- We all make mistakes. It happens to everyone from the seasoned cyclist
to the first timer. It's kind of the nature of
these types of adventures that come with so many moving parts. So the team here at
bikepacking.com came up with 14 mistakes that
we've all made in the past to hopefully help you
avoid them in the future. Let's have some fun.
(upbeat music) I'm not sure about you all,
but I know I've gone on plenty of trips where an item is either
not used or very important such as maybe an extra t-shirt, maybe some chamois, pants, and so on. This long sleeve t-shirt I have here is half a pound or 230 grams. So it's easy to kind of
rack up extra weight, making pedaling that much more difficult. This is especially true for
I'd say beginner bikepackers, where packing too much
stuff weighs them down and just ruins the overall experience. When I go bikepacking, I consider clothing
layers that are versatile for both riding and camping activities. For example, I stick with
the same riding shorts throughout the trip,
but I usually swap out either my cycling chamois or briefs for a different pair of wool
briefs when I'm at camp. So living off bars and candy,
you know, it's totally fine for a few hours, but after
a while, at least for me, it definitely ruins the taste in my mouth and kind of irritates my gut
and simply just gets old. I still carry these and buy them, but I try to supplement them with some real food like
nuts, fruit, and oats. A common problem here is
that these bars though, they pack really well, so I
actually try to keep extra room in bags, usually my
frame bag for real food. The ability to store an
apple from a convenient store or even a sandwich is a treat
when you reach a high point on your root or you just wanna
sit down for a lunch break. So before we continue, I just
wanna take a quick moment to let everybody know that
this video is supported in part by Salsa Cycles. Salsa developed the Cutthroat
with the Tour Divide in mind, an extremely long
mixed surface bikepacking race. The Cutthroat features
generous front triangle space, all the gear mounts you could wish for, excellent bikepacking geometry, and a highly comfortable
ride quality thanks to their Class 5 VRS or
vibration reduction system, and while the bike may have been designed for the Tour Divide, that also
makes it an awesome machine for bikepacking trips. To learn a little bit
more about the Cutthroat, you can hit this card right
here to find the link below. A few of us have certainly had
a very bad first experience with using new shoes or
saddles, chamois, jerseys, even grips on bikepacking trips. Blisters or saddle sores can quickly turn what would usually be a fun
experience into a bad one. Contact point should be tested
and broken in before use. Simply putting on shoes
for say, a full day or two of everyday use,
definitely does a good job of kind of breaking down the shoe, helping it mold to your foot, and if you can't break in
that contact point beforehand, I always suggest going
back to what you're used to instead of using something
new for a bikepacking trip. So I've been stuck in that
situation where I get to camp and I don't know how to set
up a new tent that I have or use a stove that I've never used before or realize I'm missing a
part because I didn't try to assemble something beforehand. Especially after a long day of pedaling, it's frustrating when all you wanna do is cook some food and relax. So a good way to alleviate
this is to set up that tent prior to your
trip or test to see how fast that new stove boils water. Just a little bit of familiarity
goes a long, long way. All right, so whether it's
a new route or region, it's really easy to overreach, especially when you are on a loaded bike. I still do this and
typically on the first day where I should normally
set myself up for success, I put myself in a world of hurt, but other factors also go
into biting off too much such as the amount of climbing. I actually really love our climbing scale on bikepacking.com, which helps you understand
climbing difficulty for a particular route. Other factors such as time
of year, sun exposure, heat, and elevation, also play a
role that you should consider. So a few years ago I set
out on a quick overnighter from the Colorado Trail
from Waterton Canyon and it was a warm November evening, the forecast called for clear skies so I thought I was in the clear. I found a great spot up on a ridge with some really spectacular views, but it really wasn't
a well-protected area. So that night, I woke up
to an insane wind event, nothing really I'd ever seen before. I was up half the night
kinda holding the tent, making sure I didn't fly away with it. So while the views were
nice, it would've been better if I actually set up camp
in a more protected spot of which there were plenty nearby. Another thing I've been
known to do is find a nice flat camp spot, but at
the expense of being shaded in the morning. So during cooler months, it's a good idea to kind of wake up and have
your tent be in the sun. Not only to just warm you
up, but also help kind of burn off that condensation
that develops overnight. Similarly, camping in cold sinks or where inversion occurs isn't ideal. So cold air is heavier than warm air and so it sinks to the
valley floor at night. These cold sinks may
be significantly colder than you otherwise
might have prepared for. All right, so one of the most, if not the most common question we get on our route guides on our website is, can I ride this particular
route on a gravel bike? The answer is often, yes, but we've also heard from
a lot of other riders who end up not having a good time because they were
uncomfortable or couldn't ride the terrain on smaller tires. I understand a lot of
people like to underbike, but good alternatives include hard tails or rigid flat bar bikes
with big volume tires that offer extra cushion, flotation, and more traction for confidence, but on the flip side of
that, you might find yourself maybe pedaling more dirt
roads where you may not need a big nobby tire, something
