About Us

Bikepacking and touring content online falls into two categories: aspirational Instagram posts with no useful detail, or generic packing lists that could apply to any outdoor activity. Neither helps when you are planning a multi-day route through terrain you have never ridden, trying to figure out whether your setup will actually work for five days off-grid.

Adventure Cycling World covers bikepacking routes, touring itineraries, gear loadouts, and multi-day ride planning from riders who have pedaled the routes themselves. We document real trips — the distances, the elevation, the surface conditions, the water sources, the camping spots, and the parts where the route gets harder than the map suggests.

We go deep on the practical details that adventure cycling demands. How different frame bag configurations affect bike handling on singletrack. Which sleep systems actually work when temperatures drop below what the comfort rating claims. How to plan resupply on routes where the next town is 80 miles away and may not have a grocery store. The logistics and problem-solving that separate a successful tour from a miserable one.

Our route guides are not written from satellite imagery or other people’s trip reports. They come from riders who loaded their bikes, pedaled the route, dealt with the flats and the weather and the wrong turns, and came back with notes worth sharing. We document what worked, what failed, and what we would do differently next time.

We ride before we write. Every route guide, gear review, and packing recommendation on this site comes from actual miles on loaded bikes. No AI summary can tell you that a specific trail is unrideable when wet, that the campsite at mile 60 has no water in late summer, or that the descent into a particular valley will shake every bolt on your rack loose. That is the knowledge we ride to collect.