I'm not sure how many of you have heard of bikepacking, which has become a lot more popular over the past few years. It's a combination of backpacking and mountain biking, so a great alternative to regular road touring as it opens up 1,000s of miles of dirt roads and single track. The ACA (Adventure Cycling Association) has published 3 mountain bike routes, the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route and Utah Cliffs Loop. These routes are mostly non-technical, so experienced cyclists that are new to mountain biking could still complete them. More recently, the Baja Divide (https://bajadivide.com/ (https://bajadivide.com/)) has been created by 2 experienced bikepackers - a 1,700 mile route from Tecate down the Baja peninsula.
In addition there are many endurance bikepacking races, the most famous being the Tour Divide (featured in the movie Ride the Divide). Locally we have the famous Stagecoach 400 that starts in Idyllwild every year & the lesser known Julian Bikepack Challenge, which features 3 tough loops named the Beach, Desert & Mountain loops.
I wanted to introduce my wife to bikepacking, so we decided to take on the shortest ACA option, the Utah Cliffs Loop, 300 miles over 5 days. We had an amazing time, perfect weather & amazing scenery. Feel free to take a look at my report of the ride below:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/utahcliffsfall2016 (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/utahcliffsfall2016)
On the bike trail in Zion National Park:
(http://i.imgur.com/UHk5h2Cl.jpg)
My Surly Krampus in bikepacking mode. Notice the lack of traditional racks & panniers.
(http://i.imgur.com/jn9REnxl.jpg)
That looks like so much fun. You two are awesome!
Nice!!! Thank you for sharing your awesome bikepacking trip... Great photos!!!