By Janice Rubin

If you love the great outdoors, camping and cycling, you might be interested in a bikepacking adventure. Bikepacking combines all three into a neat rolling human-powered package.

A few years back my friend Karl introduced me to the crazy world of bikepacking and hammock camping. I took the bait, hook, line and sinker...

thanks Karl LOL!

What Karl and I would like to know is if there’s any interest out there to join us on some bikepacking adventures. What we would do is notify those interested in bikepacking rides with details like dates, meeting times and start locations, as well as route information.



Those of you that have bikepacking experience know what you need and how to pack your bike. For those that would like to give it a try, below is a basic list and information of what you need:

• A bike in good, reliable condition. Mountain bike or gravel bike will work but if riding a gravel bike, keep in mind there is likely to be some singletrack and possibly rocky sections on route.

• Being able to carry what you need for an overnight (or multi-day) adventure.  To accomplish this means you will most likely need a handlebar bag, seat bag, hydration backpack at a minimum.

• The ability to carry enough water, extra bottle cages and or a handlebar water bottle bags. We do try and camp near a water source and will let you know if there’s water available prior to ride.

• A water filtration device.  Even though it might be tempting to drink directly from a beautiful flowing creek, I don’t recommend it.

• Camp stove (MSR or Jet Boil to name a couple)

• Sleep system of your choice. Karl and I use hammock setups.

• Food/snacks. We will sometimes stop by Subway, pick up a sub and eat that for the first night’s meal. There are many decent dehydrated meals out there, just add boiling water, easy peasy! 

• Clothing is your choice, how much or how little, but I do recommend a jacket of some sort, nights in the forest up here get chilly. 

• Personal items, toiletries

That’s the Readers Digest condensed version. It’s up to you what you bring, experience will tell you what you need and what you don’t need. 

So, if you’re interested and would like more information feel free to email us. 

Thanks, and hope to see you out there!

Pedal On!

Janice Rubin

uphillpeddler@yahoo.com

Karl Billmeier

wolverine85929@hotmail.com