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Bikepacking: Routes, queries, gear, etc.

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24

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    #32
    Harrybelafonte
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,450 ✭✭✭Harrybelafonte


    LennoxR wrote: »
    I see. I mean I've done gravel riding without bags. And I've been touring on both my road and gravel bikes on road with saddle bag. But not touring off road with luggage. So I suppose that counts me out of this discussion!


    I mean to ride the length of the Royal canal and back this year though, so that might qualify me. Edit here's a picture of me touring on my gravel bike.

    https://dorneythoughts.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/image25.jpg?w=636.

    I mean, I really could have put Touring in the title too, there’s little difference, but touring routes and info are quite easy to come by, bikepacking not so much. Especially long routes in Ireland.


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    #33
    Large bottle small glass
    Registered Users Posts: 1,721 ✭✭✭Large bottle small glass


    Harrybelafonte wrote: »
    Especially long routes in Ireland.

    Other than a few canals and rivers we don't have any long distance routes for backpacking.

    We can't compete with UK and it's bridleways and a long established cycling culture on looking for off road routes i.e. rough stuff fellowship along with the right to roam issue.

    If you like to map routes then a combination of back roads with forestry, canals, maybe bog roads does give you options. You need to be comfortable with navigation, rerouting when route has been destroyed by a harvester/flood etc and like to climb a lot.


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    #34
    Harrybelafonte
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,450 ✭✭✭Harrybelafonte


    I can’t deny what you say is true. But I’m hoping this will change over the next few years.

    I have done a few trips with a friend in the last few years and he has publicized them quite a bit amongst his friends. So he is now in a position where a number of them want to join the next one. So many that he has to taking planning it out seriously.


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    #35
    KevRossi
    Registered Users Posts: 4,406 ✭✭✭KevRossi


    To get to Malin, take the train to Coleraine, cycle to Magilligan Point and ferry to Greencastle as an alternative. Or train to Derry, up one side of Inisowen and come back the other.

    Mizen : you can take a bike with Bus Eireann for €10. Bantry is about 2 hrs from Mizen, but check to see Bus Eireann haven’t cancelled routes and that they have a suitable bus that day.

    Bring a bin bag to cover the chain. Clean the bike a bit and you’ll be OK.


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    #36
    Carawaystick
    Registered Users Posts: 8,779 ✭✭✭Carawaystick


    Has anyone cycled along the BnaM railways?

    Some of the twin track routes crossing roads look like theres enough ballast to cycle along
    Do Bord na Móna mind?


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    #37
    cdaly_
    Registered Users Posts: 6,440 ✭✭✭cdaly_


    Carawaystick wrote: »
    Has anyone cycled along the BnaM railways?

    Some of the twin track routes crossing roads look like theres enough ballast to cycle along
    Do Bord na Móna mind?

    They probably do mind, particularly if you set the bog on fire...


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    #38
    iwillhtfu
    Registered Users Posts: 6,368 ✭✭✭iwillhtfu


    cdaly_ wrote: »
    They probably do mind, particularly if you set the bog on fire...

    Why would he set the bog on fire? :confused:

    I believe most of the midlands sites are closed or closing so I can't see it being an issue although I'm not sure where you'd end up. Perhaps the furnace :D


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    #39
    TGD
    Registered Users Posts: 649 ✭✭✭TGD


    LennoxR wrote: »
    I see. I mean I've done gravel riding without bags. And I've been touring on both my road and gravel bikes on road with saddle bag. But not touring off road with luggage. So I suppose that counts me out of this discussion!


    I mean to ride the length of the Royal canal and back this year though, so that might qualify me. Edit here's a picture of me touring on my gravel bike.

    https://dorneythoughts.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/image25.jpg?w=636.

    I don’t think there’s any agreed definition of ’bikepacking’. Around 30 years ago the expression ‘credit card touring’ was used for a while to describe fairly fast touring on regular bikes with minimum stuff. I used to do some of that but without all the specialist stuff that is a prerequisite now to fit into any of the multiple genres that cycling has become. I don’t see and difference between ‘credit card touring’ and ‘bikepacking’, apart from the different nature of the stuff. Much of that supposed difference is driven by marketing - you don’t belong unless you buy the stuff. If this thread descends into ‘you must do or have X, Y and Z to be a bikepacker then I’m outa here.


