An offer to do Gold DofE has come up and i’m considering doing it on a bike in a group. Does anyone know the complications I have probably missed. So far I have no real ideas where I will do 4 8-hour rides in a wilderness, or what distance that roughly is. Or packing a trail bike up for a 4day/3night self sufficient adventure (water is provided daily). Let alone the aspects of reliability and fitness.

This is straight up bike packing tbh, and I have no idea what to consider first. Is this stupid and should I just do it on foot?

Is this stupid and should I just do it on foot?

No, everything is more fun on a bike. Route choice is key though, otherwise you will be doing it on foot.

TBH I’d do it on foot. You’ll cover less mileage and stay within the local enabling more route planning without conflicts of footpaths/bridleways/roads..

I’ve assisted about 15 over the years and it’s great to see a small group hack over a range of about 15miles square, and eat beans..

If you do it by bike you’ll be covering at least another 40-50 miles in that time range, unless you go around in circles I’d suggest it’s too far a distance to go ( and I have done loads of off road CX 2-3day jaunts)

Best of luck, post pics.

Lots do it on bike. Beyond Adventure up in Aberfeldy will hire bike and trailer.

It doesn’t need to be technical – and distance will depend on climbs and terrain massively.

Some great out there routes in Scotland – Fort William to Aberdeen, Cairngorms Loop etc

I did it on a bike, about 18 years ago now i think whilst at school. We did the coast to coast as our gold adventure trip thingy. I would absolutely recommend it by bicycle, but i cant remember much deatil about it now!

I know a few who have done it on a bike but you need to consider distance travelled will be greater than on foot so route planning will be key. Also get used to riding a bike with a heavier sack on as it puts you off balance.

Keep in mind that if you are going directly in at gold you will need to do 3 (?) practice trips of similar length to the assessed one; I think this also applies if you are changing “mode” of transport, ie. if you have done silver on foot you need to do much more practice to do gold on bike/canoe/horse/boat.

I believe the rules on keeping away from roads are somewhat more relaxed for bike trips.

“water is provided daily” – the rules may permit that but at gold level you should certainly be capable of finding suitable clean water each day (or filtering it). Relying on your assessors to provide it seems to kind of miss the point of a self sustaining trip.

The one “downside” of DOE by bike is they insist on you going properly prepared for a wide range of conditions etc. You won’t be ultralite bikepacking with a kilo of kit, a hip flask and a modified coke can for fire. The rules essentially dictate a proper tent, sleeping mat, bag, waterproofs, dry clothes, decent stove and pans along with food, first aid kit, tools and spares, etc. You can share some of that kit out.

EDIT: Oh, and I don’t think its so much about whether you do it on bike, foot, kayak or horse. What makes or breaks it is whether everyone else is at a similar standard. Whilst on foot everyone (well almost) has the same basic ability the tolerance and endurance is not always comparable. Its pretty miserable carrying the slowest member of the group’s pack as well as your own because they can’t really be bothered, or the boots they have borrowed are giving them blisters. I still remember the whinging 25 yrs on – although we did get them to the end! It would be easy to think cycling would be easier – so watch out for the team members who have never ridden that long, or have no idea how to fix anything, or who’s bike hasn’t been serviced in years. The practices are supposed to help, but 4 days could be a lot of whinging, and be aware there are minimum numbers so if you eliminate people you may not have enough to complete…

All that said, if I was “18” today I wouldn’t do it on foot.

EDIT2: Oh, and another afterthought… consider what your skill and physical will be. If they have any bike related element beware you can look a bit “one dimensional” to future employers etc.

I don’t think this is the same level, but someone on the thread may know how to get around it – my 15 yo son wants to do biking as his DoE activity – the difficulty is getting his activity signed off. It’s like he has to do it as part of a club, so the “official” can sign it off. His dad can’t! Not sure how to sort this.

Poly makes a good point about practice and training trips.

