Another tip would be to intentionally practice riding and camping in inclement weather. Next time the forecast looks a little sketch, pack up the gear, ride to a local park, set up camp, have a snack, break down camp and ride home. Learning what works in a low commitment situation will give you confidence when you are out on tour.
Just riding in inclement weather at all is a good "toughen up" suggestion. Riding in the rain and/or heavy winds is not as fun as riding in sunny calm weather, but the more often you do it, the less it bothers you.
1:02 Get a bike fit 2:52 Dial in your kit 3:34 Match your terrain 4:09 Hire a coach 5:51 Training tools 7:06 Put in the time 9:06 Build community 9:31 Research early 10:25 Non-cycling workouts 12:02 Watch your diet 13:05 Prepare mentally
I know certain members of our community are somewhat anti training/performance. That might be fine on some routes but on others it is downright dangerous. The route a friend and I are planning this May has very limited resources so Im training to be able to complete the high daily distances right out of the gate. There won’t be time to get fit on tour and our safety depends on being able to get to the next water source each day. Being prepared for your trip includes preparing our bodies for the task at hand. Great video as usual.
Great advice. On mental toughness, a bit of advice a friend gave me during my first 100 mile running ultra. He said, "You need to put puking into your race plan." His point was that low points are going to happen in a long ultra event and just planning that at some point you are going to puke or feel really bad goes a long way to not getting discouraged. For me, I recovered with several servings of very salty broth.
Perfect timing with the post, I'm starting to plan my first multi day trip. 360km over 3 days and staying in hotels with a buddy for the first trip to get a good sleep and see if we like it
For me, in addition to most of the advice you gave, light weight training works wonders. I'm not the type to heap on muscle, generally relying on my strength to weight ratio to give me an advantage. That works great for hills, but when there are head winds or flats I suffer. Light weights, specifically squats and abdominal work help me a lot.
I really loved this video - thank you so much :). The special thing for me was your comment that planning the route is half the fun of bike packing. I really like planning the routes. Also - you just speak from the heart and I really appreciate all of the kind words and advice. Thankyou!
For real though, heavy weights. I’m pretty prone to overuse injury, and a couple months of weights gave me some serious durability for the time I spent on the Baja divide. Everyone is different of course, but this was a total game changer for me!
I think a real important part of preparing mentally is preparing to change plans to account for circumstances/problems. An example - I long planed a trip from Brussels where I live to the Swedish West coast (to my in-laws) and last summer all was ready - ferries booked, campsites and a few hotels along the route booked, routes planned and GPX files loaded into Garmin. Then came COVID and that sort of international travel crossing multiple borders was no longer possible. So I re-scheduled and used a lot of the route outbound and some of the return portion to do a tour of the Netherlands. But that still didn't prepare me for some serious obstacles long the way. For example a ferry across Rotterdam port cancelled due to COVID requiring an additional 50Km to go upstream to the next crossing point and then get back on the route (another river ferry later in the trip was also cancelled which required a 30Km detour to a bridge...). Being ready to adjust your expectations of the day, the route, its challenge requires you to be adaptable and flexible. If you don't retain this mindset its too easy to throw in the towel when obstacles come your way....
This makes the spontaneous interest seem attainable and makes me question why I didn’t try doing this before. Thank you! This is exactly what I needed.
I love watching the B roll in these videos and trying to guess where it is. This time I ID'd Lookout and the east side of North Table along Easley but that was it. Thanks for the tips, you're a huge inspiration.
Never been bike packing. Probably don't have the right bike to go bike packing (Niner Rip 9 DRO) But I'm in. Signing up. Planning to do the CT in a year. You got me hooked! Thanks!
Echo the cleat tip. My first attempt at the Continental Divide route yielded Achilles pain on Day 3. I sat at a B&B in Eureka MO, and googled the topic, found out that cleats do not need to be set so far forward - a carryover over from the old toe-clip days - and bingo problem solved. Never had a problem with it since.
I'm going to say biking down(north) quaker st off north table mountain in golden CO. the snow covered mountain in the frame is Green Mountain. I'm not a creepy stalker, I just live on Green mountain.
