"What Is Bikepacking" - according to AK :-)

[RIP]

style (or stile) ...

Arf!

that one's for Reg

Eh?? What, which, who, why, when? I'm a bit lost now as well . I'm just conversing for the fun of it too .

[RIP]

The word 'travel' derives from the Old French 'travail' meaning "torment, suffering or trouble"

It has to be said that that is a pretty common trait on Here, and probably part of the key to it all. Taking pleasure from a bit of adversity and unpleasantness, whether mental or physical. For example I've just laughed out loud when I've shredded yet another expensive jacket falling into some ravine or briar patch, or ended up kipped in a smelly toilet block instead of a nice woodland.

'Tourers' don't seem to actively revel so much in adversity - maybe the occasional absence of a cream tea at the next cafe might bring a frisson of unpleasantness . Oh dear, I'm generalising again .

[lune ranger]

'Tourers' don't seem to actively revel so much in adversity - maybe the occasional absence of a cream tea at the next cafe might bring a frisson of unpleasantness . Oh dear, I'm generalising again .

And I’m going to bite again (damn my self control!)

Try reading some books by self professed cycle tourists - then talk about adversity and suffering.
By contrast there’s an awful lot of trips on here that appear to arranged around cake and pubs.

[gairym]

I'm not really bothered about the label attached to whatever it is that I'm doing.

I like to ride my bike. I like to ride it for multiple days in a row.

Sometimes from one place to another. Sometimes in loops. Sometimes out and backs from a base.

Sometimes I camp. Sometimes I stay in B&Bs.

Sometimes I try to go as fast/far as I can. Sometimes I tootle along like a little old man.

I mostly use soft luggage and pack light but not always.

It's all about the destination, the journey and all the bakeries along the way (and craft beer pub at the end).

I'm equally happy on long, flat road trips as I am riding über tech alpine singletrack and everywhere in between.

Gravel bike, hardtail, 29+, fatbike, full-suss 'duro bike - not bothered.

By all the criteria and deciding factors mentioned above I would sometimes be touring and other times bikepacking and I am entirely disinterested in which trips were which according to other folk

Right, I'm off to ride my bike over my lunch break.....

[RIP]

'Tourers' don't seem to actively revel so much in adversity - maybe the occasional absence of a cream tea at the next cafe might bring a frisson of unpleasantness . Oh dear, I'm generalising again .

And I’m going to bite again (damn my self control!)

Try reading some books by self professed cycle tourists - then talk about adversity and suffering.
By contrast there’s an awful lot of trips on here that appear to arranged around cake and pubs.

Blast, foiled again. This is fun .

So I'll try and steer it back to why we're conversing/bantering/storytelling Here and not elsewhere. What is Boning rather than what is BPing or Touring. But I suppose that would be a different thread.....

[JackT]

The reason I feel I have a dog in this fight is that I feel the need to stand up for type 1 fun, against the prevailing media-industry narratives about seeking glory through suffering, pushing yourself to your physical and mental limits, being a Bear Grylls chest thumpy man.

I'm not against experiences that are 'character-building' per se but I don't go to great lengths to seek them out. Sh!t happens, and I deal with it. Or not, as the case may be. If it's pouring with rain and I see a church porch or a bus shelter I may well stop for a brew rather than ride through it. Or even go to a cafe or a pub. Remember those?

I might have a snooze after lunch. If I've had enough of riding for the day I'll stop. When I camp I prefer to find somewhere beautiful, soft and out of the weather. I don't *try* to find a mosquito infested bog, though I have had to suffer them. My tarp has blown away, I have spent a night in a concrete drainage culvert, and I have been woken up facing an angry bull, but those things were not my first choice.

I ride a bike for pleasure, not to beat myself up or prove something. The harder, faster stronger stuff makes for more compelling TV and media coverage, and the stories we tend to retell after the event are our moments of adversity, because they're more entertaining to others (remember that Japanese TV show Endurance from the 1980s, people seeing how long they could hold their feet in a box of tarantulas - hilarious stuff!).

