Finding Travel By Bike: A Guide To Bikepacking And Cycle Touring

Bikepacking is and does what it says on the tin. Backpacking on two-wheels, with bags strapped to your bike rather than your… back. A multi-day cycle trip carrying minimal gear and sleeping rough along the route in pursuit of good times found from the saddle.

Passenger Ambassador, Hailey Moore is here to give the lowdown on route setting, equipment gathering and space-saving packing tips. She’s worn down tred the world over and has (saddle) bags of experience and a good few stories from the road. If you take just one thing away from this Bikepacking Guide, let it be that “the best bike is the bike you have”.

We get that a solid rig—we’re learning the lingo—is an expensive piece of kit and lycra isn’t everyone’s first-choice wear. We lean towards loose-fitting and less revealing ourselves, but if you’ve got the gear—clip-ins 'n' all—there’s space around the table. Or if you’re completely new to the world of Cycle Touring, feel free to pull up a chair. Just don't expect a Passenger bibs-and-jersey kit anytime soon…

Get well acquainted with Hailey over a few Qs and a mug of strong black, here.

Written by Hailey Moore 

My path to cycling was very ordinary. I learned to ride a bike the way that most kids probably do: at age 6 or so, in a park, at first with training wheels and then graduating beyond them. There are photos from these practice sessions with me in the foreground—hair and handlebar streamers windswept, eyes wide and mouth agape at my newfound agency—and my stepdad just a few paces behind me, jogging to keep up, there to extend a saving hand if I lost my balance.

Through high school, I continued to use bikes in this way: as an exercise in agency that, as I got older, allowed me to venture further and further from parental safety nets. As a teenager, bikes allowed me to make small transgressions which felt like a fundamental outlet for my increasing desire for independence. Riding home from a friend’s house, I could choose to meander, listening to my iPod while taking the long way round. On a very few occasions—when the as-of-then-untermed FOMO was too much to stand—I’d slip my bike out of our storage shed under the cover of night and carry it across the lawn so as not to make a sound, and pedal off into my after-curfew-hours (sorry mom!)...

On a more regular basis, I thrilled at finding cutty routes to my part-time job on the weekends, stopping for a coffee on the way only to arrive sweat-soaked and late before spending the first five minutes of my shift standing in the walk-in cooler. I was an impatient kid and, by extension, an impatient driver. While I frequently grated against the slow flow of traffic, commuting by bike allowed me to pour all of the pent-up energy into the pedals and at least have the perception that forward motion was under my control. It’s really hard to pedal a clunky hybrid faster than the speed limit, but it felt cathartic to try.

Riding bikes didn’t feature heavily in my college and directly post-college years. I spent my undergraduate tenure in a small mountain town and the area’s lack of commuting infrastructure combined with the steep gradients of the streets turned my stocky hybrid into a one-way vehicle that I’d turn to in desperation to whiz down the hill to class, but I’d more often join my bike-less roommates for the return and walk it back up to our apartment at the end of the day. I sold it—probably for the price of a tank of gas—in 2014 before leaving town. It would be two more years and a couple of road-trip crossings of the continental US before I owned a bike again.

My commuter's instinct kicked back in when I moved to Boulder, Colorado, in late 2016 and before too long I bought a heavy-geared singlespeed commuter. I like to joke that I came to bike touring via commuting, and that my commutes just kept getting longer and longer. But there is truth to this: before I had a dedicated touring bike, I once borrowed a friend’s bike (and another friend’s panniers) to ride 30+ miles down to Denver for a three-day work conference. Though the ride through Denver’s surrounding suburbs and the city itself was far from scenic, during this trip I found the intersection of the bike as a tool for function and freedom a revelation.

I started doing more “long distance commuting” in the fall of 2018, with my long-term partner, riding a big loop around Pikes Peak (Tava Mountain) and another big loop around Moab’s White Rim. Since then, I’ve completed dozens of bike tours—across the US and internationally—and have competed in a handful of bikepacking events. Along the way, I’ve gotten many questions about the gear I use, how I plan my routes, and the semantics around bike travel. Below, I’ll try to address a few of the most common questions I receive:

There is some ongoing semantic debate over the definitions around the terms bikepacking and bike touring/ cycle touring. Bike touring predates the more modern portmanteau “bikepacking” and, historically, referred to multi-day travel by bike with cargo in the form of front and rear panniers that could only be attached to the bike via front and rear metal racks.

My understanding is that bikepacking surfaced in the early 2000s when companies started designing “soft mount” bags that could be attached directly to bike frames without hardware, thereby saving weight, reducing the chance of cargo-induced mechanicals, and allowing bikes to travel on more technical terrain where metal hardware was sure to be a liability. The more fast-and-light bikepacking aesthetic also led to the term being tied to self-supported endurance cycling races—multi-day or even multi-week—that started to gain more widespread recognition at this time.

