What's up with the pain & endurance aspect here?

[afk314]

Hi everyone,

I love bikes and I love being outside.  I'm in Idaho - I camp, I fly fish, I walk.  I also love to ride my bike in town (Boise) to work and everything else.  I went a few years sans car and rode my Riv or Big Dummy for everything.  I suppose I am trying to establish some minor bona fides that I can see myself digging bikepacking.

BUT... the only person I know who does these trips does them in epic ultra-endurance, high miles, high-pain, style.  I thought it was just him.  So I wanted to come and see what the real-deal bikepacking culture has to say and I found this forum.  Which seems very authentic and dedicated.  I like the place already.  However, I'm finding more of this "21 hours of riding" sort of stuff.  I don't get it.

Here' what I am looking to do - take my bike backpacking.  Spend 3-4 hours riding (max) and have my bike carrying an ultra-minimal camping setup and my fly gear.  I'm hoping I can reach more distant pieces of water with more fun getting there.  Sounds like a win-win.  But I'm not seeing many other posts that are emphasizing the aesthetics and even practicality of bikepacking -- why not?

-adam

[niknak]

I can't answer your question about why this forum seems dedicated to the extreme aspects of this niche sport, but I will encourage you to take your bike camping. It's a blast, even if you're only riding for 30 miles before calling it a day on the bike.

The great news is you live near a ton of potential rides where you can end the day soaking in a natural hot spring. Check out Adventure Cycling's new Idaho Hot Springs loop right in your backyard.

[mbeardsl]

I think a lot of the guys pushing hard do it because they want to take advantage of the little time they have off.  Also that group of folks probably talk about it more than the casual folks. 

I'd bet there are lots of guys out there doing what you're talking about but they don't necessarily rush to blog about it or post about their 30 mile trip when others are talking about 21hr rides, which is too bad as it'd be nice to see what other mortals are doing.  I'm somewhere in the middle where I enjoy long rides but not much more than about 8 hrs.  I'd look forward to trip reports from you.

[james-o]

Hi Adam, I'm with you there, as well as spending time testing myself on the other side of it all. I have just got a small-pack rod and reel with the intent of not making my next ride too much of an endurance test. I swear if I ever get to ride in Montana again it'll be with the aim of riding, camping, drinking beer and catching trout, I just needed to itch the endurance itch first to be able to go back to the riding and pass-timing I used to enjoy more.
Would be good to see a touring, slow-pace, take it all in balance on here. Picture-post trip reports and sunset fishing spots will be appreciated here so post them up!

[evdog]

With bike packing you cover ground a lot faster than hiking, so you can get pretty far "out there" in a short time even on a shorter ride.  Of course you can also put bigger routes together that include trails which are too long or too hard to connect as a day ride.  Bike packing increases your ride options and opportunities for adventure exponentially over day rides regardless how far you want to go.  Definitely doesn't have to involve lots of pain and suffering. As was said above maybe more people don't post up because their rides would seem pretty tame compared to the death marches some people throw down.  I wish people would post up more, I like the reports on small trips as much as the big ones, but I think it just comes down to many people not taking the time to write up their adventures - it is time consuming.

[Area54]

Adam, welcome to the site.

I think racing and laid back 'packing is about 50/50 on the site, just depends what time of year you tune in! As you'll find on here, there is plenty of tech, races, trip reports, S24 chatter and high quality BS

[Mike McElveen]

Adam,  thanks for keeping us honest!  I agree with the above comment that the most enthusiastic posters may be the racers.  Having said that, there can develop an itch, as James-O alludes, that you may need to someday scratch.

You may find more of what you're looking for over at Crazyguyonabike.com.  It's full of journals of non-race bike packing trips with helpful info including great photos.

[sfuller]

I think there's a good mix of folks on the site as well. With Tour Divide and the Oregon Outback under way, the level of racing talk is going to be fairly high. Personally, I love riding long distances and challenging myself AND I love taking off for a S24O -  riding 30 - 40 miles, camping, then heading home the next morning. Depends on the time of year and what I'm doing.