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    #40
    Harrybelafonte
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,450 ✭✭✭Harrybelafonte


    iwillhtfu wrote: »
    Why would he set the bog on fire? :confused:

    I believe most of the midlands sites are closed or closing so I can't see it being an issue although I'm not sure where you'd end up. Perhaps the furnace :D

    May be a reference to lighting a fire if camping at night?


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    #41
    Harrybelafonte
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,450 ✭✭✭Harrybelafonte


    TGD wrote: »
    I don’t think there’s any agreed definition of ’bikepacking’. Around 30 years ago the expression ‘credit card touring’ was used for a while to describe fairly fast touring on regular bikes with minimum stuff. I used to do some of that but without all the specialist stuff that is a prerequisite now to fit into any of the multiple genres that cycling has become. I don’t see and difference between ‘credit card touring’ and ‘bikepacking’, apart from the different nature of the stuff. Much of that supposed difference is driven by marketing - you don’t belong unless you buy the stuff. If this thread descends into ‘you must do or have X, Y and Z to be a bikepacker then I’m outa here.

    I really don’t want an argument about the definition of what each is. I have what I feel was a rough definition and explained why I didn’t include ”touring” in the title. I don’t care who does what, I just wanted to start a positive thread on a subject that might interest people and open some to another prospective part of cycling.

    Whether we’re talking touring or bikepacking or whatever you yourself want to talk about, we’ll probably all benefit from some knowledge about a possible route or a good sleeping bag, or stove or cooking gear, etc.

    I’ve already found the thread useful and I’d rather it continued in that vein that fall foul of some odd “traditionalist” vs “upstart” purity debate.


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    #42
    Harrybelafonte
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,450 ✭✭✭Harrybelafonte


    Has anyone ridden the Miners Way in Sligo. Think you can mix it up with the Heritage Trail there to make about 130km. It’s about 50/50 road and off road.


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    #43
    Large bottle small glass
    Registered Users Posts: 1,721 ✭✭✭Large bottle small glass


    Harrybelafonte wrote: »
    Has anyone ridden the Miners Way in Sligo. Think you can mix it up with the Heritage Trail there to make about 130km. It’s about 50/50 road and off road.

    I hadn't heard of it but have trying mapping and riding East Munster Way and Tipp Heritage Way (St Declan's Way is also interesting).

    What I found, and I suspect from description on
    https://www.irishtrails.ie/Trail/Miner-s-Way---Historical-Trail/23/

    is that some sections off road i.e. bogland or crossing fields will be completely unsuitable to a gravel type bike and rerouting around most of these sections to make them more bike friendly is probably best bar in the best of summer weather(I think I'm pretty much on the far end of spectrum of where I'll ask a road or cx bike to go i.e. pretty unforgiving). From my experience it was a lot of work to reroute ones close to me(but very rewarding).

    If it's just yourself and a few liked mined friends you don't need to be very exact(if you can roll with the punches so to speak) but if handing out to unknowns there will be issues.

    Given our unrivalled network of byroads, upland forestry, river and canal paths etc we do have a brilliant resource for "quite" road cycling especially with modern gps/mapping technology.

    Word of warning though it is completely fcuking addictive. When driving anywhere now (and I drive around most counties over course of a typical year) I'm constantly looking at by roads, playing with car gps, looking for adjacent forestry and reaching for my OSI map collection the minute I get home!

    That irishtrails.ie site is a brilliant resource for getting ideas for a particular area. When mapping an audax route I thought I was a great lad finding all these lovely quite roads until I realised someone in the 70's or 80's had it all done before and even the odd signpost survived!


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    #44
    Harrybelafonte
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,450 ✭✭✭Harrybelafonte


    Agree, should have mentioned Irish Trails earlier.

    I'm also trying to collect all the OS Discovery maps to have at hand for planning.


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    #45
    cletus
    Registered Users Posts: 7,884 ✭✭✭cletus


    Harrybelafonte wrote: »
    Agree, should have mentioned Irish Trails earlier.

