Bikepacking in WINTER | Is It Worth Trying? | Cycling | Ep 27

Bikepacking in WINTER | Is It Worth Trying? | Cycling | Ep 27
A longer tutorial on the essentials for successful bikepacking in the colder winter months is contained in Episode 27. Mark offers advice for budget ways to bikepack and shares the must-have equipment for safety and comfort.

LINK: Mark recommended a site he watches — Path Less Pedaled. The link is below.
https://www.youtube.com/@UCaThRBMEp21yRK4seqq3-Sw

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TIMELINE
00:00 Intro music
00:11 Opening discussion
01:00 How to define bikepacking
01:40 Qualifiers
04:28 Why go bikepacking in the winter?
05:30 Mindset
06:24 What will you need?
06:26 Bike
08:40 Lights
11:35 Bike bags
14:58 Clothes
17:19 Food and Water
21:48 Cooking
28:33 Sleeping
39:59 Saying goodbye
40:00 OUTRO
40:22 End

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[Music] all right let’s get all that off that’s almost warm so how to start winter bike packing go you’re obviously here because you’re winter bike packing curious It’s a good place to be so this video for the absolute beginner what to expect what to take and just have fun for the purpose of this video I would like to Define bike packing to me as putting all of your camping gear on your bicycle riding that bicycle to a destination of your choice and then camping at that destination that destination will be a wild Camp will be exterior might be in a shelter but definitely not at a campsite and not in somebody’s house I’m aiming to do this video on a budget for the beginner because we know anybody who’s done any winter sport as soon as you put winter in front of it up goes the price for everything that you need to bring with you and fair enough all the Technologies in the Fabrics in uh you know it’s your life your safety it’s cold it’s all of that I understand but there’s things you need to spend your money on and there’s things that maybe we can just make it a little bit easier for you and try and not have to take out a second mortgage just to go out and have some fun in the woods in the winter qualified too just to let you know that I have been camping ever since I was a young teenager and been riding a bike for at least 20 years but I’ve only just started bike packing for the last 4 years but for the last four years I’ve been out every month almost every month for the last 4 years it was a whole Co thing going on um so I’ve done all seasons all sorts of uh conditions so I kind of I kind of have an idea what’s going on out there in the world and I guess the other qualifier is that winter for me winter at where we live here in Northwest France is it’s not extrem is damp it’s cold I think the worst we’ve been camping in is -3 and a wind storm with hail and rain in the middle of the night so that’s probably the worst we’ve ever had but for the majority of the time it’s like under 5° C it’s potential of rain it’s very humid humid the ground is damp that’s the kind of conditions I have to deal with where you live maybe better maybe a whole lot worse you’re going to have to tailor some of my suggestions to suit your climate otherwise you’re not going to have a good time I want you to have a good time I want you to go out have fun come back safe and have another go why bike pack in the winter I mean what’s wrong with you you’re going to leave a perfectly good house Dry warm safe to go and live to go and sleep in a in the wild with animals and oh all sorts of weird things you’re going to have to answer that question for yourself I I don’t know you may want to uh ride up a m to catch a meteor storm because you’ve got less light pollution any number of challenges I go with a mate we find that in the darkness of winter spending time together it’s it’s good for our mental health and hey we’re kids at heart and it’s just a sense of adventure a challenge uh a challenge met and a goal achieved is really good for your mental health and that’s a good thing so that being said your mindset when you leave should be very relaxed very uh sense of adventure very uh as as Russ from path list pedal would say party pace you’re not breaking any records your bike’s going to be heavier uh you’re carrying things you’re going to be out of your element don’t stress out just have a very relaxed mindset a sense of uh anything could be fun and just go out and again it may be type to fun the first time but that’s fine it’ll get better the second time I’m going to make the assumption that you already ride your bicycle in the winter so therefore you have winter gear and you know what it’s like to be in the cold and you’re prepared for that so you’re going to need a bicycle that is equal or slightly better than the terrain that you intend to tackle as I said the bike is going to be heavier it’s going to be a little bit more Awkward so it just needs to be ready for the train for the terrain it needs to be capable for that terrain that may be upgrading tires making sure everything’s ready whatever whatever you need to do so that you prepare to have a good time it it doesn’t need to be an expensive new brand new