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Bikepacking for beginners. p
A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO BIKEPACKING
BIKEPACKING: LEARN ABOUT REVELSTOKE LOCAL ROUTES TO GET YOUR WARMED UP FOR POST-COVID INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURES.
By Alex Cooper.
The first person to bicycle around the world was Thomas Stevens, in the mid-'80s. On April 22, 1884, he strapped some clothes and a bed-roll to his penny-farthing (those bikes with the giant front wheels), holstered up his pocket revolver, and headed east from San Francisco. He crossed the United States, took a steamship to England, biked across Europe to Constantinople (now Istanbul), made his way to Iran, and then pedalled through India, China, and Japan. He caught a ship home in January 1887.
When you look at pictures of his gear and consider the roads at the time, Stevens is the world’s first bikepacker. Of course, people didn’t call it that at the time, or really any time until recently. Today, bikepacking has become a buzzword, a way for companies to sell more bikes and specialized gear. It’s also a way of exploring, it’s “go light, go anywhere” ethos adopted by thousands of hardy cyclists to reach remote regions no matter the condition of the road or trail. Some even bring packrafts along to extend their adventures onto rivers, lakes, and seas.
Bikepacking has supplanted bicycle touring as the terminology of choice for travelling by bicycle. You’ve probably encountered the term somewhere. You may have dove in, or you might have wondered what’s wrong with your Surly Long Haul Trucker, rack, and panniers.
Iohan Gueorguiev, whose I Want to See the World video series is worth watching, rides up to the Portachuelo Llanganuco at 4,750 metres above sea level in Peru's Cordillera Blanca. Photo: Alex Cooper. The author's Salsa Fargo somewhere deep in the Kootenays. Photo: Alex Cooper.
Alex Cooper is the former editor of the Revelstoke Review. He quit that job to bikepack in South America for six months and has done several trips in B.C. since then. He’s now addicted and spends his time dreaming up new routes when he’s not at work for Avalanche Canada and the Canadian Avalanche Association.
What is bikepacking?
To some people, bikepacking is about the terrain. It involves dirt roads, rough ATV tracks, singletrack, and maybe even a little bushwacking. The rougher, the better, and pushing is only an inconvenience. Pavement is only ridden as a necessary evil to connect sections of dirt. If the majority of your route is on pavement, then you’re bicycle touring.
For others, bikepacking is about the gear. These people eschew traditional rack and panniers to soft bags that you strap to various parts of the frame. These bags include oversized saddlebags, frame bags, handlebar rolls, and others like feed bags, top tube bags, gas tanks, and cargo bags. Generally all your gear is minimalist because space is at a premium. For these types of bikepackers, it doesn’t matter if you’re on pavement or dirt, but how you carry your gear.
Of course, that leaves tons of grey areas. Like what if you set out on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route — the world’s most famous bikepacking route — with panniers? Or if you ride the Trans-Canada from Victoria to Newfoundland with bikepacking bags? Personally, I lean towards the first definition of bikepacking, which is that the terrain matters more than the gear. I did a sixmonth trip in South America that was largely on dirt roads, but I used panniers to carry most of my gear. Of course, lightweight
equipment definitely makes life easier when pedalling steep mining roads and navigating singletrack, and panniers get in the way when you have to push.
The gear
As bikepacking has exploded in popularity, so has the number of companies making bikepacking bikes. These can either have drop bars like a road bike or flat bars like a mountain bike, but what they tend to have in common is they generally use mountain bike tires, or at least wide road tires. Most use rigid frames, but people do bikepack on front suspension and full suspension bikes, particularly those aiming for primarily single-track trips.
The rise of bikepacking has also led to an explosion in companies making bikepacking bags. Most are small shops selling bespoke gear that is hand-sewn in North America, like Porcelain Rocket in Calgary and Thief Bikepacking in Jasper. Generally, the gear isn’t cheap, but the quality is high and it is Canadianmade, which is always a bonus.
There are three main pieces of gear associated with bikepacking: · The frame bag fits inside the large triangle of your bike frame. The benefit is that it allows you to keep gear low and centred on your bike, which helps with handling. It’s the place to carry heavier items.
The disadvantage is that it takes up space where you’d normally carry water. · Handlebar rolls are basically dry bags that you strap to your handlebar. People generally use them to carry bulky but light gear like sleeping bags and clothing. · Over-sized saddlebags are attached to the seat and are used to carry other lighter gear like your tent, air mattress, and clothing. They stick way out behind your seat, which makes it harder to get behind the bike on steep descents, but they do make for a streamlined profile.
