats outside of Uyuni. The time was November 2019; Adam and I were one-and-a-half years into our relationship. It was the end of a month-long bikepacking trip that had started with getting stuck in La Paz during a coup d’état of Bolivia’s then-socialist President Evo Morales, and some of the most intense and … Continue reading Bikepacking for Couples Part I: Lost on the Bolivian Salt Flats, A Story
Words and photos by Andrew Mohama The last time I biked across the United States, my perspective of the bicycle began to shift. The bike is not just a machine continually optimized for efficiency and nimbleness; it’s a vessel for connection and understanding. What I remember the most from those 70 days of taking the scenic route 4,500 miles across the U.S. has nothing to … Continue reading The Bike Listening Tour: My Attempt to Reimagine Adventure
Words and images by Sarah Swallow If you are new to the world of bikepacking, you may be wondering what the difference is between bikepacking and bicycle touring. Theoretically, bicycle touring and bikepacking represent traveling by bike through a place but in different forms and fashions. While touring is used to distinguish between the pace or intention of a ride compared to racing, bicycle touring … Continue reading Introduction to Bikepacking: Tips, Tricks, and Pack List
Following roughly over 500 miles and nearly 40,000ft of winding up and around the Westfjords of Iceland, I am still trying to process one of the most impactful weeks I’ve had in the outdoors. But this bikepacking trip wasn’t just a one week ordeal—it was a compilation of nearly one year of dreaming, planning, and connecting the dots. So let’s look back at how it all began. Continue reading Bikepacking the Westfjords Way in Iceland
