Your Stories

For Luke Douglas and Flora Hodson, what started as a tour around New Zealand turned into a ride all the way back home to the UK. In this story, Luke recounts the time they spent riding through Kyrgyzstan and Tajikstan on the Pamir Highway. Read on for their story of late-season riding in the Pamirs, Central Asian hospitality, and looming wolf encounters…

To say Miles and Ben’s Oregon Timber Trail trip had its setbacks would be a serious understatement. Lost bikes, heat stroke, unfavourable air quality, and major mechanicals resulted in a truly unforgettable adventure. Despite these bouts of misfortune, the heartwarming glow of humanity proved itself over and over. Read Miles’ ride report and find out what went wrong… and what strangers did to make things right again.

Have you bikepacked with a sibling? There are few finer ways to share experiences and create new memories with your family. After some last-minute purchases – including both a brand new bike and an Opinel pocket knife – Cass is joined by his brother Nick in the south of France for a bikepacking initiation, in the form of a perfect segment of the GR4…

Last month, 100 cyclists from all over the country identifying as women, transgender, femme, and non-binary gathered in Whitefish, MT, for the first WTF Bikexplorers Summit. Leading up to it, they also organized the WTF Ride Series, and we’re happy to share this excellent summary of those rides, featuring photos and route maps. Plus, an introduction to the WTF Bikexplorers Grassroots Ride Program…

The third annual Torino-Nice Rally kicks off today. To commemorate the event, here’s a stunning collection of photos from Adam Ferris, along with a detailed writeup of his experiences on last year’s ride…

Chris Reichel roamed the woods of northern Georgia during this year’s TNGA to photograph and heckle the riders who took part in this tough bikepacking race. Find his thoughts on the race and a full set of photos with captions here…

Naomi Freireich and Cat Sutherland set off on an ambitious first bikerafting trip, a three-day adventure into Scotland’s Great Wilderness. Read on for a tale of pedaling along remote trails, paddling across choppy lochs, encountering strange creatures, and refusing to quit…

Tales from a three-day bikepacking trip along the Continental Divide Trail on the Border to Backyard Rally. Plus, a Q&A with Scott Morris about his and Eszter’s 2014 thru-ride of the trail, the first in 30 years…

Riding companions who are up for last-minute bikepacking trips are often few and far between. Thankfully, the online bikepacking community is quite active, and it’s growing every day. Turning to platforms like Instagram and Facebook is becoming a viable option when seeking romantic partners, high school friends, or in our case, bikepacking companionship. Read on for three of Miles’ latest meet ups, unofficially dubbed “bikepacking with strangers…”

Where were you this June 23rd? We rounded up a dozen of the thousands of groups of bicycle travelers who were out riding and camping under the stars in celebration of the 2018 Swift Solstice Campout weekend. Here’s a peek at what they were up to…

Last summer, Canadian photographer Pat Valade headed out on his first extended bikepacking trip, a 10-day stint along the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. Here, he shares images from the ride and recaps some of the lessons he learned while forgetting about his day-to-day worries and settling into life along the trail…

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…