Our 12 Most Popular Articles and Routes of 2024

Coming to you on this festive day, I’m happy to report that 2024 was another stellar year for BIKEPACKING.com, during which we published some 1,250 original stories, reviews, route guides, and Dispatches. This accomplishment is a testament to the hard work of our small, dedicated team and our independence as a platform. With contributions from voices across the global bikepacking community, we covered a diverse range of topics and themes throughout the year. Not included in this total are the many essays and stories featured offline in The Bikepacking Journal, the hundreds of events highlighted in our bikepacking events calendar, or the many improvements we made to the platform this year.

Of course, all of these wonderful articles and efforts to nourish the bikepacking community wouldn’t be possible without our Bikepacking Collective members. The Collective has been steadily chugging along, but we need your support to keep BIKEPACKING.com moving forward. If you enjoy the content here, memberships now start at just $3.25 per month ($39 per year), which goes directly toward paying our team and contributors, maintaining the largest and first-of-its-kind bikepacking route network, and making improvements to the site. Looking at it through a more granular lens, your support directly helps compensate Lucas, Miles, Neil, Virginia, Nic, Evan, Josh, Cass, Sam, and many others for their hard work and dedication to bringing independent coverage, new routes, excellent writing, and stunning photos and video directly to your screen daily. We have a lot of great things coming in 2025, so please sign up to support our work and help us keep the momentum.

With that, let’s get to it. Here are our 12 most-viewed posts of the year, followed by the most popular new bikepacking routes we introduced in 2024:

1. Weighing in on “Man or Bear”

Published in May by Laura Killingbeck

The story that got the most attention on the site this year, by far, was Laura Killingbeck’s A Woman Who Left Society to Live With Bears Weighs in on “Man or Bear”. For the few who missed it, the “Man or Bear” debate took the internet by storm, with women weighing in on whether they’d prefer to be stranded in the forest with a man or a bear. In Laura’s thought-provoking piece, the seasoned bicycle traveler shares her personal take on the question, offering a fresh and insightful perspective to the discussion. The piece not only received well over 250,000 views, it also received more comments than any other post, which totals about 270 at the time of this writing.

2. 2024 Tour Divide Tracker

Published in June by Logan Watts

Many upgrades and improvements were implemented in our event Tracker pages this year, which you can see in full within the later 2024 Arizona Trail Race Tracker. However, it was the 2024 Tour Divide Tracker that garnered the most visits out of the half-dozen races we covered in depth throughout 2024. What do you think: are there other features and coverage you’d like to see in the Tracker format? Or other events you’d like to see covered in more detail?

3. Gear Indexes

Published throughout the year by Miles Arbour and Team

When we kicked off our Gear Index back in 2019, it quickly became one of our more popular types of content. This year was no exception, and while we only released one new Index in 2024—Pinion Bikepacking Bikes—we updated quite a few, and several of those were in our top 20 when sorting by traffic data. Those include Utility Forks, Handmade Hip Packs, Cargo Cages, 29+ Bikes, Oversized and Useful Bottle Cages, Mini Panniers, Saddlebags and Top Openers, and of course, our Index of Alt Bars. We have a handful of new ones planned for 2025, but please let us know if you have ideas for what you’d like to see next.

4. Rigs of the 2024 Tour Divide (Part 1 & Part 2)

Published in June by Miles Arbour

Checking out race rigs and analyzing how riders set up their bikes for specific events is always a favorite pastime of ours, and it’s clear our readers enjoy it just as much. Once again this year, several of our “Rigs of” roundups ranked among the site’s most popular articles. Those include the rigs of the 2024 Silk Road Mountain Race Rigs, the 2024 Atlas Mountain Race Rigs, and Badlands 2024. However, none were more popular than the double-feature rounding up over 150 bikes and kits of the 2024 Tour Divide. They’re always entertaining and always find their way into this list.

5. Lael Wilcox’s Around the World Bike

Published in May by Logan Watts

Coming in at number five in this list is a kick-off post about ultra-endurance athlete Lael Wilcox’s around-the-world journey. More specifically, an editorial snapshot about her around-the-world cycling record attempt and the bike she selected to do so. In case you missed it, you can find the story behind the Specialized Roubaix she used to complete her 18,000-mile, three-and-a-half-month journey around the globe, and check out a video showcasing the build and more.

