I was reading a bikepacking.com article the other day talking about bikepacking and ideas of it being healing or therapeutic. I've also heard people in this community say bikepacking is sometimes grounding for them. Is this your experience? If so, what about bikepacking makes it healing/therapeutic/ground? If not, why not?
by antonitos9
6 Comments
Exhaustion is like meditation for me, it shuts up all the noise in my head.
Bikepacking combines that with a sense of self-reliance, immersion in my surroundings and a sense of being there.
Bikepacking days are simple. All you have to do is cycle, eat whatever stays down, and find a spot to sleep at the end of the day (or ride through the night, whatever makes you happy). Before a trip I spend a lot of time in the planning stage so that I don’t have to worry once I’m out riding. Follow the Nav, crank out some Watts, enjoy the scenery. If things go well, the planning is rewarded with a sense of accomplishment. If not, it’s still adventure. Same goes for the bike.
And last but not least, food. I do low carb normally, but when I’m out riding for several days, all bets are off. It’s like a week long cheat day with thousands of calories of treats.
What’s not to like?
You get a sense of accomplishment: you set a challenge for yourself (do this many miles today, or complete this tour in X days) and you complete it.
You get away from having to deal with an annoying job and think about nothing but the landscape, the trail, the campsite, and the challenge for several days.
Not sure if this counts as “grounding”, but after living in a tent for a week, ordinary things you might normally take for granted (shower, kitchen, bed) seem like amazing luxuries.
I don’t really buy into most of the grounding/chakra alignment bs, but bikepacking for me was just so simple and refreshing. I did a roughly two month tour this summer and loved the day to day routine, wake up, eat, pack, ride, eat, ride, get tired, look for a decent place to wild camp, eat, sleep then repeat. It’s just so basic and I won’t say stress free, but you’re free from the stresses of the modern world and more worried about food water and shelter.
It was also such a confidence boost to accomplish something great every day. “I rode my bike X miles today hell yeah” was pretty much how I felt almost every day.
I’d always found cycling and camping to be quite meditative, putting them together is better. Cooking dinner over a small campfire, sipping bourbon and watching satellites pass overhead on a clear night, waking to a foggy morning with birds calling. Some nights you can make out the Milky Way arching overhead. You get time to see, hear and smell your surroundings. The only thing that lets you sense your environment more is hiking but there that walking part for that .
Assuming the bikepacking is going to where other motorists can’t go, I see it as doing what you like ; ie riding a bike + add in hiking/camping aspects = simplicity, self-reliance and digital detox, getting away without the constant digital clutter and pollution , probably with and/or possibly meeting other like-minded folks.
Aka , me-time + the serenity(tm)
Same thing with any form of intense exercise or extended time in nature. It’s not some special spell that you can only cast via riding a bike