gravel bike or whatever to go out and have fun down here is a uh a 1996 cona mountain bike it’s uh it’s a sort of a winter bike for me for camping it’s perfect it’s very capable um I gave it a good service put a new chain on it new tires it’s perfect it’ll do it’ll do 50 km in a in a camping session perfectly fine perfectly comfortable not break making any land records here any land speed records here we’re just out to have a good time party Pace behind it is another bike it’s my gravel bike it’ll be my summer spring autumn bike bigger distances 100ks 120 K there and back it’s summer everything’s lighter it’s a little bit easier it’s just uh it’s a more comfortable ride for longer distances but we’re in Winter you ride ride whatever you need to ride to get you there safely and home again next thing you’ll need a decent light of some description if you intend to leave your dwelling in the daylight to get to your campsite before dark and then leave that Campsite in the morning in the light you will be spending a minimum of 12 hours in your sleeping situation in a in a in a sleeping bag in a tent however we’ll we’ll talk about that in a minute it’s 12 hours in the dark it’s a long time if you’ve never done that before I’ve done it it’s it’s uh it’s inforced relaxation if you can do it all good to you we tend to leave after dinner so that you know that’s a meal taken care of we’re leaving in the dark we get to the campsite 10 11:00 at night get up 8 we might have some light at 8: in the morning 8:30 9:00 something like that so we’ve limited the amount of time we actually have to stay still for 10 hours something like that so we now need a light a lighting system however that is batteries dynamos are expensive but jez they’re good and and they just last and they do exactly what you want them to do but we’re on a budget we’re thinking about battery lights that battery light needs to last you all all the way to your campsite and then prepare preparing for the worst case scenario you may have to bug out in the middle of the night it can happen I could look I’m an older guy my wife doesn’t come with me um I could get an emergency call in the middle of the night come home now you know maybe she can’t open the pickle jar maybe the cat brought a mouse in it could be any sort of emergency that I have to get myself packed up get pack up the bike and bug out of where I am so my battery life needs to be to get me in and to get me out safely because it’s going to be middle of the night you can’t you can’t you can’t be on the road you can’t be on the trail without decent lights and you also need your tail lights if you’re riding any road sections to get to your Trail section you need to be seen and you need to know where you’re going these important things so you got your bike you got your lights you need a place to put all your camping gear on your bike now I tend to use uh it’s a saddle bag sits under the s baddle like that it’s one like that it’s approximately 12 l or something like that I don’t think it was terribly expensive it’s not uh it’s not a UB uh Uber brand or anything like that I think it was Planet X from England um but it’s waterproof it’s I’ve used it for 4 years and it’s still going to go go on fine there’s no dramas I prefer this system because I can put that on several different bikes as opposed to if you’re going to dedicate one bike to Winter bike packing you can put a rack on it it’s fine I travel around Different Bikes so I can move that backwards and forwards it’s an investment that’s you’re going to hear that word it’s an investment like I said that’s 4 years that’s that’s lasted well nothing wrong with it it’ll keep cracking on no dramas and then I have uh a big bag on the front uh I’ve made it myself it’s second attempt it’s not quite waterproof I’ll have another uh another attempt this year and I’ll use some xack cuz it’s more waterproof um there’s any number of websites on there teaching you how to sew bags it may be something you want to try I don’t don’t know I’m looking at the budget you know it’s €30 uh a meter that’s cheaper than some of the bags that you can buy but this one works I’ve tried the the roll ones that go on the handlebars you can stuff them in like that I didn’t get on with them it didn’t pack the things I wanted to pack in it the way I wanted to pack it so I just end up making basically just a sack with a roll top that I can lash to the front of the bike it works goes over terrain no dramas he definitely need those and you may also frame bags are good you can put your thin stuff in there you can put your heavy stuff in there your tools your spare parts cuz you need to be taking those spare tubes whatever you need to fix what you need while you’re out there in case something breaks that’s that’s a whole another video um but you need to be self-sufficient you don’t want to be calling uh emergency emergency services because you’ve uh broken a chain and you got to push your bike for you know for 10ks through the slos we try and prepare for the and try and have as much fun as we can while we’re out there nothing like that has happened so far no