Bikepacking through Tuscany? Where do we sign up?!
The sport of mountain biking has always been about adventure and immersing oneself in the natural environment. In fact, you could argue that cycling has been about that since its inception. Bikepacking may be the trendy new ‘thing’ for savvy bike companies, but high-sheen marketing aside, it really does capture the heart and soul of why all take to two wheels for our own personal release.
As more and more people discover bikepacking (or off-road touring, or gravel griding, or adverture-ing, or touring-lite, or, well, whatever the heck marketing types call it these days), new events are turning up all around the world that provide an event format for these adventurous folk to get a little competitive and see how far they can push themselves.
As the world’s biggest bikepacking race, the Tuscany Trail attracts over 500 adventurous souls (and really fit buggers), who saddle up to take on the 560km point-to-point distance race through the heart of Tuscany in Italy. It’s an unsupported race, so competitors have to carry everything with them to survive as long as it takes to finish the distance.
There are no support vehicles, no ‘sag wagons’, and zero opportunities for mechanical assistance. So your bike has to be tough, super reliable, and easy to fix. And you’ll need to bring along any spares you can carry, ‘cos there ain’t going to be any neutral mechanical support motorbikes following behind you!
Courtesy of the folks from Bombtrack Bicycle Co, we’ve got this lovely video to show you. The scenery is absolutely stunning, and it features two riders from Bombtrack; Clement Stawicki (France) and Joachim Rosenlund (Norway) taking on the Tuscany Trail. Over the 560km course, the riders take in over 11,000m of elevation, which makes for nice viewing for us, but a lot of hard work for them!
So sit back, grab yourself a cuppa, and get inspired!