Brendan Collier (he/him) lives in Idyllwild, California. Originally from Chicago, Brendan is a long-time veteran of the bike industry and the creator of the popular Stagecoach 400 bikepacking route. Brendan has partnered with Bikepacking Roots on a new series of bikepacking routes that he is creating called The Desert Collective.
Cedar (he/him, Zigzag, Oregon) has been Bikepacking for well over a decade with inspiration and mentorship from Brendan Collier (the original creator of the Stagecoach400 Route). He is also involved in advocacy and trail building locally as a board member of the newly formed “Hoodland Trails Collective”. He works with HTC as well as NWTA, 44 Road Trails, and The Oregon Timber Trail Alliance to help build and maintain trails all over the Mt Hood National Forest.
Julian Bender (he/him) lives in Philadelphia, where the Pine Barrens are the biggest, closest wilderness to the city. I currently have an extremely indoor job, but worked for several years developing and mapping hiking trails across the Middle East, including the Jordan Trail (https://www.jordantrail.org/) and Sinai Trail. My first ever bike camping trip was to the Pine Barrens in 2011, and since then I’ve been exploring the area by bike on a regular basis. After years of thinking the Pinelands needed a proper bikepacking route, I decided in 2024 to go out and create one. The Pines are a truly special place, especially given how close they are to the most populated parts of the US. I hope the Jersey Devil Hunt will offer a way to discover this unique ecoregion, and expose more people to bikepacking in general!
Will Kessler (he/him, Massachusetts) is a Geographer by training with a passion for all kinds of recreation on public lands. I’m a big fan of under-biking and love finding out whether a proposed route “will go” the hard way. My interests in maps and bikes means I’m constantly pouring over new areas, devising trips for some day down the road. My first bike touring experience was in 2017 on a self-devised route multi-month tour through Colombia and Ecuador. Since then, I’ve taken every opportunity to get out and ride somewhere new. In 2022, after several years living in Helena, MT and watching divide riders pass through town, my partner and I toured the route before ending up in Cambridge, MA. Now we’re having fun exploring the class 4 roads of New England!
Chris (he/him, Idaho) is a long time Mountain Guide with decades of experience in trip planning, remote expeditions, and a general desire to move through terrain with elegance. Chris has experience planning long, backcountry day rides linking together terrain and trails. He has been riding for nearly 20 years in Central Idaho and continues to be amazed that there is more to explore. Chris likes thinking about how to connect terrain elegantly.
Spencer (he/him, Tucson, AZ) was southern California raised and is currently nesting in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. “Ever since someone informed me I could strap camping gear to a mountain bike I have never looked back on my backpacking days. I just want to spread stoke and ride bikes with all the rad humans.”
Shane (he/him, Wausau, WI) grew up in rural Eastern Marathon County, right on the Mountain-Bay Trail before it was a bike trail. Growing up in the 80s there weren’t designated areas to ride other than the rural roads. Shane always had the urge to explore and used his bike as a means to do so, whether winter or summer. The opening of the Mountain-Bay Trail was really exciting to Shane, and he decided to buy his first real decent bike and set out a goal to ride the entire length. Doing that really fueled his true passion today, which is bikepacking. A self-proclaimed adventure cyclist, Shane loves the process of making a route with route planning tools and apps and then going out with only the things a person needs to survive for a few days and riding it. Most recently Shane has bikepacked a Shane-modified version Sky Island Odyssey loop in southern Arizona featuring close to 30 miles of added singletrack to the existing route. He plans on using his love of adventure riding and knowledge of the area to help promote the sport to the area through IRONBULL as both a race director and board member.
Pat Boyle (he/him, Seattle, WA) have been bikepacking for 5 years on various routes, including the parts of the Cross Washington, the Baja Divide, the European Divide Trail, La Ruta Mala (Cuba), Holyland Challenge Route (Israel), New Mexico Off Road Runner, Oregon Big Country, The Highland Trail 550 (Scotland) and Tour Aotearoa (New Zealand). I help maintain the Baja Divide Facebook group and route guide.
(he/him, Park City, UT). My love for bikepacking boils down to the love of solitude on long and isolated dirt roads. After a self-supported bike tour across the USA in 2009, and two larger bike tours with my pup in tow – adding up to roughly 11k miles, my yearning for less pavement turned to dirt and the bike setup followed suit. Bikpacking revolutionized my life and I still live by the notion that “the road will always provide.” My main focus for the bikepacking community is route development, website development – including the new Bikepacking Roots site, Utah Bikepackers Facebook group administrator, The Bikeraft Guide contributor, and open source creative commons photography on Unsplash. Stoked to be apart of the community! Throw me an email anytime you’re looking for a dirt partner. Cheers!
Patrick (he/him) has 4 years of experience creating the routes, leading rides on, and organizing bikepacking races as a part of his Texas SHOWDOWN series. Patrick is the host and creator of the Bikes or Death podcast, “At its heart, Bikes or Death is more than just a podcast. Bikes or Death is a lifestyle. It’s the idea that a life without bikes is a life not worth living.”