Bike -Packing adventures
Damon Blackband
Bike-packing - Turning a weekend into an ‘Adventure’
For a few years now I have been enjoying bike-packing adventures with friends around our beautiful country - the cycling equivalent to ‘credit card touring’.
When I say ‘bike-packing’ I am not referring to the practise of ‘cycle-touring’ where you laden up your bikes with tents, sleeping bags, cookers and everything else you can possibly ram into a dozen clunky pouches, which ultimately ruins the ride and makes riding your bike a complete misery, not to mention those wet, miserable sleepless nights in a cold and depressing tent.
Bike fully loaded with waterproof jacket at the ready if needed.
I am referring to travelling light with the bare minimum stuffed into a lightweight tail pack and then overnighting in a lovely pub with rooms, bar and restaurant which makes the whole experience an absolute pleasure.
So, what do you need?
A normal road bike with normal tool caddy & water bidon.
A lightweight waterproof tail bag and possibly handlebar bag
Minimal overnight gear - shorts/t-shirt/ flip flops/ toothbrush/ mini chamois cream & other medication etc
A spare set of riding gear if more than one overnight stay otherwise just new socks and jersey
Waterproof/ wind proof/overshoes if rain forecast
Credit card, phone, charging leads, mini bike lock, gps device.
Top tube bag if required
How does it work?
Chose a 2/3 night out and back route (Strava premium has a brilliant route planning tool that allows you to input a start & end point chose road surface type and wether to minimise or maximise elevation, and then searches through zillions of ride data to suggest the routes that most local cyclists use - heat map tool)
Book a pub/hotel for Fri night with parking for the weekend and a pub/hotel with rooms and restaurant and bike storage for the Sat night and book a table for supper too.
Thursday night - fit bike with tail pack carrier and load up tail pack etc
Check the bike over and make sure it’s clean, serviceable and the tyres are pumped up
Friday - after work load up the car and drive to pub, overnight and dump travel clothes in car
Sat - cycle an enjoyable route to pub with coffee stops and lunch en route and arrive in time for a rewarding beer before supper.
Sun - After breakfast load up the tail pack and cycle back to the car on another scenic enjoyable route with coffee and lunch stops then drive home.
A mini adventure carrying the minimum of gear on an exciting and scenic route where a fully laden bike would fear to go.
Blackburn Outpost Seat Pack 11ltrs
Fully waterproof and easy to fit and remove waterproof bag once at hotel. Stable and hard wearing too.
Topeak Frontloader Handlebar Pack 8l
With an air release valve this can be compressed between normal drop handlebar road bikes if travelling for more than one night.
Lezyne Hard Caddy 2.2L Bar Bag
For shorter tours an d overnight stays the Lezyne Hard Caddy can give you that extra bit of space for easy to reach items and onside snacks etc or somewhere to stuff your arm warmers, gloves and windproof etc if required.
Tour of North Yorkshire
Ripon to Barnard Castle via Bedale & Richmond and returning via Reeth, Leyburn & Masham
Tour of Norfolk
A fantastic circular route around Norwich and the Norfolk Broads
Rutland Water weekender
Lincoln to Wing near Oakham via Cafe Velo Verde, Belvoir Castle and Wymondham Windmill. returning via Corby Glen and Sleaford.
Tour of Lincolnshire 360
A 3-day tour of the Lincolnshire border
Tour of the Isle of Wight
3-days exploring the Isle of Wight
Tour of the Chilterns
two days cycling around the rolling hills of the Chilterns including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang windmill
Humber Bridge
Lincoln-York-Lincoln
A fantastic 2-day adventure catching the train from Metheringham to York then cycling to Cave Castle hotel Spa for night then cycling over the Humber Bridge back to Lincoln
