The post Planning a Group Bike Tour appeared first on Adventure Cycling Association.

Everyone is capable of going on an epic adventure. I am neither brave nor strong, yet here I am, having traveled through 15 countries and many regions in the U.S. on various trips. I am just a normal person. I still get scared sleeping in my tent alone, and have embarrassingly little upper body strength. You do not need anything special to embark on an epic adventure, just the desire and drive to do so. 

People often tell me that they want to do a big bike tour, but they do not have enough time. Or enough money. Or they have children. Or their significant other/spouse does not ride bikes. Or they can’t leave their jobs. Or they’re too old. But! There is always a way. People bike tour with kids, or follow animal migrations, travel on a shoestring, or take envelope-pushing weekend trips in order to meet other obligations.

I am about to re-embark on a Round-The-World bicycle tour that I began in 2019. After 14 months on the road, a pandemic-induced disruption has kept me and so many others at home since March 2020. ("COVID Cutoff: An Unexpected Hiatus." Adventure Cyclist Magazine, June 2020). It is finally time to start again. I’ll be gone for another two to three years. Despite being a planner, there have been many sleepless nights, the hamsters of my mind running on wheels of endless to-do lists. There are important things that I’ve somehow forgotten to do (get new tires), and things that are completely arbitrary (repainting the bathroom). But just like everything else in life, we can prioritize and break it all down into manageable chunks. I remind myself of this with deep breaths at all hours of the day and night. But how did I get to this enviable spot, in the final stages of planning and departing to travel for so long? More importantly, how can YOU find a way to plan your own epic bicycle adventure?

The Unbearable Lightness of Cleaning

Time

Time is the base of our planning pyramid, because it defines where we go and how we go. It is also a precious commodity we can never get back, and it is slipping through our hands every day. First, figure out when you can take time off work, and how much time. Don’t pick a place and then say, “I can never bike tour in Canada because I only have time off in the winter. Poor me!” Use your time off to guide the rest of your decisions. Look at your chunk of time – hopefully months – and guard it. Write it in your calendar. Talk to your boss about it.

Conversely, decide if you want to take a pause in your career. This worked out well for me, and sometimes this is easier to do in the beginning of your career than later. People also switch companies all the time, so if you think of it as a pause between jobs, it is much less daunting. Many companies will see your diverse travel experiences as a plus, and you can resume your career when you return. If you are older, maybe an early retirement is in the cards. Ask yourself, “Do I want to adventure or not?” Take the necessary steps in life to make it happen.

If you have children, how long can you be apart from them? Or can you take them with you? How long will your significant other let you leave and still welcome you back? The more time you have the better, since we are indeed talking big adventures here! 

Once you know how much time you have and what part of the year it falls in, then look at the seasons. Is it summer or winter in the northern hemisphere? Unless you’re a masochist, time off in winter might rule out much of the U.S.  But years ago, a friend and I worked in bike shops and couldn’t take time off until October, so we rode the Southern Tier Bicycle Route and had a ball. It snowed on us in Arizona, and it was beautiful. Bike touring in the southern states of the U.S., Central America, Baja, and Mexico are also options for the winter. If you’re up for off-road cycling, bikepacking.com contains a plethora of resources for routes all over the globe. Go BIG! It’s never the perfect time, so just go. If you have ample funds for a plane ticket, think about the Southern Hemisphere. You can also sign up for a newsletters that notifies you of cheap flights (Pomelo, Scott’s).

8 Tips for Bicycle Touring Abroad

It is surprising how quickly you can narrow your scope when you simply ask, “When can I be gone for the most amount of time?” then, “Where can I go?”, and finally asking “where do I want to go?” Think about your other parameters thirdly. Do you want desolate dirt roads? Museums? Good food? Good art? Jungles or deserts?

If you don’t have unlimited time, decide if you want to cover a lot of ground quickly, weaving in some type 2 fun, or if you want to relax and pedal leisurely. That will help you narrow down the route and location. What can you do in 2-3 weeks?

Circumnavigate a peninsula in Costa Rica? Bike as fast as possible along the Northern Tier and take a bus home? Choose a reasonable amount of miles to cover, and have a bailout plan (bus, train, hitch hike) in case you can’t make it due to some unforeseeable delay (rainstorm, illness, one million flat tires).

How to Create Your Own Touring Route

Money

For many of us, our budget will act like a seesaw with our time. If money is your limiting factor, figure out how many weeks or months or years you can stretch your funds. This will depend on where you are going, and what level of discomfort you are willing to endure. I prefer to sleep outside and eat beans and rice (or whatever the cheapest thing to eat is where I am), in order to be gone as long as possible. But if you want to sleep in hotels every night, your money will not stretch as far. Money can inform your destination choice; some places are cheaper (Colombia, Guatemala) than others (Switzerland, Norway).

If you have indeed quit your job and have somewhat unlimited time, you are really able to fling yourself out there. Congratulations. Plane tickets will obviously cut into your budget, but this new locale may have noodles for $1, so things might balance out. A lot of solid adventures can be had with less than what we spend on housing each month, or every couple of months – around $1500 can get you rather far. There are certainly people out there who are better qualified to advise you on how to strategically save money, and probably have spreadsheets to make things more complicated than they need to be. But my advice is: pare down, and don’t buy things. Every time I decide to not buy something I want (a concert ticket, a fancy coffee, a cool dress), I consciously think about how long that money will last me on a trip, especially in another country with a favorable exchange rate. Do I want the dress or do I want the adventure? I want the adventure. And if you’ve read this far, you do too.

Packing Hacks for an Inexpensive Tour

Loved Ones

If your limiting factor is other people (kids and partners)

Kids

If you’re going solo, talk with whoever is taking care of your kids while you’re gone, and come to an agreement on the number of days you’ll be gone. While cycling in Patagonia, I met a French woman who sent videos or skyped with her 8-yr-old daughter every day. She said they were quite close and her daughter loved following the adventure. You don’t have to be unavailable just because you’re not physically there. A touring musician I met said she could only be gone for two weeks, or else she missed the smell of her two-year-old, and felt she missed too much of his growth. There is an old adage that says, “Kids don’t listen to what you say, but they watch everything you do.” I believe that by going on big adventures, we are empowering our kids to do the same.

I have been overwhelmingly impressed by stories of folks taking their kids on trips. By showing their kids a different way of life, they are opening them up to so much. The group might pedal 20 miles a day then play frisbee for the afternoon. They modify miles and itineraries to fit the kids’ needs, while maintaining the status of Epic Adventure for everyone. Some tote toddlers in trailers on Rails-to-Trails routes, while others take kids on tandems. There are plenty of resources to help plan a trip involving kiddos: from Adventure Cyclist, from Outside Magazine, and from REI. There are also many blogs  about traveling with kids.