[wahday]

There are plenty of us less extreme recreational bikepackers!! Just went for an overnighter this past weekend. A little shy of 50 miles  in total for the entire trip (so about 25 each day). Even that was a bit ambitious given our time constraints. With over 5000 feet of climbing, we were plenty whupped and we spent the rest of the time exploring, relaxing, taking pictures, etc. We actually returned exactly 24 hours after we headed out almost to the minute.

Do it how you want and don't be afraid to go solo if you have to. No reason to kill yourself if all you want to do is have a chilled experience...

[John G]

I think lots of us take it easy.  My motto is "Half the distance, Twice the time.

[iamrockandroll13]

Hi Adam,

Welcome to the site and welcome to the bikepacking community. I think the answer to your question lies in how we arrive at bikepacking as an activity to pursue. I believe that there are a lot more people out there like you that just want to go out and enjoy the experience and do it their way and aren't motivated by competition, either internal or external. On the other hand, there are many of us that are motivated by competition, be it racing or just trying to find what our personal limits are.

I feel like a lot of cyclists come to bikepacking from an endurance background out of necessity. I had to learn bikepacking because I started wanting to go on rides that would result in me not making it back home or to the car before I needed to sleep. What I was doing wasn't touring, I knew that, but it wasn't just endurance riding anymore either.

Through those experiences I discovered that just riding out into the wilderness and camping out was fun, even if I didn't have to do it. I started doing a lot more sub 24 hour overnights and shorter rides to camp out and then ride again in the morning. What I found was, I suddenly had friends that were interested in joining me. 20 miles of mountain biking to a cool scenic place to camp and then 20 miles back is appealing to a lot more people than doing 130 miles a day for 3 days. I found that I like both types of bikepacking and that the things I learned from one type of bikepacking benefited me in the other. There is room for both mentalities for sure but it is good for you to give us all a little reality check during this time of year when Tour Divide and Trans Am are both running and everyone seems to have ultra racing fever. I think we can all agree that the people participating in those sorts of events are inspiring but it's important to remember that those sorts of rides do not appeal to many people.

[VERDUG0]

Hello Adam,

I don't post that much as I don't have any kind of experience worth sharing, but I'm one of the slow ones...
2-4h riding, with many water breaks, and snacks.
Then I pitch my tarp.

End of the day for me

[Krampus Snail]

Another slowpoke here. I'm awed by the people who do the Great Divide in 20 or 25 days, or less. I'm thinking I'll be taking around 80 days when I ride it next summer. I'm not in a hurry, and even if I were in a hurry I wouldn't be fast.

I come to bikepacking from bike touring on the road. I'm not in a hurry when I tour on the road, either.

[jcmuellner]

S24HO and such are wonderful. While I toy with the idea of doing TD and longer trips someday, currently time warrants shorter gigs. My background is in road touring, MTB and randonneuring, so I enjoy long endurance rides, but just being out one or two nights is fun too. Recently enjoyed a nice mixed gravel/pavement/trail ride in the Olympic Mountains to a solstice party where I camped with friends. Was the perfect weekend, very relaxed. Nearly all routes are mixed surface as I like to ride from home & it's a good 25 miles to the Olympics, but it's always a nicer start to the trip. Plan on doing another very soon.

[Flounder]

I came to cycling as a wee tot of 12 by way of road racing. I went from farting around the neighborhood to racing on the international level in Europe. That was...ahem...a while ago. At 43 I still like to race, but only once in a blue moon, and some of that in the ultra-distance racing scene. Some of us just like to push ourselves towards big accomplishments. But...I also like to take it easy. My next trip will only cover 250 miles in 9 days. I'll be in Iceland and even with 19 hours of light, I'm only going to cover 25-40 miles. Lots of time for photos, sleeping in if I can, etc.

[Smo]

I feel the same way.  Currently trying to build up to 60 mile days by October so I can do the Coconino stage race.

But I'm planning on doing a trip much like you describe, in Idaho, in August - 30ish mile days, riding either the morning or the afternoon but not both, and bringing fishing gear.  Using parts of the Idaho Hot Springs route but making a shorter loop out of it.  PM me if you're interested - we're playing it by ear, since that's right in fire season.