Bikepacking Roots’ has created the Community Routes Project (CRoP) to showcase outstanding routes created and stewarded by bikepackers specifically for the enjoyment of the broader bikepacking community. These aren’t routes that the steward linked together and rode once, but rather they’re routes that have been developed, refined, and vetted with the goal of creating the most exceptional and rewarding experience possible for others. CRoP route stewards update the routes and resources regularly, and many stewards live near their route(s) and are champions for bikepacking in their communities. 

 

We have created this project in response to consistent requests from our community to create off-pavement routes that will allow folks to fit bikepacking into their normal lifestyles, whatever that may look like. This means shorter routes and more geographic diversity of routes around the country. We recognize with this first release of routes, we are far from achieving these goals, but through our submission process and connecting with route creators, stewards and non-profit organizations around the county we plan to strive toward this vision. We strongly encourage submission of shorter routes, routes from regions with fewer bikepacking opportunities, beginner-friendly routes, routes accessible via public transportation, and loops rather than more logistically complicated point-to-point routes. 

You may recognize a few of the routes we are showcasing as part of this Community Routes Project. Our route submission is open for submission of existing routes that you may have been stewarding for years and showcasing on your own/another website, or for new routes that you develop for the purposes of this project as long as they meet all of the vetting criteria. As a national organization, we hope that Bikepacking Roots can serve as a collective repository to highlight these individual steward’s hard work and to help new folks discover great resources for routes around the country that they may not otherwise come across. CRoP routes will not become “Bikepacking Roots Routes” – our goal is to facilitate information sharing and to support both route creators and the broader bikepacking community.

Each route will have a dedicated route page on the Ride page of our website, and all CRoP routes will be included on our Interactive Routes Map. If there’s a pre-existing website for the route, we’ll send folks there for more information. 

Routes showcased through our Community Routes project are typically created by individual stewards (or a group of individuals). However, we also know that there are many other non-profit organizations stewarding the creation of bikepacking routes around the country as well. We would love to showcase and spread the word about high-quality, publicly available routes that have been created, vetted and are stewarded by other organizations as well. You can check out the ‘Routes from Other Organizations’ tab of our Ride page to see a few such routes from Organizations we love. We plan to build out this resource in the future as well.

Interested in submitting your own route to the Community Routes Project?

Our public submission process is now open! Read all the information below and find a link to a submission form at the bottom of this page.

Route submissions will be reviewed by our team on a rolling basis.

 

Monumental Loop - Matt Mason

Route Criteria

  • You have developed and refined the route to provide an exceptionally enjoyable riding experience for others, have created helpful resources that let prospective riders develop realistic expectations for the route, and are excited to steward the route for the foreseeable future.
  • Generally, the majority of the route is unpaved (this is to align routes with Bikepacking Roots’ focus on primarily off-pavement adventures).
  • Route has been ridden by other individuals who (1) agree that the route should be widely recommended to others, (2) confirm that the GPS data are accurate, and (3) agree that the riding experience agrees with the route description/rating/resources
  • The route is 100% bike-legal and open to public access. It must not cross private lands without written permission or utilize non-system/non-designated trails on public lands. Any recommended camping areas must also be designated or in areas where dispersed camping is allowed. Note that tribal Reservation lands are not public lands. 
  • The route is as safe as possible in terms of vehicle traffic, communities through which it passes, etc. Consider perspectives of both new bikepackers and folks of different backgrounds. 
  • Route resources (the description, details, and GPS data) provide enough information for riders to feel confident in what they’re undertaking. The full suite of information we’d like to be able to share for each route are outlined below. If these are already included on another website, we’ll be sure to direct folks there! 
  • The route is publicly available on the steward’s Ride With GPS account, allowing for quick and convenient updates as needed without having to involve BPR. This will require the steward to have an account with Ride with GPS. POIs/waypoints for the route should include:
    • Resupply locations, recommended camping/lodging options, recommended restaurants, points of interest, etc.
    • In drier regions, water sources that are clearly marked and described as reliable, generally reliable, or unreliable (explain each as clearly as possible for folks unfamiliar with the region!)
    • In areas with mostly private lands, include recommendations for campgrounds/lodging/permissible dispersed camping.
    • Any especially challenging or slow sections riders should be aware of.
    • Warnings for any potentially dangerous road crossing or sections of the route with traffic.

Route Steward Expectations

As a steward and official Bikepacking Roots (BPR) volunteer, you agree to

  • Be a responsible, respectful, and positive member of the bikepacking community and representative for BPR.
  • Be an excited long-term steward of this route, championing it, updating it as necessary, and receiving feedback from riders. If you need to move on from a role, you’ll let BPR know and help find a new steward to take the reins.
  • Respond at least once a year to a check-in from BPR to confirm that the route remains up to date based on your own ride of the route or communication with other riders.