There’s lots of other smaller bags used for bikepacking and what you end up with depends on how much space you need. If you go for a bikepacking set up, you also need to invest in other ultra-packable gear because you don’t have much space to work with. Bikepacking in its purest form is not luxurious.
Bikepacking routes
The best source for bikepacking routes is Bikepacking.com. That website has helped turn bikepacking into what it is today, and it hosts a library of over 100 ridden and researched routes, along with a tonne of other information. The routes range from overnighters to cross-country epics like the Great Divide. At home, the Bikepack Canada website, has several route guides, and they will be publishing a guidebook to bikepacking in the Canadian Rockies by the late Ryan Correy. Gravelmaps.com is another great source for those seeking out dirt road routes.
If you want to make your own routes, check out Ride With GPS and Komoot. Both contain route=planning software that lets you connect the dots using a variety of online mapping software, such as Google Maps and Open Street Maps.
Where to bikepack around Revelstoke?
Here’s three trips near Revelstoke to get you started: Green circle: 12 Mile
Riding out to 12 Mile via the Columbia River Flats in spring is one of the most beautiful bike rides you can do in Revelstoke. With the reservoir low, you can follow old farm roads from Kovach Park all the way to 9 Mile. The open landscape provides perfect views of Revelstoke’s iconic peaks, and few creek crossings make it feel slightly adventurous despite being so close to home. At 9 Mile you have to jump on Airport Way the rest of the way, but that’s no big deal. This is a great option for families or if you just want a quick escape while leaving the car at home.
Blue square: The Galena Loop
This is beautiful, 300-kilometres loop combines highways, dirt roads and rail trails south of Revelstoke. Starting at the Shelter Bay ferry, it takes you through Nakusp, New Denver, Kaslo, Meadow Creek, and Trout Lake. There’s many great camp spots, quaint cafes, cooling swim holes, and bits of history along the way, making this a fantastic long weekend ride and a great way to explore those bits of the Kootenays you’ve probably blow by many times in your car.
Black diamond: The Perry-Gorge circuit
This loop starts at the old Skyline Gas Station on the Trans-Canada Highway 50 kilometres west of Revelstoke. Follow the Perry River north to the power lines, turn west, then head back south via the Gorge Forest Service Road. This 100-kilometre loop offers numerous glacier views as it passes along the western flanks of the Monashee Mountains. Frequent rough surfaces and a decent amount of climbing make this a tougher route than it seems. If you’re up for it, a 35-kilometre detour (each way) will take you to Seymour Arm, where you can camp on the lake.
Mindy Skinner rides across the flats on an overnight bikepacking trip to 12 Mile. Photo: Alex Cooper.
REVELSTOKE LOCALS
REVELSTOKE MUSEUM & ARCHIVES CURATOR CATHY ENGLISH SHARES REFLECTIONS ON HOW PEOPLE OF ASIAN DESCENT CONTRIBUTED TO REVELSTOKE AND TO CANADA.
By Cathy English, Curator, Revelstoke Museum & Archives.
Sawmill workers from Japan, South Asia, and Europe at Comaplix sawmilll, on the north-east arm of Upper Arrow Lake, circa 1910. The different ethnic groups were all housed in segregated housing. Image: Courtesy of Revelstoke Museum & Archives.
In May, the Government of Canada marked Asian Heritage Month. On the Heritage Canada website, it states, “Asian Heritage Month is an opportunity for all Canadians to learn more about the many achievements and contributions of Canadians of Asian descent who, throughout our history, have done so much to make Canada the amazing country we share today.”
To mark Asian Heritage Month, it is important to recognize and commemorate Asian people in our own community and region and to recognize the struggles they had to find their way in a society that was openly racist.
Heritage Canada speaks about the achievements and contributions of Canadians of Asian descent, but even today, those contributions are not always well recognized. Several thousand Chinese men helped to build the western portion of the Canadian Pacific Railway between Vancouver and Craigellachie in the 1880s. They were subjected to sub-standard working and living conditions, and were given about half the pay of Caucasian workers, and that they were often given the most dangerous jobs. Many Chinese men died, but we don’t know how many, because records of their deaths were not registered with the province, unlike those of Caucasian workers who died. In the iconic Canadian photograph of the Driving of the Last Spike at Craigellachie on November 7, 1885,
there is not a single Chinese worker in the crowd. They Chinese workers were seen as a necessary evil to get the railway completed, but their accomplishments and their contribution were not acknowledged, and they were not made welcome. This story is still not as widely known as it should be.
Instead of recognizing the contribution of the Chinese workers, the government pandered to the widespread racism against them and conducted a Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration. This is a chilling document to read. It exposes the racist attitudes towards Chinese people at the time. The Commission resulted in the creation of the Head Tax, which was imposed only on Chinese immigrants. This is only one example of the institutionalized racism against people from Asia.
