Life In The Saddle

These are some insights into planning and executing a lightweight unsupported bikepacking or bicycle touring trip. How should you plan? What do you use for mapping? What kit do you take? Where do you camp? What are the pitfalls to avoid? This is my advice for bikepacking and cycle touring... 1 – Use Modern Mapping Technology I love maps. The contour lines, roads, paths, and rivers paint a picture on paper. When it comes to route planning for a bicycle tour though, make use of the incredible resources from online mapping tools. Komoot.com is my preferred service—it utilises crowd-sourced data of the most-ridden roads and trails to optimise a route between two pin points. It makes route planning dead easy, because you know that the roads and paths the software is taking you on are the best of the bunch in the area. Online software will also tell you the elevation profile, and Komoot will even give you a breakdown of the road / trail surfaces that you will encounter on

This week's review is another great product from Portland based PNW Components – their compact and comfortable Rover Hip Pack. Made from super durable sailcloth material, with an air mesh padded back panel and a plethora of pockets for all your trail essentials; the PNW Rover Hip Pack is the ideal companion for off-road adventures in the forest, bike park or on gravel adventures. I was an early adopter of the bar bag on my gravel and road pursuits (check out my previous posts on 'bar bags' ); embracing the feeling of carrying little in your pockets, and letting the bike take the load. On mountain bike adventures a bar bag is less suitable though, as they bounce around too enthusiastically; the solution is a hip pack.  A hip pack is different from a 'bum bag' – the latter is designed to sit around your hips, whereas this is really a 'waist pack' that is meant to sit higher up on top of your hip bones, around your waist. Perched on top of your hips it can com