OUTDOOR ADVENTU RES
Cycle, Camp, Repeat BIKEPACKING IN THE BAYOU STATE By Ed Cullen
O
ne spring, it occurred to me that the weather was perfect for a ride from a friend’s house in Star Hill to the home of some other friends north of St. Francisville. It wasn’t that far a ride, less than fifteen miles, and I’d done it before. This time, however, I decided I would bicycle camp. Reflecting on it years later, two things stand out about that trip: The Big Three of Spring—daisy fleabane, spider wort, and butterweed—which slid past me as I churned northward on U.S. 61 headed for the Angola Road, and the posh cyclists from California I encountered minutes into my ride. I had just turned out of a private road in Star Hill onto the road that would take me to U.S. 61 when I was overtaken by the half dozen riders on expensive road bikes. I was on a mountain bike rigged for an overnight’s camping. As they overtook me, we exchanged greetings. They and their bicycles 50
were being transported by airplane to advertised rides around the country and had found themselves here. I thought to myself how much we locals take for granted the lovely riding around St. Francisville and the Tunica Hills. “So, where did you start?” asked one of the riders, eyeing my sleeping gear, mess kit, and tent bungeed to a rear cargo deck and panniers (saddle bags), bulging with quick-cook food, water, and clothing. “Back there,” I said, nodding in the direction of the homestead where I’d left my truck. I should have said Taos. The guy fixed me with a look and rode on. To outdoor enthusiasts with money to burn, it’s necessary to travel far from home for bikepacking to mean anything. Most backpackers travel by car, airplane, train to start their treks. I’d argue that the experience’s very charm comes from its ability to turn the shortest camping trip into an adventure.
M A R 2 1 // C O U N T R Y R O A D S M A G . C O M
Bikepacking on the Mississippi In Baton Rouge we have the Mississippi River and the levee, which make it possible for bikepackers to start the adventure from their front doors. The levee has always been rideable by mountain bike, but deep ruts in unpaved stretches discourage riders of skinny-tire bicycles. In Baton Rouge, levee paving from downtown to L’Auberge Casino at River Road and Gardere Lane was completed last fall, and eventually will extend all the way to New Orleans. This stretch of levee is a favorite of bikepacker Will Adams. Adams found himself in Baton Rouge seven years ago, when he was making his way to Argentina from Georgia. Hitting Louisiana’s Capitol city, a large truck damaged the bike trailer he was pulling. He found work and lodging in the Mid City bicycle shop on Government Street and simply never left. Since then, he’s taught bicycle mechanics to young people at Front Yard Bikes, a non-profit organization with a youth development
program and at McKinley High School. Adams is also the education coordinator and adjunct welding professor at Baton Rouge Community College. And the levee access points in downtown Baton Rouge are just a short ride from his Garden District home. Starting downtown, the business district yields quickly to scattered marine company yards and pasture. Traveling south, “the river on your right and the big sky” are what bring Adams and other cyclists and runners to the levee. Leaving the outskirts of LSU behind, you pass the Farr Horse Activity Center, a remotecontrol model airplane field and a huge, sloppy eagles’ nest high in a tree at the edge of the Mississippi River. At a bend in the river, you pedal past the ruins of the Cottage plantation house to the left and the moonscape of a sand and gravel works on the river side. The levee top is a safe place for children to ride with their parents. It affords an education and a sense of place.
