Any advice for how to ‘start’ with this
There’s lods of info around on the web, several forums, including a MASSIVE thread on here somewhere with just about all the info you need, but nothing beats jumping in and giving it a try!
Get a couple of mates together, get your kit together, strap it on any way you cna and find somewhere local to go.
For the first time you don’t need masses of expensive lightweight gear, and you don’t need to go on a big epic trip. Just use what you’ve got, borrow what you can and if you need to buy anything new then don’t go overboard to begin with.
I’m a newbie as well and started with a small handful of Alpkit dry bags (< £10 each), a tarp (£35 but can be had for less), used an old stove I had, bought an alpkit bivi bag (£35), I was going to use my existing sleeping bag but spotted a really good deal locally for one and I needed a new one anyway, shoved it all into the dry bags in various ways, strapped them to my bike and went off for a trip with some friends.
You can worry about paring down kit, getting posh bags, lightwight bits and bobs later if you get hooked 🙂
lots of info and inspiration here:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/sick-as-a-dog-so-show-me-you-bivi-bikepacking-adventure-racing-gear