I’m frustrated. I was hoping to be able to meet some new friends among bikepackers in the coming year. I’m still holding out hope, but I am starting to realize there are things about bikepacking culture that are every bit as unsavory as hanging out with elite road cyclists.
Let me explain.
The more enamoured with bikepacking I’ve become, the more I’m catching the cliquish vibe from most of them. It reminds me of the elitism of skiers, climbers, and river guides back when I lived in Utah and Idaho and worked as a guide. There is a definite pecking order and rules to follow. While they celebrate freedom and uniqueness their dogmatism and judgemental nature can be every bit as harsh as a hard-core church lady. Like any tribe, they have rules and taboos, listen only to their own members and shun outsiders. If you aren’t in their cult, you don’t matter (even though they will smile and be nice anyway to get you to join their cult).
One of the bikepacking taboo topics is dealing with official bear policies of the parks and areas they visit. It’s such a taboo downer topic that no one ever brings it up. They all just ignore it, again, like church people when they encounter biblical hypocrisy. I’ve seen so many photos of bikepackers who would have been seriously fined for sleeping the way they did with their food next to them in protected areas with strict bear policies if a ranger had been around when they took the photo. Most bikepackers honestly just don’t think the rules apply to them even though it is well documented that bike riders are at the highest bear risk of any group in the wild.
This issue has been brewing for a while and is starting to boil over. I’ve read a lot recently about how the parks division is being overwhelmed with all the outdoor influencers blowing up specific locations that suddenly get inundated with visitors, how bikepackers are have more and more encounters with bears bombing descents and starting bears who use the same trails to get around. It’s good that people are getting outside, but the way they are doing it is destroying these parks and forcing bears to be killed (among other things). Bikepackers are among the most popular outdoor influencers at the moment, and bikepacking is absolutely exploding in popularity.
Bikepackers and ultra-light through hikers have a lot in common, but one stark contrast I have definitely noticed is a respect for nature and the places they visit. Like any generalization, it’s dangerous, but my impression from hours of reading, research and meeting many of both is that bikepackers have, by far, the least respect for nature that provides so much of their enjoyment.
From my experience (which is just my own):
Someone reading this will surely be offended. I suppose there is nothing I can do about that. But I can choose to be a responsible bikepacker and slow down, carry more weight, and set a better example even if I am less experienced in their eyes. And, I can also just ride my bike in places that are beautiful, but don’t create conflicts of interest like the Tour Divide obviously does.
In a way, the scouting program educated young people on how to be outdoors in ways that are sorely lacking today.