How to Bike Overnight with Young Kids

Spouses/Significant Others

This seems to mostly fall into three categories, and Alastair Humphreys’ book, Grand Adventures, helped me dissect these situations before my own departure(s). Hats off to Humphreys, who has given many of us, including myself, the extra push to chase our dreams, especially the big ones. 

Situation 1: They can and want to go with you.

Hooray! Make sure they know what to expect, so there’s no tears in the rain.

• Plan accordingly, and discuss time, money, and acceptable levels of comfort/discomfort to make sure you’re on the same page. The longer the trip, the more important planning together is.
• Travel can be stressful on relationships, so make sure your communication is good and both of you are equally contributing to the trip, so one does not feel like they are dragging the other along, or vice versa. Be flexible and open to compromise. Discuss what might go wrong, and how you will deal with it.
• A little alone time can help maintain the relationship (and sanity for my fellow introverts). Bring all the patience you can muster, because you will get annoyed with each other at some point, and that is okay. You might want to do different things when you reach a town, and that could be a good time to give each other space.

Moon of Honey

Situation 2: They can’t go with you, but are supportive.

Also hooray, with the most honeymoon-like, cuddly reunion. This was the case with me and my husband. I left before our first wedding anniversary, and he was my number one cheerleader. In fact, he still is!

• Plan how you will communicate while you’re gone, and talk about what fears or worries they might have. Try your best to alleviate these concerns.
• Test out your chosen method of communication (SPOT device, Whatsapp, etc.).
• Give your family your tentative itinerary, and show them the other people who are doing this ‘crazy’ thing. When I left for my round-the-world trip, I set up an Instagram account for my mom and inundated her and my sister with posts and accounts of other women traveling solo. It worked! They no longer think I am completely nuts.

Document and Share Your Adventure

Situation 3: They don’t want to go, and they don’t want you to go.

Ask why they don’t want you to go, and see if you can compromise on these aspects. Is it the time, the money, the chores or childcare they will be left to tackle solo? Are you going with an attractive travel companion? Do they think it is too dangerous? Is it too dangerous? See if you can talk it out and alleviate their concerns. Can you hire help for children or housework? Can you get a friend or relative to help? Maybe your partner is saying now is not the time to go, especially if you have small children. Keep planning though, because “not now,” is not the same as “not ever.” I planned for seven years for my long tour, mainly because I needed to finish a masters degree then save up money, which took a long time. Hold fast to the dream!

If your partner is worried about the danger, remind them that most of the time, people perceive unknown situations to be much more dangerous than they actually are. Gather evidence and make your case for your location. (If you can’t, that might be a sign you should choose a different place.) When I cycled through Mexico and Central America, I checked in as often as possible with my husband, and stayed in more hotels instead of camping. It wasn’t always what I wanted to do, but it put him at ease, and that was important to me. Sometimes our lives are not only our own, and we need to consider our parents, partners, friends, and kids. These considerations might alter our adventures, but it doesn’t have to end them.

The Little General

Lists and Plans

Make a massive to-do list on a poster board or butcher paper. Share this with a friend who might have helpful suggestions. Then make a smaller one with the things that actually, really do have to get done before you leave. Prioritize the shorter list. Accept that you will not get everything on the list done, but prioritize what’s necessary. Some important things are type 2 fun (not fun to do, but once on the road, you’ll be glad you did them).

Efficient Trip Planning for the Busy Cyclist

Make all bills/house payments/kids allowances automatic. Streamline your finances so that you can meet your obligations without futzing around with online banking while you’re gone. Have one account responsible for bills, etc. and leave that card at home if you can. This way, if a card gets stolen or hacked while you’re traveling, you’ll have less to reset. Divide your traveling spending money into a few accounts, and set up some automatic transfers. This might sound like a headache now, but it’s much less work than dealing with a replacement card somewhere remote where you don’t speak the language. Use one main card while you’re gone, and hide 1-2 others in hidden pannier pockets. 

Get your gear list together. This can be very fun! If you need to buy gear, look at eBay and Craigslist often, because new things pop up every day. I have found a good amount of quality, barely-used things through these sites. This relates to the money part – be thrifty. Don’t postpone your trip because you spent too much on gear. It’s better to go with what you already have than not go at all.

Touring Gear Essentials

Nuts and Bolts

Calculate mileage, days needed, and rest days. Try not to be overly ambitious, and remember to enjoy yourself. If you can, don’t worry about your return trip. Just go. If you really must be back by a certain date, have a back up plan in case things go awry, and discuss this backup plan with loved ones. 

Get a book or several from the library or bookstore, and read about the places you’ll be going. Learn about the culture and the food. Don’t just read the news, because that really should be titled, “bad stuff that happened today.” Instead, talk to people who have been there before, especially on bikes. Look at other people’s routes and do the same route, or alter it and make your own. Study maps, because it is quite fun. Ask questions, and reach out to friends of friends who might live there.

Finally, Pack your bags, and go now. Go far. Do not wait for something to happen to you, or for the ‘right time’ to magically appear. Let 2023 be the year you grab life by the horns and hop on. Then come back and tell us all about it.

This Winter, Plan Your Dream Bike Trip

The post Epic Planning appeared first on Adventure Cycling Association.

Spark Your Imagination

Over the last fifteen years I’ve been lucky to go on lots of long bike trips, and each one has started in the same place: my imagination. Imagination is a vast realm of spark and sparkle. If you can see yourself pedaling away, cackling into the wind, then you’re one step closer to actually doing it. 

Look at a map, read some stories from Adventure Cycling’s blog, check out some pictures, and imagine yourself pedaling. What will it feel like to ride over a mist-shrouded mountain? Or roll through the sunshine on a cheerful urban bike path? Are you eating cookies? Or picking blueberries off a roadside bush? Once the wheels of your imagination are spinning, you’re already getting somewhere.

Choose Something Exciting

After you’ve spent a while playing with the reality of infinite possibility, it’s time to point yourself in a clear direction. Which specific bike trip fills you with genuine excitement? A weekend trip around town with your best friend? An epic ride across the entire United States? A family adventure on a rail trail?

Everyone’s idea of “an exciting trip” is a little different. My own measure of an exciting trip is to answer the question, “If I fail at this, will I still be happy that I tried?” If the answer is yes, it’s probably worth pursuing. If not, I need to choose something else.

