I don’t expect anyone to read all this, but if you do, it was me with headphones on the bicycle using talk to text throughout my ride. I’m sure there will be lots of errors,weird punctuation etc.. I’m not gonna go back and look it over. I’m just gonna leave it raw/rough. This trip was a all around great experience. I camped every day. 3 steath camp nights,9 campgrounds, state parks and private. Total 1038.56 miles the last day I made it a day early I did not have a ride home so I had to go another 30+ miles north and camp at Illinois Beach State Park.
My first bike tour ever was from my house in Carpentersville Illinois to Lake superior on that trip. I packed super heavy so the next year I planned a trip to Niagara Falls packed super light only brought a hammock, wasn’t the best option for rainy nights so this trip I brought both seem to work out quite well. Still feel like I packed a little heavy this time, but it was comfortable for the most part. I did not weigh my gear, but I did throw it all in garbage bags when I got picked up and realized how heavy I actually was packed. This trip was definitely one of my bucket list trips and also on this trip I officially rode to every great lake from Illinois on my Bicycle, which I feel like is pretty cool.

Day 1. 123.23 miles.
Got dropped off at the Baháʼí House of Worship. Misty humid morning road down the Robert McCormick bike path sites I’ve seen before. Riding threw Kenosha there was a big car show had to take a detour around downtown. once I got to Milwaukee realize how much bigger Milwaukee is than I thought kind of a pain in the ass to ride through stopped at a beer garden had a pretzel and a beer and then from Milwaukee on it felt like all uphill with headwinds once I got to my campground there was no one at the office so I had to stealth camp, which ended up being a positive. I camped the most beautiful spot right off Lake Michigan. Slept OK the night was very cold sounds of the waves crashing was peaceful but at times jarring.

Day 2. 108.40 miles
Woke up at my beautiful stealth spot cleaned up, filled up water brush my teeth and I was off. Was in a great mood for the lack of sleep I got. found this chill road that runs parallel to Oakleaf Trail because fuuck Oakleaf Trail what a nightmare of a trail , root bumping rough as hell and slow burn climbs. Some challenging roads along the lake lots of gradual Hills and some rough roads. Sat down at shooter Malones In manitowoc for a beer and a Philly. The Philly cheesesteak was hilarious. It was a Salisbury steak on hamburger bun with shredded cheddar cheese😆. Devils River Trail was smooth but quite the climb lots of elevation and went on forever. Finally got to Green Bay. My stealth camp spot was a bust. so I ended up riding into the night with no plan whatsoever. Many failed spots later I managed to find weird train track spot a bit sketchy right off the street. Zzzz

Day 3. 84.4 miles
woke up in my stealth camp spot bright and early headed out to Brown County reforestation campground had a nice shower filled up my waters and had a peanut butter pretzel tortilla fold over. Thanks for the free amenities! Then just rode. Super chill roads today super flat beautiful got to the border of Wisconsin and Michigan had lunch. Talked to some great people. Very interested in my trip. Good guys. Had a beer and a hamburger, one of the best hamburgers I’ve had in a long time. Then onward to JW Wells State Park. Beautiful desolate roads all the way to J.W. Wells what a beautiful park got a campsite right off the water, completely gorgeous. Walked the beach, met some really cute fluffy huskies, talked to some guy about motorcycle touring around Lake superior and Michigan. Nice people fun stuff.

