10 Tips For Your First Bikepacking Trip 

Tips: start a day leg as early as possible; take breaks and power nap; arrive as early as possible to set camp (avoids ground damp), get your tent dry as late afternoon is often the warmest air (assuming good weather); if touring longer and self-supporting send care packages ahead via post if remote; take x3 riding gear as x2 might not dry quick enough in dodgy conditions; pack flip flops; have an emergency comfy and warm set of clothes kept in a separate dry bag to fall back on as needed; use flight mode on phone; get micro usb lights/GPS etc to charge with Power-Bank easily; get a bike stand with multi contact points; assume needing 4-5l of water every 24h; set time limits to remind when to look for a pitch (if wild camping); check bike setup every morning (clean brakes/rims, check lights etc); know your routes in advance (Google Maps, OS maps etc); gauge speed to appropriate HR rather than average speed or cadence, as latter may vary due to conditions; always rest when tired; eat even when you don't necessarily want to (on longer rides); lip balm and sun screen in 50-60SPF GPS: Bryton 420 has a 35h battery life; can be charged by Power-Bank when in use

#11. Stick to tried and tested! Know your kit and how it works for you especially if you're going multi day adventures and camping/bivvying. Nothing worse than getting somewhere and its pishing of rain or you're getting eaten alive by midges and it's the first time you've tried to pitch your tent. I would suggest loading up your bike and going for a short ride to see how it feels and make sure it feels balanced- no wagging tail packs or floaty steering. Then unpacking it and repacking again to see how it all fits together. When packing think about the order or frequency you use the thing or the criticality of the thing. Finally, unless you absolutely have to, don't use anything new on your contact points eg new cleats, shoes, saddle, shorts, grips, gloves etc. Keep to tried and tested.

Tip for getting clothes even dryer. Once you've rolled the towel up, stand on one end of the roll to clamp that end to the floor, grab the other end without letting everything fall to the floor end, and twist the whole towel roll really hard really tight. When you slowly release the twist the towel draws maximum water out of the clothes. Much better than the folk dancing.

Pro tip that I've learned from this series: Francis should have packed lip balm 😬

Great you included Josh Reid's segment. Also excellent just to watch you two travelling together and always respecting each other.

Very useful set of tips, I knew all of them except the clothes drying trick, I've booked all accommodation for trip that have radiators. From now on I'll try the towel trick. The sleeping and overpacking stuff I've learnt from hiking, use a bag size for what you need, or you'll just fill a bigger bag with stuff you don't need. Another little tip for packing is to lay all your stuff out before you go and keep what is essential, remove what you MAY need and pick one luxury item. Another great video.

Tip 11. Don't take annoying friends with you that often wine about everything.

Very good. Just want to say a big thumbs up to Chris for his excellent talk through of his gear on a previous video. So articulate and thorough. Brilliant. Thanks.

When camping, make sure your tent is facing east in the morning. If it's a sunny morning, this will help drying up your tent when it's wet from morning dew or rain.

So I watched this a while ago before I got stuck into the bikepacking world. Good tips that have served me well so far. Just wanted to come back and say thanks now that I’ve started my own blog / RU-vid set up. Good stuff mate, cheers.

Funny. I've done long biketrips for fifteen years and absolutely disagree on every single advice here 😄 . I'm guessing it's because your starting point (of view) is road biking and mine's trying to mentally get as far as possible from the idea that travelling by bike is a race. I also never wear bicycle specific clothes or use a smartphone or garmin. Just good old paper maps and panniers. I do text home every now and then to tell my family I'm safe but I try to get along with limited amount of information as I've found it very relaxing.

Excellent advice and simple strategies to use. Couple of things with the Garmin that have been a big help for me on bikepacking trips. Using the ClimbPro and battery-saving mode have been a game-changer... The ClimbPro feature categorizes most of the big climbs for the ride; distance, and gradient. Battery -saving mode will give you three days of riding for every charge. A big help when charging devices can be tricky on the road. Looking forward to you guys riding together on future trips. Best friends on bike adventures is always fun to watch! 🚲🚲🤟🏽

+1 for inline bags. Huge difference with efficiency. Makes the trip more fun.

Two of my favorites right there. Thanks for sharing the ride with us...I'm really enjoying your daily download.

I've used my old climbing chalk bags for ages and it works great, some are bigger than others which helps. If you're on a budget these are the way forward until you can afford a specific bag

All very true, I agree wholeheartedly. One thing I am so glad to have discovered just before this trip I'm on is Shimano sandals. I've never owned sandals in my life, but I'm so glad to have these to cycle in this heat. A bonus, I don't need socks!