A great adventure is one that aligns with the core of what’s important to you as a person. It touches on something special, vibrant, and alive inside you that longs to be fulfilled. That’s why it feels exciting when you choose to do it!  And even if things don’t go exactly as planned (spoiler alert: they rarely do) it will still be a great adventure, because it’s the path you chose from your heart.

When Things Go Wrong on Tour

Find Out What’s Stopping You

Well, there’s always something to stop you! Maybe there are several things, or a whole pile. Whatever they are, write them down. Maybe you want to pedal across Montana but you’re afraid bears will steal your snacks. Maybe you want to bike across town but prefer to go with a friend and you don’t have one yet. Maybe you don’t have time off from work right now. Maybe you don’t have a bike. It’s okay! Just add it to the list!

Once you have a list, you can relax because you’ve already achieved something great: you’ve identified exactly what’s stopping you from doing the thing you want to do. Now the ball is in your court. 

Title your list “Problems to Solve!!!” And then take a look at each item. For each thing on your list, write down five solutions. If you don’t have any solutions, write down five next steps to find a solution. If you can’t think of any next steps, poke around the Adventure Cycling website. Chances are, there’s a blog on there to help you out. If there isn’t, please add your “problem to solve” in a comment below, and I’ll see if I can help you out. 

The Worst Part of a Bike Tour: Research and Preparation

Plan the Big Things

Okay, you’ve played with possibilities, pointed yourself in a direction, and identified and removed some barriers. Now you can start to really plan! 

I am generally terrible at planning and tend to wait until the last minute to do it, which is why many of my trips are very awkward. You can avoid this awkwardness by reading and following The Adventure Cycling Guide to Planning Your Bicycle Adventure which is a very useful and thorough guide to all the big and little things you need to plan. Seriously: all you need is this guide. 

I recommend making sure all the biggest parts of your plan make sense before you worry about the little things. The big parts are things like getting a bike that works for your route, identifying your timeframe, and creating a budget. These are the things that need to get sorted out or the trip just won’t happen. The little things—like deciding what shirt to pack or knowing what you will eat on day five—can wait until the big stuff is done.

Know the 7 Basics of Bike Camping

Plan the Little Things

Once the big pieces of your adventure puzzle are in place, you can think about the wiggly little details. The Adventure Cycling Guide to Planning Your Bicycle Adventure includes resources, lists, and links which will help you get into the nitty gritty of everything you need for your trip. 

For whatever reason, little things tend to be very overwhelming for me. It’s just that sometimes there’s a lot of them! When I feel overwhelmed by all the little things that I don’t know how to do, I stop, take a big breath, and start singing my favorite song, which is just the words “DON’T PANIC, I DON’T NEED TO PANIC…”, over and over again in an angelic soprano. I’m not kidding. Everyone who knows me, knows this song, and in the days leading up to a big trip I sometimes catch my friends humming the tune. It makes me happy to know they are not panicking. 

It’s normal to get a little anxious when you’re setting out on something you’ve never done before. I’ve spent roughly a quarter of my adult life on wayward trips to far flung places, living in my tent, figuring it out as I go. And I STILL have to sing the “Don’t Panic” song every time I pack. I’ve come to terms with it. I hope you will too.

Packing Hacks for an Inexpensive Tour

And Then You Just Go!

I don’t know what this is like for other people, but I know what it’s like for me: as soon as I get on my bike and start pedaling, everything feels right and makes perfect sense. I pedal and breathe. I feel healthy. I feel free. And I thank my former self and all the people who endured and supported me, for all the strange steps and wild ideas that it took to get me out here, doing what I love.

5 Tips to Conquer Your Fear of Bike Touring

Your Dream Bike Trip

Winter is the perfect time to sit back with a cup of tea and plan the bike trip of your dreams. And who knows? Once you plan it, you might really go. And if you aren’t feeling up to planning and organizing your own tour, that’s ok! Adventure Cycling offers many guided tours, including some educational tours meant to give you the knowledge and confidence to travel by bike.

Epic Planning

The post This Winter, Plan Your Dream Bike Trip appeared first on Adventure Cycling Association.

On Bike Your Park Day, a group of entirely trans, women, intersex, and nonbinary riders traversed from Seattle to Lopez Island for a weekend of beginner bike camping. Marley Blonsky of All Bodies on Bikes organized and led the event while Adventure Cycling’s fledgling Bike Overnights program assisted with a registration process and provided stipend funds for campsites, ferry tickets, and snacks. 

There are so many great ways to think about a Bike Overnight: a trip you organize with friends, people in your community, or the public is not limited to a set of rules! For Adventure Cycling, a Bike Overnight is a trip of one to three nights, where each day the ride is less than 60 miles. Even better, a Bike Overnight is accessible and inclusive — the trip should be fun and a joy to ride. 

Bike Travel Weekend is the first weekend in June.
Register a group ride or join one in your area!

The Lopez Island Bike Overnight was a 27-mile ride from the Mt. Vernon transit station. Folks could drive with their bikes on a rack or take a bus from Seattle. Once the group arrived at Lopez Island, it was a short mile or so to the campsite. Throughout the weekend, many biker-hikers participating in Bike Your Park Day joined us at the Odlin County Park Campground. 

While I don’t really have an adversarial relationship with cars, I did spend a long time living in a city where I used my bike for everything. When I took my first bike adventure, I used regional transit (Metra, the way to really fly!). I’ve used Amtrak, Lyft, and rides from others. I also helped organize a huge cycling event in Chicago where a trusty and grizzled crew of SAG drivers made it possible for 20,000 riders, many of them newbies, to enjoy a sunny morning on Lake Shore Drive. It was a TOUGH job. 

What I discovered then and on Bike Your Park Day was that the addition of a Support and Gear vehicle was a way for the Lopez Island trip to embody accessibility for riders who were still nervous about doing a Bike Overnight. Having a car meant folks with less bike luggage, a floofy sleeping bag, or additional needs could carry as much as they wanted and stash their extras in the car. We were able to include a small child in our trip because we could carry the right supplies for their family. It was a true beginner Bike Overnight.

We weren’t alone in this experience. Another amazing Bike Overnight weekend trip from Bike Your Park Day involved a group of first-time bike campers in Chicago, where they traversed the Midewin Tallgrass Prairie along the Wauponsee Glacial Trail to Kankakee State Park. They used some of their stipend funding to provide gas and meals for two SAG drivers. When it appeared one of the drivers might drop out, the entire trip was in peril. Luckily, it came together and everyone had a great weekend riding and enjoying their first Bike Overnight. 