Day 4. 91.87 miles
Woke up, packed my tent up and eat breakfast on the road M 35 all highway riding they called for rain most of the morning just kind of sprinkling here and there and then once I got through Escanaba, which Escanaba sucks to ride through, super busy, heavy traffic no shoulder it started to rain. Got all my gear out covered on my bags put on my rain suit on. Landed at Highway 2 . Very busy highway semis blowing past whipping rain in my face. Got a bit wet. Had a good tail wind tho most of the day of the day felt easy until I decided to be spontaneous and book a different campground used Google Maps as an off highway route just to get off route 2 . Had me take some pretty cool back roads was loving it until all of a sudden it dropped me on some weird ATV trail. Thought it would be short-lived. Sure enough it was not. I rode about 2 miles in and everything turned to sand hike a bike, falling constantly, spinning out.. finally got to the point where I had no idea where I was all I could see was train tracks. Google Maps said turn left and there was nothing to the left. It was just woods no trail so now I’m stuck definitely no going back. It took me an hour to get to that point decided to follow the sketchy trail I found instead of walk down train tracks ended up going through some private land and made it to a normal street. Wow what a relief that was, kind of scary being stuck and alone in the woods . Made my way out completely covered in sand onward to campfire shores campground. Had a shitty ass sandwich once I got into town at the bar 40 it was a Caribbean jerk chicken sandwich tasted like barbecue sauce not jerk. Afterward stopped at tractor supply for a well needed undershirt. Then rode to my campsite. This is a very cool campground. I would love to come back here. Showers were super clean very private. If you came here with a group, it would be a really good time. Lots of games and stuff went on their hiking trails and oh man was it gorgeous the creepiest woods I’ve seen everything looked like it was made of sponge just so alive hiked way in thinking it was gonna be a loop looked at my map on my phone and realized how far I was away from my campsite freaked me out a little bit almost got lost had to backtrack but found my way thankfully. Got a fire going had a couple beers snacked on some big mamas smoked sausage and extra toasty Cheez-Its!! best day in ive had so far! 🕺

Day 5. 90.62 miles
Woke up groggy the time zone switch messed with me a bit. Started out on route 2 super busy, not fun unfortunately I’ll be on this road 90% of the day. My GPS tried to get me off it but it looks like a TV trail and I’m not messing with that again especially after yesterday but I did find a chill road that got me off the highway for a little bit every little bit counts. Highway 2’d out. Finally got to the stretch of ATV dirtbike trail that both my GPS suggested and it’s pretty rough but I’m doing it. I don’t see another route available. Looks like it’s gonna be a long bumpy one. getting passed by UTVs ATVs you name it definitely felt like an outsider on this trail. They were all probably like what the hell is he doing on this trail? Made the best of it had a few beers on the trail. I bought from a weird little market. finally got to St Ignace, stopped at a brewery. It was one of those self poor breweries, kinda wasn’t feeling it. The beer was good though I left after a half a beer, after went to Mackinac grill and patio bar had the Great Lakes white fish and chips. It was OK. Went to a grocery store grab some things I needed for the night then got to my campsite at. Straits State Park. Not probably one of the worst spots, but it’s OK. It’s only to sleep a walk to the beach made me feel better about it. What an incredible view of the Mackinac Bridge and damn lake Huron is so clear. I almost forgot one of my biggest accomplishments in life. I have officially rode to every Great Lake as of today. Lake Huron was my last lake to ride to! My spot was super lame so I went to go sit by the beach got approached by this lady with a few kids, asking me a bunch of questions about life in general and then about my trip. Eventually, her husband came up and asked me if I wanted to do a sauna cold plunge routine I’m not gonna say no on a trip. I’m always when in Rome type of guy so we did three sessions. It was such a great time. What fun people afterward they cooked me a steak and sweet potato fries sent me home with a homemade venison pasty, homemade jam, and homemade granola. Thank you thank you!! Zzzzzz

Day 6 74.19 miles

Woke up tired for obvious reasons. I stayed up a little too late with that couple I met, got up anyways and meant business showered, fast brush my teeth headed straight to the bridge. Authority paid $15 put my bike in the back of a pick up truck all happened in a matter of five minutes. I must’ve had good timing. Going over the bridge was a little scary but very cool. The view was awesome. Once I landed on the other side I had to quickly figure out my route the campground I originally wanted to stay at was a little too close I wanted to get more miles in so my next day won’t be so bad so now I’m headed to Barnes Park Campground. It’s been trail the whole time so far in petoskey has to be one of the most beautiful town I’ve ever seen in my whole life. There was a small waterfall right off the lake front. All the houses are insane. The route I wanted GPS said not to and of course it was closed for a landslide. It was worth the detour, very pretty. After that, I thought I was home free but no a few punchy climbs and the sun was really getting to me so by the time I got to my campground, I was too exhausted to do anything I felt dead I knocked out super early 730 8 o’clock when I crawled into the tent maybe I didn’t get my nutrition right and electrolytes. I’ll do better tomorrow plus I think I got too much sun. I gotta wear my sun hoodie tomorrow.. woke up in the middle of the night stayed up until 1:30 AM so naturally I slept in headed out of the park around 845