Ooh the showering with and drying your gear is excellent! I did that for years with my rowing spandex and it was a natural progression to my biking shorts (also useful when not bikepacking to save money on more gear without smelling...ripe)

Great tips especially the food bag. I use 2 climbing chalk bags as 'cockpit' bags on tours, so useful

These are some excellent tips, many of which are also useful even when not bikepacking but doing longer rides. Enjoy Spain!

Very good tips. Checking out a head unit for my birthday. A lot to look at. Thanks for the video. Take care, Al

Top tips Francis especially when I am planning my first multi-day trip this year... thanks 🙌

i still dont have the cajones nor the means yet to try this but with every video of yours (and others) i watch i get that much closer to trying it! Big ups, gents, from the Spain of the US, Cali!

Nice tips! I like to have a mix of savoury and sweet snacks and split them between stem bags - savoury on the left.... then all I have to think about is what I'm craving, or what I've had enough of. I also like to store all my emergency spares and tools in a single location that's easily accessible but somehow separate from my other gear. That way, They're super easy to find when I need them, but not in the way of everything else. They're usually all strapped together to the frame in a wee bag or tool roll.

Good tips. And thanks for the reminder about Garmin head unit tracking facility - I was thinking of unnecessarily buying an InReach Mini, but really don't need to at the moment.

Stem bag things... oh so good... yes... horse nose bag for riders! My touring set up is all in line UNTIL I have to add my tent... then it goes on the forks, but by that time I figure I'm touring not racing. Helps stabilize the bike really nicely. I have also added clip on aero bars, more for comfort than aero, gives a different position to ride and helps prevent numb hands... and improves aero - kind of balances out the bags on the forks... OK not really but that is what I tell myself...

Excellent run down of the tips. Especially setting up a tent in higher ground and late at night to keep nosey folks away. Glad you two are back up and running after a few days away. When I saw the green bread I thought both of you had come down with food poisoning. And where have you guys now reached at the moment.

Thanks for the tips guys, great vid! Done a few tours, but found several of your tips really useful for another upcoming tour in Mallorca. Gracias!

Good reminder for a do's & don't 10 point bike travel list 👍Live tracker, top idea. Was it really GREEN BREAD? 🤔😉. Oil Tankers ⛴️ / Angry Birds 🐦/ Horse 🐎 Bag! An eclectic mix From Chris & Francis today !

Thanks for the tips 👍🏻 Heading to Normandy for my first bikepacking trip in April 😊

You can ride mountain bike shoes and pedals on road rides. I don’t think that anyone has ever demonstrated a real difference in efficiency. I haven’t ridden road shoes and pedals since I stopped racing many years ago. I really like the Tailfin bags you use. I haven’t had a chance to use mine yet. Soon I hope! I bought them because I first saw them on your channel.

Nice to see the almond blossom. Love Spain in February.

Well done Garmin getting Francis on board!

Great tips guys, thanks for taking the time to film this!

Planning for my first trip and I'm very very excited about it 😁✨️ kinda worried, but I'm full of hope, and this already reduced the stress a lot. Thanks!!

That towel drying tip is a cool excuse to do crazy dances on bikepacking trips, thanks for that!

Man, I did go touring for 3 days with 60% mountains and remaining mixed roads along beaches in tropical climates. Tropical heavy rain soaked me and let them dried out along until I reached hotel before night comes. I made mistake as I put my logistics in my pannier ended me difficult to accesss it while on mountaineus roads. Good advice, I got my stem bag ready since then.

Here's a tip that I discovered in real life: Don't be over-ambitious in how far you're gonna go. I had a fairly miserable 3 days because I was trying to do about 150 miles a day. Not fun. If I was to do it again I'd say maybe 60/75 miles max/day for a multi-day trip.

Some companies like Bontrager even make bike-touring-specific SPD shoes that look and feel like normal sneakers. Strongly recommended for our “hybrid” lifestyle, cycling, shopping, going out for dinner, walking around etc.

Absolutely perfect topic for me right now!

What! No paper maps? During my 20 years (1980-2000) of bike touring, that's all we had for navigation. Good to see that there are still touring cyclists. Memorable: tours 1980, 6 days (solo) over Sierra Nevada mountains from SF Bay area & back. 1998, 5 weeks (solo) in Italy at age 50. 1988, 4 weeks (group of 6) in New Zealand. 1984, 3 weeks (group of 4) Vancouver to Calgary. 1993 4 weeks (solo) tour from Munich in the Alps Germany, Austria, Switzerland & Italy. And more!

Nice tips. Thanks. Love your vlogs. I too love to cycle tour. Every summer. Milan to Nice over the Alps.