Ongoing Maintenance of CRoP Routes

  • As mentioned in the Steward Expectations, we are relying on the route stewards, and not Bikepacking Roots, to provide long-term stewardship of the route, and to be responsive to the community regarding potential route updates.
  • All Route Stewards should be contacted regarding potential route updates or critical route questions. However, these stewards have varying levels of capacity to help folks with detailed trip planning questions or other resources. We have indicated on each route page what level of involvement the route steward has committed to on each route page.
  • At this time, given the limited capacity of our organization, we don’t have plans to facilitate a public message board on each of our route pages, including the CRoP routes. However, we will make sure to work with route stewards to make sure any pertinent information is updated on our site in a timely manner. In addition to steward websites, many have social media pages which help facilitate communication with the route steward and between folks interested in riding a specific route.
  • If any concerns regarding a route come to your attention that you are unable to resolve directly with a route steward, please reach out to Bikepacking Roots to bring this to our attention.

CRoP Route Submission - what is required:

*Note the exact information needed for route submission may change slightly over time, please review the questions in the submission form carefully.

  • Route steward name(s)
  • Primary route steward contact information (email, phone, address)
    • This information will not be shared publicly.
  • Are you willing to be contacted directly by riders about route update needs? (required)
  • Are you open to having riders contact you with trip planning questions? (optional)
  • Route name
  • Route region/state
  • Your background and experience creating bikepacking routes for other riders
  • Your connection to and proximity to the route you’re submitting and your plan to keep tabs on the route and make necessary updates from one year to the next (or more frequently if needed)
  • Route length (miles)
  • Elevation gain (feet)
  • Range of days to ride the route (please consider riders with different abilities)
  • Primary surface type (see link to definitions below)
  • Secondary surface type
  • Surface type percentages (of the 5 defined types, can be approximate)
  • Physical difficulty (1-10; see link to rating scale definitions below)
  • Technical difficulty (1-10; see link to rating scale definitions below)
  • Recommended riding season/months
  • Recommended minimum tire width
  • URL for route on RWGPS
  • URL for route website (if applicable)
  • Is the steward willing to be emailed directly by riders with route/planning questions?
  • What Indigenous territories does the route pass through? Native-Land.ca is the best online resource for this. 
  • Short route description (1-3 sentences) – What makes this route so great, and what should riders expect for riding, landscape, and the general experience?
  • Longer route description (a few paragraphs) – what should riders expect along the way, what’s the riding like, and offer any other recommendations you might have for making the experience as enjoyable as possible for riders. An ideal format for this would be:
    • A paragraph introduction to the route, landscape, ideal riding season, and riding experience one can expect
    • A paragraph or two related to the recommended bike type and services, camping opportunities, water, etc. to expect along the way
    • A few paragraphs narrating prospective riders along the route
  • Pertinent logistical information on the following as needed (if these are already outlined on another website, we do not require these):
    • Water, ressupply, camping, public lands access, etc.
    • Permit requirements or special rules
    • Considerations for transportation to and/or parking while riding the route
    • Additional safety considerations (high weekend ATV use, impassable when wet, etc.)
    • Relevant route ethics
    • Additional resources that might be helpful for riders
    • Thank yous and route development acknowledgments (if applicable)
  • A selection of 10 photos that highlight the route and riding experience (including both the best and toughest parts). Preference for landscape orientation.
  • Links to any additional resources that might be available to give potential riders more information and user perspectives on the route such as media articles, blog posts, YouTube videos, etc. 
BPR's Route Rating Scales and Route Surface Definitions

CRoP Route Submission Vetting Process

  • The Bikepacking Roots’ Team will carefully review and vet submissions to ensure that all route criteria have been met. We will also assess if the difficulty rating levels and recommended range of days out seem appropriate based on the route/riding style, elevation profile, and other factors.
  • We will do our best to verify that this is a unique route and does not significantly duplicate another route creator or stewards’ route. If such concerns arise, please reach out to us.
  • In some circumstances, members of the Bikepacking Roots team and our Route Test Team may go out and conduct on-the-ground verification of the route. However, given the volume of routes we anticipate and our very small team, that won’t be possible in most cases.
  • Given this, we plan to develop a system for volunteer testing and feedback of routes that don’t already have public reviews from folks external to the initial route developers. We are imagining that we may have a staged approach where we launch some routes in beta mode and send out a call for folks located nearby to a route to go out and give it a try and submit a short feedback survey which will be incorporated into the route details on our website. Once we are confident that a route has been sufficiently vetted, we will “graduate” that route from beta mode. More details on this are in the works.
  • We don’t want to make anyone feel like we don’t trust their route development skills, but we are hoping this brings additional productive community collaboration into the process, and it will ensure a safer experience for riders of diverse backgrounds, skill levels, and comfort with different elements of bikepacking.

CRoP Route Approval and Publication Timeline

It is hard for us to estimate how many submissions we will receive when we open up this submission process. Given that we are a very small team, we anticipate it will take us several months to complete the review process and get new CRoP routes published on our site. We will keep route stewards informed throughout this process. Our overarching goal will be that a good number of the routes submitted in the first wave of this process will be posted before the 2024 touring season.

If you are considering submitting a route but have additional questions or would like to get a sense from us if it would be appropriate, or have any other questions about this program, please contact us at [email protected]

Route Submission Form