6. An Ultralight Bikepacking Gear List for Cold Weather

Published in January by Logan Watts

When I started this site as a blog back in 2012, one subject I wrote about regularly was how I packed and the items I carried on various bikepacking trips. These posts not only helped me keep track of things, but they spelled out how my pack lists evolved due to failures and successes during trips. They also seemed to generate a lot of discussion and ideas, which is what this community is all about. We still feature this style of post on occasion since they’re especially useful for folks new to bikepacking. Early this year, I wrote a piece about my go-to ultralight kit that I regularly deploy when the weather turns cold. It proved that articles like this are still quite valuable to our audience.

7. The Real-World Guide to Dynamo Hubs, Lighting, and Charging

Published in Late December 2023 by Josh Meissner

It should be no surprise that Josh Meissner’s Real-World Guide to Dynamo Hubs, Lighting, and Charging appears within this top 12 list. Long in the works, this beginner-friendly guide is aimed at folks new to and curious about dynamo systems. It delves into the unique advantages they offer, discusses their limitations, and breaks down the basics that cyclists need to get started. From selecting the right components for various riding styles to demystifying mounting and wiring, it’s all there. Plus, Josh showcases two distinct dynamo-equipped bikepacking setups for inspiration.

8. Our 13 Favorite Drop-Bar MTBs

Published in June by Neil Beltchenko

As a companion piece to complement our Gear Index of Drop-Bar 29ers, a style of bike made popular through events like the Tour Divide and routes such as the GDMBR and Eastern Divide Trail, Neil set out to explore the history of these obscure machines in a two-part video. Then, to further expand the subject, the team put our heads together, and we came up with a list of or favorite 13 drop-bar MTBs that fit into this category, complete with pros and cons and images from our extensive library.

9. Mica Rack Review

Published in June by Miles Arbour

Whenever we post a photo of a bikepacking bike with a rack on Instagram or elsewhere, it’s almost certain to garner this question: “What rack is that?” It’s like clockwork, and it’s become one of the most prevalent comments we see, second to, “Can I ride that on a gravel bike?” As such, it’s no surprise that a review of the highly anticipated Mica rear rack is in this list. Several of us have been using various prototypes of the Mica Rat Tail over the last couple years, which built up a lot of interest for good reason. The Mica rack is not only clever and minimal, it’s also made specifically for hardtails that don’t have rack mounts, making it particularly useful for a lot of curious people.

10. 2024 Bikepacking Gear of the Year

Published in December by Logan Watts and Team

I’m not going to sugar coat it, the Bikepacking Gear of the Year awards is one of the most difficult and time-consuming pieces I work on every year. It’s equally rewarding, however, and the fact that this year’s installment was the 10th annual—which is hard to believe—made it all the more special. Even better, after just a couple weeks of it being published, it already received enough attention to place within the top 10 most visited articles of the year.

11. Editor’s Dozens

Published in January by Logan Watts and Josh Meissner

Our seven-year-old Editor’s Dozen series continues to be one of the most popular features on the site. This year, two entries made it into the top 20 most-clicked posts: Josh Meissner’s 2023 list, published at the start of January, and the year-end list from Virginia and me, which went live at the beginning of this calendar year. Make sure to dig into the archive at #editors-dozen!

13. A Tribute to Kona Bikes

Published in April by Lucas Winzenburg

When one of our favorite bike brands pulled up the stakes of their display tent and departed the 2023 Sea Otter Classic prior to the show beginning, rumors began circulating. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that the company was up for sale, leaving all of us uncertain what the future held for Kona Bikes, and less than optimistic about what was to come. While nothing was set in stone at the time, it came during a tumultuous year in the bike industry, one that saw several bike brands close their doors, including All-City, Vitus, and others. We remained hopeful that Kona wouldn’t join their ranks and posted a tribute to show our support. Fortunately, the company was bought back by its original founders and continues to live on.

Top 12 Routes

As mentioned in the introduction to this post, we published 54 new bikepacking route guides this year, totaling more than 21,000 kilometers (about 13,000 miles). Here are the 12 that garnered the most interest and clicks throughout 2024:

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  1. The Baja Divide (2024 Update)

  location Mexico / 42 days / Route Guide

  The Baja Divide is a 1,730-mile bikepacking route that connects the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez, historic Spanish mission sites rich with shade and water, remote ranchos and fishing villages, bustling highway towns, and every major mountain range in Baja California on miles and miles of beautiful backcountry desert tracks. The route guide saw a major update this year via the hard work of Pat Boyle, Evan Christenson, and Logan Watts.

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  2. MinneIoWisco

  location Wisconsin, USA / 5 days / Route Guide

  MinneIoWisco is a week-long gravel bikepacking loop through the picturesque Driftless Area of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The 273-mile route uses a mix of gravel, bike paths, backroads, and a smidge of singletrack to take in the region’s many highlights, including the Kickapoo Valley, the Elroy-Sparta State Trail, and countless eclectic breweries and restaurants along the way.

