Mixed terrain cycle touring

And I think we were just about to get into your cycling.

Bikepacking trip.

Bikepacking, yeah.

So your bikepacking experience, you had said you'd done maybe one or two cycling events prior.

So you hadn't really done much bikepacking at all or just like a little bit?

So, and, uh, I, I mean that just seems incredible.

And, and that's my sport of choice, I'm sure listeners get tired of hearing of it, uh, is long distance back- uh bikepacking.

Bikepacking, bike touring, did that for years, but my knees are, can't hardly handle it anymore, so I think I will transition into something on the water.

How, how often do you get out? You said you're in North Carolina, about three hours from the coast.

Where, where exactly are you located?

You might be at 15, between 10 and 15 miles per hour.

Bikepacking can be really slow.

If you're on steep gradients, the tracks are just atrocious, like really rutted, you're on kind of a goat path in Greece or something, or in Italy.

It can be very slow, and then it can be just like 20 miles.

Like, it, it, it's not how it started.

[chuckles] Bikepacking was meant to be just fucking fun, no?

Yeah.

Just get out there, ride your bike, and make mistakes, and get in the shit, sort out the shit, ride further, and that's it.

Like, yeah, you know, and warm showers has changed my life.

Bikepacking has changed my life.

And my door is always open.

As a matter of fact, there's a gentleman that lives in my neighborhood that I guess he's been doing warm showers for years.

So some people consider bikepacking only when you have over 50% off-road, and everything that's more on-road is touring.

So there is people that have this distinction.

Bikepacking.com actually has a distinction where all of their routes that are verified have over 50%.

because that is like the differentiating between touring and bikepacking.

Personally, I like to take that even a little bit further and like you're not really bikepacking if you're not camping.

Why does that even need wiggle room? I can't believe I'm aligning on this.

Not everything has to be everything.

Bikepacking is gravel bikes and camping.