Useful tips thanks you two, horse bag great idea can add that to Chris's product range. :)

" to avoid bonking." Recently, watching a Mary Spender bike vid got me inspired to start distance-riding on my mountain bike, so I searched for the next step toward wheeling up Pacific Coast Highway, et vous voilà. I guess I should take the milk crate off of my back rack now... Good info!

One of the lowest points of my life was bivvying when a wall of unforcast torrential rain and hail tore through the forest at 2am. You don't need to be questioning your existence on a bike adventure, always check the forecast, and even if its just drizzling, book a hotel.

Question: how much does tracking drain the garmin battery? I tend to turn the BT off as it felt like it was draining my garmin battery (older model now), is this the case or am i imagining it. Would like to know when bikepacking all hints and tricks u use to conserve battery and what not to worry about.

Eye mask and ear plugs are a must. Sleep = Recovery

thanks for the towel tips, it's the more usefull thing i see on bikepacking advies :D

Great vids and tips about bike packing !

Awesome stuff. Defo going to get a tracker next time.

I always use the live track feature on my 520 and also the crash detection has alerted the wife a couple of times

2nd major bike trip around all of the Finger Lakes NY. Spring/summer. Just my two lakes are 40 miles long and 2 miles wide. Plus a ton of other smaller lakes in the region. 1st was AT NC to NY

This was rad. Thanks, mate

This is the second bikepacking video I’ve ever watched. The first was Josh Reid cycling home from China, very entertained when he popped up this video haha

When Josh speaks that reminds me lovely Scotland

Valuable information! Good Luck!

I bought a Podsac stem bag from Planet X in the sale for £4.99 ready for some sportive this year to put my Percy Pigs 🐷 in. Really enjoyed following your trip x

On the cleaning your kit tip. Instead of stamping on the kit in a towel, jam it in a door or under something and twist as hard as you can.

With my lad we did night ride from Liverpool to Leeds it was 136 miles by canals, and about sleep yes, sleep somewhere not far but away from road to have calming rest

hi guys, new to your channel, watched a few vids, really like your style/ energy :) keep it up

Always interesting to see how different someone can do bike touring. As someone who never sleeps in a hotel during those trips it seems so alien. When I am on the tour with my girlfriend we have tents, sleeping bags, cooking utensils, solar charger, etc with us. Combined with 5-6l of water per person as we do trips where we are not able to restock for 2-3 days on some legs. Seeing how freaking light you travel is just strange :D We easily have 15-20kg of gear on each bike and there is no way we could do it without panniers.

This video is great!! Thank you!

Brilliant guys! Just what I needed to hear. A lot of it is common sense but easily overlooked. Other bits on the vlog are fantastic tips, who'd have thought about the Towel squash technique? I tried it home after you boys posted. IT WORKED!(of course). Snaffle stem bag whatchamacallit, I was only talking to my LBC mad cyclist, mechanic extrodinaire about keeping up on the fuel on my upcoming trip. I have been wondering more specifically what you eat in between meals? I guess it's not practical to try and take a load of bars in my limited space(yes it is inline, LBC chap got me to buy that set up). Great Vlog. Let's all share, and I don't mean offload the stuff from my inline setup to one of my mates who says he's sticking with his 34(68) litre panniers from his last trip. Great when you follow him apparently. CHEERS!

Is there a way of working our how far you can travel in a day with a loaded bag over an unloaded one? Or is it just by feel/ trial and error/ guesstimate?

Recently cycled over 1000 miles through France and used my phone, an earpiece and Komoot which directed me based on the route I had planned. I'm not convinced one needs to have an expensive extra device, Garmin or otherwise. Just saying.

What a great video, love it 😁

Everyone overpacks their first trip. Then as you pare down each subsequent trip, you figure your preferred way to pack

That tap dance got me 😅

Two questions ! What is that small bag on the Tailfin of josh I could not find it on the site of Tailfin. And what’s the name of this small trackunit which works everywhere ? Greetings karl 👍

hoping to bike pack up to snowdon w some mates next year useful vid : )

Hi there .I'm planning to cycle from Ireland to sicily in September this year .I'm using a hybrid bike .can you give me any advice on how I should train for this .I was thinking to cycle around 100k per day on the trip so should complete it in around 5 weeks

You can download the offline map to your navigation app in your phone and use in the plane mode to save battery. Carrying a large powerbank is a good idea.

