Introducing The Bikepacker's Guide

Salsa Cycles is pleased to announce the publication of our first book, The Bikepacker’s Guide. Penned by our sponsored athletes, Kaitlyn Boyle and Kurt Refsnider, with additional tips and stories from Casey Greene, Cass Gilbert, and Eszter Horanyi.

The Bikepacker’s Guide is the first comprehensive guidebook for backcountry mountain bike bikepacking. It’s also full of inspiration both new and veteran bikepackers alike can count on to stoke the fires for remote two-wheeled travel.

Few people are more qualified to write a guide to bikepacking than Kurt and Kaitlyn. Both of them have a stunning resume of bikepacking accomplishments. Additionally, they’re both professors at Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona, and the designers of the first course of its kind, Geology Through Bikepacking.

Says Kurt, “A Bikepacker's Guide is written with the goal of providing mountain bikers with knowledge and tools to develop or refine bikepacking experiences. We wanted to create a resource especially for first-time bikepackers that lays out some critical considerations for planning bikepacking adventures - route design, food, water, bike setup, packing, and so on.” The book also includes a variety of tips and tricks the authors have learned through years of trial and error.

Adds Kaitlyn, “While bikepacking is rapidly gaining popularity, there is no simple resource available for people looking to get started. Online forums can offer all the opinions and information you can imagine, but here, we present the basics all in one organized reference.” Kurt and Kaitlyn also made a point to go beyond the commonly sought after information on logistics, addressing other topics that everyone should take into consideration: setting realistic goals, backcountry safety, and Leave No Trace ethics.

Here at Salsa Cycles, we know that knowledge and inspiration is as necessary for any adventure as the equipment that you’ll use to get after it. Through the voices, experiences, lenses, and keyboards of our sponsored riders, friends, and the Salsa crew, we’ve made a point to continually share what cycling adventure means to us, all in the hopes that you’ll realize that what others can do, you can too. The Bikepacker’s Guide is another example of that effort.

“’Adventure by bike’ is not a slogan for us”, says Salsa marketing manager Mike ‘Kid’ Riemer. “Those words guide everything we do, from the products we create to the riders we sponsor to the experiences and stories we share. It is most appropriate that Salsa has published The Bikepacker’s Guide. This is perhaps a new golden era of cyclists looking to experience more in the backcountry via their bicycles, and we intend to help them learn to do it safely and ethically.”

The Bikepacker’s Guide – Part Number MA2074 - is available now through distributor Quality Bicycle Products with a U.S. MSRP of $10.