Leave No Trace Bikepacking

We’re proud to support Bikepacking Roots’s new Love Where You Ride initiative.

This effort aims to inform bikepackers of the importance of minimizing their impact on the land. Bikepacking Roots worked with the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics to adapt the Leave No Trace Seven Principles for bikepacking:

1. Plan ahead and prepare

2. Travel and camp on durable surfaces

3. Dispose of waste properly

4. Leave what you find

5. Minimize campfire impacts

6. Respect wildlife

7. Be considerate of other visitors

Love Where You Ride is about more than nature. Its new Positive Impact Bikepacking practices seek to build better relationships between bikepackers and other trail users, land managers, towns, and indigenous people. These practices can teach us all a thing or two about connecting with communities outside of our own. Head to the Bikepacking Roots website for more details.

Behind Bikepacking Roots

We got a chance to speak with the new Executive Director of Bikepacking Roots, Ally Johnson. We’re excited by her passion and vision for the future of bikepacking. Here’s what we learned about the state of bikepacking and what’s next for Bikepacking Roots.

Salsa: Can you speak to the heart of the matter on why following the Leave No Trace Seven Principles is so important?

Ally: Following these seven principles is so important because it helps keep wild spaces wild. Minimizing our negative impacts protects these precious places for perpetuity. It’s especially critical for cyclists to follow the Leave No Trace Seven Principles so that we can continue and increase our access to different areas.

Salsa: Cycling in general has seen tremendous growth during these past couple years. Is that growth also being reflected in interest in bikepacking?

Ally: Yes! Bikepacking Roots’s annual surveys show that interest in bikepacking is growing even faster than interest in cycling generally. As a rapidly expanding user group, it’s especially important that we’re mindful of our influence and making a positive impact on the places we ride.

Salsa: Congratulations on your new role as Executive Director of Bikepacking Roots! Can you share with our audience some of the primary things you plan to help the organization accomplish?

Ally: Thank you! I’m excited to help Bikepacking Roots grow, to strengthen our community and our community’s positive impact on the places we ride. We have lots of exciting projects planned for 2022, from expanding the BIPOC Bike Adventure Grant program (with generous support from Salsa), to publishing the Pony Express Route, to in-person gatherings, to expanding our advocacy efforts. I’m delighted to be supporting Kurt Refsnider in his new role as route director, and Kait Boyle in her role as educator director.

We thank Bikepacking Roots for taking on this challenging but vital work. As more people venture outdoors, our growing impact can strain ecosystems and resources. Learning to Leave No Trace is vital to preserving the outdoor places we love. We urge you to familiarize yourself with the Leave No Trace Seven Principles for bikepacking and the Positive Impact Bikepacking practices found on the Bikepacking Roots website. We all have a responsibility to be good stewards and leave nature the way we found it.