Summer Camp Series: Bikepacking with Kevin Frias

0:02Shelby Stanger:Welcome to our summer miniseries all about camping.

0:12Shelby Stanger:In these bonus episodes, we're going beyond the standard tent and campsite setup. From bikepacking and rafting to camping with kids and dispersed car camping. Over the next four weeks, we're talking to people who are camping their own way, sharing what works, what doesn't, and how you can try it too. I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-op MasterCard.

0:49Kevin Frias:I love the fact that on a bike you can cover so much distance. You can do 100 miles in a day and still have a full day left to enjoy, And then the scenery that you see, it's often so mind-blowing. You know, you spend all day climbing this giant mountain. You finally make it to the top and you just get to see out.

1:10Shelby Stanger:Kevin Frias is a cyclist and bikepacker who's tackled multi-day trips through deserts, mountains, and everything in between. On his YouTube channel called Kev Does, Kevin shares bikepacking tips and stories from the road. like the time he rode 300 miles to taste the world's best donut. Even when things go wrong or he has to ride through gnarly weather, Kevin has a way of looking at the bright side. His motto is, a good map and a good attitude can take you a long way. In this episode, Kevin walks us through the ins and outs of bikepacking, from how to plan your first trip to the gear he swears by.

1:50Shelby Stanger:Kevin, free us! I'm so excited to talk to you about bikepacking, which is just camping with your bike. I love this.

1:58Kevin Frias:I'm pumped to be here, Shelby. Thanks for having me.

2:00Shelby Stanger:How did you get into bikepacking?

2:03Kevin Frias:Okay. I initially got into bikepacking because I had started camping and backpacking a little bit, really like that. I had been doing biking already and cycling in general, and then I forget where I saw it, but I saw this, I came across this idea of bikepacking, that you can bring your camping stuff on your bike and get to explore and kind of experience more because you can cover way more ground on a bike than you can walking on two legs. So I just, I got into it. And then the first real trip that I did was Ragbri, which is right across Iowa. So it's a week long trip where I brought all my stuff on my bike, but you have the option of putting all of your camping stuff, you know, bike clothes, everything in a shuttle that then they take stop to stop.

2:44Kevin Frias:So yeah, I didn't have money to put everything on the shuttle and sign up officially. So I just went and bike packed the whole way, 500 miles across Iowa in a week, brought my little hammock and I hammock camped that first one.

2:57Shelby Stanger:Amazing. Okay. So tell me what that looks like. Cause I think a lot of us are still a little confused. Like what is bike packing and what would that look like on this giant trail?

3:06Kevin Frias:Yeah. Yeah. It could be as simple as you taking all of your backpacking stuff in the backpack and just getting on a bike and going. So it doesn't have to be this super difficult thing that you need all these special gear for. That's like stage one is I think you take your backpack and put it on. There's something else called bike touring, which is usually on road. You have panniers and it's kind of, it's almost like little backpacks strapped to parts of your bikes. And then there's bike packing, which is usually, usually refers to being more off-road. So you're usually on a gravel bike or on a mountain bike.

3:37Kevin Frias:And there's bags that are a little bit more aerodynamic that you stuff everything into, just like you do a backpack. and then you go usually up and over mountains and gravel stuff and have a really good time.

3:49Shelby Stanger:Okay. There's a lot to know when you're going to do a bikepacking trip. Where do you even start if you want to do this? Like obviously you have to start with a bike, but you also have to start with camping gear. So where do you start?

4:01Kevin Frias:Yeah. I would suggest most people start with that. If you have backpacking gear and have backpacked before, take your backpack, just put it on your back and ride to a campsite. Most people can find something that's like a 30-ish mile ride. I would suggest doing that. Keep it under 50 miles. Just go do one night, pack every, let everything out, put everything back up and then bike back just to get kind of that experience. And then I would say the next step is start looking at bikepacking bags. Like big thing I've noticed is the space in a backpack is nice and big and you have the entire compartment to use, but fitting things into a bike, the bikepacking bags are a little bit different and they're usually smaller, you got to do some rearranging sometimes as to where everything is in order for it to actually fit.

4:46Kevin Frias:And a big part about what to bring is knowing what not to bring, because we usually bring way too much stuff. And as I mentioned, you don't have as much space, it feels like on a bike, and to bring things as you do on a backpacking trip. So try to see what you can leave at home that you don't actually need.

5:00Shelby Stanger:Okay, well, let's let's start with us. Yeah, What should we bring and what should we not bring?

5:06Kevin Frias:Yeah. Okay. I would say not bring. Most people, and this is the same when backpacking, bring too many clothes. You bring tools that you don't know how to use. Too much water and too much food. You should bring, there's some obvious ones like shelter. You need stuff for food. You need things for filtering water and holding water and carrying that. You need tools to repair the bike. And then you obviously need a bike as well as all the bags to keep things on. And then there's three big things that I think people should bring on bikepacking trips that most people don't talk about. It's patience, a good map, and then a good attitude because nothing ever goes to plan.

5:43Kevin Frias:So if you're not patient with it, it's okay if I wanted to go 80 miles today, I only made it 66 because I had a puncture or wrong turn or something was closed. That's okay. And then that leads into kind of the good attitude and the good map because you need to know like what your reroutes can be. if I stop once or twice or when is food going to be? When is the river going to be that I can refill on water? All that's important to take into consideration.

