Very rarely do the things I suggest for myself undergo any evolution in the sense of the real world and me doing those things within it, especially when I’m going about it this way (blog rant) but this time I have proof! Last post I professed I should be “pedalling until I can’t pedal no more.” and in the last 2 months or so that’s become basically the only thing I do. I first dabbled in bikepacking shortly after moving up to Canada by way of Landyachtz’s bike endeavours – I’ve ridden bikes practically my whole life in massively varied levels of commitment but those levels went 
as soon as I arrived because a) Landy have a bike brand and b) Vancouver is one of the great riding cities (thanks, apparently, to just one Mayor – legend). I did an overnighter in North Van and then shortly after tried to tackle the most gruelling endeavour of my life – crossing the Tantalus Range to connect Squamish to the Sunshine Coast via some of the most inhospitable scree set amongst a grizzly conversation area (hence the trail’as lack of accreditation). To summarise the gruel all I need to say is George had a flat for 6 hours yet no need to fix it… Honestly all of that probably set my move into bikepacking backwards, it was fkd, my back still hurts.
Before the scree and the screaming. BC.
It took another little while, the moment Landy got their Road Runner collab bike bags that I dabbled in bikepacking once more – this time it was overly casual. I left after work and arrived to work the following morning, we camped on mountains I can see as I type this and although it was super pleasant it wasn’t the unbridled adventure I was looking for, but it was enough to push me to hit up Apidura for gear, which they obliged (thank you) but it wouldn’t be for another year and a half before I really got to use the stuff. The why there is tricky, I’ve thought about it a lot and it seems there are too many factors, or too few with enough impetus to warrant themselves as real reasons for taking so long. Either way, it was a weird time in general so I’m not surprised and I’m using the stuff now so that’s all that really counts, also I’m fkn frothing!!!
Ashlu Creek, BC.
This rant may seem a bit out of place, because it is – it’s in partial retrospect as these notions and actions of discovery spawned 2 months ago but in favour of chronology and the log I felt it important to proceed this way, I also find it very important to proceed however I see fit, which is to say I’m aiming to protect my passion. That thought, among with many other very important considerations have been a central component to my love for riding my bike for days on end – I’m only barely dabbling in the deprivation of multi-day racing but even my casual bikepacking creates a new type of cognition and one I’m thoroughly enjoying. I’ve always been into introspection so that isn’t/wasn’t at all surprising. In fact realistically my comprehensive dive into bikepacking (for the last 6 weeks I’ve been doing 300km+ rides over the weekend) is completely unsurprising – it ticks every box I like to stack: physicality, exploration, unbridled thought, solace, tranqing in the dank [1], photos and the self.
Buntzen Lake, BC.
This post acts as a marker of the bikeling epoch, one that clearly involves lots of bike riding but perhaps an entirely new outlook also – time will tell but I can tell you now it’s not really a matter of when. How maybe, but even then not really. The only thing that really matters is my revelry in these goals. Goals have eluded me for a number of years now, goals in the sense of potentially attainable dreams not wants or desires. I can see why I craved them, they’re fkn sweet – its a category of motivation thats unique in that it has such a comprehensive effect on me: today, tomorrow, next year etc it’s all able to be concerned with a single goal and the concerns are high, not in the sense of qualms, these concerns are all relating to just how much fun and excitement I can actually squeeze from this existence.
Tampa Bay lurks, Florida.
Fraser River eddy island. BC, CA.