While the term bikepacking has largely eclipsed bike touring when talking about multi-day bike travel in popular parlance, some stickler language hold-outs might still stipulate that bike touring and bikepacking represent opposing mindsets: the former being a more relaxed affair, while bikepacking intrinsically has a more competitive and/or fast-paced connotation.

“The best bike is the bike you have” is a commonly deployed response when the conversation veers toward bikepacking or bike touring setups, but I think it’s a sage one for those just starting out. Cycling—of any stripe—can quickly become an expensive hobby if you’re always chasing the latest and greatest. 

Any bike can be a touring bike, if you accept and work with its limitations. For example, if an old road or cross bike doesn’t have rack mounts you’ll have to be a little more creative in how you strap on your stuff, but fortunately many companies today offer workarounds.

No fork blade or rack mounts? King Cage’s Univseral Support Bolt lets you add cargo mounting points to metal fork blades and companies like Old Man Mountain Racks and Tailfin now have products that work with a (modified) axle for running front or rear racks. Bike bag companies exist in excess today, from bespoke local makers to REI brands, (I am gladly an ambassador for Swift Industries, one of the OGs in the space) so finding the luggage itself to pair with your bike should be no problem. Borrowing gear from friends and looking at second-hand sources are also both great options for simply getting out there for the first time.

I’d suggest using whatever bike setup is most accessible to you first and taking it on a couple trips before trying to make significant upgrades to your gear. The best way to learn your preferences, for both gear and cycling routes, is simply through exposure. If you find yourself drawn to seeking out more technical and/or singletrack lines, investing in a touring-focused hardtail might be the way to go. Alternately, if you’re more inspired by smooth surfaces and covering more ground, an All-Road or svelte Gravel bike may provide the sleek platform you’re looking for.

Regardless of the bike you land on for touring or bikepacking endeavors, I think there are a few generalizations that will improve the experience. Frame material is an important consideration: metal frames made of steel or titanium generally offer a smoother, more comfortable ride than carbon, though they tend to be a bit heavier. A steel or titanium frame paired with a carbon fork can provide a nice balance between ride quality and weight savings and—again generally—metal frames tend to have a longer lifespan. Any frame that is painted will benefit from some clear frame tape in the spots where your bike bag straps will rub (a few places on the top tube and down tube, and possibly the head tube) so as to prevent excess wear in these areas.

Tire width for touring and bikepacking should also differ from daily riding in most cases: wider tires offer more stability in steering on a loaded-down bike and also help absorb more bumps on your route—road seams, corrugated gravel, etc.—which can help alleviate the stress placed on your contact points (hands and rear). Lastly, I’m of the opinion that the modern upgrades in tire and brake tech have drastically improved the experience of traveling by bike: disc brakes have significantly more stopping power than rim brakes (a non-trivial concern when your bike has 10-20 lb of extra gear) and tubeless tires offer extra insurance against punctures on the trail.

Once you’ve determined what you can carry and how you plan to carry it, let the setup you’ve created guide where you ride. To revisit the old road frame or cross bike example, those steeds will serve you best on paved or (very smooth) gravel routes. 

My gear list looks almost exactly the same whether I’m going out for an overnighter or a week-plus trip. I might bring a few more creature comforts for a bike tour versus a bikepacking race, but I try not to shave too many essentials (or, on the other hand, overburden myself) because I want to feel prepared for all expected weather and situations. I do feel like I can get away with bringing a little less for routes that I’m already familiar with here in Colorado, and/or routes that pass through towns more frequently. For remote riding, or routes in unknown regions, I might err more on the side of caution. 

• Repair Kit: small hand pump, multi-tool, extra tube, valve core remover, 1-2 CO2 cartridges dynaplugs/bacon strips or other tire plugs and tire boot; chainbreaker, chain tool and spare links; duct tape, super glue, and heavy needle and thread (for sewing sidewall tears, if traveling in run-out sections of backcountry). Might carry extra derailleur hanger depending on the situation.
• First Aid Kit
• Toiletries (don’t forget the sunscreen and chapstick!)
• Electronics: extra battery pack for charging; phone; Garmin Edge 1040 Solar bike computer; headlamp and bike lights (dynamo front hub and beacon, or mountable bike lights); headphones; all necessary cords for charging.
• Sleep Kit: Sleeping bag or 20F quilt, bivy sack or tent and a ground cloth. Overheard tarp depending on the season and location (if not packing a tent).
• Extra Clothes: Light packable wind jacket; synthetic or down insulated jacket; rain jacket; rain pants (only if I am really concerned about a chance of precip, or it's a cooler season); light and/or heavy gloves (depending on season); down pants (depending on season); merino leggings and a light merino long sleeve; beanie and neck gaiter (depending on season); extra socks. (Aside from warm and waterproof layers, I tend to only bring a change of clothes for sleeping, but if you’re traveling by bike and plan to do any traditional tourist things, you might consider bringing an extra change of casual clothes and sandals/shoes .)
• Food and Water: The amount of water capacity I plan for depends largely on the route; I have toured with as little as two 28 oz bottles and as much as 4 liters. Carrying a water filter or water purifier is always a good idea unless your town hopping in a densely populated area. I used to only carry a JetBoil stove about half the time for touring (mostly for hot coffee and quick hot dinners), but more recently I’ve been going even lighter with MSR’s Pocket Rocket single-burner stove and a titanium camp cup for heating water. This limits my camp meals to “add hot water” fare and instant coffee in the mornings, but it works for me.
• Extras/Luxuries: Sony rx100 point-and-shoot digital camera or 35mm Olympus film camera; journal

Once you’ve determined what you can carry and how you plan to carry it, let the setup you’ve created guide where you ride. To revisit the old road frame or cross bike example, those steeds will serve you best on paved or (very smooth) gravel routes.