Loving these vids bro, Watching on the firestick recently soz for less comments phones knackered took me 22 mins to write this love ubro 🙌

A twist for the towel drying trick: once rolled, then twist the towel like you would to drain the water out if it was soaking wet. Twist it hard with the clothes in, then check 😉

*Learn to use earplugs correctly* would be my advice after watching this. I don't know if you were doing it for show at 9:56 or who else needs to hear this but you really need to roll them tight in your fingers then quickly get them much deeper into your ears. They expand in your ear, and the tight fit really stops sound much better. Cheers for the video, overall great advice.

In bear country, best camp with a portable electric bear fence. At. 2.4 lbs, it’s small kit that brings huge peace of mind.

Great tips!!!

1st tip.. get front panniers and rack.. don't eliminate the most effective carrying point.. your bike is already a burro and all the junk cancelled out any light weight carbon fiber benefits..

Tracker is great advice. I have one and use it all the time. North Pennines is not well sorted for mobile phone and neither is many other places in Europe so relying on phone is BAD. I USE SPOT but Garmin just got a new version with a long battery life compared to version 1.

Good tips and the first one is the most important. I'm an ultralight backpacker so I know how to pack light. It's my monster E-CELLS 2 wheel drive, 2 battery, dual suspension bike that has the real weight but it has RANGE. it's mainly for hunting to pack out deer and elk meat. Going on backcountry trails? CARRY AN EMERGENCY SATELLITE BEACON.

Very helpful!

Great tips, thanks!

Always take the tools/and cash cards with you, if you can't sort it out then buy yourself out of any mechanicals. I've been know to get a taxi in the middle of nowhere to the nearest town to fix the bike, always is a weird request over the phone if the taxi drivers got a big boot?

My first bikepacking trip, I bonked big time. I'd like to add, pack some hydration tablets or any of those sugary powdery sports things. They're a great way to help keep up the calories and also keep your electrolytes up.

I have to say i didn't think of the last tip(mask/plugs). Thats why such videos are perfect. You didnt mention though anything about a first aid kt? And whats the minimum of tools/spares would you recommend?

Hi Francis, how did you guys plan your routes and what distance/time are you aiming for every day? I'll be doing my first bike packing trip later this year and saw that Komoot has a handy feature for planning multiple days, but I will have to pay for it...you think it's worth it?

What kind of rack setup on that cervelo road bicycle?

I got around the mobile battery problem by connecting a power bank to my phone. Works like a charme and I don't need to spend so much money on a new computer / head unit.

Brilliant. Thanks for the tips. Just planning my first bike packing trip. A question if anyone can help… when I am about an hour into my cycle my elbows buzz and the forearms go numb. It’s really uncomfortable and takes away the fun. By the end of five hours it’s miserable. Any suggestions???

One more tip. Take a small kitchen sponge with you (you cen cut a piece if it's too large). It takes zero weight and volume. You can clean your bike and yourself after some muddy/rainy/dusty day with a bit of water, and become way more attractive in front of hotel receptionist or train stewart.

very informative 👍

Do you clean your bike during a bike packing trip and if so how? Because I assume u can’t take all the normal different things like brushes degreaser etc. with u because that’s a lot of weight and bulky items as well

Re; the Garmin competition. Just to remind you both that I haven't got one and I really really want one. Also, I live in Benissa near to Calpe so cheap postage given your in Spain.

Thabk you, really helpful

Great tips! Thanks for sharing.

There are mountain bike shoes that look like normal shoes but function like mountain bike shoes including the clip in. Highly recommend.

The Most important tip: take chris hall with you! Everything else is less important

About to go ride across America on my bike with my 2 dogs and cat I'll be towing along

Cute LOL. I did this stuff 40 years ago....no phone, paper maps and creativity was your biggest ally. However this being said.....yes....you def want an easy to reach bag for food and your rain jacket etc in a bag on your steering wheel. Also a tip: use 2 drinking bottle set up. I had one with tap water and 1 with a yoghurt/lemonade mix. Something Im wondering for a long time now: why is nobody wearing bike gloves anymore? I see this even with pro cyclers. Besides the obvious comfort they provide...they also protect your hands in a crash (humans have the reflex to extend their arms when crashing to break the fall). Another thing I dont really understand: why nobody is placing their bags as low as possible for reasons of stability. I remember there used to be a brand that made frames were you could attach the bags just above your wheel axis. This greatly improves the stability of your bycicle. Another (pro) tip. There is a brand (not going to advertise here lol) that makes bags of canvas with a rubber coating and use NO zippers as these are extremely vulnerable. These bags have been proven to be airtight and so strong that even jumping on them wont break them. They are loved by the aquatic community and I used them for years as a motor cyclist.

You dancing, just because of those shoes 😆. Found it funny

Thoughts on aero-bars for bikepacking?