Inspiration & Blog

Who couldn’t use bikes, beer and a break from life? Here’s William O’Connor’s words and a video about the perfect escape — one that involved an all-day ride through the Irish countryside, a micro pub crawl, camping, and a solid trail ride on some killer singletrack… all within 24 hours.

The newly released Torino-Nice Rally film follows rider Joachim Rosenlund over 700km of old military Cols and scenic historical trade routes leading from the western Italian Alps to the coast of southern France.

Marco King recently completed his first bikepacking trip, a 900km impromptu version of the Camino de Santiago through northern Portugal and Spain. With a DIY kit in tow, sticking as often as possible to dirt roads, goat paths and the infamous GR hiking trails that crisscross the countryside, his pilgrimage was a steep learning curve… but one that was most rewarding.

An illustrator from Melbourne, Australia, Alex Hotchkin’s beautiful and insightful storytelling maps have consistently blown us away in their breadth, color, detail and scope. She recently released a book, Borderless, inspired by a 17,000km overland bicycle journey from Europe to SE Asia. Stunningly intricate and deeply personal, we can think of no finer way to document – and interpret – the experience of seeing the world on two wheels.

After saying he’d never do it again… Brody Leven returns for another round of Pedal to Peaks high adventure! This time, his human-powered exploits take him across a 350-mile archipelago in Norway. In the winter. Climbing and skiing whatever mountains he finds in his path. Find out how it transpired, unexpected twists, turns and all, in Joey Schusler’s new film.

The Prospector is Tumbleweed’s upcoming fat/plus/Rohloff do-it-all expedition bike. We find out more about the company, learn what it takes to set up a micro brand, and share some first impressions on the bike itself.

Conceived in the rhododendron tunnels of Pisgah, Industry Nine’s Torch hubs are touted as having the fastest pawl engagement and the best strength to weight ratio in the business, while their wheelbuilds are second to none. Given that they’re just around the corner, we paid them a visit to find out what makes them tick …

Every July, a small group of bikepackers line up for the 530-mile Colorado Trail Race (CTR), one of the toughest backcountry ultra-endurance bikepacking races. This new film by Aaron Johnson captures the trail and the people who choose to race it non-stop from Denver to Durango. Also, find a few words about the film by Aaron and details about the race.

After six years of written interviews and one year of podcasting, The Bicycle Story is no more. We are sad to see it go, but here is a compilation great bikepacking podcasts and interviews that will live on…

A wonderful video tribute that shares the story of James Knowles, a Scottish mountain biker who suffered a great tragedy and made the best of the situation…

Mary shares a story about coming to grips with being the last one to camp on the 2016 Steamboat Ralleye, a 200 mile bikepacking trip from Fort Collins to Steamboat Springs, CO.

Part three of our 2016 Bikepacking Awards honors the people who have been instrumental in the bikepacking community and the incredible routes and rides that they have created….