The Bikepacking Guide : Choosing An Event
With developments in bikes, equipment and clothing, it’s almost possible to ride anywhere at any time. As a result, the bikepacking season of events has evolved to become almost a year-round, global affair. So how do you choose which event to enter?
Before looking at the events on offer, some self-assessment is recommended. Here are some considerations to take into account before committing :
• solo or as a pair? The comfort of having a partner can be tempting, just make sure you pick the right person and ensure you are compatible over all distances and, more importantly, through all problems.
• total time taken - pre-trip preparation, travelling to the event (especially if the organisers encourage no flying), getting home and re-calibrating your brain for normal life should be taken into account as part of the overall time an event will take, not just the days in the saddle.
• course profile – distance is obviously important but so is elevation and so is rideability (there may be a lot of hike-a-bike on some events). Have a look at riders’ statistics from previous editions and assess your approximate daily progress to know whether you are biting off more than you can chew.
• weather – does the expected range of weather match your existing capabilities and equipment. Do you need to buy and carry more or less? How does that suit you?
• wanderlust – most importantly you must be inspired by the route or the challenge presented by your chosen event. This is your motivation to get through the difficult times.
After you have assessed these criteria you should have a clearer idea of the type of bikepacking event you want to enter. There are two main types of organised events : Audaxes or ‘Brevets’, and Bikepacking Races.
Audax events can be open brevets to be done on the date of your choice, or specific date events such as Paris-Brest-Paris.
On open brevets, you must self-certify your arrival time at various obligatory points between the start and the finish, e.g. by stamping your brevet card at an official control or obtaining a shop receipt with the date and time on it. Plan for small roads, a multitude of tiny villages, and discussions about long-distance cycling with ‘old school’ riders, without ever really agreeing.
Traditional audax events with specific dates are a good place to get your first adventuring endeavours certified by stamps along the way and build your way up the distance ladder – an obligatory task if you want to take on the classic Paris-Brest-Paris, for example. The classic distances are 200, 300, 400 and 600km. They can also be used as training runs if you’ve entered a bikepacking race as the main objective of your year’s adventuring.
Bikepacking races are varied but some of the high-profile ones are becoming the modern-day Formula 1 of bikepacking. They feature high entry fees, GPS trackers, grand departs in romantic places, media teams following riders across the route, and cut-off times if you want to be classified as officially finishing the race. Of course, adventure remains at the heart of the matter but it is here that the performance element takes on its full meaning.
The Trans Continental Race grabbed the limelight early on in Europe. In America the Tour Divide are the headliners. They are two are the biggest names in the bike packing world, but each season, the calendar grows with new events, each with their invidividual vision and lure.
Click here
to check out the list of ‘must do’ bikepacking events.
