Is Electric Bikepacking Is The New Black? - Chapter 2

Check out THIS link for Chapter 1.

Bikepacking The Devil's Gap Alberta Canada

Last year, a few of us rode from the Waiprous area out to the Ghost River Valley to spend the night and I was blown away with how beautiful, rugged, and remote the place seemed. Fast forward about a year and here we are.

For the last 3 years, my brother and I (and sometimes a few others) plan a bike trip of some kind. Getting away for a week like we did for the Castlegar -> Pentiction trip is a little harder now as he has 2 little tykes at home so it was decided to go for a shorter trip together to keep the streak alive.

So, with these things in mind we decided to do something a few days shorter, a little closer to home, and something neither of us had done before.

Is Electric Bikepacking Is The New Black? - Chapter 1

Ebikes have finally started to catch on with North Americans in the last couple of years and people are starting to use them for all manner of reasons. Electric mountain bikes are a thing. Electric city commuter bikes are a thing. Electric cargo bikes are definitely a thing. But electric touring bikes? Are they a thing?

They are indeed a thing, and we believe they are poised to propel more people into bigger/longer adventures as more and more companies design bikes with bigger batteries and faster chargers.

The BikeBike Passport Rides - Pathway 100km

This ride is part of our "BikeBike Passport" rides around Calgary. Complete all the rides earn a special BikeBike prize. 

All rides are mostly off-street/pathway and are of varying lengths/difficulty level to accommodate all of you that love adventures.

The longer routes do require some level of route finding/navigating as Calgary does not yet have very good (well, barely any actually) route finding system. We've attached links to Map My Ride routes to make it really easy to use your smartphone. 

Other rides in the series - 

* Chestermere Lake 

* Fish Creek Loop

* Bow River Explorer

Distance: 100ishkm

Difficulty Level: Hard-Very Difficult

Ride Time: 5-7 hours

Strava Link

Planning Your First Bike Overnight

"Thinking about something is often far more daunting than actually doing the thing"

Planning your first bike touring trip or bike-overnight can seem like a daunting affair - especially if you're not used to camping. But with some careful planning, route selection, not biting off too big a challenge your first time out, and the right mix of gear, it can open the door to a great experience and whet your whistle to do more trips, longer trips, and more adventurous (remote) adventures.

Bike Touring Quebec's P'Tit Train Du Nord

Through all the years of doing various bike tours and bikepacking trips, one thing has been a constant: Nadia has never come along. There were many reasons for that: the trips we've been doing look crazy to her, far too difficult, painful, cold/uncomfortable, she will not ride on highways, and especially her medical condition (she has an ileostomy) made the idea of bike adventures like that hard for her to contemplate.

But something clicked in her about a year ago and she began to see past those things and realized how much fun I was having and decided she wanted a piece of that fun too. So, one day, she asked me: "Do you think you could plan a bike tour that I could do?" - to which I replied "Of course!" So planning began for a bike touring trip and we quickly zoned in on Le P'Tit Train Du Nord in Quebec because it ticked all the boxes we needed for a fun first trip: basically flat, hotels instead of camping, we love visiting Quebec, no highways involved.

So off we went and here is our trip report. Leave us a comment if you have any questions.

Bikepacking The Elk Valley To Kimberley On The Great Trail - Alberta and British Columbia Canada

Last year a small group of us rode the Castlegar to Penticton segment of The Great Trail and it was really great. That trip opened my eyes to some of what the "Trans Canada Trail" (now known as The Great Trail) had to offer and I began investigating more areas that might be fun for multiday adventures. The Trail itself actually runs right through Calgary and that got me thinking: What if I could one day ride out my front door and onto a big segment of the trail? While that didn't happen this time, it just might in the future after doing this trip.

I had a few more days of planned holidays (with no corresponding activity plan) and decided to give this trip a go. I had also received a brand new bike from a brand new vendor to the shop and thought why not ride it to get a real sense of what it could do.

After deciding on the route, Nadia gratiously offered to drop me off in Peter Lougheed Park and pick me up from Kimberley at the end of my journey. If that's not true love, I'm not sure what is :)

 Please enjoy this photo essay and if you have any questions, leave us a comment, drop us a line on Twitter, FB, or IG. Cheers!