[Closed] Bikepacking Tips For Beginners

I’d say keep it simple for your first time. The rucksack will be fine, no need to bring the kitchen sink, just the bare essentials, some warmer clothes, some food, drink, A tarp, A mat & sleeping bag and spares for the bike incase you have a mechanical. You could probably bungy cord stuffsacks to the handle bars and/or seatpost, that’ll lighten the load on your back a bit. Oh and use a buff or Beanie over your eyes unless you want to wake up at dawn! Have fun!

I’d say keep it simple for your first time.

must... resist...

Ah great call about the buff/beanie. Very much appreciated.

Be ruthless with what you take, to keep weight down and also it minimises faff as you don't have loads to pack / unpack.

Water can be a challenge. If you need to carry enough for the trip it can heavy / bulky so a ride where you have access to water stops or fresh water is a good idea.

Anything you can do to get weight off your back and on the bike will help you enjoy the riding more. Use any bar/saddle bags/bottle cages you have and play around with bungying some stuff to bars. For the kind of distance you're talking though it's more about the over night experience than the riding.

If you're a light sleeper, ear plugs as well as a buff or beanie.

And afterwards have a good think/chat about what worked and what didn't.

Generally it is pretty simple: ride bike; put up tarp; go to sleep; get up, take down tarp; ride bike.

For our first trips we used rucksacks. Handle bulk much better than bikepacking bags which since you are unlikely to have the ultralight, ultra compact kit is a good thing. Just don't think that since you have the space you have to fill it.

Practice putting up your tarp in your garden if you aren't used to it. There's dozens of potential ways of pitching them but pick a couple and stick with those. I think I've only ever used four pitches. Have a look on YouTube for a guy called "papa-hiker" he has a short series on various setups.

I take a set of merino base layer top and bottoms that are only used for camp/sleeping. Serves several purposes:

> Something dry to change into after a day's riding. No chilling off in damp clothing.
> Adds to the warmth of your sleeping bag.
> Protects your sleeping bag from dirty legs, body oils, etc.

Pre-lockdown we'd often get our evening meal in a pub then ride for a bit to pitch up. Obviously not possible at the moment so a stove to cook and make a brew. We'll use dehydrated meals and just pour boiling water into the bag (take the silica sachet out first!) and let them rehydrate - saves on any cleaning of pans, etc.

Have fun!

In its basic form it's simple, you're riding your bike to go camping. Once you start to push distance/time/terrain then it becomes more difficult and you may want to look at getting specific kit and luggage as it does make life more acceptable.

You don't want to take too much kit but the best way to learn that is to take what you think you need the 1st time and keep track of all the shit you don't use for the next time.

Just have fun with it.

Definitely try to attach heavier items to the bike where possible.
You’ll need 4L water each, you don’t want that in a backpack.
Remember a lighter for the stove!

> Something dry to change into after a day’s riding. No chilling off in damp clothing.

This x 1 million.

There are so many disastrous scenarios which can largely be made better by just changing into warm dry merino. Don't underestimate the chilling effect of sitting around in dry sweat, if you can have a quick wash down in a stream you'll feel all the better for it, even if initially it's a bit brisk!

Forget trying to carry

1) A lock, deadweight that you'll probably never use
2) Milk, deadweight that will probably go off before you've used it
3) Too much water. I've never run out with just a 1 litre Nalgene bottle (hiking) or 750ml bike bottle. Just try and pitch up close to fresh running water of course!

Edit: Ooops, MartyMac and I obviously differ on that last point!

What are you going to do for the other 13 hours each day?

You’ll need 4L water each, you don’t want that in a backpack.

Or a normal bottle and a filter/purifier, plus a bit of map work/planning to find somewhere suitable to stop and fill up.

Second having an extra baselayer to change into to sleep.

I do take a lightweight lock, although since I probably won't be using shops/pubs/cafes this summer, it's less of an issue.

Sitting around in dry sweat isn't an issue, wet sweat is.

If you are not riding far you will have plenty of time to dry out whilst it's still warm so you won't be damp in the chilly dusk. I would not necessarily bring a spare top, but I would bring some of those gym/swimming shorts with the built in underpants. Very light and your balls (if you have them) will want some freedom from cycling shorts.

You will want some long sleeves though in general so this additional top could double as a dry top if required.

Also don't bother worrying too much about luggage. Back can be fine, it's a matter of preference and the only way to discover what works for you is to try it. This being STW, people are going to go on about gear and Instagrammable perfection and the 'proper' way to do things but all you need to do is physically transport your camping gear to your camp site. It doesn't matter what it's packed in or what you are riding. My first bike packing trip was with a cheap day back pack and a £400 bike. I trimmed my karrimat down and used the offcuts to wrap spare kit and strap it to the outside of my pack.

A trowel...

A trowel…

Never go anywhere without your trowel...