    I'm also trying to collect all the OS Discovery maps to have at hand for planning.

    Probably of no direct benefit to you, but I have access to the complete OSi digital map, free of charge, through scoilnet.ie, as I'm a teacher. Great resource, with multiple layers and a resolution down to 30m.

    I'd still like to have a full set of printed maps though...


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    #46
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,722 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    cletus wrote: »
    Probably of no direct benefit to you, but I have access to the complete OSi digital map, free of charge, through scoilnet.ie, as I'm a teacher. Great resource, with multiple layers and a resolution down to 30m.

    I'd still like to have a full set of printed maps though...

    East West mapping also have some really nice independently produced maps if you're a mapping geek. See https://www.facebook.com/EastWest-Mapping-693816783963064/

    I have Open Street Maps on my Garmin 810 which is pretty good for the price of free :)


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    #47
    cletus
    Registered Users Posts: 7,884 ✭✭✭cletus


    smacl wrote: »
    East West mapping also have some really nice independently produced maps if you're a mapping geek. See https://www.facebook.com/EastWest-Mapping-693816783963064/

    I have Open Street Maps on my Garmin 810 which is pretty good for the price of free :)
    Interesting. I have the 520plus. Would there be any benefit in having Open Street Maps over the stock turn by turn navigation/maps already on the system


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    #48
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,722 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    cletus wrote: »
    Interesting. I have the 520plus. Would there be any benefit in having Open Street Maps over the stock turn by turn navigation/maps already on the system

    The stock maps on the 810 were rubbish as they covered the whole of Europe in low detail where I wanted Ireland and any other country I was about to visit in high detail. Don't know what the current maps on the 520 are like but maybe try zooming into the area around Laragh and see if you get comparable detail to this; https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/53.0122/-6.3070 From memory, you're also interested in gravel and OSM has most of the Coilte trails and other more obvious off-road stuff. My original 810 map didn't even have many of the l-roads.


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    #49
    cdaly_
    Registered Users Posts: 6,440 ✭✭✭cdaly_


    Dunno about on a Garmin but it's very nice on the phone using OsmAnd app. Download openstreetmap, contours, points of interest and so on.
    Can you get the OpenCycleMap onto the Garmin?


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    #50
    TGD
    Registered Users Posts: 649 ✭✭✭TGD


    Harrybelafonte wrote: »
    I really don’t want an argument about the definition of what each is. I have what I feel was a rough definition and explained why I didn’t include ”touring” in the title. I don’t care who does what, I just wanted to start a positive thread on a subject that might interest people and open some to another prospective part of cycling.

    Whether we’re talking touring or bikepacking or whatever you yourself want to talk about, we’ll probably all benefit from some knowledge about a possible route or a good sleeping bag, or stove or cooking gear, etc.

    I’ve already found the thread useful and I’d rather it continued in that vein that fall foul of some odd “traditionalist” vs “upstart” purity debate.

    I agree with you in every respect


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    #51
    TGD
    Registered Users Posts: 649 ✭✭✭TGD


    This is by far the best on-line resource I have come across - https://ridefar.info/


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    #52
    cletus
    Registered Users Posts: 7,884 ✭✭✭cletus


    TGD wrote: »
    This is by far the best on-line resource I have come across - https://ridefar.info/

    Thanks, that's a nice resource


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    #53
    cletus
    Registered Users Posts: 7,884 ✭✭✭cletus


    smacl wrote: »
    The stock maps on the 810 were rubbish as they covered the whole of Europe in low detail where I wanted Ireland and any other country I was about to visit in high detail. Don't know what the current maps on the 520 are like but maybe try zooming into the area around Laragh and see if you get comparable detail to this; https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/53.0122/-6.3070 From memory, you're also interested in gravel and OSM has most of the Coilte trails and other more obvious off-road stuff. My original 810 map didn't even have many of the l-roads.

    Current maps are pretty good, but I'm going to download Ireland from OSM, throw it on and see what it looks like


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    #54
    smacl
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 15,722 Mod ✭✭✭✭smacl


    cdaly_ wrote: »
    Dunno about on a Garmin but it's very nice on the phone using OsmAnd app. Download openstreetmap, contours, points of interest and so on.
    Can you get the OpenCycleMap onto the Garmin?