Many of us have had the joy of being able to go out on our bike trip, involving whatever modal support we’d like, from airplanes to hitchhiking. As people begin to plan their Bike Overnight group events, why not enlist a co-conspirator to lead the ride or drive the support and gear car? 

Having a vehicle provides peace of mind and logistical support for beginning adventurers. People might not have the bags, straps, or racks to carry everything. They might have medical concerns they’re working on addressing for future rides. People just might want a cold, bubbly water or beer at the end of the trip. The extra support might be just what they need to decide if bike travel is for them. Why not build community and open doors for others by being a responsible, safe, and cheerful pilot of a motor vehicle? As a wonderful colleague advised me, “You can make some amazing SAG playlists.”

It takes time and patience to build confidence in adventuring. So many people enjoy supported group rides, whether they are Adventure Cycling Tours, fundraisers, or events like RAGBRAI. Bringing a little bit of that hack into organizing a Bike Overnight can truly open your ride to beginners, families, babies, and even our four-legged friends.

The post Ode to a SAG Wagon appeared first on Adventure Cycling Association.

There are lots of different opinions on the best weekend bicycle adventure gear! Of course, some of it is dependent on the season and weather. Here’s our simplified bicycle adventure gear list.

Basic Adventure Gear for Biking

• Sleeping bag
• Sleeping pad
• Small tent, bivy sack, or camp hammock
• Food (or a nearby dining establishment)
• Personal items: toiletries, etc
• Tire levers and patch kit
• Spare tube
• Mini-pump
• Allen wrenches
• Clothing layers

Bike Travel Weekend is the first weekend in June.
Register now to lead a group ride!

Deluxe Adventure Gear List

Perhaps you’re not a minimalist. Just remember: everything you bring adds weight to your bike. If you have much hill climbing or a lot of mileage planned, you may want to reconsider how much gear you take along on your bike overnight.

Deluxe Camping Gear List

• Route map(s)
• Sleeping bag
• Thick sleeping pad or air mattress
• Small tent, bivy sack, or camp hammock
• Camp pillow or stuff sack
• Cooking equipment (small stove, cookware, utensils) including food
• Camp chair
• Headlamp or flashlight
• Pocketknife
• Waterproof matches

Deluxe Personal Gear List

• Toiletries
• Two sets of bike clothes
• Two sets of off-the-bike clothes
• Raingear
• Cold weather gear
• Shoes/sandals
• Bathing suit
• Towel

Other Possible Bike Overnight Gear

• Books
• Camera
• Playing cards
• Sports equipment
• Fishing gear
• Radio/iPod/MP3 player
• And more!

How to Pack Your Panniers

The post Adventure Gear Checklist for Bike Overnights appeared first on Adventure Cycling Association.

Bike overnights, being budget-friendly and easier to fit in a schedule, can accommodate potential adventurers across ages, income levels, and cultural identities. 

I led my first bike overnight for Adventure Cycling’s Bike Your Park Day in September 2019. It was hard not to smile as I watched the cohort ahead of me, toting the night’s belongings secured by bungees onto racks and baskets, or strategically arranged in backpacks and panniers. The work I put in was worth the reward of showing this group something new and joyful.

Organizing events can be intimidating, but you don’t have to be an experienced ride leader or bicycle traveler to host a successful group overnight. Any weekend with few obligations, or an event like Bike Travel Weekend, is a great excuse to go.

Bike Travel Weekend is the first weekend in June.
Register now to lead a group ride!

COVID Considerations

Everyone’s health and safety are the highest priority. Hand sanitizer, masks, and hygiene items should be available for everyone. Double-check the current regulations and capacities for your destination to see if there are mask requirements or size limitations for dining and services.

Tips for Planning Your Pandemic Bike Tour

Your group will benefit from a conversation regarding comfort and boundaries for safe interactions. You may want to discuss each others’ risk factors, whether you have been tested and when, vaccinations, and in which types of interactions you expect one another to wear masks. Although six feet has been the standard for social distancing, someone may feel more comfortable with more room. While we might navigate personal safety during a pandemic with different precautions, group members should agree to respect each person’s boundaries.

Organizing with Intention

Before tackling the details of the ride, I like to visualize an intention. For my first overnight, I knew I wanted it to be an opportunity for first-timers. I remembered that my former coworker would eagerly respond, “I would love to do that one day” when I’d recount my weekend bikepacking adventures. With that guiding my planning process, I opened the overnighter to the public as well as had a mental list of people to recruit for the ride.

Acknowledging an intention for the ride can help you know who to invite, where to advertise, the route difficulty, and how much you want to “rough it” on the adventure, if you want to at all.

Once you take on the role of an event organizer, you have an opportunity to take ownership of how cycling and bike travel engages with the people around you. I encourage you to reserve a little time and energy to include a diversity of riders for your bike overnight. The inclusion of diverse riders is especially personal to me because I am eternally grateful for the perfect combination of circumstances, people, and privilege that brought me to bike travel. The movement to see a wider variety of races, cultures, gender identities, and ages in cycling is gaining momentum, and you have a chance to participate!

Planning the Bike Overnight

At its foundation, planning a bike overnight requires that you pick a day to ride, a place to go, and a place to sleep. That’s essentially it!

Once you’ve got those basics decided on, level up your plan by giving some attention to the details! Think points of interest, a scenic route, and a shared meal. It doesn’t hurt to ask your group for recommendations beforehand to fully assess your options. Swimming spots, mid-ride bakeries, and historic highways are some of the ways that we like to make bike overnights better in Florida, but I’m sure your region has some of its own charming attractions.

Before my overnight, I led a workshop on bike travel at the local bike collective. It gave me a chance to see the group’s dynamics, collect fees for any expenses like camping or park entrances, and personally touch base with some of the riders. Because the workshop was open to anyone, I also met people who showed interest in future opportunities for bike travel.

The planning aspect isn’t limited to the event organizer. Your participants have their own responsibility to prepare themselves! Keep an open channel of communication so that you can distribute updates and that others can ask questions or for advice. This can be as simple as a text message group or Facebook thread that everyone can use before and during the trip.

Useful information to share: 

• Sample packing lists, including miscellaneous items that you might overlook, such as headlamps or bug spray
• Nutritious snack ideas or camp meals
• A general itinerary of the destination and waypoints along the route
• Links to bike travel resources
• A copy of the route map through an app or link
• Expectations for behavior and safety precautions

Google Forms and its corresponding shared document applications are great for collecting information from your riders, organizing rideshares to a starting point, coordinating gear, or consolidating items for collective use. Adventure Cycling’s self-contained tours require that the group rotate cooking duties and carrying the “kitchen” of cookware, stoves, and other supplies, for example.

