How to pack for your first bikepacking or touring trip
If you’re here because you typed “how to pack for bikepacking/touring” in your search engine and you want to learn how to pack for your first trip, you’ve arrived in the right place but you’re asking the wrong question.
The only answer to that question is a big ole, it depends. There isn’t a single right way to pack a bike for your trip. Whatever gets you out there on two wheels, is the right way, final answer. Don’t let gear-talk or the number of options overwhelm you. Believe it or not, a functioning bike and a backpack with a working zipper could do, would I recommend? Probably not (been there, unreliable zippers reserve a special place in hell). The secret that biking blogs and youtube channels don’t want you to know is that, you, are the only person who can accurately answer your search inquiry.
An important question to ask yourself is, what kind of experience do I want to have on my bike trip?
There is no wrong answer to the experience you want to have. There is a spectrum of answers and where you land on that spectrum will indicate how you pack and what you pack. For this exercise to work, you have to think literally. Once you have the location, route and number of nights nailed down, here are some guiding questions:
How physically comfortable do you want to be? Do you value creature comforts or cherish roughin’ it?
Do you like feeling agile & nimble? Or do you appreciate the stability of a tank?
How fast do you like to be? Are you competitive in the saddle?
Do you get bored in the saddle and just want to get to point B? or does point B matter a little less than the getting there part?
How often do you check your Garmin for pace? (if you don’t have a Garmin watch, that qualifies as an answer)
Do you like parking and exploring on foot?
Now that you’ve gone through my little biking assessment. You’ll see some of these questions bleed into others while some can directly impact your trip plans, but the essence is that you are in control.
“It is up to you to curate the ideal trip, FOR YOU”
Example #1: Say you prefer to have your creature comforts with you on this trip. You want the Rumpl blanket and your moka pot with an air-sealed container of your favorite beans for the perfect morning brew. Then accept you will have a heavier set-up. A heavier set-up means more bags, means more packing means slower ride, means awesome campsites and longer mornings. And that is perfectly okay, speaking from experience, it is liberating to not care about pace and treat myself to my perfect cup of coffee every sunrise.
OR
Example #2: Say you’re excited about absolutely sending it on the route you’ve planned. You want to feel the wind on your face, the bugs in your shades and spike your adrenaline as you race to point B. This kind of energy always gets me up for those pre-sunrise starts. Then accept you will travel minimally. A minimal set-up means less bags, means less packing, means fast speeds, means more sacrifice.
My next trip: I’ll walk you through a real-time example. In a little under 6 months, my partner and I will be cycling the Ring Road around Iceland. The Ring road is a total of 820ish miles, which we’ll cover in a little over 2 weeks.
What kind of experience do I want to have?
I want to be care-free, have the options for route changes and explore.
This won’t be a race and I have the luxury of having over two weeks to complete the trip as oppose to 7 days.
With time in my favor, I want to be pretty luxurious on this one and embrace the creature comforts.
I’ll have tons of interest points pinned through the route and will want to hop of the bike and explore.
Are you seeing what I’m seeing? With time in my favor, I will have more days on the saddle but less miles each day. I will be slow and heavy to accommodate for ‘extra’ things like normal shoes to easily put on during pit stops If I don’t decide to ride flat pedals all together. So with that in mind:
I’ll want panniers, possibly in both the front and rear. Those will most likely become black holes by day 5 of my sleep system, kitchen, food and clothes.
I’ll want a frame bag to hold easily accessible food while riding and essential bike tools.
I’ll want a small top tube bag with my point & shoot camera to capture all the moments on and off the bike.
I’ll want a handlebar bag for miscellaneous items.
Lastly, I’ll want a small backpack (under 25 liters) with a hydration reservoir and all the daily carry items I would need to hop off the bike and hike a trail or have lunch at a quaint cafe and not mess with my ride.
This one is on you my friend, but I’m here to help you figure out the right questions so you can make your trip happen. I am stoked for you! The first time the bikepacking bug bit me I was cycling across the U.S. and I haven’t stopped itching it since.