He also makes a good point about water being provided – I would agree at gold about finding/filtering/pre planning taps for water. Most silver and gold trips up here in Scotland are far enough from civilisation or a long enough end to end that Supervisors and Assessors are either following route or scooting about on bikes or foot IME, not carrying water in. That said I have had a couple of camp locations that I couldn’t guarantee enough clean water and so carried in 20litres on the bike to get them out of camp and higher for cleaner water.
You are wild camping, yes…?

@DezB – any adult can ‘sign off’. I would get someone in else to give him a quick assessment of skill at start and again at end, confirming regular attendance on some rides as well. Email straight into eDofE, easy.

Get your son to diarise each ride – maybe commit to a ride a week for however long.

Thanks Matt. Useful stuff 🙂

Poly did make some great points, but yes Matt, wild camping. I don’t know weather or not we gather fresh water from a stream ect or are given some day by day but my sister was handed it day by day for gold in Wales.

Regarding Poly, I am the most capable out of my mates but I haven’t done an 8 hour ride my self, let alone with a loaded bike. But regarding friends bikes being capable and maintained I will make sure they work well but i’m more worried on skill and endurance(including my self).

Another great point was that single minded bike orientated view which I didn’t see, my plan was to do Cycling as a sport and get a teacher to use Strava as evidence (this could work for you DezB) so walking it may be a good alternative for variety. This is early days so i’ll have to see. But when it comes to skill i’m doing photography so watch this space bikebouy.

Distance wise is something which is going to be planned and will post about when I get more detail but expect that around a month. But I would be happy doing long fireroad-CX rides. But I don’t want to go in circles. One thought was doing passes/trails in the lake district but I don’t know the kind of distances and time they are let alone how technical.

I wish I could pack light but DofE wouldn’t allow living under a tarp strung over an upside down bike. 🙁

Any help would be appreciated 🙂

Remember it’s 8hrs activity, not journeying. A suitable purpose can take a bit of time each day.

Lakes tend to be quite technical riding, to say the least. I personally would look at mid Wales, North Yorks to Northumbria or Scotland.

DezB – as I understand it, the counter signing adult can’t be family or my lad would have been riding with me – from my lads bronze this year various gym instructors, lifeguards and assorted coaches have been signing stuff off.

I did it a while ago!
We had trailers. Went to Scotland. Rode from Kilin along Loch Tay to Pitlochry then to Perth. Pretty much all off road.
Took 4 days.
Wild camping.
Was awesome. Except the midgies.
We did go through a few spare QR skewers that the trailers were attached to. Bikepacking gear would be better.

We did the first ever gold dofe expedition on mountainbikes back in 1993. Coast to coast Whitehaven to Sunderland, across the high passes of the lakes, wasdale head, Rosset Gill, Kentmere, high street,then cross fell and east to the Consett to Sunderland cycle way. We actually took an extra day than the 3? required to make sure we achieved the coast to coast bit of it.
It almost killed me as a 17yr old as we were trying to travel light, but needed to carry all the kit and food to satisfy the safety requirements of the assessor and travel distances required which seemed to be based on road miles. 40lb in a rucksac and your bike on your shoulder over lakeland passes needs some preparation and training, even when we were doing it without the kit virtually every weekend.

Email in profile if you want the route or further info.

^ they are proper DofE adventures for gold, as it should be.

Oosh trailers, they just put me off. The idea that your bike has this unstable thing somewhat following you. 😕 I have thought of handlebar, fork and seat post bags for my kit. It’s too early for the tent logistics.
My sixth form/organisation must have some route ideas, I don’t know how independent we are with choice but coast to coast seems like a great idea that has been proven here, my first thoughts were Scotland but travel is expensive from the south.

Dayglow – for the amount of kit doe require a trailer is a no brainier, especially for your less experienced friends. Panniers and back packs sound a simple solution but you are looking at probably twice the weight of your bike in kit so will screw up the centre of gravity and make it virtually impossible to carry the bike anyway.

Theoretically the choice of route and area is totally the participants. Obviously the advisors can advise. Practical logistics with bikes will be harder too.

dayglow – Member

Oosh trailers, they just put me off. The idea that your bike has this unstable thing somewhat following you.

Ever ridden with a trailer? One advantage of them is they are much much more stable than kit on bikes as the COG is very low