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  3. The Northern Blues and Wallowa Gravel Loop (NBWGL)

  location Washington, USA / 8 days / Route Guide

  The Northern Blues and Wallowa Gravel Loop (NBWGL aka “Nubwiggle”) is an eight-day bikepacking route through some of the best and most remote gravel riding in the Western United States. Expect postcard-worthy scenes of farms, ranches, forests, rivers, and quaint agricultural towns that will burn themselves into your mind forever. Summer riding offers snow-free travel through this rugged landscape, with near-daily resupplies and camping each night on iconic waterways of eastern Washington and Oregon.

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  4. Route of Caravans

  location Morocco / 35 days / South / North

  The highly anticipated Route of Caravans (RoC) was completed this year and saw more traffic than any other route on the site. The complete North and South tiers allow riders to traverse the length of Morocco mostly on dirt, beginning with the southern tier that starts in the coastal town of Tiznit and runs along the Anti-Atlas Mountains, the Sahara Desert, and the High Atlas.

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  5. La Condruzienne

  location Belgium / 5 days / Route Guide

  La Condruzienne is a four-day bikepacking route in southern Belgium, traversing the area around two significant rivers: La Meuse and La Lesse. Countless dynamic climbs and descents in and out of the valley, long forest tracks, and stunning views of dozens of castles and fortresses throughout the beautiful region make this an unforgettable ride.

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  6. Of Resilience and Hope

  location Spain / 4 days / Route Guide

  Of Resilience And Hope is the latest route from Montañas Vacías, and it comes in a unique and refreshing new format. Discover the scenic route and its downloadable ebook story that immerses riders in an engaging experience and guides them through a long weekend loop around Spain’s majestic Jiloca Valley.

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  7. Lost Sierra Loop

  location California, USA / 3 days / Route Guide

  The Lost Sierra Loop is a 105-mile bikepacking route that offers a splendid sampling of Northern California’s finest gravel roads and singletrack trails. This three-day weekend loop takes riders through the remote and beautiful Plumas National Forest, with stops to resupply in some of the small communities that collectively make up the Lost Sierra.

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  8. Raki Roads

  location Albania / 6 days / Route Guide

  Raki Roads is a 205-mile bikepacking loop that starts and ends in the UNESCO World Heritage city of Berat, Albania. The route follows a stunning network of rocky dirt roads and offers sweeping views of Vjosa Wild River National Park, Fir of Hotovë-Dangëlli National Park, Osum Canyon National Monument, and Tomorr National Park.

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  9. Cappadocia Delight

  location Türkiye / 7 days / Route Guide

  Set in beautiful Türkiye, the Cappadocia Delight is a 400-kilometer bikepacking route that blends dreamy gravel roads and singletrack through otherworldly volcanic steppe with fascinating cultural heritage sites. With spectacular vistas from the saddle and endless history to uncover off the bike, you’ll never want it to end. But when it does, you can finish the experience with a hot air balloon ride to cap off the trip of a lifetime.

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  10. Iberica Norte

  location Spain / 7 days / Route Guide

  Set in the north of Spain, the Ibérica Norte route takes riders past vineyards as far as the eye can see, imposing mountains covered by mysterious forests, picturesque castles, and remote valleys. Connecting quaint villages home to kind people, the 550-kilometer route offers a tour of the rugged and picturesque Sierra de La Demanda range and beyond to showcase a land of rich contrasts.

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  11. The Rolling Horse

  location Colorado, USA / 11 days / Route Guide

  The Rolling Horse bikepacking route traverses the varied landscapes of northwestern Colorado’s Grand Hogback, a 90-mile spine of deeply contested ground dividing the Southern Rockies from the Colorado Plateau. This equally demanding and spectacular 464-mile loop links lands once stewarded by the Nuche (Ute people), who hunted among the high places we call the Elks, Raggeds, Flat Tops, and Roan and gathered along the banks of the White River.

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  12. Wolf Way

  location England / 3 days / Route Guide

  The Wolf Way is a 250-mile (400-kilometer) beginner-friendly bikepacking route through Suffolk, England, using the area’s top bridleways, gravel tracks, quiet lanes, ferry rides, and scenic paths. The weekend route showcases many of the region’s most beautiful locations, historical landmarks, and hidden gems with several route variants and a comprehensive guide to tie it all together.

What were your favorite posts and routes of 2024? Drop a note in the conversation below!

Further Reading

Make sure to dig into these related articles for more info...