Bikepacking with friends can be a ton of fun and a fantastic way to get to know each other better. And bikepacking with strangers, well, there’s no such thing by the end of a trip!
As someone who’s done most of my bikepacking alone, I get really excited about opportunities to bikepack with others. A good group vibe can elevate a trip from great to amazing. Unfortunately this cuts both ways; a challenging social dynamic can be an unwelcome distraction and might leave you wishing you had just gone solo.
My biggest recommendation for success when bikepacking with others: get on the same page with your riding buddies before putting rubber to road or trail. Here are nine topics I suggest discussing with your riding buddies during the planning phase of your next group trip.
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Vibe Goals
Perhaps the most important topic to discuss in my opinion, yet also the hardest to define: what is everyone looking to get out of this trip?
People bikepack for all sorts of reasons: relaxation, fun, escape, physical or mental challenge, to enjoy the scenery, to experience a new place or culture…
Imagine that Bikepacker Bob wants to relax, take lots of pictures, and leave plenty of time for breaks and side trips. Bikepacker Brenda is excited to test her new fast-and-light setup and push herself physically. Unless Bob is a much stronger rider and can find time to relax while Brenda is pedaling, these two won’t have a very smooth trip together.
Before planning a trip, talk to your riding buddies about your overall experience goals. If they’re not compatible, who is willing to adjust?
Fitness, Endurance, Technical Skills
This probably goes without saying, but it’s best when all riders’ physical capabilities are in the same neighborhood. If one person is feeling great but another is barely hanging on, no one is having fun.
When trying to figure this out, consider not just daily mileage but also elevation gain (arguably more important than miles), number of riding hours per day, and any technical terrain challenges. A less physically prepared rider can easily feel overwhelmed when these factors conspire to stretch their abilities.
If some riders are stronger than others, they’ll need to also be more patient. Ideally riding partners would be well matched, but if not, discussing it in advance can help everyone mentally prepare.
Packing Style
There are many good ways to pack for bikepacking, from minimalist to maximalist and everything in between. A group of equally capable riders will struggle to match pace if they’re pedaling vastly different loads.
All else equal, a stronger rider can pedal a heavier setup without slowing down the group. But the trend often goes the other way, with more experienced and stronger riders tending toward minimalist bikepacking. This can make for a tricky combo of weaker riders hauling heavier loads and stronger riders running lighter, a guaranteed recipe for vastly different paces.
Everyone needs to pack what makes them comfortable, but I suggest having a chat about this basic question: are you optimizing for comfort ON the bike or OFF the bike? Is this is a camp chair, paperback book, full set of town clothes type of ride? Or a sleep in your riding shirt, sit in the dirt, leave the camp shoes at home kind of mission?
Even if no one changes their packing style much, discussing it ahead of time gives everyone a chance to make more informed packing decisions. This will keep the ultralight folks from being as jealous of the maximalists at camp, and the maximalists from being as jealous of the minimalists on the climbs. :)
Comfort Level and Risk Tolerance
When bikepacking together you’ll have to share decision making, and also its consequences. If one person is nervous and risk-averse while another is chill, things can get tense. It’s also tough when one person is a lot more experienced or prepared, causing them to be less (or sometimes more) cautious.
Here are some topics I’ve personally seen cause tension when group members aren’t well matched:
Wild camping: Some folks are comfortable camping in plain sight while others prefer to be hidden. Some are rule followers while others are rule benders. Talk this through in advance if your route includes opportunities for dispersed or otherwise undeveloped camping.
Vehicle traffic: Nothing causes stress quite like being in over your comfort level with heavy traffic. If this will be a factor on your route, it’s good to know in advance who’s a confident roadie and who might panic to the point of thumbing a ride. (Whatever your comfort level, the tips in Traffic Safety for Bikepackers can help.)
Weather: When an electrical storm is looming, will you push on quickly or hunker down and wait it out? Does a rainy forecast mean gearing up for wet riding or taking a rest day? These decisions are best made in the moment, but it’s good to be prepared for differences in approach.
Strangers: As a woman with 10,000+ miles of solo bikepacking experience, I’m used to being cagey with strangers about which way I’m headed and where I plan to camp. I would be annoyed and a bit on edge if my riding partner blurted out those details to a random guy at the gas station.
Level of Togetherness
Different people have different understandings of what it means to ride “together.” Less experienced or more social bikepackers may prefer to always ride within sight or meet up at every intersection. Experienced or introverted folks might want to ride independently but meet up for lunch and camp.
This dynamic often changes during a trip as people settle in and grow more comfortable. But on day 1 (or better, before starting) I like to ask my riding companions how far apart they’re comfortable getting.
An important follow-up question: if you plan to regroup at meeting points, what’s the protocol if someone doesn’t show up? Something like “we’ll wait for an hour, then turn around and backtrack to the last meeting point until we find you” is a good start and very different from “everyone is self-sufficient and we’ll meet at camp, probably.”
