Bikepacking Route Craft 101
“All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost.” — JR Tolkien.
Gandolf’s words to Frodo as the Hobbit departs in search of Aragorn are equally sage advice for those looking to learn the art of creating bikepacking and adventure gravel routes. Route craft is equal parts map reading skills, curiosity and experience, with a dose of adventurous spirit thrown in for good measure.
Route craft also takes practice, and as the words of Tolkien foreshadow, things are not always as they may appear. The best roads are often the lesser ones. The best routes are usually the ones that wander. And the journey is as important as any destination.
A great route balances road and trail variety with surface type, scenery and physical challenge. The more routes you create, the better you get at juggling the variables and catering to the different elements to design routes with distinct personalities.
Route Planning 101
Every route, no matter how long or short, begins with a vision. Define your objectives: terrain preferences, climbing tolerance, landmarks and overall length. Guidebooks, cycling community forums, blogs and online resources like RideWithGPS, Komoot and bikepacking.com are excellent places to get ideas.
While unfolding a large-scale paper map and pouring over the topography and details has its place, most bike route planning happens on a computer screen. User-friendly route planning software like RideWithGPS and Komoot, combined with a GPS navigation unit — aka a head unit — are what make detailed digital bike route planning possible.
Sure, a paper map still has a place. It’s an excellent big-picture planning tool and is almost essential to have along on a multi-day trip for route troubleshooting and evening reading. But you can’t beat digital route planning software for building adventurous rides and multi-day bikepacking routes
Essential Route Planning Tools
Required Equipment for Digital Route Planning:
- Access to route planning software – www.RideWithGPS.com (RWGPS) is one of the best software platforms available for creating adventurous rides. It’s a web-based platform accessible from any computer and the free RWGPS companion phone app. RWGPS gives you access to route planning all over the world and on roads or trails of all types.
- A GPS navigation unit. If you are going to get serious about adventurous routes of any length, a dedicated GPS head unit is a must. Garmin and Wahoo make the most popular bike GPS units. I’ve used a Garmin Edge 530 for years. It’s not the fanciest, but it has everything you need to chase adventure on your bike. If I were to upgrade from the 530, the Garmin Edge 540 Solar is virtually the same, with the addition of passive solar charging to extend battery life.
- The RWGPS Phone App – You can also use your phone as your navigation unit. RWGPS has a robust (and free) phone app that can fill the role of a GPS navigation unit/head unit. The phone app is also a great secondary navigation tool, even if you have a dedicated bike GPS. Your phone screen is likely larger and more functional for route troubleshooting in the field.
A screenshot of a route made on RWGPS route planning software showing road surface and elevation profile.
Essential Bike Route Planning Tips
Route planning with RWGPS is remarkably intuitive, and RWGPS has numerous how-to guides for route planning 101 and using their advanced route planning tools. Once you’re familiar with navigating the RWGPS interface, here are our top tips for creating successful routes.
1. Create a practice route or two.
If you’re new to RWGPS, map a ride or two in your local area where you’re familiar with the general lay of the land to get a feel for how to use it.
2. Cross-reference roads using different map layers
RWGPS features 11 different map layers to choose from when building a route, including RGWPS Cycle, Google Map, Google Satelite, Google Hybrid, Google Terrain, OSM, OSM Cycle, OSM Outdoor, ESRI Topo, USGS Topo, USGS Scan. Each layer has its own unique data set, and you can toggle between layers to compare roads and trails in a given area. For example, just because a road appears on one map layer, it doesn’t mean that it appears on all of them.
A common mistake when creating a route is relying on a road or trail that no longer exists but appears on one of the map layers. This is especially common in areas with logging activity and remote regions where roads or trails may no longer be maintained. You should be suspect of any road without a name or number designation on at least one map layer. The more map layers that show the road, the better chance it is legit. You can also use the satellite layer to zoom in and look for any road in question.
2. Consult the heat map
The user heat map is one of the best resources for determining if a road or trail is usable. A road or trail without heatmap data is a red flag, especially if there is heat map data for other roads and trails in the area. No heat map data is a good sign a road or trail is private, nonexistent, or otherwise impassible.
4. Consult the elevation profile
Always consult the elevation profile as you plot your route. Watch for gradients over 15%. Short sections of steep grades are okay, but sustained double-digit grades are a red flag. They might be okay on a mountain bike trail, but anything longer than 1/4 mile is going to be tough going. RWGPS offers maximum gradient information for every route. Just mouse over the max grade number on the left side of the screen to see where it is on your route, and zoom in to take a closer look.
5. Check the maximum route elevation
Knowing the maximum elevation of your route can be very important when thinking about the weather and the potential for residual snowpack that could block the route. Just mouse over the route profile in the route planning screen to determine the highest point. Temperature changes approximately three degrees for every 1,000 feet of elevation gained.
6. Always download your route to the phone app for offline viewing
As mentioned earlier, the RWGPS phone app makes an excellent companion to a dedicated bike-mounted GPS unit. To get the most out of the app, always download your route for offline viewing before the start of your ride (preferably at home the night before). Having the route offline allows you to pull up the entire route and current location on the map, even when you’re out of cellular and internet service. It’s the modern equivalent of plotting your position on the map and is invaluable if you find yourself off-route or the road or trail you are following ends abruptly.
What are you waiting for? Start planning your next bike adventure today.
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