There’s a lot of chatter on cycling specific webpages, bike shop banter, trailhead discussions and wandering daydreams about bikepacking but what exactly is it? Wikipedia has a few entries, but the tried-and-true Merriam Webster Dictionary hasn’t even recognized this term in its lexicon yet. We’ll peel back the layers on this bikepacking thing and share tips on how you can get started but know that this sport is simply another amazing way to get outside and move from point A to point B in a new way.

Human Powered Movement didn’t even have a website when I wrote the original “What is Human Powered Movement?” journal exactly two years ago. The platform was a covid-born concept to bring encouragement, inspiration, and positivity to our pandemic-rattled lives. The universal appeal of being active and our mission of “facilitating greater human powered experiences in all of us” hasn’t changed since those early days, but the evolution of HPM certainly has.

We’re on the doorsteps of the holiday gift giving season which means different things to different people. I’m stereotyping, but adults perpetually cringe at getting another uninspiring pair of undies or a regifted candle while kids absolutely lose their marbles to tear open whatever new toy or gizmo has recently hit the market.

I freshly celebrated my 40th BDay so I’m squarely in the camp of “I don’t want any more chintzy crap for Christmas this year”. What I do want, is more gear … and I want lots of it. I want more bikes for paved tarmac, fresh gravel, and tacky singletrack. I want more boats to paddle flatwater and rapid laced rivers. I want the latest running shoes for casual neighborhood jogs, long-distance trail sessions, and scrambling up peaked ridgelines.
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2022 was a banner year for me when it comes to adding more outdoor gear to my arsenal. I feel like a footie-pajama wearing, snot nosed kid, on Christmas morning and I can't wait to show and tell.

Last week I completed a seven-day self-supported bikepacking trip from my current basecamp in Charlotte, NC to my childhood home in Montoursville, PA. In addition to some of the lesser traveled rural northbound roads, the 650+ mile route was set to cover 230+ miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway, 100+ miles of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and 40+ miles on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. All, of which, are of the most beautiful and sought out cycling routes on the east coast. The bike was packed, the logistics were set, the mindset was dialed in. It was the perfect time for Hurricane Ian to come through and completely derail my plans.