by Jess Evans
July 19, 2018
Bike packing is a separate activity from Adventure Racing, but I have found that bike packing has helped me to become a more successful Adventure Race and especially an Expedition Adventure Racer. I have bike packed two thirds of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (also known as the TDR) which starts in Banff, Albert and ends in Antelope Wells, New Mexico. I hope to finish the last 1000 miles later this year.
With bike packing, you need the gear, the logistics, the endurance, and the mental discipline to keep going day after day. Two excellent sources of bike packing are bikepacking.com and adventurecycling.org
I have a wonderful friend, Tracy Burge, who introduced me to bike packing. She started me out slowly with 3 or 4 day long road biking trips in Ohio. Then we hit the big one with the TDR. She completed the route in 2012 and was excited to share it with her friends. I had to get all the bike packs, which I purchased from Revelate.
Then I purchased my maps from Adventure Cycling Association. I trained for a few months and then felt somewhat ready. Two things I was not quite ready for was the altitude and the endless hours on the bike.
When you are bike packing, especially through wilderness or remote areas, you must plan ahead to make sure you have enough food and water to get to your next supply location. Each evening we would pull out our maps while we munched on our gas station supply of food and determined how far we were going and where we could stop to resupply. We had a water filter with us, which allowed us to stop at any mountain stream for water. However, we had to make sure there was at least one stream we would cross over the next day to supply us with water. Only once did I run out of water, near Yellowstone National Park. Luckily, a stream was not far ahead and I re-supplied without too much suffering.
You also need to carry bike tools and some accessories just in case something breaks. You hope you do not bend a derailler hanger on a rock, which luckily, we did not. But we did have a part of a bike seat break near Whitefish, Montana and had to stop for a while to get that fixed. It is super nice that most larger towns have at least one bike shop open. Also, the bike shops along these common bike packing routes are accustomed to riders rolling in right off the trail to get assistance and get on their way. You will look the part of a disheveled, dusty mountain biker strolling into the shop while on the TDR.
Bike packing is fun and a great way to see our beautiful world. I am looking forward to finishing the TDR with some great riding friends later this summer.
