Bikepacking

Bikepacking is multi-day cycling where you carry everything on the bike — no support vehicle, no sag wagon, no hotels. You sleep where you stop: campgrounds, dispersed sites, bivvies under trees.

The gear mounts directly to the frame in soft bags rather than on racks. A framebag in the triangle, a seatpack behind the saddle, a handlebar roll up front. The bike stays nimble enough for singletrack while carrying 20-30 pounds of shelter, sleep system, food, and water.

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Traditional touring uses panniers on racks — 60+ pounds of gear, optimized for pavement and long distances. Bikepacking borrows more from backpacking: go lighter, go rougher, cover less ground but see more of it.

The terrain opens up. Fire roads, gravel, doubletrack, light singletrack. Routes that would destroy a loaded touring bike become possible. You can link trails together into multi-day loops that never touch pavement.

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The appeal is self-sufficiency at speed. Everything you need fits on two wheels. You move faster than hiking, slower than driving. The distance you cover in a weekend — 80, 100, 120 miles — puts you somewhere genuinely remote without requiring a week off work.

Leave Friday after work. Sleep in the backcountry. Return Sunday with tired legs and a clear head.