Hi Neil ; Who's the music you use as your channel soundtrack? sounds really good. my rec food...? spanish chorizo baggette .....aaaaaaaaH man !!! lolve it!😄
How about some tips on balancing work/family/training? 5-6 hour rides on Saturdays and a several hour ride on Sunday is so beyond what I can swing it is not funny, what am I missing? Hard to motivate for a turbo trainer session beginning at 9 PM after making dinner and doing the bedtime routine. Mostly I sneak in rides by using my bike for almost everything possible (commute, grocery shopping, etc), and get maybe a couple ~2 hours rides a week.
Great tips. Thanks for sharing. I am new to gravel biking and bikepacking. I live in southeastern Pennsylvania. What is a good way to find bikepacking events, races, etc.?
Thanks for watching, Eric! for events, check out our events page: bikepacking.com/events/ for routes, check out our routes page: bikepacking.com/bikepacking-routes/
Not looking to race at all, but just hoping to do some close-to-home weekend trips. One question I have is what advice do folks have for doing longer distances for the first time? I'm a dad of young kids and so don't have the luxury of putting in long training days. Is it insane to think I can do 100 miles in 2 days if I can never get in more than 15 or 20 miles in a day before-hand?
IMO simply go for it and find out. Have a plan and bring enough food and drinks, but sometimes I think it's important to wing it and see what you can do (but don't do anything really stupid). I started doing longer rides by accident. I've ridden on pavement most of the time, and I almost never did rides longer than 2-2.5 hours. Then I started riding off road, and I had no idea about how much slower it can be. I planned a few routes and of course what I thought would take 2-2.5 hours ended up taking 3.5-4+. I was scared of 4-5-6 hour rides before that, but I found out (by accident) that even if i'm not in shape something like 4 hours is not even that bad if i'm not gunning it the whole time. For you it might be completely different, but I still say go for it, find your limits (I know, so cheesy 😅). Every time I plan a longer route, I still have thoughts like "can I really do that?" but I try to not focus on those thoughts and I just go for it (but again, I don't do anything stupid and I always have plan). Things usually work out, so far i've only turned back once when I bought new padded undershorts and it felt like I was sitting on needles. 😁
@@HollyBoni Cool, I appreciate the thoughts. That's in line with what I was planning, but I've also had some concerns that I was going to bite off more than I can chew. I'll give myself plenty of time and plenty of snacks and see what happens.
Nobody knows your body like you do. If you can’t respond, through adjustments to your machine, to what your body tells you is comfortable, uncomfortable or problematic then perhaps cycling is not for you. Psychology is the real challenge in your own head…….patience, patience, patience. You’ll get there.
Don’t do yoga excercises for hips opening. Some parts of your body get stiff from cycling for a reason. Believe it or not a lot of it is a natural injury prevention.
Another tip would be to intentionally practice riding and camping in inclement weather. Next time the forecast looks a little sketch, pack up the gear, ride to a local park, set up camp, have a snack, break down camp and ride home. Learning what works in a low commitment situation will give you confidence when you are out on tour.
Just riding in inclement weather at all is a good "toughen up" suggestion. Riding in the rain and/or heavy winds is not as fun as riding in sunny calm weather, but the more often you do it, the less it bothers you.
This is beautiful advice
Absolutely, it prepares your mind and gives you confidence if you do get caught out in bad conditions.
Really good idea - never thought of doing it but after coming back from a bad weather trip this is a great suggestion
Fantastic advice
1:02 Get a bike fit
2:52 Dial in your kit
3:34 Match your terrain
4:09 Hire a coach
5:51 Training tools
7:06 Put in the time
9:06 Build community
9:31 Research early
10:25 Non-cycling workouts
12:02 Watch your diet
13:05 Prepare mentally
I know certain members of our community are somewhat anti training/performance. That might be fine on some routes but on others it is downright dangerous. The route a friend and I are planning this May has very limited resources so Im training to be able to complete the high daily distances right out of the gate. There won’t be time to get fit on tour and our safety depends on being able to get to the next water source each day.
Being prepared for your trip includes preparing our bodies for the task at hand. Great video as usual.
Great video and as relevant today as it was 3 years ago. Thanks for the inspiration!
At 61 it’s 80% mental for me , Study your maps until you can draw them in the dirt ! Great advice.TY
Great advice. On mental toughness, a bit of advice a friend gave me during my first 100 mile running ultra. He said, "You need to put puking into your race plan." His point was that low points are going to happen in a long ultra event and just planning that at some point you are going to puke or feel really bad goes a long way to not getting discouraged. For me, I recovered with several servings of very salty broth.