Gear Checklist for Bike Overnights

Some extra ways to audit your plan before the trip: 
Pre-ride or drive the roads on your route to ensure they are accessible and rideable (because Google Maps has wronged me before)
Ensure that there are multiple opportunities to build a sense of belonging or community among the group. Some ideas include games, sitting around a fire, eating together, extracurricular rides.

Tip: Park staff might be a little lenient with groups of cyclists, especially if you’re considerate. I’ve stayed at free campsites then wandered over to the nearby state park to rinse off belongings and refill water. Where I live, campgrounds typically have a “2 tents per site” rule, but I’ve heard of groups on bikes getting away with an extra.

During the Bike Trip

Learning Adventure Cycling’s approach for group tours was a valuable point from my Leadership Training Course. That is, a hands-off style lets people have their own unique experience. Most of the work is done before rolling out and now you get to enjoy your bike overnight! From here, your role is to be observant and keep people motivated!

Before the group departs, confirm that all the details have been communicated, like where to go, how to get there, and how to check-in. The most effective way for everyone to navigate is to use the method that they understand and is always accessible. This could range from an uploadable file for a GPS device, to a version saved for offline use in a cell phone app, or printed maps and cue sheets. 

Having a reliable cyclist (like yourself, for example) ride “sweep” ensures that no one gets stranded because of mechanical or directional issues. Depending on everyone’s fitness, the group naturally separates into multiple clusters of people. Sometimes faster riders will choose to stop at a location along the route so everyone can regroup. If you’d like them to follow this modified “no-drop” policy, communicate that before the gaps between riders begin!

As a rule of thumb, shorter rides leave more time for recreation. Longer, exhausting routes will probably leave the group cherishing downtime together at your destination. For my bike overnight, we set up camp before dark and split into groups based on what we wanted to do. I joined in on a second ride from the area before ending at a local pizza spot. Some went straight to grab food and a drink, and another group explored more of the park on a hike. If your group plans to ride back to town together the next day, notify everyone of the designated roll-out time. 

No matter what you do, do NOT forget to take pictures!

If your trip isn’t going so smoothly, don’t worry — it’s just overnight! Despite being responsible for many details of the bike overnight, you can’t control everything. Each mistake or oversight from a bike overnight becomes a learning experience. Now I know that I do, in fact, need to bring my own flat repair kit and potentially multiple sizes of tubes. 

Post-Event Actions

Celebrate success! Success, because … you planned a bike tour. Or people had fun. Maybe someone tried something new or got out of their comfort zone. Successes are personal but your effort and planning facilitated it.

Carry that energy forward. Join in on the bike trips that other people coordinate, tell stories about your experience, or keep riding with the people you went with. Grassroots rides are critical to building a better, more expansive community of adventure cyclists!

Join Bike Travel Weekend

Something that I appreciate about bike overnights is the variety of ways they can serve people. It’s the way someone dips their toe into bike travel, or the “test ride” before a longer trip in the future. Bike overnights are the reason why it’s possible for me to continue chasing the sense of adventure and resilience I encountered on my first bike tour. Perhaps the best part of going on a local bike overnight is that I get to experience a place that I’m already well-acquainted with, only more slowly, thoughtfully, and self-sufficiently than I could have ever expected. 

The post How to Plan a Group Bike Overnight appeared first on Adventure Cycling Association.

If you’re anything like me when shopping for gear, you get paralyzed by all the good options — the quagmire of reviews — and freeze in indecision. I almost considered going stoveless (which is also an option!) but knew that wasn’t right for me long-term. At the time, I was six months into a three-year trip, and I needed a stove that would last the distance. While drinking cold instant coffee, I brainstormed on the plan for my future boiler. 

Feasting Without a Stove

When considering a stove, we need to think about fuel type, space, and weight (always and forever!), what kind of cooking we are most likely to do, and how many people we are cooking for. We also want to think about the ecosystems we travel through and our environmental impact. Some places do not have wood to burn, like high above treeline or in the desert. One-use canisters, besides being hard to find abroad, are sometimes difficult to recycle. 

Depending on where you are headed and for how long, space and weight might be your biggest deciding factors. In that case, choose a stove that you’re comfortable using and can fit inside your cook kit. Most backpacking stoves are designed to bring water to boil quickly, so think about how you normally travel. You can go light if you’re solo, or with a bigger pot and a more powerful stove if you’re going with a group. Take a stove that simmers if you’re a more elaborate camp chef.

On a longer trip, fuel resupply will be necessary at some point, so think about what type of fuel is available along your route. Pressurized canisters and flammable liquids are not allowed on planes, so if you are flying somewhere, especially internationally, double-check that the type of fuel you need is available. Talk to other bike tourists in the Adventure Cycling forums or with backpackers and bikepackers in Facebook groups, or send an email to an outdoor shop if appropriate. 

Countries vary widely on which fuel is available and where it is sold. For example, high-proof cooking alcohol (more than 70 percent, preferably more than 90 percent alcohol) is found in U.S. pharmacies, Mexican liquor stores, and is readily available in most of South America and East Africa. It is near impossible to find it in Central Asia. White gas is easily found in Mexico’s hardware or paint stores but not in most Central or South American countries. Butane canisters can be difficult to find outside of the U.S. and Europe, especially in remote areas. Gasoline is found almost everywhere. This isn’t an extensive list, just a sample of the fun confusion that finding fuel can be.

Five Stoves by Fuel Type

Alcohol Stoves

These burn alcohol that is 70 percent pure or more. Above 90 percent is best but can be harder to find. These stoves are completely silent, and fuel is found in many but not all countries. The cleanliness of the flame depends on whether you are using isopropyl alcohol (a bit sooty), ethanol (less sooty), or methanol (very clean). There are various products with differing ratios of each of these, and high-proof alcohol is called by different names in different countries. Here is a list of the nomenclature.

There’s not much that can go wrong with these canisters, and you can even make your own, DIY-style. Sometimes in very cold weather, the alcohol needs to be warmed up by placing your hands around the canister before it will light. Alcohol stoves don’t have the most controllable flame, and there are only two that I know of that come with a simmer plate (Trangia and Solo stove), so the type of cooking you want to do will come into play here.