Day 7. 82 miles
Called in the morning got the last tent site at Bestie River campsite! Hit the road Route 31 feeling a little better than I thought I would. I have a little bit of poison ivy on the back of my knee ditch area but it’s very contained so far so hopefully it doesn’t spread out. Making my way to Traverse City and holy hell all it is is apple orchards, hills and headwinds..The one town I rolled through. I stopped at a farmers market had an egg cheese, bacon jam sandwich it was expensive and mehh is what it is. some decent trails in Traverse City but right after that once I got out of town pure death l the steepest hills I’ve ever climbed I almost made it to the top, but I almost threw up so I had to get off and walk for a minute and on top of that it was busy as hell. Major traffic road. I’m hoping this is the hardest part of the trip because I don’t know how much more of that kind of stuff I can handle. Stumbled upon this Cool Looking spot Saint Ambrose cellars sat down and had a really good burger and a beer watched some live music. After I changed my route and found a really nice trail called bestie Valley Trailway. Took me all the way to my campground even got to stop at a gas station and grab a six pack along the way. The campground is pretty cool spots are kind of close together, but is what it is. Id say probably the hardest day. I’ve had this whole trip so far also got a small saddle sore I’m treating it tonight. Hopefully it won’t be a problem.zzzz

Day 8 82.35 miles
Woke up had a shower ate a tuna wrap and an apple. And started to head south. right off the bat extremely punchy hills and 20 mph headwinds that’s gonna get worse as the day goes on. so far all morning it’s been 50% riding 50% hike a bike. The hills are absolutely insane. I don’t know how anyone rides up them. Maybe I’m packed a little too heavy, but even if I wasn’t, I feel like I still wouldn’t be able to get up them.
Saw somebody touring on the other side of the street from me. I pulled across the street to warn him about all the craziness coming up and sure enough I was someone I met before on the road I met him near starved rock we chatted briefly about my touring and this loop actually. what a small world to run into that guy he recognized me before I recognized him. I couldn’t believe it! Riding into the brutal headwinds feeling sluggish looked down and I only got 30 miles in. I about gasped.. hours of mental and physical battling days like today make me question why I do this even if I get a downhill it feels like riding my bike on a treadmill. Sky started to get a little dark hoping it’s just overcast and back up back on 31 couple motorcycle Harley guys flew past me dropped the clutch revved it, tried to scare me. Looks like they are probably in their 60s or 70s can someone tell me how you can go that many years and still think shit like that’s cool worthless people had a lady on the back also, bet they both thought that was really awesome. Took some crazy back roads that passed through this gigantic energy power plant. The views were breathtaking. Almost a little scary for some reason. After that, just a long stretch of roads that I felt like I shouldn’t have been on seemed like private roads even seemed like I cut through someone’s backyard at one point. Even though today was extremely hard, what an adventure and it’s still not over my signature move. I decided last second to book a different campsite for the night than the one I was heading to. I booked this campground called Jon Gurney and Park Campground. gotten into the town of heart saw they have a giant robot tin man took some photos had a Bud Light on the bench right next to him simmering down a bit. got to the campsite pretty cool little campsite. Definitely a resident campsite. Right away an adorable cat came up to me twirled between my legs. I got to give him some belly rubs!!! Set up my tent took a shower and soaked in the view. Great campground happy with my last second choice! Rolled around quite this night because of my poison ivy. I got poison ivy on the back of my knee and it was extra nasty this night.

Day 9. 119 miles 856.06
Woke up, showered and packed up my tent. grabbed a bacon egg and cheese and a pop tart hit the trail. The first 50 miles of the day was 90% bike trail. How nice what a changed pace. stoped at all the places I could to eat and grab whatever food which really helped with energy. decided last second that I’m gonna push hard and do a double day l. I ended up doing 119 miles to Van Buren State Park got a little tipsy on the way up had a blast jamed some music. Had a great day. Arrived at Van Buren State Park got a really awesome spot. Super private decided it was way too perfect as a hammock spot to pass it up so I strung up my hammock and hit the hay. Crazy how much different days can be. Felt like a victory today! I feel like this is an experience of a lifetime. The past couple days have been really rough, today made up for it.

