For better or for worse, Mountain Bikes are our chosen tool to explore and experience the world. Over the years and through trial and error, we may have smartened up a little and learned first-hand what makes or breaks what seemed like a good idea. Those long rides are an ever-evolving thing led by curiosity.
More often than not; you simply won’t know until you go.
Bikepacking usually implies riding from point A to B while camping along the way. To me, it’s more of a form of travel which allows us to get to some incredible places. While bikepacking is really fun, it also means carrying all your gear at all times which can turn that amazing descent into a not quite as amazing of a descent. A compromise 10-year-old Joel, who spent his time hucking off curbs, wouldn’t be super stoked on.
This time around we ‘bikepacked’ as a means to get to the incredible place, ditch the gear, day trip from there and enjoy it for a little while; Basecamp style.
Might as well sleep in that honeypot and start our ride at sunrise off the top shelf, finish when we feel like it (sunset) and do it all over again the next day.
Packing the bags is always a bit of a procedure; things add up quickly and are heavy which makes riding rather difficult. Multi-purpose items are key, especially when it comes to clothes. How comfortable do you really want to be? Since we were only carrying all of our gear to approach and exit this time, we brought that extra block of cheese among a few other things that we’d usually leave behind.
Five or six hours of suffering for 4 days in paradise, we’ll take it!
The most important thing is to convince your friends to buy into your ultimate bike ride, that’s actually more of a vague hypothesis and an attempt to bring the right people to the right place. One of them will likely also have you covered for what you forgot on the kitchen counter or have an extra headlamp battery (and will never let you hear the end of it).
The place in question here is a mountain range in BC, Canada with a very promising combination selection of rideable terrain. Throw a nice alpine lake in the mix and it doesn’t take much to convince the crew of suffer-fest connoisseurs. While you never know what you get, the fact is that the mountains will make you feel one way or another.
“If this is it, we’re here. Does it matter? No.”
Each trip is different and in some ways informs the next one. This one loosely resembled what you see in ski films; Camping at the base with a panorama of ridable terrain, eating breakfast and sipping coffee while looking around for what to ride next.
We may call it a bike trip but more often than not, it’s the way the light creeps over the ridge while we’re riding along it, the bees buzzing in the wildflowers or the shape of a certain rock among millions, that stick in our memories like gum on the underside of a school bench. The sum of tiny details turns a simple ‘bike ride’ into a unique and very personal experience.
Going beyond the neatly marked and organized GPX tracks on the internet also means being 'ok' with a few unknowns. Helmet-drains and smiles per hour as the main stat and letting go of the expectation to be somewhere at a certain time. Flicking on aeroplane mode opens up a whole new perspective on what and who is immediately around you.
At the end of the day, there are as many different ways to go ‘bike packing’, as there are ways to ride a bike. Good ideas, bad ideas… It’s all subjective while the bad ones tend to make for good stories. Some of our previous bike rides would have probably been better hikes. If we labelled them as such, we would have probably never gone. Different approaches make for unique experiences. Choose your own adventure, find your speed and go look around that next corner. Just try to not forget anything on the kitchen counter.
The beauty of it is, that it’s whatever you want it to be. Slow down, Speed up.