Canister Stoves (butane or propane)

Great for weekend trips, these are easy, speedy to use, and burn clean. However, since pressurized canisters are often unavailable in remote areas, they’re not ideal for longer trips or international adventures unless you are very certain you can find them. These stoves and the required fuel can be found in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The canisters can be recycled but not as easily as you’d think, so read up on how to do it properly. 

Multi-fuel Stoves

These include a reusable metal bottle, a pump, and a burner. The pump attaches to the bottle and you pressurize it yourself. They usually have good flame control for simmering rice or soups and are popular among international bike adventurers because they can burn kerosene, gasoline, and diesel, which are available worldwide. Gas and diesel burn a bit sooty, but multi-fuel stoves can also burn white gas — much cleaner.

With versatility comes specialized parts that are not easy to find, so you might want to carry spares and the necessary tools for maintenance. These stoves are sturdy but can be a bit heavier, larger, and louder than other stoves. My OG Whisperlite International fell into this category. R.I.P., stove friend.

Solid Fuel Stoves (uses a small tablet or gel)

These are popular among the minimalist crowd and are a variation on the burners you see under trays of food at catered events. They are very lightweight, can be good for emergencies, and light immediately. However, they have slower boil times, don’t hold strong against wind, and, like alcohol stoves, they  lack flame control. But if you just want to heat something up, they’ll do the job. 

Wood-burning Stoves

These are magnificent when traveling in an ecosystem that lends itself to dry, small pieces of wood, like scrubby desert or forests. These stoves also have few breakable parts. It can be more time consuming to feed tiny twigs underneath your simmering pot of lentils, but I also find it calming, and it makes me feel more connected to my surroundings.

Taking a step back in time, I do what the back of my mind is always telling me to do: slow down. That being said, be ultra-aware of burn bans, dry landscapes, and wildfire risks. The wood smoke does leave soot on the pot, so some cyclists carry an extra nylon bag to store dirty pots, so as not to get grime on everything else.

How to Cook with Fire

Now that you’ve thought more about stoves than you ever meant to, an almost-comprehensive stove gear index has been compiled by the folks over at bikepacking.com. It lists specific models and brands ranging in price from about $30–$200.

Remember, you do not have to commit to your stove for life — something I have to remind myself of. Don’t be afraid to have different stoves for different trips, or if something doesn’t work well for you, pass it along to someone just getting into bike travel. After all, most of us started with used, borrowed, or hand-me-down gear.

Fuel Your Ride: Breakfast Burritos

As for my stove replacement, I ended up going with a hybrid setup, combining a small alcohol canister that fits inside a wood burning stove. I can use alcohol when it’s readily available and in the mornings when I’m sleepy, then transition to using wood in suitable areas.  

Whatever stove you choose, whether you simply boil water for ramen or bring a cutting board and spice kit, enjoy it. I like to remember the late, great Anthony Bourdain, who said, “For me, the cooking life has been a long love affair, with moments both sublime and ridiculous. But like a love affair, looking back you remember the happy times best.” 

Morale on the Menu

The post Some Like It Hot appeared first on Adventure Cycling Association.

I arrived at my site, pitched my tent, and watched the sun set while I ate my sandwich. It was a perfect evening. In the morning, I woke up, packed my bags, and cycled back home. By 9:00 AM I was back at work, ready for a new day. 

This was my first “five to nine” bike camping trip, and it revolutionized my life. It made me reconsider the scope of what an adventure can be. And it gave me the freedom to reimagine my daily habits. Bike camping five to nine is not about practicality — it’s about possibility. It’s an acknowledgment that every routine is still full of choices. And it’s a great way to get on your bike and enjoy a sandwich and a sunset. 

Since that first tiny trip, I’ve gone on lots more small, strange adventures. Sometimes I go alone, other times with friends. Bike camping five to nine is all about choosing your own adventure! 

The following guide shows you how to plan and embark on your own tiny trip.

Create an Area of Intrigue (AOI)

Sometimes the best adventures really do happen close to home. The key is to pump yourself up for whatever is right around the corner. You can do this by creating your own Area of Intrigue (AOI):

• Always start by screaming the acronym “AOI” as loud as you can, for as long as you can hold the vowels. This sounds something like a wolf howl and forms a crucial part of the intrigue.
• Next, find a map of your area. I use a paper traveler’s gazette, but you could also just print a map off the internet. 
• Find your starting point (home or work) and mark it on the map. 
• Get a ruler and measure out the rough distance you want to ride. For example, according to my map legend, one inch equals 1.3 miles. So when I put my ruler on my starting point and measure eight inches, it equals 10.4 miles as the crow flies.  
• Hold your finger on the ruler at your starting point, and put a pencil against the ruler at your distance mark. Turn the ruler around in an arc to draw a circle. 
• This circle and everything in it is your AOI! This area is ready and waiting for your attention and exploration. Roads are wiggly, so if you measured a 10-mile radius as the crow flies, this might actually encompass hundreds of miles of rideable roads. 
• Spend some time looking at your AOI and mark specific places of intrigue. Look for campsites, new roads, high points, friends’ houses. You might be surprised at how many fascinating things are close to where you live or work. Every time you mark something new, yell, “AOI!”

Find A Campsite

Look around your AOI for registered campsites. You can also search the internet for free dispersed camping. If you don’t live close to either of these options, consider asking a friend if you can camp in their yard. I do this all the time, and I always have wonderful yard adventures! If you don’t know anyone with a yard, consider looking at sites like Warmshowers, Couchsurfing, or even Airbnb. All of these sites connect people with places to stay or camp. 

Plan Your Route

To plan my route, I look at paper maps, Google Maps, and a free app called Maps.me. Both Google Maps and Maps.me have “bicycle route” functions that put you on roads with less traffic. Both apps let you download your map ahead of time so you can use them offline. Maps.me also shows elevation.

How to Create Your Own Route

When I cycled across eastern Canada and the U.S., I used Maps.me as my primary route finder. It often put me on really rough, unexpected dirt tracks that didn’t appear on other maps. This led to some surprising river crossings and hike-a-bikes. Where I live now in Massachusetts, the roads are much tamer, and Maps.me always puts me on pavement and paved bike paths. Just keep this in mind — depending on where you are in the world, your app’s “bike route” function might take you to a range of places.

When you plan your route, you can go straight from point A to point B, or you can meander anywhere you’d like. You can visit lots of areas of intrigue, stop to see a friend, or make your own treasure hunt. You get to choose your own adventure!  

