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Bikepacking & Backpacking the Sierra Nevada: Watch ‘The Long Way Around’

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Like bikepacking? Like backpacking? Combine the two in an epic bike-to-pack-to-hike adventure.

For their latest bikepacking adventure, Mission Workshop designers decided to reinvent how to bikepack — using a backpack. Yes, we know, bikepacking means that the stuff you traditionally carry on your back goes on your bike. Now, Mission Workshop is turning that idea on its head: You can haul all your gear — including your bike — on your back.

Using custom-modified Mission Workshop R6 Field Packs, four riders (Lael Wilcox, Rugile Kaladyte, Erik Nohlin, Chris Burkard) headed out to bikepack the Sierra Nevada Wilderness.

They combined bikepacking and backpacking into a 181-mile journey over 4 days, with 23,000 feet of elevation gain.

“What we have here isn’t your typical bike trip,” teased Wahoo Fitness. “Four close friends ventured into the great woods of the American West to experience the land via bike. Their original plans thwarted due to the devastation of wildfires that seemly strike the west more and more each year. With some last-minute rearranging of the route … the ride was on!”


Note: The group completed the ride in 2020. The film came out this year. Photography by Rugile Kaladyte and Chris Burkard.


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