Cass Gilbert

Bicycle trailers can help turn our more off-beat and imaginative bikepacking aspirations into reality, be it by carrying a surfboard across Baja or bringing your dog along for the ride. Mexican callejero Huesos and his humans try out Frances Cycles’ Farfarer over a number of trail rides and multi-day trips into the mountains, reporting in with their respective findings…

The Valles Caldera Preserve is initiating a Wilderness Eligibility Assessment and is seeking public opinion on the matter. Find out more and share you voice here…

As luck would have it, Karl Kroll was recently seen cycling through the neighbourhood, giving us the chance to chat to the long-distance bikepacker as he puts the final pieces down for his mammoth Americas Bike Trip jigsaw. Over a local campout and an ice cream float, we talk about everything from Ecuadorian Dangle Llamas to packing bearings with bananas, bikey family heirlooms to triple-padded bar-ends, along with unfortunate finds in the Copper Canyon and running a YouTube channel. Plus, check out his complete gearlist honed after 31 months on the road…

If you find yourself traveling through Mexico City – perhaps to ride one of the routes we’ve posted on the site – you might be surprised how a few days of cycling around the capital will enrich your visit to this beautiful and diverse country. Cass shares his recent experiences there, from trying out its bike-share program and savouring car-free Sundays to enjoying local dirt road day rides and a sunrise coffee outside…

Just when you thought you’d wrapped your head around Tailfin’s burgeoning line of small bags – such as their Cargo Cage Packs and Mini Panniers – out come the new V-Mount Packs, which are designed for bikes with a shortage of water bottle or cargo cage eyelets. We’ve had a chance to try both sizes, and you can read our full review here…

In their first family dogpacking bike trip, Cass, his nine-year-old son Sage, and Huesos (the ex-street pup) set out to forge memories on an overnight ride to a Zapotec archeological site, via a vulture road, a Mongolian ger, three dozen barking strays, a bicycle-molino, and the girthiest tree in the Americas. Read all about it here…

Based in Oaxaca for the better part of two years, Cass finally ventures to the metropolis of Mexico City to meet makers, ride with newfound friends, and get a taste of what this unexpectedly bicycle-friendly city has to offer bikepackers. Check out part one of this photo journal here…

Over the winter, Cass was fortunate enough to receive two of his favourite and most prolific bikepackers as houseguests: Chris Campbell and Amanda Andros. As part of this informal “Let’s go for a ride” series, he joins them on the first day of the Trans-Mexico Sur to talk to them about their Ti Timberjacks, living within their means, and going where the wind takes them…

The Hammerhead Karoo 2 promises a gorgeously detailed display and a host of training features. But is this premium device also suitable for bikepackers riding on and off the grid? For this long-term review, Cass tries it out on extended bikepacking trips and day rides to see if it’s enough to tempt him away from his trusty Wahoo…

From the minds at Tailfin in Bristol, UK, comes yet another option in the brand’s growing, modular and waterproof bikepacking range. The Tailfin Cage Pack is available in three sizes, from 1.7L to 5L, and features nifty Speed Hooks that take much of the fiddliness out of similar bag and cage style setups. Cass got the chance to check them out before their launch for this review…