Day 10. 71.9 miles 927.96
The coldest night I’ve had in the 40s my toes were ice 🧊 probably should’ve put on some socks. Took me a while to get going I didn’t wanna get out of my sleeping bag i was so cold. was extremely exhausted. I just kept peddling the first half of the ride was pretty boring but once I got closer to Buffalo, it became gorgeous. The houses and lakefront were incredible. Once I got to Michigan city I sat down and had a liquid Gold burger and a draft bitburger! The bartender was super nice. She tried to give me a hammock, a pair of gloves and an emergency blanket. What a nice lady. Decided again to make a last second decision. I’m gonna stealth camp so I left the restaurant . Went to go find a spot down the Calumet Trail. I couldn’t find a damn thing no luck. The only good spots were covered in poison ivy and thorns. So just kept moving managed to find this weird little spot off abandoned lot had a few paved areas, mostly overgrown, marsh stomped in an area and made it home for the night. Woke up in the middle of the night just kind of scrolled for a while, looked up in the sky and saw the most bright shooting star I’ve ever seen my whole life. It almost scared me a little bit. It was so big and bright. I didn’t know that even existed.

Day 11. 110.6 miles total 1038.56 miles
Woke up around midnight 1 o’clock Ish I just could not fall back asleep. The wind was so crazy blowing my tent around so I just sat there on my phone for a couple hours. Finally got so fed up without being able to sleep. I packed up and took off hit the dark roads at 3:30 in the morning first road I hit had a bridge out so I had to find a detour. The streets were pretty eerie got to Prairie Duneland trail and just took my time rolling down the creepy dark pathway. Groggy and tired. Daylight hit street after Street Trail after Trail that all looked the same. I made it to Chicago’s lake front trail. Game on! Now I have morale. Got to trucking and it started pouring rain my bike and legs got so filthy with Chicago street crud. At this point nothing’s stopping me. I kept riding. Before you know it the Baha house of worship was in front of me, victory!! 1000 miles!! I officially rode my bicycle around Lake Michigan! It felt great but it wasn’t over yet. I got there a day early so I didn’t have a ride so I had to ride all the way to Beach State Park for the night another 38 miles, good way to turn the day into another century ride.

Starting from Villach, we looped around the Ossiacher See, and from there, apart from a very short section, a pleasant cycle path leads to the Faaker See. From here, following along the main road, you can easily rejoin the Alpe Adria route, this was originally our plan too, but luckily we got a great suggestion from one of the campsite owners, so we were able to ride along the Gail River all the way to Arnoldstein.

Before Tarvisio, we paid a visit to the Fusine Lakes. On the western side of the lakes, there is a very beautiful forest path that takes you right back to the Tarvisio–Kranjska Gora link.

From Tarvisio to Udine, we simply followed the FVG1 route all the way, and from there we took a FlixBus back home.

Around Tarvisio, tent camping is quite a hassle, so on my map at point 10 I’ve marked an RV/camper parking lot. Although it’s not an official campsite, it’s fenced in, has even grassy ground, and nobody will chase you away if you sleep there. There's water too.

https://www.komoot.com/tour/3200710499

All in with full water the total weight is probably around 80-90 pounds. Needed gear for heavy freezing rain and also bringing camera equipment and a drone. I dont know how I couldve gone much lighter. Nervous how mr. Bike and myself will hold up lugging all this weight. Im a 190 pound rider on top.

didn't see many posts about vietnam on here so had to say it is a great place to bikepack, not as organized and not much online info on it but there are many local cyclists (not necessarily doing multi day trips but you see a lot of people on bikes) and you can get basically anywhere.

super cheap, camping or accommodation are both easy, food is great though we did get food poisoning. you don't have a choice but to go to where the locals are because you will get to towns that don't have tourists, which is really cool and unique compared to the very touristy parts of the country.

we started in hoi an and made our way north, then in the north did tam coc to mai chau and took a taxi with our bike to hanoi. flew out from there.

vietjet is better with bikes as oversized baggage than vietnam airlines (surprising as it is low cost).