no we’ve been lucky what will you wear as I said I assume you’re already winter winter riding bikes now so you’re going to have all your winter gear you know what fits you what suits you for the climate for the conditions for the temperature you have all of that sorted now when you get to your Camp spot you could be wet you could be dirty you’re going to be sweaty potentially you you need to have another set of clothes to get changed to sleep in so I mean I personally wear uh a loose pair of Woolen socks thermal long underwear thermal long top the down jacket you saw in the intro that’s on uh a beanie and I snuggle in and I’m fine I’m perfectly fine Theus three perfectly comfortable but the the tip the advice whatever here is you have to get into your bag dry and warm but dry over everything else because hum humidity moisture is the the killer for a good night’s sleep it it it’s just a problem if you get in there sweaty and cold it’s just not good and you need to get in clean you need to put if you’ve been riding say you say you ride 3 hours through the night you’re sweaty you need to get in there clean and you know what I mean if you’ve ever ridden for 3 hours you need to be dry uh wet wipes work maybe a dry towel afterwards you do not want to create another bacterial ecosystem in the middle of the night while you’re sleeping so warm dry equals warm do everything you can for that so you got your bike you got your clothes you need to feed yourself now um as I said we tend to leave after dinner that’s a meal taken care of when we get there we haven’t ridden a lot we haven’t used x amount of energy you know we we we’re just ticking along we’re living off our fat stores should we say so we may get in we may I may make a hot chocolate I have a little hot chocolate mix I make it’s powdered cocoa powdered milk and a little bit of sugar a little squiggle of sugar and you know boil some water that’s made sorted if you’re leaving earlier I don’t know if you’ve ever looked at dehydrated meals for us at the moment6 to 7 it’s a lot of money if you if you take that dehydrated meal you’ve ALS o got to realize you’re going to have to take the water to hydrate that meal which you’re going to be having water anyway you need a liter and a half 2 L depending on how long you’re you’re riding or you need to know that when you get to where you’re going there’s a water source that you can take advantage of but you need the water to make your coffee heat your things so what you can also do if you’re not if we’re trying to keep the budget down we have at the supermarkets here a fresh pasta meal it’s um like torini or ravioli or sonic like that they’re quite good quite tasty about €3 for a packet to serve two people perfect for me that’s me sorted I can sleep with a with a full tummy which you know ideally that’s not it but it keeps you warm in a sleep sleeping bag as your body’s uh trying to digest that it uses energy and it creates heat your sleeping bag only insulates it doesn’t make heat so if you’re making your own heat to digest you’re keeping warm in your sleeping bag and you’ll have a much better night in the mornings breakfast so I like the luxury of coffee in the morning I have a system for that I’ll show I’ll show that cook system in a minute um I have that I also don’t mind cold musle in the morning so I’ll take my own little Ziploc bag of musley that’s portioned out I’m not carrying any more than I need it’s usually more than I would have at home because I’m going to ride for a bit I take 250 Ms of uht milk it’s that long life milk it doesn’t need to be refrigerated that gets uh poured in while I’m making my coffee usually is getting soft and incorporating the milk I have enough milk for my coffee and I also have a little bit leftover I can pass on to my mate so we can have a hot cup of tea and some milk with his tea it it just works for me it’s perfectly fine I don’t have a problem with cold food in the morning but I got my hot coffee so I’m fine my mate doesn’t like that what he will do he likes porridge in the morning so what he’s done he’s got himself uh a Ziploc bag and he’s also made himself an insulated bag on the outside out of that silver bubble wrappy type material he puts the bag in there he boils his water pours the water onto the porridge that sits in there that sits for whatever it needs 10 minutes 15 minutes it does its cooking thing it’s insulating he’s not losing the Heat and he’s fine he has hot porridge he goes on and makes his cup of tea laughing laughing that actually that works summer and winter for me I I get on really well with that system it’s not for everybody you’ll have to decide what you what you want to live with sort of given this a video a budget element and oh let me think cook stoves with the gas bottle and the cooker and the pot 6070 67 60 to 70 of anybody’s monetary system uh pound dollars I think the jet boil ones uh are over1 here 160 180 lb for some of them really good really really good stuff expensive I have um I have a knockoff one with the gas canister and that works perfectly fine absolutely fine Works a treat but we’re on a budget try try and