Hang on, did someone refer to Golf as a) A fashion and b) a sport.

Both wrong.

Gah, forgot to change the address on my sub from my mothers to my uni address. Going to have to wait tip next month to get my hands on it now :(

I get the whole 'don't want my niche interest to become mainstream' thing but I don't get why people have to be derogatory about others
Bikepacking as a term may be relatively new but people have been getting out on their bikes with camping kit for decades; Primus even used to make a saddlebag stove specifically for them. It's great that the renewed interest has sparked commercial involvement with bike-specific kit being devoloped and improved on and becoming readily available. This is bound to increase the media interest as companies sponsor articles to market their wares and this in turn will probably lead to an increase in the number of people interested in the pastime.
But, as others have said, the limiting factor will be the reality of getting "out there". GPS and computer mapping systems already make it easier for the 'masses' to access the great outdoors but they don't make it easier to get up the hills

Bikepacking has a looong way to go to become "mainstream". When I ride locally in the Beacons - an area renouned for great riding - I rarely see anyone. Most times no-one at all. Where are they? Afan, I expect

Even miles and miles of great wild riding isn't enough to entice them, never mind loading your bike up with gear first... Chances of seeing another bikepacker on the trail outside of an event is virtually nil. In some respects, I'd like to see more people on the trail - chance to chat and see where they're going or where they've been.

Off on my travels in midweek I rarely see anyone - certainly no bike packers. As has been said above for many hours I did not see anyone on WRT and there was 140 of us. It will be a long time until the countryside is full,

Ian wrote: In some respects, I'd like to see more people on the trail - chance to chat and see where they're going or where they've been.

+1 Meeting other stravaigers - on foot or by bike/boat - exchanging routes, stories and plans is one of the joys of being out there (that doesn't stop me being someone happy with my own company though).

I think that now Alpkit, and Soon On-one ( now they have bought Posdsacs) have started Mass producing kit, your'e no longer in the minority...

But as most have said, we live on a pretty big Island, and I've yet to bump into others while out.

But if I do?

Its all good..

I met a bikepacker who was coming in the other direction once. I was speeding down a long tarmac farm road in the middle of nowhere and spotted a guy coming the other way. Normally I would just have nodded and said hello as I passed but as I neared him I noticed a bar bag strapped to his bike so hit the brakes to chat. He was definatley bikepacking but he didn't acknowledge my hello or even look at me, just carried on pedaling as if I wasn't there. Maybe I was hallucinating or he was just set on getting to the top of the hill which I know from experience was a long long long long drag. Takes all sorts.

He was definatley bikepacking but he didn't acknowledge my hello or even look at me, just carried on pedaling as if I wasn't there.

Was it SteveM?

He was definatley bikepacking but he didn't acknowledge my hello or even look at me, just carried on pedaling

Yep sorry about that but I was racing Strava!!!!

cant have been me, I'd have recognised a kindred spirit

It'll be popular for a while and then fade again, like (say) Trailquest. And as has been said above, if you don't want to see anyone, avoid the honeypot areas. I rode Dales-Forest of Bowland-Dales-Howgills-Lakes-Noth Pennines over the course of an August bank holiday week in '97 or so, and met very few people off-tarmac, and hardly any (if any at all) on bikes.

And of course doesn't John Lydon sell butter nowadays?

I can't see bikepacking getting mainstream - it's just too unpleasant!

Oh FFS it's like singlespeedping all over again...

Now I remember why I don't read magazines / forums* any more.

Oh and I still have my 2009 WRT t-shirt

SSP

* apart from this one!

Yorlin wrote:And of course doesn't John Lydon sell butter nowadays?

I can't see bikepacking getting mainstream - it's just too unpleasant!

John's flat caught fire and destroyed the masters for his new album. He took on any work to fund rerecording it.

s8tannorm wrote:Perhaps we're becoming the 'Punk Rock' of the cycling world ... in 25 years people will stand around telling anyone who'll listen that 'they were there' just like everyone and his dog says they saw the Pistols when in reality only a handful ever did

'3rd Rock from the Sun' of MTB more like

I'm fairly anti-social, so bikepacking suits me fine (+ I snore)
Trail centres have become too normal and became boring/samey after a while. I find there are less people mountain biking in the Beacons now Ian- other than those riding from home in the Ebbw Vale/Tredegar area beyond Trefil, trail centres and a switch to in-vogue road bikes seem to have taken over.
Fine by me as it frees up the natural trails

Its progress, like 10 years ago if you rode across the Annat to Coulin path in Torridon you'd be lucky to see a tyre print let alone another bike, now every bugger is riding it including the rad full suspension and body armour dudes. You just have to look for wilder places - I can't imagine crowds of folk riding Glen golly to Lone bothy past Arkle for example...

There will be lots of wannabees - people shelling out for a full set of Revelate bags and Ti framed rigid SS and using them to ride a Sustrans route but then so what, its still better than carrying too much crap in a set of panniers and the more people who use them the cheaper they will become.