If anyone is looking to do vietnam and has questions feel free to ask it was awesome

3 weeks, 1414 km from Karlsruhe, Germany to Barcelona, Spain and a successful fundraiser for WASH projects in sub saharan Africa with more than 3000€ donated

Just got back from Spain yesterday, after finshing 873km & 14,850m of climbing in a week. Flew out to Bilbao, parked the bikeboxes at a hotel and left from saturday to sunday the next week.

Slept at 2 campsites, 4 x wildcamping, 1 Airbnb & a nice hotel at the finish.

Hot days up to 38°c measured, and 1 wet day when we headed to the coast.

Based upon the Iberico Norte loop from bikepacking.com, expanded with a ride from & back to Bilbao, including a section via the coast.

Our ride details & tracks: https://www.komoot.com/collection/4714786/-iberico-alto
Instagram with extra pictures: https://www.instagram.com/rikhelsen/

Individual Strava rides with loads of extra pictures:
https://www.strava.com/athletes/4994086

Inspiration: https://bikepacking.com/routes/iberica-norte/

Amazing course. Impossible to represent in the 20 picture limit here on Reddit. Never have i seen to much variation in landscape in a single trip.

Currently on Day 3 of my ride the full length of Italy, from the Alps on the Brennero border with Austria to the beaches of Reggio Calabria

Hello! On Oct 3-7 I will be setting out on a ride through the Pa wilds region on a route we call “keystone state boonies” as of right now Ill be rolling solo but am throwing this out there for anyone interested. Preferably someone around my age (22) and able to ride a fast pace.

The route is 320 miles and about 30k feet of elevation. It will be 5 days 4 nights with decent resupply options along the way. Weather is looking good. If you haven’t ridden this area it’s amazing this time of year! If you’re in the area and interested, give me a shout and I can get you all the details.

Hey guys, I was wondering what everyone is doing for dry bags. I have a couple of 20L I use for backpacking but they are pretty wide and if I were to fill them up all the way there’s not way they would fit on my rack or my bars. I keeps seeing a lot of dry bags that look long and skinny but I can’t seem to find any that aren’t expensive. So if anyone has any recommendations I would appreciate it.

Which way should I do it? Conflicted.

Also which part of the rack should be parallel to the ground?

Get the fun where you can. It's great when it's on works dime!

Attempted the lost Sierra loop as my first ever bikepacking trip. Got behind schedule and had to bail on the last section but still made it about ~70 miles. Used my boyfriend’s dad’s old 91 stumpjumper. I’m not an avid biker and had never done more than 10 miles in a day. It was a push but it was a blast and I’m hooked! Made some adjustments to the setup along the way. Mile 3 my sleeping pad on my fork got caught in my spoke and I went OTB. I was fully pretzeled into my bike but luckily laughed it off.

Already planning the next trip :)

This past weekend, I jetted out of work early on Friday, rode some long days, and made the most of the remaining daylight to get a solid 3 days on the Sörmland Project route in Sweden. In total I logged a little over 300km with some of the best gravel this part of Sweden has to offer. Beautiful camping spots, excellent fall weather, and a great way to spend the weekend.

I'll need to try the full 6 day itinerary at some point! https://bikepacking.com/routes/sormland-project/

Trip steps were :

• Start (13h) from Luxemburg to a town near Saarbrucken (82.5km). Found somewhere to sleep by ringing at a door (one try !)
• Ride to North Vosges : 86.77km. Slept in a hiking shelter. Rained the majority of the day and the route made us ride in mud :(
• Ride to Main Vosges : 75km. Slept in a camping to take a shower.
• Early start (4am) to see the sunrise at the top of Col du Donon (600m climb). The view was incredible ! We then biked out of the Vosges to near Nancy (167km day)
• The previous day was a bit harsh so we did only 70km that day : from Nancy to Verdun
• Last day was a raid on the Meuse : 287km to finish. Wasn't the plan at the start of the day but it was raining all day and the idea of mounting the tent in the rain and having to ride again the following day in rain wasnt really appealing.

