If bikepacking is cheap depends on how you do it. Bikepacking can be incredibly expensive when you buy high-end gear. Sara says the popularity of bikepacking is the reason why there are lots of special products on the market right now. “You can invest 1000 of euros even before your first bikepacking trip. The bike, the bags, the clothes, the shoes, camping gear and more. An marketing suggests you need all of this. But you don´t.”
If you only read about bikepacking online, you get the impression that you need lots of special gear in order to go bikepacking. But for Sara, this isn´t true. “You don´t need a special bike to go bikepacking. Just take the bike in your garage and go.” She also recommends to start small, maybe with just a backpack and the possibilities you have on your bike like racks. Strapping a drybag to your seat is also a cheap solution that you can do instead of buying a seat pack. This way you can slowly find your own way and spend less money. Her tip for people thinking about their first bikepacking trip: “Don´t think too much!”
Another defining aspect is sleeping strategy. You can save a lot of money by sleeping in a tent or just on a mat under the stars. But if you prefer to stay in a hotel and have more comfort then the bike trip will get expensive. It is very clear that the more money you are willing to spend the more opportunities you have. Bikepacking in winter? Sounds good when you can afford a night in a cozy hotel bed and a warm dinner in a restaurant. Want to travel far? Better have a good bike and good gear. But even though bikepacking on a budget is limiting somehow, it is still possible to experience the freedom and the pleasure it brings. As Sara says, it is a good idea to start cheap and easy and if you wish you can slowly upgrade your gear.
“Bikepacking is easily accessible to everyone and i´ts problably one of the most sustainable options out there” says Chris Hall. He criticises that big bike races are usually not environmental-friendly anymore because of all the cars that accompany the cyclists. For him it´s also a big deal how you get to the place where you go bikepacking. “If you are flying to a country to then go and bikepack there, it is ultimately pretty damn bad for our environment. But there are other better ways to get to a destination. Train or ferry for example”.
Mobility is a crucial element in tackling climate change. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that are set by the United Nations feature cycling as one of the strategies to create a more sustainable world. “Cycling is delivering on the global goals worldwide” it says on their website. To support people who use the bike as tool of transportation is “a critical part of the mobility solution”.
Sara Hallbauer shares these values. A year ago she sold her car because she wanted to do everything she could by bike. When she goes bikepacking she often uses public transportation to get somewhere one way and then cycles back home. “For this way of holiday you need more time. But if you consider the cycling part of your holiday, it works fine”.
In the end bikepacking can be everything. It can be cheap, it can be expensive. It can be sustainable, it can be polluting. It all depends on how you do it. Contrasting to other styles of traveling bikepacking has the potential to be the cheap and sustainable future of traveling. This potential is waiting for us to get out of our comfort zones and give it a chance. Sara puts it into these words: “I can just encourage people, to get started and not know where you will end up”.