But There were also many internet limitations. The government blocks everything online.
It took me three days to just publish the diary of my trip.

https://cyclorbit.blog/2023/11/22/9-days-bikepacking-from-tehran-to-isfahan-diary-of-500-km-cycled-in-iran/

I think BikeFlights.com is your answer. Your local bike shop can probably help you a great deal. They box it up and ship it to a shop in your destination city/ town where it will be assembled and ready for you. Then when you’re done the same thing happens in reverse.

It does exist. On the home page along the top you will see “Routes” , open that tab and you can browse by region, map or length of route.

Drop me a line, Lewis. I started an adventure cycling guiding business here in Northern California. Although Comova Cycling is less bikepacking focused in favor of a broader adventure cycling focus, my objectives are similar to yours.

Very interesting point. I am looking to start my own guided bikepacking trips here in New Zealand and I would love to see what other outfitters are doing. I just want to encourage slow travel, by bike and promoting local bikepacking manufacturers and local service providers. But the real passion is teaching and encouraging people to have their own bike adventures. I would love to get in touch with anyone promoting the same ideas

Thanks James!

it’s not so much a binary division as a cline of difference. the critical issue [for me at least] is having appropriate tires if going off road for an extended period, as i have learned at some cost

Hinton, in Santa Fe, NM is an incredible resource. We are so lucky to have him.

Yes, that’s exactly that: bike touring. What else would that be?

We’ve thought about it, but for now we’ve made this available for free to everyone and optimized it for use on mobile platforms, so everyone can have it in their pocket on the go.

Not at the moment; we’ve been kicking around the idea, but for now we’ve made this available for free to everyone and optimized for mobile use.

Maybe it also depends where one cycles. Spain for example, one can cycle for weeks and month on little tarmac roads WITHOUT any traffic, enjoying most incredible beautiful nature. “”carreteras comarcales”” are MOST of the time car free! And these roads are beautiful! it just needs a good plaining.

what is this now? ;)) bike touring?

Come to Spain…. off-pavement paradise. Or the Balkans, or Rumania …..

“”We can get caught up in definitions, which really don’t matter that much.””

right …. ;) cycle with bags, without bags, on mars or moon, or earth…. feel free.

Yeah, a dropdown is the most seamless solution for mobile. I thought about numbering the menu items there, but am open to suggestions…

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9a47a3921c4c3d775557887e809a2a9ebd4aaa68266a7f082ea07623c8611373.png

Click on “Routes” in the navigation and have a look at the map. We have hundreds of routes outside the US, all of which are over 50% unpaved, with a majority exceeding 60 and even 70%. As Yeshe pointed out in his reply, you can call it what you want and enjoy riding your bike. Bikepacking is a word that we and a large audience use to distinguish this style of riding and this type of route. You’re welcome to not call it that and not use these routes if you don’t like the naming convention.

It’s all good. I don’t think Logan, or any other contributor to this site is saying the bike touring is bad, and bike packing is good. Maybe one is nested within the other?

Sometimes ‘new’ terms are needed for semantic simplicity. But, just as very few people would call pushing your bike up a hill for two days ‘fun’ or even ‘biking’, others would disagree.

Take a deep breath, enjoy living in Europe and ride your bike in whatever way your particular European landscape allows you and call it what you’d. Maybe start a website to chat with others who share the nomenclature..

Logan et alia are here providing a resource focused on recreation and it’s peripherals. Let’s argue about some of the more pressing matters elsewhere and let the tires keep rolling on whatever surface is nearby.

There are also outfitters and rental businesses who are catering to bikepacking with both 101 adventures and more advanced outings that require more fitness, planning, and higher quality gear. While these might seem expensive to what I would call the average DIY bikepacking enthusiast who does several outings a year, for that person who likes to take big adventure trips throughout the year like a heli or hut-to-hut ski trip, a week long whitewater trip, or a Nepal trek, paying an outfitter to guide them on a multi-day bikepacking trip with bike and gear included is a no-brainer.

While you guys are THE online resource for all things bikepacking, there are many folks now who just want to throw money at an adventure and show up with nothing more than a few days of clothing. I know this leads back to the Rise of Bikepacking article about the sport becoming too commercialized. That train left the station when Covid lockdown smacked us silly. Maybe it’s time to compile a list of both ambassadors who offer free outings as well as for-profit outfitters and rental businesses as a resource to those who want to try bikepacking with no commitment.

“A bike touring route is typically made up of a majority paved roads, and a bikepacking route is largely off-pavement”.

True in the US (FYI Logan, there’s a big world outside of the US).
In Europe, a bike touring route is increasingly made of a majority of cycle paths which come with all sort of surfaces, from fast flowing asphalt to loose gravel and even dirt single-track (final segment of the iconic Canal du Midi towpath/cycle path, springs to mind.
Eurovélo routes are a case in point.
Likewise, best of luck to create bike-packing routes should it be only 51% off-pavement/49% on-pavement, in EU countries where, for good reasons (fragile ecosystems, tinderbox forests, unstable cliffs…etc.) it’s No camping, No fire, No stove, no complaints yclists, no horses, no dogs, no humans, even (nesting season).

Then, there’s the rest of the world where unpaved roads are the norm, paved roads, the exception.

We can get caught up in definitions, which really don’t matter that much. What we have on this site though is a fantastic resource that will get more people out on their bike seeing the world. I’m just back from a five day ride which was about 70-30 gravel vs bitumen, and we had a mix of bikepacking/bike touring styles and machines. It’s all good!

Sure, bikepacking is about off-pavement. But saying that bike touring is mostly on-pavement is just as wrong as it gets. Bike touring is just that — touring on a bike.

Once again, you’ve completely missed the point.

Oh, I certainly have ridden many root trails with my Ortiebs (yes, on the front and rear; but with Conti road tires instead of the dreaded Marathons). I have to say I prefer this setup over a saddle bag and stuff strapped to the bars, because the weight is lower and the Ortliebs are very well fixed to the frame. But that’s just my personal preference.

Are you saying that in your opinion “bike touring = panniers” and “bikepacking = saddle and handlebar bags”?