Sitting around in dry sweat isn’t an issue, wet sweat is

Weirdly though I find it is! I've been in warm dry bothies, sitting in my nice dry merino gear and with a fire going and still feeling cold. Whereas those times I've had a dip in a stream obviously you come out bloody freezing but once you're dry and back in your dry camp clothes you feel so much better.

I've not been very scientific in testing this theory though, perhaps I've just felt cold in bothies because they are inherently colder than being in a tent!

I'm very much with 13thfloormonk on the water. A single bottle and a filter, a bit of thought and never give up the opportunity to refill will see you through. The only thing I'd add is that it is beneficial to have a decent sized bag with the filter to avoid too much faffing of an evening trogging backwards and forwards.

Everything is better with dry socks so if you take nothing else they help and have plastic bags to keep them dry in the evening when you're in wet shoes.

Not sure about the sitting in sweat as a whole but one of the 1st things I do is to get out of riding kit to avoid having sweaty kit on as it avoids additional chafing risk. If you're getting out of riding kit it's no real hassle to have a wash even if it's just a basic wipes wash.

A trowel

Once you've built the walls of your shelter it's important that they're well pointed to stop draughts.

Go to Lidl and buy one of their approx a tenner seat post bags - it will take the tent, bag liner and pillow, and then free up space for kit in your backpack - I know it money spent, but its a great little bag and anything that makes your first experience of bike packing better is worth doing.

Bookmarked

My tips

1) I make a brew pack. Mix coffee or instant tea with powdered milk and sugar. I add 2 spoons to a cup of hot water. It's not as good as a proper brew but it's hot, quick and no mess.

2) Have a set of riding gear and sleeping gear. Get changed as soon as you stop and get dry. Try and hang your gear up to dry. Remember a hat.

3) Weigh everything and write it down and be ruthless, do you really need it? You don't need a lot of fancy gear but if your tent is 4kg then maybe you need a different tent? 4kg on its own isn't heavy but it all adds up, especially at the end of a long day.

4) Get packed well before you go, does everything fit in your bag? Is the bag too heavy?

5) Buy a sawyer mini water filter (or similar,) they are cheap and very light and can fit straight onto a bottle or camelback. I've found some great bivi spots in the past but didn't have enough water to stay there.  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/173814490156

6) Buy some dry bags, they are cheap, lightweight, keeps your stuff dry and it organises everything. It's easier grabbing one small bag to look for something then go through a big bag with everything in.

7) Pick your bivi spot well, take your time looking at a spot and don't be afraid to move on if it's not as good as you first thought.

8) Take one luxury item, mines a mini pillow!

9) Take a bike repair kit and have the skills to use it as you will probably be a long way from help. Don't forget the first aid kit. One of my first bivi trips I fell off because I wasn't used to the weight of the rucksack and how it moved. Take it easy at first until you get used to how you and the bike handles.

10) Make sure you enjoy it, take your time and remember to take photos.

11) If your not going far you can always go a couple of days before and stash some food and water at your planned stop to save carrying it. I buy army MRE's chicken and bacon pasta because its edible cold, doesn't go off and if you add hot water makes a nice warming broth. Whatever you buy try one before you go as some of them are terrible!

12) I take wet wipes to give myself a good clean

Biepacking system

What to take- less.

My mate pulled a massive d lock out of her bag after the first days ride. To expensive to abandon! Heavy enough to make its self felt for 2 very big days.

Every time I've been camping on my bike I've taken a load of stuff I don't need.

I've now got a list of all the stuff not to pack because maybe it will come in handy. Yes it might but I'd rather have a nicer lighter ride and less stuff.

I have a set of thermals for camping pyjamas. They are awesome!I've got a thin down jacket from tk maxx that I also sleep in.

Bug repellent/ better campsites. Last years Jen ride I camped in the valley. It was quite buggy. I got up at 3am and rode up a pass just to escape from the midges crawling up my nose.

Every time I've been bike packing Its been a fantastic experience. Even the one in the 3 degree rain.

I'm going to get myself in trouble here but...

I've never used a water filter in the UK when hiking, camping or bike-packing.

Maybe a childhood of drinking out of streams in the forest had prepared me, but ironically the only time I've had stomach issues was when I was hiking in Canada and was using a filter! (not suggesting the filter was at fault, just appreciated the irony).

Of course, by 'UK' I mean Scottish Highlands, so perhaps the remoteness and abundance of water courses has helped, also I possibly wouldn't want to rely on natural water courses somewhere busy like the West Highland Way...

I'd probably be happy drinking straight out of streams high up in the Lakes, but not so much round me in the Dales.

I generally am too but it opens up other sources, so farm stand pipes in fields, springs/streams in more agricultural areas, etc for riding in other places. It's small and light and because of that just gets packed as standard.

Take less stuff.

