Cass Gilbert

After completing a trip through Bolivia and Northern Chile, Cass Gilbert talks us through his setup choices for touring on the South American Altiplano, including thoughts on weight versus practicality, the benefits of running a modular setup over a long trip, a core packlist, what survived and what didn’t, and a couple of nutritious, high plain recipes.

Well loved by long distance through-hikers, California-based Tarptent is known for its broad range of minimal and lightweight shelters and tents. We take the freestanding Bowfin 1 on our travels and see how it fares for bikepacking, testing it in a range of locations, from balmy Lake Tahoe and blisteringly hot Baja California, to Bolivia’s blustery Altiplano…

Ruta Toro Toro connects two of Bolivia's most appealing cities, Cochabamba and Sucre. It does so via Toro Toro National Park, Bolivia's labyrinth of ink black caves and startling rock formations, where visitors can follow dinosaur prints, marvel at stalagmites, and hike amongst lush canyons. Although lower in altitude than the country's typical Altiplano riding, a relentless barrage of steep grades and washed out roads make this ride more challenging than almost anything found on the high plateaux. Thankfully, this backcountry route is warmer and more populated too, with the welcome reward of Sucre, Bolivia's UNESCO city, in which to rest up and enjoy its fine food and cafe culture.

Long before the advent of modern bikepacking seatpacks, there were saddlebags. This style of luggage continues to hold favour amongst many dirt road and gravel tourers, largely because of its top-loading practicality. In this edition of The Low Down, we take a look at what kind of saddlebags are on the market, discuss their pros and cons, and suggest accessories to help run them securely. Given that they’re also loaded from the top, we’ve included a number of front rolltop bags, too.

Made from waxed canvas and wool felt, Makeshifter’s Snackhole is guaranteed to add a little colour and flair to your rig. We take one bikepacking in Baja California and report back on how it weathered the ride and fared in the sea air…

We share a ride with Mathias Dammer, father, farmer, guide, and co-creator of both the Trans Ecuador Mountain Bike Route and Bolivia’s Mama Coca, a 500km traverse of the Cordillera Real. Mathias tells us how a successful outdoor career almost came to end after a terrifying climbing accident, reminisces over a MTB racing career that started at the age of seven, and shares his enthusiasm for his simple, reliable, and affordable steed, a Surly Krampus…

We’re always striving to improve the routes we publish on the site. As such, Cass Gilbert headed out to re-ride a section of the Trans Ecuador Mountain Bike Route (TEMBR) at the end of last season to work on some improvements. In preparation for this year’s season, here’s a collection of images from the journey and thoughts on what bike suits it best…

Bikepacking in sandals? And non-clipless ones, at that? Cass Gilbert rides 800 Baja Californian miles in a pair of Bedrock Cairn Adventure Sandals to see what all the Instagram fuss is about… and reports back on how they felt for long distance bikepacking and whether he stubbed his toes…

To wrap up the Baja Divide season, Cass Gilbert heads off to tackle the 555-mile Missions section of the route, considered to be its highlight. He returns with a tan, a ride gallery, and advice on the ride itself, including some logistical details for zoning in on this glorious, easily accessed part of the 1,700 mile route. If you’ve two weeks to spare next winter, start dreaming now…

Designed to tether with your smartphone and sync with your Ride With GPS or Strava account, the Wahoo ELEMNT aims to simplify the process of navigating with a dedicated GPS. After a year of regular use, here’s our full report on how it’s fared, what we really like about it, and what we think could be improved (because Wahoo is constantly rolling out firmware updates)…

Cass and his family crew take a Big Agnes Copper Spur UL3 on tour through Baja California, Mexico, where it provides the perfect capsule for star gazing and beach camping. Read on for the full review, strip lighting and all…