6:09Shelby Stanger:Right now, bikepacking sounds really hard and like you need a lot of gear. There's got to be a reason that you keep doing this though, that you go through all this effort to like actually go on a bikepacking trip.

6:22Kevin Frias:I think in general, I love getting outside of your normal and also getting in nature. and there's been so many times where I've stopped at the top of a hill or a mountain or a pretty scene and just sat on my you know sat down on the ground and cried because it's just you can't do anything in front of that beauty except just take it in and you know let your emotions come out well like where have you cried that is amazing oh so many in Colorado it's I love Colorado it looks so good in Utah I got to ride across a dam which was super cool and there was this giant lake that we got to see on the other side of the dam that was reflecting the mountains on the other side of it.

6:59Kevin Frias:Absolutely stunning. Seattle, those mountains are so sharp. And the water that you see running through is like some neon aqua blue. It looks so good.

7:10Shelby Stanger:Wow. Amazing. Any wildlife or nature encounters that you just will never be able to get out of your head?

7:16Kevin Frias:Yes. In Utah, recently, I was on a bikepacking trip and we were going through this stupid basin that I hated because it was just sand, Shelby. And you're just trying to push a bike through sand that weighs, you know, 40 to 60 pounds. It sucked. And it was now like a full day of this. So I try to be patient. I try to bring a good attitude, but everyone has their breaking point. I was nearing mine. And then we turned this corner and my friends that were with me, like, Kevin, look at this. And there were these three like rams that were, you know, full curl. I've never seen them that close before and I didn't know how rare they are, But it was so cool because they were like 10 yards in front of us just chilling on this rock face.

7:57Kevin Frias:It was like six of them just looking at us. And I'd never been that close to them before. Then we climbed this hill. And at the top of the hill, I got there first. And they were there again. So we kind of shooed them away or they scared away and ran. And then they were there again like another 10 yards in front of me. And I just sat and got to look at them while they did their thing. And then they scurried across this impossible mountain that I don't know how they climbed up it. But it was beautiful to see. I will never forget that.

8:31Shelby Stanger:I watched this video where you explained pretty much everything you put on your bike.

8:35Kevin Frias:Oh, yeah.

8:36Shelby Stanger:Tell me about your bike and then the bags on your bike.

8:38Kevin Frias:Okay. So my bike, I have what's called a gravel bike. It's a bike meant to be ridden on gravel. and that usually just means it's a road bike that has bigger clearance to fit bigger tires because the bigger the tire the more comfortable squish you have over the things like gravel so whatever bike you have you can go bike packing with you don't need something special but if you're going out to buy something with the intent to bike pack with it you want something that is comfortable so not like a super aero race bike maybe a little bit more you're sitting up a little bit more. You want something that has mounts to be able to mount water bottle cages, bags, all that.

9:16Kevin Frias:And then you want good tire clearance because you're not able to bike if you don't have the clearance for your tire to roll through.

9:22Shelby Stanger:Okay. So I've got a beach cruiser and a triathlete bike.

9:27Kevin Frias:Oh, you want somewhere like in the middle of that beach cruiser, maybe a little too lean back and a tri bike is really, really aero with no tire clearance. But I would pick the beach cruiser out of those two though.

9:38Shelby Stanger:Okay. I love it. What about the bags on the bike and then what goes in them?

9:43Kevin Frias:Yeah. So there's like three main bags. I would say there's a front bag that drops to your handlebars and you can stuff things in there. There's a frame pack, something that goes in the middle of your frame, like right between your legs when you're pedaling that whole big open area. You can fill that up with either half frame pack, a three quarter pack or full something that takes up the full triangle. And then there's a seat pack that usually straps underneath your seat that you can stuff things in as well. Those are the main spots that usually will take up the most of your gear. And there are bags meant to fit in all of those on all sorts of bikes.

10:16Shelby Stanger:What's your sleep setup while bikepacking?

10:19Kevin Frias:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the best bikepacking tent is the Z-Pax Duplex. It is so roomy and packs down to smaller than a football and it sets up super easy. So I use the Z-Pax sleeping quilt, like a hammock quilt, because that packs down really small. And then I have a little hat that I use as a beanie over my head because the quilts don't have anything above your head. I love the Nemo Tensor sleeping pad. It is by far my favorite in terms of comfort. And a little tip I like to do is when I set up my sleeping pad, I inflate it more than I would need to because, especially if it's cold, it usually loses a little bit of air.

10:58Kevin Frias:And then when I get on it, I get on my side and I wiggle a little bit and I let air out until just before my hip would touch the ground. so that it gives you enough support to not be on the ground, but then also gets nice and comfortable.

11:12Shelby Stanger:So you're just sleeping on top of your Nemo pad with a quilt that has like feet.

11:17Kevin Frias:Yeah, like your feet enclosed. And then another thing, I always bring a sleeping bag liner because I found that adds some warmth when I need it, but it also keeps, you know, you get grimy and dirty after a couple days of just biking and not showering. So it keeps my sleeping bag and my sleeping pad clean. So I always, I never sleep inside of my setup without a sleeping bag liner.

11:39Shelby Stanger:That's amazing. I love that. I was going to ask you, so do you need cycling shoes and walking shoes, hiking shoes?

11:46Kevin Frias:No. A lot of bike packers use flat pedals and they just bring regular shoes that are comfortable and that's totally fine. So you can do that. I bring shoes that I clip into when I'm on the bike and then some sort of minimalist sandal that I use when I'm off the bike.