Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
Skyler Des Roches
Contributing Editor
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Trek 920 Review: What’s an adventure bike?
69 Aug 30 Skyler Des Roches / Bikepacking BikesJoining the ever-burgeoning ranks of the ‘adventure bike’, Trek’s 920 aims to rewrite the classic touring rulebook. For a start, it uses a lightweight aluminum frame, the latest in industry thru-axle standards, and sports clearances for 2.2in 29er tires. There’s custom racks and provision for 6 water bottles too. But does this mean it can really go where no touring bike has previously been? Skyler Des Roches takes one to British Colombia to find out…
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New Easton ARC Plus Rims: ARC 45 Long-distance Review
29 Mar 17 Skyler Des Roches / Bikepacking GearIn August 2015, I was lucky to get my hands on one of the first pairs of pre-production ARC 45 rims. Easton’s design team let them slide with the promise that I’d get some photos of them in use, in the wild. I was never expected to write a review, but after almost 4000km of hard, loaded riding, I feel compelled to do so. Its combination of features, size options, and a competitive price, sets the full ARC rim series apart as a potential “staple” mountain bike and bikepacking rim.
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98 mi. / 158 km 4 daysBikepacking the Camelsfoot Range
6 Sep 29 Skyler Des Roches CanadaIf variety is the spice of life, this is a five-star bikepacking route. From nirvanic double-track, to rowdy DH descents, with some rooty tech, some open alpine free-riding, a tough bushwhack, and a bit of gravel grinding thrown in, it has it all. -
75 mi. / 121 km 3 daysBikepacking the Best of the South Chilcotin Mountains
56 Oct 27 Skyler Des Roches CanadaThe South Chilcotin Mountains are Canada's bikepacking hotspot. There is a good reason for this: nowhere else in the country offers such long singletrack trails of comparable quality in such a spectacular setting. The Best of the South Chilcotin Mountains Route is a 120km loop that strategically follows some of the most rewarding trails in the park, and can be ridden in a long weekend... -
145 mi. / 233 km 4 daysDirt Touring Araucanía: The Monkey Puzzle Trail, Chile
51 Oct 16 Skyler Des Roches Latin AmericaEach year in mid-April, the subalpine forests of Araucanía explode into an autumnal fire. Rising high above the red and gold canopy of southern beeches are the umbrella-topped figures of Araucarias – also known as Monkey Puzzle Trees – which lend their name to this region of Chile. -
479 mi. / 771 km 14 daysThe Coast Mountains Bikepacking Route, British Columbia
34 Oct 14 Skyler Des Roches CanadaThe Coast Mountains bikepacking route traverses British Columbia's biggest, highest, and wildest mountain range. They rise steeply out of the Pacific as broken fjordlands on their western edge, lifting up to the globe's largest sub-polar icefields at their spine.