Shared Skills and Gear
Ideally everyone in the group would be capable of self-sufficient bikepacking, but this is a tall order. One of the biggest benefits of riding with others is the ability to learn from more experienced riders and enjoy the wider safety margins of a group.
Bike repair and navigation are two important areas where riders often feel safety in numbers. Though it’s definitely helpful to have more heads and hands for problem solving, it’s worth discussing ahead of time who is willing to provide help and who is hoping to receive it. If everyone in the group is assuming someone else will help them fix a flat, you’ll all be up a creek together if/when it happens.
Bike repair: It’s normal to not feel confident about bike repair skills. If we all waited until we could fix everything that might go wrong with our bikes, no one would ever go bikepacking! I suggest balancing the amount of repair experience you have with the remoteness of your route, and in the case of group riding, with the skills of your riding companions.
I still recommend everyone carry their own repair supplies and know how to do basic repairs, unless the group commits to staying tightly tethered for the whole trip.
Need repair supplies? The Bikepacker’s Fix It Kit and Tubeless Tire Repair Kit have you covered.
Navigation: I recommend everyone in the group have the skills and tools to navigate independently. It can be frustrating to wait at every intersection if you’re in charge of route finding. On the flip side, depending on others to stop and wait for you at the right time can be stressful. In the worst case scenario, if you end up off-route and your riding buddies can’t find you, having basic navigation capabilities is important for safety.
Navigation can be as simple as reviewing the route beforehand and using the free RideWithGPS app on your smartphone (or better, for a few dollars more, the paid version that lets you download a route for offline use). It could also be a dedicated GPS nav device like the Garmin eTrex or Edge. In a group setting I think it’s reasonable to choose one and let others in the group serve as your emergency backup, whereas when riding solo I would typically carry both.
Related reading:
Budget and Taste for Luxury
Bikepacking has the potential to be very cheap or fairly expensive. On a longer trip with options to choose from, budget comes into play.
If one rider wants to slurp ramen and wild camp, but another wants to devour restaurant burgers and sleep in every available hotel, some compromising has to happen.
Planning vs. Flexibility
Some bikepackers relish the adventure of not knowing where they’ll sleep each night. For others it’s super stressful. Have a chat with your riding buddies about how much planning you’ll do in advance and how much you care about sticking to that plan.
For example, before a short trip I like to sketch out a few rough itinerary options as I research the route. But I don’t expect to stick to one particular plan unless it’s essential (because of timing constraints, water sources, etc). On a long trip like the GDMBR I won’t bother planning in detail beyond the first couple days, and I like to sleep where I end up within the constraints of a legal and safe spot.
Worst-Case Scenario Planning
No one likes to think about this, but what happens if the trip doesn’t go to plan? If your riding partner has a trip-ending mechanical issue, would you continue on alone or end your trip as well? What would you want them to do in the reverse situation?
If one person would be devastated to quit early because of their partner’s issue, while the other would be very uncomfortable trying to bail alone (hitchhiking solo for example), this is going to be a tough conversation during an already tough moment.
Honestly this is a hard one to decide in advance. The decision can be emotional and often comes down to specifics of where, when, and how a change of plan would unfold. But a quick conversation upfront is still a good idea and serves as a foundation for higher stakes discussions later.
Enjoy the Ride
With these discussions behind you, you’re well on your way to enjoying a smooth ride ahead. You don’t necessarily need to be aligned on every topic to enjoy each other’s company! But if you are going to deal with differences it’s nice to know in advance instead of adding surprise and disappointment to an already tense situation.
Group dynamics are rarely flawless, especially in a setting like bikepacking that stretches us all beyond our comfort zones. But with shared expectations in advance and plenty of empathy in the moment, we can find joy and comfort in sharing both the highs and the lows with our riding buddies.
Want to ride with others but don’t know where to find them? See How to Find Bikepacking Companions for ideas.
Or if you’re thinking “This sounds like too much work, I’ll just go alone!” see my post on Bikepacking Solo.
More Bikepacking Resources
If you liked this post, you might also like these:
- Tips for Resupplying on a Bikepacking Trip
- Stem Bag Roundup: From Budget to Fancy
- Salsa Fargo: Very Long-Term Bikepacking Review
Or visit the bikepacking home page for lots more!
About the Author
Hi there, I’m Alissa, founder of Exploring Wild. I’ve traveled over 20,000 miles by bike and still can’t stop planning my next ride (and helping you plan yours). Pavement and panniers or singletrack and seat bag, I love it all. On my bike I feel free. Learn more about me here.
Bikepackers: Join me on Patreon for my most current and personal writing, individualized trip prep help, and a community of likeminded supporters.
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I would add, “Do you get up and go first thing in the morning, or do you prefer to have a good breakfast and linger in camp?”
Yes! Excellent addition, thanks Linda. I’m a lingerer personally.
Nice post, I would add to check in on external speakers. I am not a fan and that would be a deal breaker for me.
Ah good point, I haven’t run into that issue but can definitely understand it. I’m not a fan either, except occasionally in grizzly territory… :) Thanks Eric!