    Looks like it is just another layer on Open Street Map so should be doable.


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    #55
    cletus
    Registered Users Posts: 7,884 ✭✭✭cletus


    So, I went through the whole rigmarole of putting OSM on my 520+. I was also custom making a route on Garmin express. When I went to upload the route, I wastol there was a map update, which I went ahead with.

    The map is definitely different, but I've no idea whether it's the Garmin update or the OSM download I did :D


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    #56
    CantGetNoSleep
    Registered Users Posts: 7,217 ✭✭✭CantGetNoSleep


    CantGetNoSleep wrote: »
    What sort of bags would you need for a long trip but staying in hotels?

    I live in France and have a bike that I'd like to bring home so I have it in my head to cycle to the port and take the ferry instead of going to the hassle of putting it on a plane.

    Would be about 550km though and can't see me getting that done in less than 5 days. Would a large saddle bag and top tube bag for food do it? Guess I'd just need one evening set of clothes, a rain jacket and maybe spare bibs?
    I've been thinking about this and looking at EuroVelo 4 along the north coast of France. Would likely be going into a headwind for 4 days straight but think it is worth a try.

    Anyone done it?


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    #57
    cdaly_
    Registered Users Posts: 6,440 ✭✭✭cdaly_


    You could ferry to Cherbourg, train to Brest and then have a tailwind...


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    #58
    Harrybelafonte
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,450 ✭✭✭Harrybelafonte


    Altura seat post pack reduced to €15 on Planet X Flash sale

    https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CCAVWCSP/altura-vortex-waterproof-compact-seat-pack-6-litre


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    #59
    brocbrocach
    Registered Users Posts: 890 ✭✭✭brocbrocach


    Harrybelafonte wrote: »
    Altura seat post pack reduced to €15 on Planet X Flash sale

    https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CCAVWCSP/altura-vortex-waterproof-compact-seat-pack-6-litre


    A bit small though for practical touring? 6 litres capacity wouldn't get you far I'd think.

    They also have a vortex 1 which seems to be 12 litres. Would that be waterproof enough I wonder? Any knowledge of it? More expensive at £25 but the extra space would seem worth it.


    https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CCAVSP/altura-vortex-1-seat-pack

    That would seem to be this bag reviewed as Altura Vortex.

    https://road.cc/content/review/229152-altura-vortex-seatpack


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    #60
    gwakamoley
    Registered Users Posts: 134 ✭✭gwakamoley


    brocbrocach wrote: »
    A bit small though for practical touring? 6 litres capacity wouldn't get you far I'd think.

    They also have a vortex 1 which seems to be 12 litres. Would that be waterproof enough I wonder? Any knowledge of it? More expensive at £25 but the extra space would seem worth it.


    https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CCAVSP/altura-vortex-1-seat-pack

    That would seem to be this bag reviewed as Altura Vortex.

    https://road.cc/content/review/229152-altura-vortex-seatpack

    I've been in the market for something like this and pulled the trigger on this this morning. Yes its small at 6L but that is enough for my current uses when coupled with other bags. At 6L it should be small enough to not sway too much even if the design isn't perfect. For anything bigger I'd be looking at something a bit more stable as the reviews suggest that this bag moves about quite a bit. Hard to go wrong at that price though.


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    #61
    CantGetNoSleep
    Registered Users Posts: 7,217 ✭✭✭CantGetNoSleep


    I'm still planning an end-of-April 400-500km somewhere across the north of Europe to a destination which has a ferry to Rosslare.

    I'm going to stay in hotels or B&Bs so plan to take minimal gear - whatever I need for on the bike and then one change for evening wear.

    I'm considering a larger saddle bag, top tube bag for food and spares, and then possibly a frame bag although not sure if that is necessary. What do people think of that? Am I better off with a saddle or frame bag if I only need one?

    Has anyone used Podsacs or any of the Planet X gear? Realistically I will use them max one trip a year so I'm not so worried about durability.


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