Over the years, I've bikepacked in over 26 countries around the world. I've found that I prefer remote roads in super low-population regions of the world (despite the excitement of cycling in the busier places). That said, what would you say from experience (or off your bucket list) are the most remote touring routes of >500km for each category: road bike, gravel bike, mountain bike.
Here's what's on the top of my bucket list:
Mountain/Gravel – Across the center of Iceland eg. route
Road/Gravel – Paso de Agua Negra between Chile and Argentina – Not massively convenient for a flying visit, perhaps part of a larger tour.
by benbowler
5 Comments
Iceland sounds brutal on tires, bring extra tubes. Agua Negra is high altitude, check the weather forecast before you go.
Iceland done along east-west axis. Definitely a beefy MTB territory.
That said, you could quite easily find mtb/gravel route along Carpathians that would both be going close to small villages yet not crossing any shop for hundreds kms, just following empty / abandonned valleys and ridges for days.
In the northern hemisphere, I would say the final stretch between inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk has a legendary status. Also the top of the world highway from Tok in alaska to dawson city in canada is also a good stretch, mostly unhabitated besides a “town” called “chicken” (its actually a gas station and a bar), it’s ~300km, from dawson city to tuktoyaktuk is ~930 km more.
Also “la ruta de los seis miles” in the chilean/bolivian andes is 526km, and of course the uyuni salt flat.. and further south, the cross to candelario mancilla down to laguna del desierto and el chalten at the end of the carretera austral.
Ruta de Los Seis Miles Norte: https://bikepacking.com/routes/ruta-seis-miles-norte/
The route guide says you need to carry 18 days worth of food.
Naryn to Arabel pass in Kyrgyzstan. On average I saw 2 horseback riders, 1 car, and 2 bikepackers each day.