Pack Your Bags

You can probably use the bike you already have, and pack it with bags you find around the house.  Make sure to bring enough warm clothes, rain gear, and a bike repair kit for flats. You can bring a camp stove and cook a big dinner, or pack a simple sandwich and other easy foods. 

Pedal Off into the Sunset

And then you just pedal away! If you want to keep screaming “AOI,” just do it. Enjoy the wind on your face, look out for birds, and let your mind wander.

As soon as you get to your campsite, pitch your tent and put away your phone. I mean it! Don’t look at your emails or Instagram. Take this little pocket of time to be right where you’re at. You’re in the heart of your Area of Intrigue! Hang out, cook food, read a book, sketch, write. When it gets dark, snuggle into your sleeping bag and drift off, knowing that the days are full of possibilities. 

Return to Work with New Perspective

If you’re riding home before heading to work, just return early enough to pop in the shower, change clothes, and be on your way. 

If you’re going straight back to work, this is where things get more fun. When you pedal into the parking lot with your camping gear and dusty smile, your coworkers may be surprised or even jealous.

 “Who is this radical adventure queen who smells like campfires and mystery?” they will mutter to themselves in the hallway. “It’s only Wednesday. Why does she look so bold and buoyant?”  

For the rest of the week, you can regale them with tales of your epic overnighter. Perhaps you saw a wild animal, like a squirrel! Or you ran out of food and ate a dandelion! These are the stories that legends are made of. 

In the midst of daily routines, there are always new possibilities. Good luck on your next five to nine adventure!
 

The post Bike Camping Five to Nine appeared first on Adventure Cycling Association.

Finally when I turned 30, I noticed that society had grown around me in a way I no longer understood. So I bought my first smartphone and decided to “learn the internet.” I was in Central America, so I took the phone back to my little open-air cabin in the jungle. I practiced pressing the buttons and seeing what happened. A friend sat down with me and explained things like hashtags, memes, and celebrity cats. She helped me set up an Instagram account and taught me how to like things. I’ve been tethered ever since.

I started posting pictures of my life and my bike trips, and that seemed like a fun thing to do. But the more I scrolled through photos of other people cycling, the stranger I felt. It was the first time I’d ever been exposed to “bike culture,” and it was deeply unsettling. “Oh my gawd,” I finally realized, “I’ve been doing everything wrong.”  

Everywhere I looked on the internet, people obsessed about two things: speed and fashion. It was all about this lighter bike shoe and that cooler bike bag and the other latest minuscule development in gear I had never heard of. Bike culture seemed to revolve around how to go fast while looking sporty and spending the most money possible. I felt completely flummoxed. 

All my life, I’d been doing the opposite: cycling kind of slowly while looking goofy and trying to spend the least money possible. Someone asked me recently what I love about cycling, and I answered without hesitation, “the disappearing.” I love the feeling of disappearing into the wind — body in motion, thoughts and breath and anxieties trailing off in my wake. For me, it’s not about the bike or the gear or the fashion statement. It’s about being there, pedaling. 

And I have a hunch that underneath the zinger Instagram photos and compulsive gear purchases are a lot of people who also love “the disappearing.” The thing that brings all of us together in the cycling community is not really speed or fashion — it’s about being there, pedaling. Really nice, expensive gear can make you go faster and look sportier. Sometimes it’s also more reliable, and it often makes your ride more comfortable. After 15 years of adventure cycling on a budget, I’ve slowly accumulated some “nicer things.” I love my waterproof Ortlieb panniers, my MSR bowl, my Patagonia backpack. But I didn’t start out with those things. And nobody has to start out with those things. You just have to start out. 

After my initial exposure to the internet, it took me several years to sort out my relationship with “bike culture,” and it’s still something I’m working on. I love awesome bike gear and I admire the folks who make it. I get a thrill from watching fast, sporty riders crush new records and long distances. But there are also a lot of other ways to ride bikes. Some of the most badass cyclists I’ve met are the folks who ride rusty clunkers to work every day. These are the folks all over the world who load their bikes with fruit or wood or bread to sell at the market. These are the people who pedal every day rain or shine because they really have to get somewhere. If you want to see record-breaking quad muscles, just go to Mexico City and flag down a bike rickshaw. We are all out there pedaling, disappearing into the wind, in many different conditions and for many different reasons. 

If I had believed I needed a special bike and expensive gear to get started adventure cycling, I never would have left in the first place. There is room in bike culture for lots of different types of people and lots of different ways of doing things. If it feels like there isn’t room, then let’s make room — just like cyclist Stephanie Puello does in essays like “The Urgency of Inclusion in Cycling.”  And Stephanie is a really awesome cyclist.

So without further adieu, here’s what I’ve learned about packing the stuff you already have and cycling off into the sunset. If you’re willing to go a little slower and look a little goofier, you easily have inexpensive bike tours ahead of you that will fit your budget every time. 

You Already Have Some Bags

I know a lot of folks who bike tour with duffel bags or backpacks strapped to their back or front racks. When I rode across Colombia, I bought a child’s rolling backpack at a flea market and lashed it to my rack with bungee cords in the same way I would have positioned a pannier. On the other side of the rack, I used bungees and carabiners to hook on a regular knapsack. These bags were heavier, clunkier, and harder to maneuver than “real” panniers. But they only cost seven dollars total, and they made it over the Andes. 

Pro Tips  

• Cut off any dangling cords or straps so nothing flies off and gets stuck in your spokes.
• Consider sewing on your own webbing and connectors to attach the bags more securely and make them easier to remove. 
• Pay attention to weight distribution. Find ways to pack your weight low on the bike to improve stability. Pack weight evenly from side to side. 

You Already Have Some Clothes

I feel cautiously confident that if you’re reading this, you’re wearing clothes. I could be wrong. But either way, you probably have some clothes. Almost all of my cycling clothes are just regular clothes that I found at thrift stores or bought for some other purpose.

Pro Tips

• Cut the legs and crotch out of a pair of thick nylons, and you’ve got yourself some sweet arm warmers. These are great if you’re going up and down a lot of elevation and don’t want to pause to keep putting on and taking off your jacket. 
• Bandanas can be used for more than just a towel. A LOT more. Cross-country cyclist Olivia Round tells it best in “Bandanas Are a Cyclist’s Best Friend.”
• Take a look at this touring gear checklist from Adventure Cycling for more clothing recommendations. 

You Already Have Some Shoes

I’ve pedaled in sneakers, Crocs, hiking boots, and clip-in cycling shoes. The clip-in shoes made me faster, but the other shoes still got me there. 