You need a sleeping bag, some sort of mat, and some sort of tent/tarp. You don't need a book, cards, excess booze and netflix.

You need to drink, you don't need artisan coffee freshly ground and with a crema, Nescafe 2in1 is actually acceptable with a nice enough view.

You need a trowel, no ifs of buts about that one, at some point you will need to poo.

Don't try and carry food longer than necessary, I once tried to carry 3 days supplies, I still ran out in 36h apart from still having about half a kilo of instant porridge. Just buy stuff as you go.

Dry clothes make otherwise miserable times better. I take some fleecy leggings (acceptable in public if worn with baggies on top), a LS merino top and a down jacket. The total weight and bulk is pretty tiny and they're warm enough for daylight hours most of the year.

Always interesting how differently we view things.

Water bottle + filter is one I do (I use an MSR Trailshot, doesn't need a bag or access to a suitably deep puddle/stream like the Sawyer) but it's extra expense for the OP. @13thfloormonk - whether I actually use it is another matter! I grew up on a farm with a private untreated water supply (our current house is the same) so I'm not that fussed. A bit of common sense about where and when to use it is all it takes, The Highlands and upland Lakes not a problem, low down more so.

Ziplock/freezer bags are fine for dry bags for smaller stuff, also easy to see what's in them. A decent dry bag for your sleeping bag is a must though, a couple of bin liners will also do. While on the packing: everything comes with its own stuff sack - ignore these and line your rucksack with a couple of bin liners then just shove everything in, the soft stuff like clothes will mould around rigid items like stoves and pans and fill all the spaces.

Bivy spots: you get micro-climates so two sites within metres of each other can be very different. Generally avoid hollows, so that means next to water, as cold air sinks. Under trees is warmer plus if there's a lot of leaf litter that's insulation on the ground as well, pine trees are particularly good for this. @13thfloormonk - bothies always feel cold because there's a big thermal mass that gets irregular heat from a small fire. Not sure if I'd stash food anywhere - rodents and other wildlife can be quite inquisitive!

One item I forgot to mention - a microfibre towel to dry yourself down. Doesn't need to be massive.

I’ve never used a water filter in the UK when hiking, camping or bike-packing.

Me neither but it's entirely location dependent.

One item I forgot to mention – a microfibre towel to dry yourself down. Doesn’t need to be massive.

I use a small flannel. I just keep ringing it out. The problem with towels is it's hard to dry them and when they stay wet they smell.

A flannel is easily washed and dried. It sometimes lives on the outside of my rucksack to dry.

I had a trip booked in for May which got cancelled. Hopefully I'll be able to book it in for later in the year.

This thread is making me want to go especially with all the good weather that's forecast!

I'm also following this with interest. If you don't mind me jumping in with a question:

If you had a choice of pitches, where would you set up?

e.g.
Under trees, or in the open?
In the evening sun, or in the morning sun?
Close to water, or avoid?

That sort of thing. I've been riding round looking for spots for our first bivi, but I've really no idea of how best to choose the spot.

Thanks

@13thfloormonk
Yeah, i find it easier just to carry what i need.
That doesn’t mean either of us is wrong.
Obviously only works for one night tho.
Edit: probably also fair to say, if i eat or drink anything even remotely dodgy, i will pay the price for several days afterwards, if you get my drift.

Under trees, or in the open?
In the evening sun, or in the morning sun?
Close to water, or avoid?

In the woods is warmer. You want to be high up enough to avoid sinking cool air, but not so high that the temperature drops anyway.

Makes little difference, given a choice I'd opt for shelter from the wind (and might buy me another hours sleep before being woken by daylight).

Depends on the time of year / location. Scotland + water = midges, so if there's a breeze it's fine, if it's the wrong time of year it's definitely not! If it's midge season you'll be hunting for the windiest most exposed spot you can find!

There's too many variables to make a choice like that. What's the weather like, are there bugs about, how close are you to civilization, what's the legalities of camping where you are, what condition are the trees in/is anything going to fall on your head, could the water levels rise?

I tend to look for even ground, free from bitey things, with shelter in that order. I'm stopping to get rest so easy sleeping is the priority, you can rig your kit in different configurations to maximise shelter if needed.

If only there was a website that published stories about this sort of thing 🙂

https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/an-introduction-to-bikepacking/

Trees generally better if you are using a tarp. Also fires more of a possibility as long as it's not too dry so you set the place on fire. But finding space for a tent can be difficult.

Camping on moors can make it rather difficult to gain privacy for your natural functions.. Ask me how I know.... 😉

If only there was a website that published stories about this sort of thing

Bearbones?

@littlerob - as per my post:

Bivy spots: you get micro-climates so two sites within metres of each other can be very different. Generally avoid hollows, so that means next to water, as cold air sinks. Under trees is warmer plus if there’s a lot of leaf litter that’s insulation on the ground as well, pine trees are particularly good for this.