Fortunately, the digital age has made it easier than ever to find existing touring and bikepacking routes: websites like The Radavist and Bikepacking.com regularly share vetted routes, while apps like Ride With GPS and Komoot are dedicated to route planning. To get started, evaluate the capabilities of the bike you plan to take out and let your setup dictate the terrain. If you're rocking ample rubber and feel like the mixed-surface world is your oyster, you might plan your route around a specific destination that you'd like to spend time in (i.e. a quaint mountain or coastal town, or a big city—just look for safe bike paths to enter the latter).

Alternately, I am often inspired by impressive geography; a route that I scouted and shared in the summer of 2023 circumnavigates one of Colorado's most iconic mountain ranges . If you decide to take on an established route, be sure to have the GPX downloaded in multiple places in case one of your devices fails—and, of course, a paper map/cue sheet is always fool proof.

If starting from the ground up, most apps like Ride With GPS, Komoot, and Strava offer cycling-specific heat layers so you can see where others have ridden. Regardless of your route-planning approach, it's always a smart idea to highlight bail points, or shortcut alternatives, along the way in case the trip doesn't go according to plan and, of course, make sure that you're familiar with the spacing between resupply resources and camping opportunities.

• The best bike (to start with) is the bike you have!

• Ask others about their experiences and what they’ve learned along the way.

• Don’t overburden yourself with tons of supplemental gear; packing efficiently will make the miles more enjoyable.

• Loaded bikes are heavy and take a little getting used to; be more conservative in your daily distance goals to adjust for the slower riding, try to set fluid expectations, and start with routes that can be adapted so you don’t feel stressed if you’re getting “behind.”

• You may find you want to adjust your position on the bike to sit a little more upright by raising the handlebars to create a more comfortable position.

• For touring, I prefer to ride in casual shorts vs. bibs paired with a well-worn leather Brooks saddle to avoid saddle issues that come with moisture and bacteria build-up in chamois.

• Getting frustrated by the conditions—rain, wind, washboarded roads, mud, etc.—is a waste of energy and will not change the situation. This is a lesson that I have had to relearn many times, but trying to keep a positive mental attitude is the best defense you have against the unexpected.

• Be sure you have your route saved on at least two devices and/or also have a way to navigate if your electronics fail/die. 

What is bikepacking?

Bikepacking is a form of cycling that combines all-terrain cycling and backpacking, strapping your gear to the bike and heading out on a multi-day ride solo or with a solid crew.

What's the best bike for a bikepacking beginner?

“The best bike is the bike you have”, some sage advice from Hailey for those just starting out. Cycling can quickly become an expensive hobby if you’re always chasing the latest and greatest. Any bike can be a touring bike, if you accept and work with its limitations.

How do I pack for a bikepacking trip?

It’s worth first thinking about the weather, terrain, and how long you’ll be on the road. Depending on your gear setup and available space, Hailey’s essentials list is a solid start:

• Repair Kit: Small hand pump, extra tubes, chain tool etc.

• First Aid Kit: Blister plasters, paracetamol, bug spray etc. 

• Toiletries: Suncream and chapstick

• Electronics: Battery pack, phone, bike computer, headlamp and bike lights

• Sleep Kit: Sleeping bag, bivy sack or tent, ground sheet and cover

• Extra Clothes: Light packable wind jacket, waterproofs, thermal layers etc.

• Food & Water: Water bottles, single-burner stove, coffee and instant dinners

• A Few Extras: Camera, journal and a good book

What are the differences between bikepacking and bike touring?

Some stickler language hold-outs might argue that bike touring and bikepacking represent opposing mindsets: the former being a more relaxed affair, while bikepacking intrinsically has a more competitive and/or fast-paced connotation.

Are there bikepacking routes suitable for families?

Yes, there are some epic bikepacking routes that can be done with the little ones. It’s worth scouting routes that are traffic-free, mostly off-road and good for beginners (with minimal climbs). In the UK, the Devon Coast to Coast ride is a winner, it’s a 100-mile, 3-day pedal that’s part of the EuroVelo 1 - Atlantic Coast Route. For US riders, the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route is well worth checking out. It’s a 2 to 3-day ride with a full write-up from Cass Gilbert that covers distance, difficulty levels and route setting.