Pro Tips

• Shoes with firmer soles, like hiking boots, are more efficient at transferring power from your leg to the pedal. (You might go faster.)
• In rainy weather, you can cover your shoes with plastic bags to keep them from getting soaked.

You Already Have Some Dishes

On my very first trip, I took a metal fork with me and used it as both an eating utensil and a hairbrush. In hindsight, wow, that’s a little extreme! But my point is: you can get pretty creative with the things you already have. 

Pro Tips

• Tupperware — it works.
• I love packing a bowl with a lid. This doubles as a lunchbox. 
• For coffee I bring the same reusable coffee filter that I use in my coffee pot at home. (Just put ground coffee in it and pour hot water over top.)

Garbage Bags Are Waterproof

If I’m cycling with bags that aren’t waterproof, I line them with heavy-duty garbage bags. I also use a lot of large Ziploc bags for general packing. 

I recently texted my brother Brent, a mountaineer and backcountry trail mason, to see if he had any special uses for garbage bags. He texted back immediately: “As a raincoat, hiking skirt, stuff sack, drybag, under boots instead of gaiters for snow, over sleeping bag as an emergency blanket, a ground tarp, for picking up litter in the wilderness, and probably lots more.” It was honestly the quickest text response I’ve ever gotten from him. What can I say — he really knows his garbage bags!

Pro Tips

• Choose heavy duty vs. regular.
• You can repair small rips with duct tape.
• Pack extra bags to replace the ones that eventually rip beyond repair.
• If you’re cycling in a very rainy place, consider double bagging crucial items like electronics or your sleeping bag.

If It Rolls, You Can Ride It

True fact. People all over the world pedal really far with heavy loads on very old bikes. The bike you have in your basement or the one you’re looking at on Craigslist can probably go pretty far too, as long as it fits you. Adventure Cyclist editor Alex Strickland tells it best in the article “How to Use the Bike you Have For Touring.”

Pro Tips

• Bring a repair kit and know how to use it, or be willing and able to walk to the next bike shop.
• Check out Adventure Cyclist’s two great guides on buying used bikes. 

Be Safe and Godspeed

Remember, safety is more important than saving money. I’m fine cycling in Crocs in Central America, but I wouldn’t do that in a place where my feet could freeze. A helmet, repair kit, and bike lights are essential. Your own comfort zone and experience level are important elements in your planning process. Skimping on fashion and speed should never mean skimping on safety. 

There’s something really special about rummaging around the house for unlikely bike gear, packing it up, and riding away! It means that adventure is always at your fingertips. The Tupperware you use to bring sandwiches to work could also carry sandwiches to the top of a mountain. Those sneakers that take you on a walk around your neighborhood could also take you on a ride to the other side of the country. It’s just a matter of looking at things a little differently — and then getting out there and pedaling. 

Touring Gear Essentials

The post Packing Hacks for an Inexpensive Tour appeared first on Adventure Cycling Association.

If you often spend the day before your trip running around like a crazy person, trying to remember all the details floating around in your head, chances are you need a better system.

Luckily, with a bit of frontloading, you can use that new system to make all your future trips easier and faster to plan. That means more time to actually enjoy cycling and less time spent staring blankly at the bulk bins in the grocery store. Here are a few tips to make your trip planning more manageable.

Make a Spreadsheet

While the word “spreadsheet” can make some people scream and run away in horror, spreadsheets really don’t have to be scary. At their best, simple spreadsheets can help you organize all the details of your trip in an easy-to-use format.

Start with a general packing checklist that can be tweaked for seasonality and trip specifics. Include both clothing and gear, and a separate section for shared/group gear like tents and camp stoves. Also include a checklist for pre-departure bike tune-ups to ensure that everyone’s bike is safe and ready to hit the trails.

Everything You Need to Plan Your Trip

You can also use your spreadsheet to list any logistics related to your trip such as ride-sharing, departure times, securing any permits that are needed, and tasks that need to be delegated. Share your spreadsheet with your trip mates so everyone is on the same page.

Once you have your basic spreadsheet set up, you can reuse it again and again for all types of trips, swapping out trip-specific information but keeping the basics.

Get a Good Map

While blogs, videos, and Google Maps are great resources for trip planning, there’s no substitute for a physical map. A good old fashioned paper map can save you hours and hours of planning time and can certainly come to your rescue in the event that technology fails while out on the trail. 

Try to find a map that includes camping spots and water refill stations along your desired route. Highlight your planned itinerary, and be aware of any detours or pit stops you might want to make. Make sure to bring a waterproof case for your map so it doesn’t get damp while you’re outside.

Choosing Navigation Tools

Organize Your Gear

Organizing your cycling gear makes it less likely that you’ll forget something while packing. Of course, by this point, you’ll have your handy packing checklist from your spreadsheet to refer to, so forgetting items won’t be a problem anyway.

Use plastic bins to organize your go-to gear items. Label each bin with its contents to make things extra easy for yourself. That way, you’ll know exactly which bin contains your headlamp and spare batteries, which one has your biking gloves, and which one houses your spare tubes.

When it’s time to pack, you can just go through the bins with your checklist. Of course, this only works if you also unpack in an organized fashion, putting all the gear you used back into their respective bins for easy access before your next trip.

Touring Gear Essentials

Have a Go-To Food Plan

Food is the thing that often trips me up the most while trip planning. Sometimes it’s just hard to think of what to eat, how much will be needed, and how to pack it all efficiently.

One thing that has helped me significantly is to stock up on dry goods ahead of time. Buy a bunch of things like minute rice, oatmeal packets, ramen, protein bars, trail mix, dried fruit, and other snacks (enough to last for several trips) and put them in a dedicated bin.

Buying in bulk ahead of time means that whenever it’s time to pack for an upcoming trip, you can gather all your dry goods from your stockpile and simply buy any fresh food that’s needed to supplement. It saves a ton of time and brainpower because you basically only have to do the thinking and planning once. Your bin of food may even inspire you to go on trips more spontaneously and often since you don’t want food sitting in a tub forever.

Recycling meal plans is another good way to save time and improve trip planning efficiency. If you had a really amazing meal while on the trail one night, write it down and use it again on your next trip. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel each time (unless you want to).

Final Thoughts

Trip planning doesn’t have to feel hectic or overwhelming. Doing a bit of work upfront can save you a lot of time and energy on future trips. If you make a trip planning spreadsheet, get (and use) a paper map, organize your gear, and utilize a go-to food plan, the details of your next trip will basically organize themselves. The next time someone bemoans the pains of trip planning, you can confidently say, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of the details!”
 

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