Can\u2019t you just use panniers?<\/strong><\/h2>\nOf course. And we did see some people with them on the route. But the bikepacking luggage concept brings a couple of advantages. First, it makes the assembled bike no wider than your handlebars, useful for squeezing down hedge-fringed single-track routes. Also, the bags are so tightly lashed there is almost no wobble, and virtually no chance of anything detaching from the bike amid a teeth-chattering, faster-than-strictly-planned descent down a rocky valley. I could feel the weight on the bike during climbs, but for the most part it felt as balanced and nimble as if it were unladen. I\u2019ve ridden a lot with panniers, and it\u2019s not quite the same.<\/p>\n\n <\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\nCan we have some specifics on what you used?<\/strong><\/h2>\nMy bike was a fairly old carbon-framed On One cyclocross bike I previously used for commuting. Turning it into a usable gravel bike just required a longer-cage rear derailleur and a dinner-plate-sized cassette. My friend rode a ready-made Planet X gravel bike (Planet X and On One are actually the same South Yorkshire-based company). My bike was \u00a31,000 new, which for many people may seem an absurd sum, but in the realm of extremely versatile hobbyist bikes is pretty good. We both used Panaracer GravelKing tyres, which were excellent.<\/p>\n
Finally, any tips for the King Alfred\u2019s Way?<\/strong><\/h2>\nI would mainly say: allow enough time. Some people sprint round it in three or even two days, and if you\u2019re happy to do that, it would be thrilling. But bear in mind that there are a lot of hills, and that some of the tracks \u2013 notably along the Ridgeway and South Downs Way \u2013 can get very slippery if it rains, necessitating a slower pace. If I ride the route again, and I\u2019d love to, I\u2019d be tempted to take five days, allowing more time to stop properly at places along the way, such as Stonehenge and Avebury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The world of leisure cycling is nothing if not inventive when it comes to ways to sell bikes and associated bits of kit, and two of the most popular new \u2013 or theoretically new \u2013 concepts are bikepacking and gravel… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kevinfell.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kevinfell.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kevinfell.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kevinfell.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kevinfell.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/kevinfell.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":448,"href":"http:\/\/kevinfell.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442\/revisions\/448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kevinfell.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kevinfell.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kevinfell.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kevinfell.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}