GOYOUROWNWAY
A beginner's guide to adventure
“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” Ernest Hemingway
There is perhaps no sense of freedom comparable to adventuring by bicycle. With everything you need loaded on the frame of your steed, you can go virtually anywhere your legs will take you. It expands your world of options in riding. One thing I love about adventure cycling is that anyone can do it, no matter their level of skill – you simply adjust the plan to suit your own abilities. And, encouragingly, your fitness improves as you ride – and the adventures expand alongside your cycling capabilities.
‘Adventure cycling’ is less of a defined set of parameters, and more a state of mind. I started adventure cycling 10 years ago, following the traditional bike touring model of four heavy panniers on a classic steel frame, which I pedalled all the way from my home town of Calgary up to the beautiful north in the Yukon. I slept in my notquite-waterproof tent, ate peanut butter on everything, and followed the only road north, undulating through endless pine forests and Rocky Mountain passes. I had no prior cycling experience (unless spin class counts, which I felt it did!), and it was absolutely the hardest thing I had ever attempted. A month later, I rolled into Dawson City, almost incapable of believing what I’d achieved.
I’ve been hooked ever since, following the natural evolution to bikepacking and, ultimately, racing. I’ve enjoyed cycling adventures in over 40 countries and on a range of bike setups, including road, mountain and gravel. I’ve even been glamping one time (because my dad was with me). In 2018, I won the women’s category of the inaugural Silk Road Mountain Race, surely one of the toughest tests of bikepacking going, and in 2020 I did the same in the Atlas Mountain Race.
GET TING STARTED
Planning an adventure can be a daunting prospect, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. For your first-time journey it’s a good idea to try a local, well-known route for an overnight trip to test your kit and learn about life on the road, micro-adventure style. Consider it a dress rehearsal: pack your bike up with everything you need to take on your adventure, ride towards the nearest hills, camp out, and then pedal back in the morning. With at least one night out under your belt, you’ll be more confident planning that trip of a lifetime.
WHERE TO GO
This is the fun part and, for many, the desire to ride a certain route is probably the motivation behind starting adventure cycling. Personally, I lose many hours of my life looking at maps and daydreaming of places to go. If you don’t already have a destination in mind, factors to consider will be time of year, affordability, regulations (unfortunately, the world isn’t completely open), and level of difficulty in the terrain and culture.
Route planning can take a lot of time, or none at all, depending on your goals. If you have a tight time limit, I would strongly recommend focussing on your route, but if it’s more of an open-ended journey, I might not spend any time at all and just let the wind take me. Getting lost in new places has led to me discovering some of my favourite rides.
In planning your route, you’ll need to consider the practicalities of your daily life on the road (or trail). Where you will sleep and buy food are essentially your main focus of each day on a bike tour. You may want to plan these in advance, or at least know how far the distances between facilities are.
Of course, finding the best roads to ride is probably central to your mission. Looking at where others have ridden really helps in the process of trying to design a good route. Community-based route apps like Komoot are incredibly useful for searching highlights that other riders have already discovered, and are usually accompanied by photos and tips that will help you decide if the route appeals to you. It’s easy enough to plot a start and end point (often a train station, or even your front door), then simply look for exciting places on the map in between them and come up with a route linking those highlighted destinations.
WHAT TO TAKE
The best bike to take is the bike that you already have. With the evolution of bikepacking luggage, the notion
"IT’S EASY ENOUGH TO PLOT A START AND END POINT, THEN SIMPLY LOOK FOR EXCITING PLACES ON THE MAP IN BETWEEN THEM AND COME UP WITH A ROUTE LINKING THOSE HIGHLIGHTED DESTINATIONS"
that you need a ‘proper touring bike’ is no longer the case, and truly any bike that you want to ride will be acceptable. Comfort is probably the most important factor, but of course for an avid cyclist there will be a lot of personal choice within that. The style of bike may or may not dictate the style of riding, depending on your abilities and goals. Gravel riding is gaining a lot of popularity in the adventure cycling world due to the remarkable versatility of a bike that can be enjoyed both onand off-road.
As for your actual kit, go light – and then go even lighter. It’s remarkable how little you need to not only survive comfortably, but truly enjoy yourself, and the less weight you carry the more enjoyable the riding. Select your gear based on the likely weather, what you find comfortable and, of course, the essentials. Your packing list will fall into these easy categories:
• Clothing: Natural fabrics (like merino wool) will be much more comfortable than synthetic. Always have a decent waterproof, and also consider visibility. Two pairs of bib shorts, so you can wear clean ones every day and wash yesterday’s, is highly recommended.
• Camping: Your sleep setup might include a tent or bivvy, a sleeping bag and mat warm enough for the weather, and maybe a camping stove.
• Bike essentials: Basic maintenance tools and spares for difficult-to-find items if you’re going abroad.
• Technology: GPS, lights, phone, maybe a camera and some way to charge all these, such as a power bank.
ADAPTING YOUR ROAD BIKE
You don’t necessarily have to make any changes to your rig, if it is set-up the way that you like it. Depending on the clearance in your frame, the widest tyres you can fit (run tubeless, of course) will truly improve the comfort of long hours in the saddle. A good gear range is also valuable if riding many days in a row, because access to an easy ‘spinning gear’ will improve the longevity of your legs. Bikepacking bags mean that any bike can be used for luggage, although I would recommend putting some frame tape on first if you love your paint. Long-distance road tourers are often seen with aero bars, which aren’t truly for the aero – they’re more comfortable for giving your hands a rest, and also provide more space to strap sandwiches to.
PREPARING YOURSELF
You don’t necessarily need to train for a bike adventure, but that depends on your goals. When I did my first bike tour I was generally fit (as a runner), but had never cycled for more than two hours at a time. I left home with the idea that I would get fit as I went along, which really did work, but obviously made for a slow first week and a fair amount of discomfort getting used to sitting on a saddle for so long.
If you’re going on a shorter journey or have gnarly goals – like my most recent bikepacking trip to the Himalayas, which even on a short
day required pretty decent climbing legs – then a little bit of pre-trip fitness would be a wise plan. Probably more important than actual strength and stamina, it comes back to your comfort on the bike – long hours in the same riding position can be the hardest part, so I would recommend getting in a few longer rides regardless of your plans in order to maximise enjoyment and minimise saddle issues.
OVERNIGHT RIDES
Camping, glamping or ‘credit card touring’ – where and how you sleep is a personal choice. I love sleeping in a bivvy (basically a sleeping bag with a waterproof outer) because it offers the ultimate freedom in being able to pitch camp anywhere, and I fall asleep feeling very much at one with nature, looking up at (hopefully) a starry sky. The option for accommodation if the weather turns bad is something you should always budget for, though.
Finding a suitable place to camp can be a big anxiety in a bike adventure. In some parts of the world wild camping is illegal and you will need to search in advance for sites to sleep. In other places, like Scotland, wild camping is permitted and abundant. It’s always a good idea to plan your day ahead so you have some idea of where you’ll lay your head at night.
THE ROAD IS YOURS
If you’re an avid roadie, you don’t need to set any limits when you take on adventure cycling. In fact, the opposite is usually true. Carrying all your essentials on your favourite road bike is the ultimate opportunity to put in some of the biggest rides of your life. Revel in the simplicity: pack up your campsite at dawn then ride as far as you can before the sun sets again, letting your wheels eat up the miles.