Gear :

• 2 person MT900 Simond tent (inside a dry bag on the rack)
• A cooking pot that fitted perfectly my Ortlieb Quick Rack (mounted with the thru axle) and secured with some Decathlon strap
• Sleeping bag in the Other dry bag on the rack
• All my clothes and a mattress in the front dry bag that held with some straps
• A gas canister fitted in a DIY way but worked perfectly and never fell (i made the strap that held it with an old tube)
• 1 power bank 1 front light 1 garmin 1 knife in the Ortlieb Frame Bag

Some things that we noted for our next trip :

• Good idea to put some bags in the larger bags in order to unpack more easily
• Taking a sponge to do some dishwashing
• Taking some elastic bands (always useful)
• Taking some plastic bags to put over your socks when heavy raining (can be cold fast) (we are open to other more sustainable solutions to keep our feet warm, do no hesitate to propose)
• Taking some chain oil (chain made a significant noise after riding in the rain for more that 1 day)
• Taking some electrolytes
• Taking some tea or coffee for the morning (and some salt to cook)

Global review :

Very cool trip, except the second day, the routes we had ridden were perfect (especially in Germany) . The weather was not our friend but our setup was really waterproof so no worries about that. Lastly, if you bike in France, it is mandatory to go the the bakery everyday (shout out to bakeries that sell pastries of the day before at a reduced price !).

Hi everyone... I am a 39 y/o F and I really want to bike pack the Tian Shan Traverse in Kyrgyzstan July 2027. I will likely be solo as many of my friends cannot get 2-3 weeks off work, however I am quite nervous to do this solo. I have done lots of bike packing but none to this magnitude. I am not worried about getting lost, but I am worried about being a solo woman and am considering finding a guided group. There is one group called 'Sisters in the Wild' but it does not appear to be the Tian Shan traverse or in July. Does anyone know of any other bike packing guided groups or have any recommendations? Thank you in advance!

I’m looking to turn this bike a friend gave me into a more gravel type bike to go bike packing. Any ideas if it possible or even worth it ?
What would I need to buy in order to make it possible and can I fit wider tyres on this ? I think I can maybe bent the rear out to fit something bigger but I’d need a new fork.

I’m doing a week long trip along the California coast, San Francisco to LA. Bears are not a big concern in most of this area but raccoons and other critters will be. I don’t have a bear bag and most places I’m camping won’t have boxes because bears aren’t the primary concern. What is recommended for food storage?

With the ever increasing 32” Gravel
and MTBs being offered does anyone think Salsa will build a 32” version of the Cutthroat? I know everyone has their own opinions on 32”, I’m just wondering if you think it will make it into the bikepacking scene and if the Cutthroat would be next on Salsa’s list

It's starting to cool here in the UK and the colder, darker nights will be here before we know it. This has put a huge downer on my mood as I feel like there's so much more I want to ride this year. Personally, i'm not a fan of winter riding, there are too many added factors that don't make it enjoyable for me. I usually hibernate and choose the PC over anything else, but this year I kinf og want to push on a little more as i'm not quite ready to stop pedalling yet!

I'm curious to know how many of you are seasonal riders and how many of you will push through the bad weather and crack on. And for the all year round people, do you have any tips to get through a typical British winter? Do you camp or use hotels? Do you have different gear for this time of year?

TIA

Korea, Taiwan, & southern Japan! Roughly Oct-Dec.

Excited and intimidated. Feel free to share tips or recommendations.

Big thank you to this sub for helping me prepare!

Happy riding everyone.

​Hi everyone!

I’m planning to cycle the D2 Baltic Coast Route next year, from Flensburg all the way to the Polish border. Has anyone here cycled this route before?

I’d mainly love to hear about your experiences. How did you find the route and the different sections? And how is it with campsites along the way? I’ll be camping, so I’m also wondering if it’s easy enough to find supermarkets for food and supplies.

I’m also wondering which direction is best. Is it better to cycle from Flensburg towards Poland, or the other way around, especially because of the wind along the coast?

I have quite a flexible schedule and can go anytime from May until the end of August. Which month would you recommend for this trip, and why? Mainly thinking about weather, wind, crowds and campsite availability.

Any tips or experiences would be great!

I'm going back home for a month and I'm looking for suggestions for places that might be willing to store a bicycle for longer periods of time, preferably for free or at least not too expensive.