Winter Bikepacking

$305 dollars for a pair of non-clipless riding shoes? After spending a European summer in a pair of PEdALED’s Mido Boots – subjecting them to a prolonged soaking on the Trans Alp bikepacking route in the process – Cass Gilbert wonders whether it’s a price worth paying for such undeniably handsome riding shoes…

On the eve of a weeklong winter bikepack, we catch up with musician and poet Ben Weaver as he preps his Salsa Blackborow. Ben’s no stranger to long, music-themed bike tours. We ask him how he uses his bicycle as a way of connecting with his audience and find out about his summer tour, celebrating 20 years of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route through riding and music…

Ultra racer Neil Beltchenko brings us along for the ride in this detailed report from his victory in the 2018 Iditarod Trail Invitational 350, recounting his three-day battle against the legendary Iditarod Trail, the merciless Alaskan winter, and the competition…

Every year, a hundred-strong tribe of winter-hardened fat bikers, skiers, and hikers gather in Northern Minnesota to race across a land known as the Icebox of the Nation. This year, I was one of them. Kind of…

Designed to handle the unpredictable nature of shoulder season riding, we put the 45NRTH Sturmfist 5 gloves to the test during the past few months in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley. Cold, wind, and water… beware.

Fyxation just released an all-season/winterized version of their Mesa MP flat pedal, the Mesa MP Subzero. The pedal features stainless steel removable pins, a impact grade nylon body, and comes in four color combinations…

Released today after winning awards at film festivals around the world, The Frozen Road depicts and incredible month-long expedition through Canada’s remote and frozen Yukon Territory to the Arctic Sea. This was just a month within a 3-year bike trip that Ben Page began in 2014. Watch the film, see an amazing collection of photos, and read a QA with the filmmaker…

Looking for some new riding clothes to keep you from going into hibernation mode? Keeping cozy in cold conditions doesn’t require the latest and greatest, of course, but here are several new pieces that have impressed us this shoulder season… and will keep us warm out on the trail this winter and early spring.

At the end of last season and now into the early weeks of this winter’s snow, we tested Bontrager’s vaunted OMW boots in New England’s cold and wet conditions.

To get your winter wheels in motion… This past February, Sven cycled from Bonn (Germany) to Vienna (Austria). Not the ideal season for bikepacking, but Sven decided it was better to ride in bad conditions than not ride at all…

Thinking about winter bikepacking yet? If so, Terrene Tires just announced a new affordable studdable fat tire. The Cake Eater, the sixth tire in their model lineup, is a versatile, fast-rolling, studdable fat tire available in 26×4.0, 26×4.8, 27.5×4.0, and 27.5×2.8… all with or without studs.

Tramontana is the latest short film by Montanus, a bikepacking project out of Abruzzo, Italy. The film is one-half expedition and one-half introspective dreamscape. Feel the cold darkness, hear the crackle of the fire, and then learn how they made the film as well as the DIY portable woodstove that takes center stage.