Wong Kwong and his wife Yee Von immigrated to Canada in 1907. Wong Kwong was well-educated and literate, and had the means to bring his wife with him. They settled in Revelstoke and raised their nine children here. They were respected in the community for their strong work ethic and for their kindness towards everyone, but they still faced discrimination. The oldest daughter, Jean Kwong, was the first Chinese-Canadian woman to graduate as a nurse in Canada. That one act broke a huge barrier for Chinese people in Canada, but it came with a cost. Her younger sister told me that when Jean graduated, she was the top student, but was denied the award that she should have received. It was given to the second-highest achieving student, who was Caucasian. The sister still felt bitter about this when she told me about it more than 50 years later.
Immigrants from Japan and India were also met with racism when they came to Canada. The newspapers are rife with racial slurs and derogatory stories about Asian settlers and labourers.
On March 4th, 1910, a crew of railway workers were clearing the tracks after an avalanche came down at Rogers Pass. Where they were working, a second avalanche came down and buried 58 men. Thirty-two of the men who died were Japanese. Most of them had lived in Canada for several years, and they worked hard as labourers at sawmills and on the railway. All of the men’s bodies were recovered, and all of the Japanese men were sent to Vancouver for burial in Mountain View Cemetery. Buddhist ceremonies were held for all of them. In Revelstoke, a community Memorial Service was held. All of the men’s names were included on the memorial program, but a black line separated the Caucasian names from the Japanese names. Even in death, the racial divide was present.
Thanks to the tireless research of Tomoaki Fujimura, we know now a lot more about each of these men: when they came to Canada, names of family members, ages, and other details. Tomoaki was able to trace some of the descendants of these men, and some traveled to Canada to take part in commemorative events held in 2010. Everyone who participated in the commemoration still feels a sense of awe at the power of the remembrance. We felt that we were honouring the memories of all of those who had lost their lives.
The museum has several hundred pages of original documents relating to the 1910 slide. One of these is a letter written by Mehar Singh, the crew boss of a group of South Asian workers who were helping with the recovery and clean-up efforts after the slide. Singh complained of poor treatment by the road master, and said they were left without blankets for three days while they were working at the site. He also cited verbal and physical abuse against his crew members, who were just trying to do their best to help at a difficult time
Over the years I have worked at the museum, I have come across incredible stories of some of the Asian settlers who came here. Not everyone treated them poorly, but racism was so ingrained in society that they faced considerable barriers just to live their lives. A balanced view of Asian settlement is hard to find because of the racism and skewed views presented in the media and even in government records. Sometimes we have to dip below the surface to get a glimpse of the truth of people’s lives.
It is easy for us to congratulate ourselves on how much better society is now, and even justify the racism of the past by saying that it was long ago, and that was just the way it was, and that they didn’t know better. We can be thankful that we now have anti-discrimination legislation in our country, and that our parliament is more diverse, and that we have hate laws in place. We live in a much more tolerant society than the early settlers of our country did. Or at least we think we do. The racism may not be as blatant as it was in the early 1900s, but it still exists, and is still entrenched in our systems and our governments.
There has been a rise in racist acts against Chinese people in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people from visible minorities are expressing fear, for good reason. Recent events in the United States have shown how deep racial divisions still are.
If we really want to celebrate Asian Heritage Month, we need to do more than just think happy thoughts about our diverse and tolerant country. We need to do more than just congratulate ourselves on not being racist. We need to be actively anti-racist. We need to call out racist “jokes” and language and acts at every opportunity.
When the closures came into effect in March, someone on social media criticized a local Chinese restaurant for being open, even though they were following protocols and were open for take-out only. The post was openly racist against Chinese people. Another restaurant owner shared her sadness and disappointment over the post. Many, many local people responded in solidarity, letting her know that most of us here do not share those racist views. The restaurant owners and their families were assured that they belong here and are appreciated and valued as members of our country and our community. I was proud of the people who quickly jumped in to call out the racism, and to support our fellow citizens, but sad to see that someone in Revelstoke felt that it was okay to express that kind of racism, and even denied that it was racism.
Canada is a diverse country. There is much to celebrate in our diversity. We can and should celebrate it, but we must also be strong in our fight to end racism. People who tell us that they are being treated in a racist and discriminatory way need to be believed and validated without being made to feel that they have no right to protest blatant racism or even micro-aggressions. Let us celebrate Asian Heritage Month by recognizing the wrongs of the past, by identifying the wrongs in our current society, and by diligently working to end racism.