try and bring the money down that is my cook system it’s uh it’s low Tech no affiliations no uh no sponsorship that’s off of probably off of the uh place where you can buy things on the computer it’s a 750 mil titanium cook pot it’s it’s all I need I’m only ever heating water if I get the pasta meal I heat the water I put the pastor in there it takes maximum 3 minutes to cook if you like and it that’s all I need that’s fine that’s less fuel you need as well rather than cooking raw pasta and doing all of that trying to keep it as simple as possible and then I made uh an alcohol stove that is 21/3 of uh alcoholic beverage uh cut and basically sliced together and squeezed it’s got some flutes on the inside it’s got a couple of holes in it runs off of alcohol methylated Spirits whatever you want to call it um it’s simple it’s cheap all right don’t be awkward um I was surprised how easy it was to make and I’m also still after 8 months surprised how Bloody well it works it just works it’s one of the simplest ones online if you if you put in alcohol stove how to make it is one of the simplest ones out there it is honestly you could build this on the side of the road you could find a can and you could build this on the side of the road with a Swiss army knife it’s that simple it’s there’s no some of them have JB world or like an epoxy World on everything I find with the bike a little bit off-road with the jiggling and the rattling that’s that’s why the rags and there to stop the noise more than anything um I find the the the world tends to cck C and you’re relying on that as a seal this again it just so simple it just bloody works and I made it myself and we for me it’s brilliant so that works that that little thing there which is probably 50 Ms of alcohol will heat enough water to make two big coffee or one meal one coffee something like that simple cheap take a mug I take a massive mug I I like a big coffee it’s easy I have uh a drip filter system to make my coffee it all fits in there is brilliant it’s light lightish some Ultra Ultra lighters may go it’s a bit Overkill and a bit heavy but I probably don’t need that one you can get a folding mug I don’t like it that works for me my breakfast gets stuffed in there and then it goes in the bag everything’s tight everything’s locked in right that’s it for cooking it takes up less space and we need to talk about space you have a limited amount of room if you take this sort of system that I’m advocating what a lot of bike Packers use these bags you could have if that’s 12 maybe you got 12 at the front you don’t fill them 24 25 26 27 laders of capacity cubic laders of capacity um I watch some ultral light hiking videos backpacking videos rather than bike packing videos and they’re ultra light but they still have that capacity to carry 30 40 L it’s more I didn’t realize they’re going longer than us longer distances they may walk for weeks but we s to have a limited amount of space and nobody ever they’ll talk about light and all that sort of thing but space space is a bit of a premium on a bike packing trip so this is winter you’re taking more clothes uh your sleeping we’ll get on sleeping bags sleeping bag will be bigger you just need more space this is why the mindset of having a relaxed time and just getting into it and just just chill chill just chill right sleeping you’re going to need something to sleep on you’re going to need something to sleep in and you’re going to need something to sleep under I will tell you to get a sleeping mat one that blows up I’ve just we’ve we’re just back from the other weekend our last bike packing one for the year uh 2° uh I take this one again it’s un unaffiliated no sponsorship it’s a Nemo Astro it’s uh I think it’s R4 you I think well at least for our climate we don’t sleep on snow we don’t sleep on ice but we got wet cold ground and I’ll tell you now for nothing you need something with an R value because it’s just like sleeping on a concrete slab it will suck the heat right out of you if you have one of these you just you just need it that’s all there is to it it’s um I when I first started I bought one of the cheap ones off of uh that place where you buy things on the internet and it had no R rating it was basically uh a beach Lilo it wasn’t it was better than it was like a camping one had no r value terrific in summer light compact but as soon as it got cold it just wasn’t a great night experience I mean your body just stiffens up in the middle of the night and trying to get out of it in the morning it’s you don’t have a good night’s sleep let’s be honest I want you to have fun I want you to be warm I want you to come back and have another go so investment necessary sleeping bags big money big big money um can be I now use a soundfield bag this is my first ever sleeping bag it’s polyester um it didn’t work for me it’s it’s big it’s heavy uh and it wasn’t particularly warm I think it was – 3 that first night and it wasn’t a comfortable night sleep for me at all but again I was on that I was on that cheapy mattress so I very quickly moved up to a down filled sleeping bag and just to give you a