+1 on the salty broth
Perfect timing with the post, I'm starting to plan my first multi day trip. 360km over 3 days and staying in hotels with a buddy for the first trip to get a good sleep and see if we like it
Drink plenty of beer at the weekend. Right got it. Thanks Neil 😊
its called carbo-loading
Would love to see a future segment on bikepacking race and general on-the-bike nutrition for long rides across multiple days. Enjoy your videos!
Probably my favorite video yet, thanks for doing what you're doing!
Rad, glad to hear you are liking the content, i'll keep plugging away!
For me, in addition to most of the advice you gave, light weight training works wonders. I'm not the type to heap on muscle, generally relying on my strength to weight ratio to give me an advantage. That works great for hills, but when there are head winds or flats I suffer. Light weights, specifically squats and abdominal work help me a lot.
I really loved this video - thank you so much :). The special thing for me was your comment that planning the route is half the fun of bike packing. I really like planning the routes. Also - you just speak from the heart and I really appreciate all of the kind words and advice. Thankyou!
So much more authentic to get this information from a person who put in the time to train and race -- it's apparent.
For real though, heavy weights. I’m pretty prone to overuse injury, and a couple months of weights gave me some serious durability for the time I spent on the Baja divide. Everyone is different of course, but this was a total game changer for me!
Spot on
Another great video, thank you for all your efforts with the channel, the team on the website and collective!
I think a real important part of preparing mentally is preparing to change plans to account for circumstances/problems. An example - I long planed a trip from Brussels where I live to the Swedish West coast (to my in-laws) and last summer all was ready - ferries booked, campsites and a few hotels along the route booked, routes planned and GPX files loaded into Garmin. Then came COVID and that sort of international travel crossing multiple borders was no longer possible. So I re-scheduled and used a lot of the route outbound and some of the return portion to do a tour of the Netherlands. But that still didn't prepare me for some serious obstacles long the way. For example a ferry across Rotterdam port cancelled due to COVID requiring an additional 50Km to go upstream to the next crossing point and then get back on the route (another river ferry later in the trip was also cancelled which required a 30Km detour to a bridge...). Being ready to adjust your expectations of the day, the route, its challenge requires you to be adaptable and flexible. If you don't retain this mindset its too easy to throw in the towel when obstacles come your way....
Goodness I love Neil and the funny cuts and edits here are especially subtle and enjoyable.
This is really good refresher info for me, at 57 with health problems, it has been awhile. Thanks and keep pedaling.
Perfect timing for me too! Training for a variation of the Hurrican 300 (not the race, just the route for fun). Thanks for the video!
Meee too! Doing in 3 week in feb. 🤘
@@shanndalton sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!
My parents ha a carpet identical to the one at 03:00 in your video. I loved it! Happy memory. Loved the video...good advice
This makes the spontaneous interest seem attainable and makes me question why I didn’t try doing this before. Thank you! This is exactly what I needed.
very helpful, thanks for the good tips :) please more of these videos!
Thanks Neil
I have been backpacking for a few years but I just now discovered your RUclips channel. Excellent videos! New subscriber.
Good stuff just got off the trainer! Hopefully I'll be doing the GAP and C+O trail this year. Each leg seperate then the full thing.
I love watching the B roll in these videos and trying to guess where it is. This time I ID'd Lookout and the east side of North Table along Easley but that was it. Thanks for the tips, you're a huge inspiration.
You make great stuff.
Little bit late to the mix. Great video :) Just getting into the hobby / lifestyle hahaha. Cheers and ride safe all! :)
nice video and very good info...thanks
Good advice.
Never been bike packing. Probably don't have the right bike to go bike packing (Niner Rip 9 DRO) But I'm in. Signing up. Planning to do the CT in a year. You got me hooked! Thanks!
Nice video, good advice! thumbs up
Great tips. Thanks
You channel has great content, keep it up and it will definitely pay off! 😁
loved this..
Great stuff Neil!
Thanks!
Bacon jalapeño burger with sweet potato tots at Woody's is killer!
Noted! I love their to-go window.
Echo the cleat tip. My first attempt at the Continental Divide route yielded Achilles pain on Day 3. I sat at a B&B in Eureka MO, and googled the topic, found out that cleats do not need to be set so far forward - a carryover over from the old toe-clip days - and bingo problem solved. Never had a problem with it since.
Great video as always!
