So how did you end up here??

[JRA]

It seems that those interested in bikepacking come from many different backgrounds.  Lots of MTB'rs of course, but there are those attracted from other endeavors as well.  Backpackers, runners, road cyclists, adventure racers, road touring cyclists, triathletes, and the list goes on I'm sure.

So what brought you to bikepacking.net?

For me, I've been a road and MTB'r since the early 80's and a backpacker since the 70's.  So bikepacking was kind of a natural progression I guess.

[bicyclehobo]

I am a bicycle tourist...mostly on road but I prefer riding an MTB. I travel with a minimal amount of gear and the advances I was seeing in 'bikepacking' bags really attracted me. I started searching for more info on 'bikepacking' and I stumbled upon this AWESOME community. I think I followed a link from MTBR to originally get here.

I return a couple times a week and look at the DIY sections. Some great info and sharing.

[nick]

Like this thread! I'm from the north shore, my back ground is freeriding, shore stunts, bike park etc... still ride the stunt and jumps but I don't go as big anymore, getting older now and pretty banged up after year of abuse. Got seriously hurt a few years back and kind of stumbled on this by accident.  Seems like a fun way to ride strait into retirement!

[wahday]

My experience with extended backcountry travel  is mainly from canoe tripping and to a lessor extent backpacking. Being that I live in an arid state and live to ride, when I learned about bikepacking I knew it was just what I needed. We also have some land out in the Zuni mountains that we purchased a few years ago and bikepacking gives me greater reach to explore the neighboring forest land than a day ride can.

[paulmissoula]

Can't recall exactly, though I've been interested in bike touring and backpacking for years. When I stumbled across this site a few years ago, it blew my mind. Love the community here, all the great trip reports, route info, DIY/MYOG posts, etc.

[fatman]

recently took up general (path, rail-to-trail) biking as "exercise"...and love it.  Flyfishing is one of my passions, and bikepacking fits in real well....

[Singlecell]

Quite honestly, following the crisis in Syria and the tension between the US, Israel, Russia, France, and Britain, I flew off the handle and decided to get into "prepping". Yeah... I know, my imagination is off the hook. Anyways, in anticipation of a crisis, I began building a bug out bag, incidentally, a lot of the contents in a bug out bag you would bring bike packing with you. Contrary to many preppers, I do not have a truck that I can just take off in. I HAVE been riding a bike every day for the last six years though and I dare say on two wheels, I'm one of the fastest things in a downtown urban city(Yes, even faster then a police cruiser, in fact I dare say I'd ride circles around them, I'm so comfortable with the urban cycling.)

Anyways, i wouldn't want a truck either. You need gas for a truck, which means you might have to kill or be killed. The idea is to survive. In an emergency their'd be traffic backed up everywhere. So fuel, access, stealth, price, and availability are the major key factors. ENTER: BIKE-PACKING

It really is the most efficient and easiest way to bugout. Every night I pass hundreds of cars on my bike, if not thousands, as they fall victim to grid-lock. This maneuverability, along with training to learn local trails makes the bike a very powerful asset.

So that's why i got into it. That, and I think bike-packing is an incredible concept. The independence of it.

EDIT- I guess what it came down to was this. A lot of preppers seem to exhibit some unhealthy traits. Hoarding all this stuff, thousands of dollars of equipment, for some terrible events to take place doesn't seem healthy. BUUUUT... if you have a kick-ass hobby which entails you to gather the same type of equipment, and to train, become more prepared, and to learn as efficiently as possible the best ways to disapear ona  bike... then that sounds like a great, fun, and full filling idea!

[corwin1968]

I've been into bicycle riding, with varying levels of enthusiasm, since 1995, all of it on hybrid bicycles because I didn't really want a dedicated road bike or mountain bike.  I've been really interested in bikes for the past couple of years and was bored and stumbled onto Salsa's "So Far to Go" video and was fascinated.  Shortly after I found "Ride the Divide" on Netflix and was hooked on the idea of this type of riding. 

I don't see myself bikepacking but I am interested in doing some day rides of this nature and maybe some credit card touring on unpaved paths. 

[WonderMonkey]

I have been looking into camping off the bike for a while and search good ole google and came across this place.  Looks like a wealth of information!

[roadpacker]

I've been mountain biking in parks since I was a wee lad, and I started bike touring about 3 years ago and got hooked from the first trip. Immediately I realized that there were ways to organize your gear so that you didn't have to dig to the bottom of a pannier to get each little last thing you needed. I thought it was a _huge_ revelation to attach a fanny pack to my handlebars for a pencil and some sunscreen. Then I discovered bikepacking bags. Imagine my awe. So I started sewing a lot of bags, endlessly snipping down what I was carrying, and feeling amazed that I could go from 8lbs in MOLLE bags strapped to an 8lb rear rack and going 25 miles a day, to a bunch of bikepacking bags and 160 mi per day.

