Topics / Bikepacking
Why is bikepacking so popular right now?
The problem as a graph
The graph shows you as an active node in the middle of a deliberately small network. In everyday life countless relations hang on you, many of them quietly running in the background. In bikepacking every superfluous relation is drawn as a pale, empty node, while the few load-bearing ones — road, body, nature — light up as active edges. Out of this reduction the new question of the next departure arises.
Graph as text
- You on the road → Superfluous relations (ballast) (empty)
- You on the road → Road and weather (active)
- You on the road → Your own body (active)
- Road and weather → Self-sufficiency (empty)
- Your own body → Slowing down (empty)
- Slowing down → Next departure (passive)
- Next departure → You on the road (passive)
Step by step
- Look at which relations quietly hang on you in everyday life — appointments, screens, half-commitments. When you pack you decide which of them may come along. Every item left out is a relation you deliberately leave empty.
- Pack as little as possible. Minimal luggage is not about going without but about letting the few remaining entities — sleeping bag, water, tools — fully enter into relation with you instead of drowning in the noise.
- Make the road and the weather an active relation. Instead of fighting wind and climbs, read them as a signal and set your pace by them. Nature thus shifts from background to a partner in conversation.
- Take on self-sufficiency step by step: finding water, cooking, repairing. Each of these actions activates a relation that was passive in your provided-for everyday life and gives you the sense of carrying yourself.
- Allow the slowing down rather than forcing it. Once the superfluous relations fall away, the mind quietens on its own — that is not the goal of the trip but its by-product.
- At the end, note which new question appears: where to next, what to leave out, what to miss? That question is the passive relation that leads you back to the next departure.
Seen through the model
Imagine you set off on a Friday straight after work. In your everyday network hundreds of relations are active or dozing in the background: emails, messages, the things you still meant to do. On the bike with two small bags almost none of that remains. The superfluous relations are not resolved, they are simply not taken along — they are left empty.
What remains, in turn, grows loud. The climb ahead of you is a very concrete entity, your breath a very concrete relation. When water runs low, the search for a fountain is not a nuisance but a clear impulse you follow. Self-sufficiency here means you feel again that your action and your wellbeing are directly connected.
At some point, often only on the second day, something tips over. The mind goes quiet, not because you worked at calm, but because the many small relations that usually tug at you simply are not there right now. This is one way to see the appeal of bikepacking — not a finished truth but a lens: you do not grow richer in experiences, you grow poorer in ballast, and that is exactly what feels like freedom.
And no sooner are you back than the next question appears: where to next, and what can you leave out this time? That question is the quiet thread that sets you off again.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between bikepacking and ordinary bike touring?
Bikepacking relies on minimal luggage strapped to the frame and often on unpaved trails, while classic bike touring carries more on racks and panniers. Seen through the model, bikepacking is the more radical reduction: it deliberately leaves more relations empty so that the few remaining ones become all the more active. Both stay travel by bike, only with a network of different density.
Why does bikepacking feel so calming?
Because the slowing down is not an item on the agenda but emerges once the many small everyday relations fall away. What usually tugs at you quietly — being reachable, to-dos, stimuli — is simply not carried along on the road. The mind goes quiet because less hangs on it, not because you force yourself to relax. Calm here is a by-product of deliberate reduction.
Do you need expensive gear for bikepacking?
No. The core is not the gear but the leaving out. You can start with a bike you already have and a few bags, and learn on the road which entities you truly need. Every trip sharpens which relations are load-bearing and which you can leave empty next time — the gear follows that experience, not the other way around.
Keep thinking
Related terms: Entity, Relation, The three states: empty, active, passive, Network level