I love the landscape at 3:49!😍 Can you tell me where this is shot?
Thanks and stay healthy, Bikepackers!✌️
I'm going to say biking down(north) quaker st off north table mountain in golden CO. the snow covered mountain in the frame is Green Mountain. I'm not a creepy stalker, I just live on Green mountain.
i effed up my achilles on a tour once, maybe bad cleat placement ...thx
No beer during the week?! Mad man. But seriously, great video, you're very good at this shit :-).
Great episode!!
'Blue cheese tater tots'...well yeh! I like the Mountain House dehydrated ones...harrrr!
Great video thanks! Where did you visualize the mapdata of the route you showed? UPDATE ride with Gps I see lol
Yep
Hi Neil ; Who's the music you use as your channel soundtrack? sounds really good. my rec food...? spanish chorizo baggette .....aaaaaaaaH man !!! lolve it!😄
How about some tips on balancing work/family/training? 5-6 hour rides on Saturdays and a several hour ride on Sunday is so beyond what I can swing it is not funny, what am I missing? Hard to motivate for a turbo trainer session beginning at 9 PM after making dinner and doing the bedtime routine. Mostly I sneak in rides by using my bike for almost everything possible (commute, grocery shopping, etc), and get maybe a couple ~2 hours rides a week.
I’ve started getting up at 0400 to get rides in before anyone else wakes.
Great tips. Thanks for sharing. I am new to gravel biking and bikepacking. I live in southeastern Pennsylvania. What is a good way to find bikepacking events, races, etc.?
Thanks for watching, Eric!
for events, check out our events page: bikepacking.com/events/
for routes, check out our routes page: bikepacking.com/bikepacking-routes/
@@BIKEPACKINGcom ha! Of course I should have checked the site. Thanks again!
Hello- Please enable the CC button. Thanks. Sonny
Done, I will do that on all of our videos, sorry for not doing this till now.
@@BIKEPACKINGcom Many thanks. I really appreciate it.
Going on my first trip in July 2021. Thanks for the tips. Oh and speaking of tips, don't sing dude :-)
HAHA!
Not looking to race at all, but just hoping to do some close-to-home weekend trips. One question I have is what advice do folks have for doing longer distances for the first time? I'm a dad of young kids and so don't have the luxury of putting in long training days. Is it insane to think I can do 100 miles in 2 days if I can never get in more than 15 or 20 miles in a day before-hand?
IMO simply go for it and find out. Have a plan and bring enough food and drinks, but sometimes I think it's important to wing it and see what you can do (but don't do anything really stupid). I started doing longer rides by accident. I've ridden on pavement most of the time, and I almost never did rides longer than 2-2.5 hours. Then I started riding off road, and I had no idea about how much slower it can be. I planned a few routes and of course what I thought would take 2-2.5 hours ended up taking 3.5-4+. I was scared of 4-5-6 hour rides before that, but I found out (by accident) that even if i'm not in shape something like 4 hours is not even that bad if i'm not gunning it the whole time. For you it might be completely different, but I still say go for it, find your limits (I know, so cheesy 😅).
Every time I plan a longer route, I still have thoughts like "can I really do that?" but I try to not focus on those thoughts and I just go for it (but again, I don't do anything stupid and I always have plan). Things usually work out, so far i've only turned back once when I bought new padded undershorts and it felt like I was sitting on needles. 😁
@@HollyBoni Cool, I appreciate the thoughts. That's in line with what I was planning, but I've also had some concerns that I was going to bite off more than I can chew. I'll give myself plenty of time and plenty of snacks and see what happens.
Sing if it brings you joy, I can always turn down the volume knob.
Which shoes are those?
@4:02
Looks like Pearl Izumi X-Alp Launch SPD.
Nobody knows your body like you do. If you can’t respond, through adjustments to your machine, to what your body tells you is comfortable, uncomfortable or problematic then perhaps cycling is not for you. Psychology is the real challenge in your own head…….patience, patience, patience. You’ll get there.
Do you pay for Whoop?
Yep, still do, and I’m excited to try out the whoop gen 4, which I should get shortly.
I think something is wrong with my phone, his voice sounded monotone the entire time.
I train with a single speed
Booyah!
1 thumbs down... 🤔. Who is it?
Don’t do yoga excercises for hips opening. Some parts of your body get stiff from cycling for a reason. Believe it or not a lot of it is a natural injury prevention.