size comparison cuz Size Matters I didn’t say that for packing for packing your bags it’s well we’ll do it that side there we go it’s you know it’s half the size if not almost a third of the size that is just easier to get packed on the bike for its size and weight it’s it’s lighter it’s almost half a kilo lighter it just it has more bang for the buck to keep you warm just works works a lot better A lot more comfortable feathers don’t like water they don’t like humidity they tend to stop working so this is why I’m saying you get in your bag dry and you have all your kit on you’re actually protecting the inside of the bag from yourself and again this is the winter one just to compare that’s the summer one put that like that again that’s again that’s half the size smaller again so summer summer is wonderful summer you can go light you can take less stuff use more you know you it’s less weight less gear you can travel faster and further it’s just good but again we’re in winter when you’re looking at sleeping bags if if it’s a good brand it will have this stuff on it this information and the one that says comfort this is the only one you need to pay attention to comfort rating so this is comfort is it 10° and also its limit is 5° for Comfort again this is all in Celsius uh I’ve been in this bag at 5° or 6° and again this rating is assuming that you’re wearing clothes that you’re wearing a down jacket um thermal gear so this this can bring you undone getting this wrong this is something you need to really have a look at but again this is a summer one down bags are expensive just by the nature the way that they’re made uh everything that they do they compact they’re just the Technologies there they’re expensive two and 300 of any anybody’s shekels um they’re expensive but on uh secondhand selling sites and stuff like that Leona in France uh or Craigslist gum tree whatever you’ve got have a bit of search have a look see what’s there I realiz there a bit of uh I don’t know sleeping in some somebody else’s sleeping bag a very personal thing I understand that but what you can do you can buy these these are designed for down filled anything sleeping bags puffy jackets whatever this is uh laundry detergent for feathers specifically so you’ll wash it and it’ll take out all the the other person’s everything and then you’ll wash it again with this one and this will uh waterproof the feathers so that they’re less inclined to take on the moisture and they’re perfect I mean that’s if you can get a bag half price or a third of of the price and then you take on this that’s you’re already bringing the money down it well worth the investment a shelter I don’t like tents that’s me that’s my problem I have a problem with tents um I’m not claustrophobic is just that false sense of security that you get from a puth of a millimeter of fabric that you think you’re safe cuz you’re you’re out in the woods I I I struggle with the concept I I don’t like it um most of the Year I’ll sleep in a bivy bag which is my sleeping bag in another bag and I’m out if I wake up I can see the sky happy happy happy not for everybody I understand that but you do need some sort of shelter um if it’s going to rain or potentially snow where you are it’s really good to have I know some hardcore guys they don’t they’re just in the bivy bag and they’re fine um You probably need some sort of shelter I also have what do they call it a Tre pole tarp tent or something like that there should be a photo of it it’s open at one end I can lift it up there’s air under it it works for me I’m super comfy in that it’s been in a in a really bad wind storm and it survived fine I had to make my own tent poles cuz trekking Poes are hard to get on a bicycle but aluminum tube from the hardware store it worked fine it works really fine the other thing you can do is I don’t know in your country there might be a different a different color this is just a general common or garden blue TP they’re waterproof so one of these and some paracord two trees some more paracord some tent pegs or sticks or something like that you can make a tent shaped shelter and put yourself under it works perfectly fine that they’re not they’re not expensive we we use the I mean this is a ground sheet as well perfectly fine um I do know some ultra light people that will take a heavyduty painters drop cloth the plastic ones and cut that to the size of they sleeping and put that on the ground man it’s a plastic bag is as light as anything think so that works a treat I guess that’s that’s everything covered I mean there’s bound to be stuff there’s stuff that you just need to find out for yourself when you go out it’s been a a 4-year learning process for me I’m 60 now uh I still enjoy the heck out of it it’s like uh big kids on an adventure um yeah it’s good have a try it could be fun for you then again it may not but who knows you won’t know unless you don’t go so enjoy if this uh content if this uh subject matter is of any interest to you uh subscribe like ask questions I’ve only got a certain amount of information but I can uh I can pass on some of it enjoy the ride [Music]