Cold and Afraid: Bikepacking Iceland 

Hey warren, really glad you enjoyed the video mate. It was my first stab at making a film and tried my best too show what happened while being light hearted. Appreciate the comment...plenty more adventures to come I hope.

We will see each other again Pawel! But it will have to be somewhere where the beers are cheaper ;)

@@maxbikepacking and more tasty 😀

glad you enjoyed rob!

Thanks mate, very encouraging!

Thanks for the comment. Hope the next adventure is just around the corner!

Appreciate it mate!

The Lebowski is a rough place if you're a lucky man! Glad to hear your enjoyed our adventure

thanks BIG rob!

It's a very unique feeling to be somewhere completely devoid of life. highly recommend! glad you enjoyed

Really encourages us to hear you enjoyed it! Bring on the next adventure!

Gone but not forgotten :(

Glad you enjoyed it! It's not until you ride a bike in the rain do you realise how many good people are out there :)

@@maxbikepacking For sure! I've had people pull over and refill my water bottles on hot days, people take me into their homes for the night, and the morale boosting thumbs up and honks are the best! : )

cheers, hope to put out a few more small scale adventures in the near future

Have never slept better, crazy what cycling all day will do ;)

How hard can it be... turns out a lot harder than we thought haha. Glad you enjoyed cheers mate!

Hi Chris, thanks for the feedback mate its very appreciated. We did it in July and it was still damn cold most days. An alien environment like no other, definetly recommend if you like a challenge BUT we will be seeking warming weather for the next trip I think! Keep an eye out for a new video sometime this year. Good luck with your upcoming adventure!

love your videos in the snowy mountains and barrington tops. I've cycled both places and made videos of it on a previous channel. The youtube algorithm is amazing!

@@maxbikepacking yeah it is, your video just popped up on my main page. RU-vid is pretty good at telling me what to watch. I noticed right at the start of this video a photo of you at the Barrington Tops Dingo gate. I love it up there and heading back in October. After watching your video I’m hoping for cold wet conditions 😂 An overseas bikepacking trip though is next level. I’m jealous. Looked like a trip to remember 👍 hope the knees have recovered!

Couldn't have said it better myself. Glad you enjoyed!

Cheers grumpy joe! Has taken a bit of therapy but we are almost ready to go again. Ready to rock another big trip and get a new video out to you before the year ends ;)

Yes I probably should have mentioned but what gives the route such a high difficulty is that you have around 8 days of no resupply points. We went with big bags and freeze-dried meals to make it work. Thanks for the comment Richard, really glad you enjoyed it!

@@maxbikepacking How did you do with the water though?

@@cristibaluta There is water from streams etc throughout iceland. Some of the rivers were dry but luckily there were supplied jugs of water in the huts.

Hey Guys awesome that you found the video! You wouldn't believe it but a week after we finished the trip Jason's freehub did exactly the same thing. I've never heard of this happening before and just shows how tough iceland is on the gear. Hope you guys are planning the next adventure! Happy pedaling :)

@@maxbikepacking yes Iceland roads are very bumpy. Hope you'll enjoy your next trips as well !

Jason and I were using giant tough roads. Kristian was using his dad's old 26-inch mountain bike. I honestly think bike setup doesn't matter as much as people say. Having no suspension I think is a real advantage when you are carrying gear (prevents bags from rubbing on tyres). For Iceland I wouldn't want tyres any thinner than a giant tough road (which would be considered pretty narrow for a mountain bike). As we said in the video a fat bike would be optimal but not necessary. Hope that helps.

I've learned that if the weather doesn't kill you in Iceland then it's considered 'good weather'. Glad you enjoyed the vid!

@@maxbikepacking Yes, similar to Scotland, where it's the cold winds and rain which are often more dangerous than sub-zero temperatures. I used to fear the worst when I saw the first mountainbikers head off into the mountains in Scotland in the 1990s, with cycling shoes and thin gloves. I found that sheepskin mittens and proper hiking boots were the only thing that could keep my fingers and feet warm. I only got caught out once, when I had to ride 15 miles into a blizzard to get back to the nearest village. Never went for on a winter/spring ride after that without taking ski goggles.

Hi there. There is a shipping container/bike repair bay at Reykjavik international airport. I know a lot of people have utilsed this to get a bike box (that other travellers leave behind). After Jamie pulled out due to injury we phoned ahead and got him to organise some boxes from bike mechanics in Reykjavik. Hope that helps

Prices were high for the nice ones shown in the video (as is everything is iceland) $40-$60 AUD per person. Honesty box system so no booking as far as we could tell. I think for some of them the local hiking club books them out from time to time but when we had the place to ourselves most of the time. I wouldn't have taken on this route if it wasn't for the huts, nice knowing even in bad weather you can still hunker down.

@@maxbikepacking 40-60 not cheap but yep better than freezing the nuts off lol thanks for the reply. much appreciated...

Yes we were. We have been riding MTB clipless for years now so are pretty used to it on the decents ;)

My understanding is that the west fjords by road is a much more manageable route. Pack some decent clothes and you will be perfect! Good luck :)

My thoughts exactly and remember we were never at any notable altitude and still got snow! We didn't book any of the huts in advance and I believe it was a first come first serve basis. We rarely saw anyone in the huts. Lots of great info on the bikepacking.com page (Iceland divide nort-south). Glad you enjoyed!

The average temperature here in July is about 12°C and that's in Reykjavik so up in the mountains it's much colder - for us a warm summers day is 15°C - Ha Ha.

@@ornleifs This is infomation I really should have known before I went. Never underestimate iceland! It is fantastic when it hits 15 C!

@@maxbikepacking You're so right in that you should never underestimate Iceland and unfortunately to many foreign travellers do since every year we hear about a few deaths of foreigners who have gone into situations that no Icelanders would have gone into cause we know what it's like here and specially how utterly unpredictable the weather can be.

no dangerous locals though...

Hey sohndervenus . You are absolutely right the audio on this video is straight-up garbage. It was my first attempt at a video and didn't expect it to get 23K. Will be investing in a microphone instead of using my phone to record for the next video. Good tip on the audio balancing. Cheers Mate!

​@@maxbikepacking You can use your phone if you like. It's not the quality of the recording that's bothering, you just have to make sure to balance the volume levels of all the different elements (narration, music, video clips) in postproduction. And don't put a mono recording into a stereo track, because then you'll only get audio on the left channel of the stereo track. Congrats to the 23k views! :-)

Looks like luck was on their side. When I see them pedalling full force uphill I can hear my knees cracking