But the way bikepacking is presented to the 'outside world' does overemphasise the racer / ultra / macho side of things compared to what people are actually out there doing. I don't mind people who are into breaking records and winning races, but I am sure that the other side of it, the pootler /flaneur on a bike, the person who's not necessarily always in a rush to finish their ride, not always totting up their mileage, is much more common in the real world, and needs more of an airing.

[RIP]

Yes yes, to be clear I fully agree Jack. Don't particularly seek it but I can take pleasure from it when it does, rather than thinking 'oh dawg I wish this hadn't happened'. And I am that flaneur - good for you for airing the word again.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I did say something pretty similar the other day Jack when we touched upon the ITT subject. Most bikepackers are bimblers who are seemingly happy to travel on a whim and a fancy. The whole ditch sleeping thing is really just a tongue in cheek portrayal to keep those outside looking in happy

As for Bear Grylls - I thought he always slept in posh hotels?

[fatbikephil]

I think the terms cycle touring and bikepacking are synonymous. There seems to be a popular impression of both which is at odds with how many people do either. So cycle touring may be seen as the preserve of old duffers on steel irons going short distances between brew ups and B&B's and bikepacking may be seen as the preserve of young good looking people on expensive, immaculate kit, exchanging high 5's, having soul search discussions round camp fires, whilst posting it all on instagram. In reality the majority of people who do either are very similar in terms of how and why they go. There may be variations in kit carried, terrain ridden and the bikes on which it's done but its all going from place to place by bike, for fun.

Oh and even the above two stereotypes are a positive part of the picture as they are still travelling by bike, and not driving or flying everywhere!

[PaulB2]

The King Alfred's way has great potential for credit-card bikepacking

[fatbikephil]

They are all at it....
https://bikepacking.com/plog/what-is-bikepacking/

[Bearbonesnorm]

Oh no, they don't mention tarmac. It's as though they believe bikepacking to be an entirely offroad experience ... admittedly, I've not actually watched the film, so they could be saying owt.

[ScotRoutes]

Stu, I really don’t know why you’re trying to ‘spot the difference’ here.

I assumed that this introspection was caused by writing a book. That's got to tease out a few whys and wherefores, not least in determining the target audience/market.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I assumed that this introspection was caused by writing a book. That's got to tease out a few whys and wherefores, not least in determining the target audience/market.

Hey, I didn't start this. I simply joined in with a thread and it lead us here ... none of this is my fault*






*for once.

[Alpinum]

They are all at it....
https://bikepacking.com/plog/what-is-bikepacking/

I quite like the part at 03:30 by Joe Cruz.
Also and especially his strong last sentance "bikepacking is as bicycling was intended to be".
Thomas Steven comes to mind.
As do shearers in Australia.
The leasure, but also the need to travel efficently to get to work.

Of course Neil Beltchenko didn't intend to list all types of bags that can be used and here I'd like to suggest the good old rucksack could do with some mention.

The less time I spend sat on the saddle (pushing or carrying the bike up a steep mountain path, riding steep terrain back down again, where I can't sit down), the more a rucksack is the most essential part of my gear carrying options and the more it blurs with backpacking.
Since I also like to traverse terrain, where going without a bike is more efficient, the bikepacking part to me doesn't necessarily mean 'cover ground efficiently'.

And since I have a longer experience and mostly spend more nights out backpacking, I ask myself,

What is backpacking?

Spending time in and with nature.

That's about it for me.

[fatbikephil]

Oh no, they don't mention tarmac. It's as though they believe bikepacking to be an entirely offroad experience ... admittedly, I've not actually watched the film, so they could be saying owt.

Yes they do seem to conclude that bikepacking is mainly off road and touring mainly on it. Not convinced but not caring enough to....care......