[wunnspeed]

I started riding mtb exactly 20 years ago this year. I always enjoyed XC longer courses where you depended on yourself to get to the end. I was also an IMA rep. for many years in Missouri and love being outdoors. I also spent most of my youth as a single child so I don't mind being alone. Pit all those things together and you kind of get a bikepacker. I've followed the TD route since it was first established and the beginnings of people riding/racing the route. It took a long time but I did the TDR in '12 for my 50th birthday and Grenzstein last year. Since 2012 I've made and sold bikepacking gear as SpoK Werks and it's slowly growing. This year I am doing the Highland 550 and then bikepacking Alpencross with another member of this forum.

[KGBoundy]

Reading these posts is really nifty. thanks for sharing everyone.

In 2011 and i was 19, I Was Closing a Wendy's every night till the horrible hours, sputtering out in college, and spending my off hours laying on the floor of my room just listening the traffic through my window. It wasn't exactly a blast. Feeling irresponsible and afraid I quit everything, bought a Schwinn from wal-mart, bungied an ancient frame backpack to it, and spent a month just pedaling, not thinking of anything, not brooding, or hating everything, just pedaling.
   I have since gathered myself (somewhat), and have kept a love for bike-packing.  I love cranking up mountains, and neglecting the breaks on the way down. fixing my bike. pitching a bivy wherever i can. meeting wonderful people. fleeing from dogs. wrecking. sweating. occasionally cooking up some fresh roadkill. barfing my guts out. and drinking right out of the springs way above the trees in the mountains. I love all of it... except the cows...and the washboard.



Enjoy all your adventures this summer everyone.

[pedalad]

I've been moseying around these parts for years, just got dialed in and have only a few posts under me belt.
 
I meek out a living in the outdoor industry. i've worked in guiding, group facilitation/adventure/environmental education, and at a gear shop. I have always sacrificed time and money to get out and do stuff. I've skied, backpacked, mountain biked and climbed for years, and have only recently started combining some of these passions.

The GDMBR has been alluring for as long as I can remember. It has always seemed like the perfect trip for me, weaving through some of my favorite places in the country. Life has kindly aligned itself in a way to make this trip a reality this summer.

[mtn_cyclist]

 I have been cycling for...well...40 years. I have raced road bikes, Mt. bikes, triathlons, and been on almost every type of training and recreational ride that can be imagined. Road biking first but I was an early Mt. biking adopter as well. I have been on a few road type tours in the past and bikepacking seems a natural progression since my racing days are pretty much over. My son is now 16 and old enough to go on longer, harder rides. We did our maiden bikepacking trip on the Kokopelli Trail this weekend. Much more for the future.

[speedycog]

I've been MTB'ing since the late 90s and have had a love affair with bikes since my early childhood. As teenagers, my brother and I had a crazy idea to bike across the Rockies to Denver on our 3rd-hand half-broken down 10 speeds. Our parents saw the flaw(s) in our plan and put the kibosh on the trip.

Now as adults, we started tossing around the idea of our trip, but doing it on dirt. Sparks flew as I did more research—finding Jill Homer's blog and her details of riding the WM100 in AK; Mike Curiak and his adventures; reports from Joe Polk from GDMBR—the dream was officially ignited.

[iamrockandroll13]

I just kept riding my bikes farther and farther until it got to the point where I wanted to keep riding but I was too far away to turn around and make it back the same day. So I started looking into bikepacking. A friend if mine is a Tour Divide finisher and told me he learned a lot from this site, so I checked it out. Long time lurker, I finally decided to make an account.

[carthief]

This should really be in "introductions" but you asked, the short answer is it was the next logical step. This is just using two sets of gear in my basement at the same time. I recently purchased a new mountain bike after many years of road riding. Always liked to backpack. Riding from a trailhead to a nice place to camp sounds awesome. My time off now days is limited as I have two young children and my wife and I both work. So if I do manage a few days a year for a little 'me' time bikepacking seems like a lot of bang for the buck. So to speak. Hopefully this is something I can get my family into.

[Jonathan]

I'm a bicycle frame builder and have ridden and raced on everything from BMX to the Velodrome. I started getting interested in bikepacking myself after doing some touring and also because I had some clients approach me about doing some bikepacking events. The specific needs of the racers and tourers had me wondering how I could improve my mtb's for bikepacking racers and tourists.