My first bikepacking trip

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“Bikepacking is the synthesis of mountain biking and minimalist camping, It evokes the freedom of multi day backcountry hiking, but with the range and thrill of riding a mountain bike, It’s about exploring places less travelled, both near and far, via single tracks trails, gravel, and abandoned dirt roads.” – Wikipedia  Doesn’t this definition sound lovely and appealing? I had a feeling I would love a bikepacking adventure. As an introduction I would pick some fairly easy terrain and enjoy the quiet but adventurous vibes of being off road, more or less remotely. This promised some challenges, wild landscapes and the rewarding feeling of independence.  I started a packing list and quickly realized that carrying a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, clothes, cooking gear, water and food on a bike on trails seemed…hmm, nuts?  I pictured a heavily-loaded bike, with […]

Considering a cycling tour in Ontario? Consider fully supported and guided!

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I have been an active tourism industry consumer essentially my whole life, starting in the 70s, bouncing around untethered in the very back of a fake-wood-paneled station wagon on Ontario’s Highway 401, with thousands of other eastbound families planning to spend March Break skiing in the mountains of Quebec or Vermont. Cycling tours started later, about 1992, when I went on a bike-packing trip to Denmark. It was a self-guided tour. We planned our trip around where we wanted to go in Denmark, not where the cycling would be best. I learned that Denmark is mostly, but not entirely, flat, and that the winds off the North Sea are, well, windy. Since then, I have had the joy of many cycling trips and tours, including road biking in the Netherlands and France; seeing Berlin on a cruiser bike on a […]