Gearing Up for the Mountain Biking Roadtrip of a Lifetime
There’s nothing quite like the freedom of setting off for some faraway mountain biking paradise. Whether you’re heading across the great American landscape to do some shredding downhill, wandering up or down the coast to get 100+ miles of XC in, or setting your sights on a little bit of everything, you’ll have the time of your life.
Just make sure you’ve got the right gear.
Many mountain bikers have been thwarted by not having the right gear on hand when they needed it. Here’s a list of the essentials for your mountain bike trip:
GPS
With apps like Strava charting out every inch of awesome trail in most local networks, at least one person in your party should be equipped with a biking GPS. These weatherproof must-haves come in wristwatch or armband form. They not only tell you where you are, but will also keep a metric log of every climb, descent, and mile you cover on your adventure.
Have Enough Water for a Worst-Case Scenario
We’ve all found ourselves on rides where we suck the last drop of water down and realize we’ve still got a long way to go. When you’re somewhere unfamiliar, this should be an unlikely scenario, thanks to your careful planning.
Equip yourself with plenty of water bottles as well as cages to hold them. Better yet, add to your reserves with a hydration pack to keep plenty of water — and a place for tools and accessories.
Get the Car Rack You Need
We put a lot of blind faith in our car racks to hang onto thousands of dollars’ worth of bikes while holding them mere feet above grating asphalt, bumpy gravel, and twisty back roads. Investing in a new car rack will protect your bike from trip-ruining doom and keep its paint job preserved — something older racks were not so great at doing.
Light the Way
Don’t let the sun end your fun. Every member of your posse should have a light with them in case you feel like taking a night ride, or, heaven forbid, you get lost or injured and have to make your way back to the car after dark. Have rear lights ready as well in case you need to ride along the side of the road after dark.
Set Yourself Up for Day-After-Day Riding with Recovery Tools
Treat yourself right. Sticking out full-day passes at Whistler or Angelfire takes a toll on your muscles. Grab some recovery tools to take with you. At the end of the day, you can ease your aching knees and muscles with massage kits, balls, and guns.
Love Thy Junk
Chafing may not affect you on your weekly rides, but trust us — when you ride every day of a trip, it will. Keep your bits and bobs happy with some chamois creme. Don’t forget to grab sunscreen to keep yourself from burning to a crisp on long, exposed climbs. And as the pandemic will never let us forget, have hand sanitizer on you at all times.
So go over your checklist, grab anything extra you need from Mike’s Bikes, and set off on an unforgettable adventure.
About Mike’s Bikes: Mike’s Bikes is a growing family of local bike shops, all with a singular purpose - to get as many people on bikes as possible. We locally own and operate twelve wildly successful stores in Northern California. In addition to our brick-and-mortar shops, mikesbikes.com is one of the top online bicycle retail