like the Maxxis DHF, it just might be too draggy and slow. Earlier this year, Logan
set out for an overnighter, but that trip was abruptly
halted after he clipped a rock, slipped off his pedal,
and it found his shin and sliced it open so much that he needed to bail and get it treated. Whenever I forget my first aid kit, it makes me think, "Oh
great, I'm gonna need it, this is just, yeah." Call me superstitious,
but I'm gonna need it. Luckily, that really hasn't
happened too much yet, but that also goes for other things like a rain jacket, bear
line, or a headlamp, all things that play a crucial role, but often get left at
home for whatever reason. That goes for newbies and
experienced bikepackers like all of us here at bikepacking.com. All right, so a handful of years ago, and I actually know some of
you know this story already, but I went out to Kentucky to scout the Sheltowee Bikepacking Route. One fine afternoon, we
hit the perfect storm or perhaps a worst case scenario with soaking rains and red clay roads. We got soaked and our
bikes totally debilitated, they wouldn't roll. So after getting to camp that
night, we realized that all of our brake pads were completely toasted. I think I had one spare and
someone else had a spare, so we had two spares, but we
needed 10 sets of brake pads. Logan had a similar situation
having to bail from the Sahara after eight flat tires
and not enough patches. This was kind of before the tubeless era, but even with tubeless, it's
important to kind of consider a situation where a lot of
flats could happen, the desert. So this is a reminder, bring
the necessary repair items to get you out of a bad situation. I ended up doing a whole video on this, which is also accompanied by a big guide on the website, which can be found below. So water is life without
it, we're screwed. Somehow, I put myself in these
situations far too many times where, you know, I don't carry enough and I find myself either in a bad spot or chugging water out of a
cattle tank next to cows. That was one of my worst
situations I had ever been in, but hopefully, my mistakes
are a lesson for you. When in doubt, always
carry more than you need and have a backup plan
if a filter goes missing or gets damaged. Nowadays, I always bring
(indistinct), filter, and know that I can easily boil water to kill anything in the water, and drinking enough
water throughout the day is also essential. Having it accessible, in say a feed bag or in a bladder that is easy
to grab is super helpful. For dry routes, I like
to carry three bottles plus a bladder just to kind
of add up that capacity. Also, electrolytes help
tremendously in hot climates so it's a good idea to
just maybe bring a packet or two along with you. I particularly like
that Tailwind Nutrition, which offers electrolytes,
but if it's really, really hot and I can't eat food, it also
has 200 calories per packet in it so you're doing two things at once, it's pretty nice. Back in 2016, I was on a
bikepacking trip in Salida and a few pedal strokes in, I noticed a feeling I had felt
kind of on previous day rides with the bike. The shifting was just off. I figured I just needed to
make some quick adjustments and told myself, "Oh, I'll
fix it at camp tonight." But all of a sudden, my
chain started jumping and popping off the cogs,
so I jumped off the bike and crunched down and looked over it. After further inspection,
I realized I somehow bent a chain link, something that
I could have easily found and fixed in my garage, but I
refused for some odd reason. Now, this was a trip that I
ended up proposing to my partner and so my mind had a lot going on, but that's no excuse to simply avoid doing a once over on your bike. Topping off sealant, checking brake pads, the shifting, and so on. All right, raise your hand if you've had a mid trip realization
that that heavy backpack is killing your butt. Yeah, I've made it a mission
to quit using a backpack while I bikepack for this reason. Backpacks are nice because
you can carry a lot of gear, but that is the problem. Three liters of water,
extra food, extra gear quickly adds up to increased
pressure on your saddle and can cause chafing and
irritation in your shoulders. Now, I know, it's not easy, not everybody can leave
the backpack at home, especially if you have
limited space on your bike. So if you do take one, make sure to put the lightest things in there. All right, so on a trip to
South Africa a while back, Virginia ended up using a DIY saddleback, which initially cleared her rear tire. However, once it got broken
in after a couple of weeks of use, it started rubbing that rear tire. So Logan and Virginia ultimately
had to send it back home and buy a rack and panniers for her. They were lucky enough to
actually find a bike shop, but you might not find yourself so lucky. Moral of the story here, test your gear and get to know it before
using it on a big trip. So when I first started bikepacking, I didn't really think too hard about how I packed my bikepacking bags. I just thought you pack
'em and you just go, but over time, I realized a
well-packed seat pack enhances stability and tightly secure items in your handlebar bag creates
more reliable bike handling. Plus ensuring your bags are
packed tightly will create more space and reduce
any premature abrasion or holes in your bag. So we all make mistakes, right? And these are just a few of
'em that we've kind of learned over the years. So we wanna hear from you all now. What mistakes have you made? Let us know in the comment section below, and if you like what you saw in this video and wanna see more like it,
please hit that Subscribe button and Notification Bell and
consider becoming a member of the Bikepacking Collective. The Bikepacking Collective has a lot of awesome perks including giveaways and the twice yearly Bikepacking Journal. So to learn a little bit more about the Bikepacking Collective, hit the card in the top right corner, you can also find a link below. As always, thank you all
so much for watching, and until next time, pedal further. (upbeat music)