Generally use the lie of the land as your first line of defence: in/behind trees if it's going to be breezy; that sort of thing. If it's going to be a clear night then it will be warmer under trees and you'll get less condensation in the morning. Conversely if it's cloudy then there's less difference. You want to be close to water but not so close that you get the cold sink effect, ten metres away up the bank can be fine plus you aren't at risk from flash floods.

If you are close to habitation in England and Wales then generally if you can't see house lights you'll be OK - lights, even small headtorches, stand out at night in the countryside and folk tend to know where lights from other houses/farms should be so if there's anything extra or untowards it will be noticed. Just don't start up the disco!

As the vikings used to say: Better weight than wisdom, a traveller cannot carry.

Lots of good tips, but in my limited experience, you kinda need to make your own mistakes, to find out what you really need, what wee luxuries you like etc. It's half the fun!.

> https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/an-introduction-to-bikepacking/ < A piece I wrote a while back. Lots of good advice above. Cheers Sanny

Mate and I crossed the alps with sleeping mats strapped to our bars, water on the frames, a small saddle bag and everything else on our backs.

A cheap plastic tarp, a cut out tarp to go under the sleeping mats.

Was brilliant, partly because it didn't rain.... Tell a lie, it did, but we stayed in a hut that night. Mate fell in a stream at one point which das hilarious.

We had a bean can stove and a small pot, neither of which were ever used. Instead we stopped at bakeries, restaurants and huts for grub.

Oh, and we had a shed load of drugs with us, too.... Well, not by the end of the tour, but was well worth taking.

lights, even small headtorches, stand out at night in the countryside and folk tend to know where lights from other houses/farms should be so if there’s anything extra or untowards it will be noticed. Just don’t start up the disco!

A head torch that also has a red light is useful in these situations.

A strip of Oasis water purification pills is cheaper and lighter thana filter. Midge headnet a must for me anywhere in the UK uplands/woodland at this time of year.

A week ago Sunday:
[img] [/img]
Almost exactly a year ago in more or less the same spot, waking to thick ice on the tarp in mid-June!
[img] [/img]
There are no rules. I'd agree just go for it and see what works. The times it goes wrong are often the most memorable...

Where was that? Is that a Tarptent from Marc that I see?😉

What's the deal with water filters these days? They used to be expensive. Planning to camp with my daughter near a stream which has run through some farmland before it gets to the woods. Silver based pills seem better than iodine but I'd like to know anyone's experiences with filters.

MSR Trailshot?

About 92 miles north of where I am tonight...
[img] [/img]

@molgrips - trailshot is good. Very popular with the bikepackers. If it's just one night then boiling it should be enough

Boiling and letting it cool would be a PITA and require planning (and plenty of gas), so I reckon at that price the Trailshot is worth a.. erm.. shot.

Trailshot is good but the instructions for cleaning it aren't the best. The following comment came from a review on bikepacking.com

MSR Rep In The Rockies here...It's unfortunate that whoever sent you this filter failed to make it very clear that every time you use this filter it should be shaken, very vigorously, for a minimum of 30 seconds. If you do this, you will not see much diminishing of flow rate. All filters will slow down over time. If not I'd be worried. Their job is to take out stuff from water including microbes so small as to require a 0.2 micron absolute filter size (this is extremely and mind-boggingly small). Cleaning these filters by shaking is extremely effective, again, especially if you do it every time you filter. To do so, simply remove the hose (it pops off easily), cover both the outlet and inlet holes with your finger and thumb, and then VIGOROUSLY shake (put your back into it!). Once you're done shaking, simply give the TrailShot a squeeze which will squirt out the bad water (it's surprising how dirty this water is, even when filtering seemingly clean water). I'd also recommend draining the rest of the water out of the hose by turning it upside down (the prefilter has a one-way valve that doesn't allow the water to exit). Finally replace the hose, fold it up against the body of the filter, replace the rubber band, and store.

@montgomery - that looks like Rylstone to me?

My bikepacking tip is that bivvying is nice, but it's hard to get you, your sleeping bag and mat inside the bivvy bag. So, don't put the mat inside the bag.

Also - a good beanie hat helps for many things, including sleeping.

Last - you'll take too much food and water. Just buy food on the way (but plan it out!) and water is everywhere.

You can go very basic and cheap which could be fun for your first bike packing trip (plastic survival bags, whatever sleeping bags you have and a meal of pepperami, cheese, crackers and some booze).

All the decent lightweight kit ain't cheap so I wouldn't invest in anything untill you have tried it.

Or you could maybe borrow some from a friend?

Try BG Tips on YouTube. 10 episodes covering all sorts of bike packing subjects. You're sure to find something of use.

Dogsby

Try BG Tips on YouTube

That's Barry Godin. Surely the cheeriest man in British bikepacking.

Although he has competition...