What happens when you combine hiking and camping with biking? You get something called bikepacking. It’s exactly what it sounds like…a sport that involves putting packs and gear onto bikes and riding into an adventure. If the first image that pops into your mind when you hear the word ‘bikepacking’ is a cyclist chugging along the shoulder, loaded up with four panniers, one on each side of both wheels, you’re forgiven.
That’s bike touring.
It’s been around for ages and people are still very much traveling this way. But in recent years, there’s been an uptick in the number of people swapping out panniers for other types of bags, frames and surfaces. If bike touring is the grandfather of bike adventures, then bikepacking is it’s cooler, lighter, grittier offspring. It’s what fastpacking is to backpacking. And it’s here to stay.