First Time Bikepacking! (Ontario's GNR route)

Although I've done a fair bit of bike touring over the last few years, I had very little experience with single track or technical routes. So my partner, Michael, and I decided to try out bikepacking for the first time. We kept our touring setups as light as possible and hit the trails of the Grand Nith Ramble (GNR) route in Ontario. What was it like bikepacking for the first time? Let's find out!
JOIN ME ON PATREON!
/ sheelaghdaly
**FREE BIKE TOUR NUTRITION GUIDE**
Want to feel and ride your best on your next cycle tour? Grab my 5 nutrition tips for bike touring as well as 2 adaptable recipes in this FREE e-book:
mailchi.mp/5efdca9e20ae/bike-...
WEBSITE
www.sheelaghdaly.com/
INSTAGRAM
/ sheelagh.daly
Music by Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com/

[@SheelaghDaly]

We found the Grand Nith Ramble route to be perfect for us newbies! Lots of opportunities to choose between tricky singletrack and smoother dirt/gravel, so it's super customizable. Many thanks to the creators of the GNR! You can get more info on it here: www.bt700.ca/gnr-bikepacking-route.html

[@RockinRandall420]

Very nice ride guys! Thank you very much for sharing. 😊

[@SheelaghDaly]

Thanks so much for the lovely message! 😊

[@HighonSkidRow]

That was pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

[@stevebarratt6912]

Sheelagh; such a great video, your upbeat narration is very helpful for planning my adventure, Cheers !

[@SheelaghDaly]

I'm so glad :) Thanks very much for the lovely comment!

[@jimmccorison]

I'm on the wrong coast of the continent, but that looks like a great route. It seems like a nice mix of easy and challenging. The funny part about our endeavors in life is that we more often remember the challenges we overcame than the easy parts.

[@SheelaghDaly]

So true Jim!! It's interesting how those tough experiences become the best memories :)

[@GaryMiller1973]

Great video. It looks like a great adventure for a couple of days.

[@SheelaghDaly]

Thanks so much Gary!

[@ThalassTKynn]

That looks like a lot of fun! Gonna have to add it to my list haha

[@gogorobandles]

I've just discovered your channel and really enjoyed watching this video. It looked like the right mix of fun while being out of your comfort zone. Stay bubbly😊 Cheers

[@SheelaghDaly]

Aww thank you so much!

[@redpillproductionscanada5563]

Was thinking about trying a trip, was gonna start in Hamilton, glad I found your video.

[@joshwhitee]

Nice! I'm also planning on doing this one in a couple days hopefully. it'll be a fun one i'm sure and nice it starts and finishes in the hammer!

[@SheelaghDaly]

Nice! Have a great trip!!

[@alirezafazeli8222]

Perfect.

[@StephenDownes]

Nice. I think I'll put the GNR on my to-do list.

[@SheelaghDaly]

Awesome! Happy riding! 🙌

[@philiprayner]

looked like fun but all I thought about was mosquitos and ticks

[@SheelaghDaly]

We went in September so must of the buggies had died off! They didn’t bother us at all :)

[@Brackers64]

Recently subscribed, loving your videos Sheelagh. This one was great to watch, living in Waterloo and seeing so many of the roads and trails I often ride on. Having ridden probably 60 / 70% of the GNR on day rides I should probably do the whole route at some point in one stretch. How many days did you take for your trip? Bob...

[@SheelaghDaly]

Thanks so much Bob! I think we did this in 7 days (including shorter riding days on either end to catch the train to and from Hamilton). But we were new to this kind of trail riding, I bet others like yourself with more experience can do it much faster!

[@Brackers64]

@@SheelaghDaly Ha ha, yeah you would think so, but I'm very new to this bikepacking thingy, only really done 2 trips both this year. I think realistically at 370km's this would be at best 4 days minimum for me but realistically maybe 5 days. I'll keep you posted! 😄

[@SheelaghDaly]

@@Brackers64 Haha all good! It's lovely to take your time :) Yes please keep me posted! Happy riding!

[@detharp]

my kinda music❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@philiprayner]

some of the single track would be out of the question for me do to to much chance of doing damage to my lower legs I would kneed full leg cover and puncture protection

[@ThalassTKynn]

I dunno if you've used it but Wheels On A Bike used something called "warm showers", which sounds like a couch surfing kinda thing, but for bikepacking. Never used it myself though haha

[@SheelaghDaly]

Yeah! We actually used it one night on this trip! I've met so many lovely people through Warmshowers :)

[@ThalassTKynn]

@@SheelaghDaly Ah nice! I'm still working up to that kind of distance, so I haven't used it yet 😅

[@ThalassTKynn]

I totally should have watched more videos before I suggested that. First short the algorithm shows me and you mentioned warm showers 🤦‍♂️

[@TicatHockey]

good to see the GO train allow bikes ... any obstacles with taking train? ... I would imagine that bikes are not allowed during busy work times during the week.

[@SheelaghDaly]

I've done it several times and it's been great so far! You need to board at the designated doors with bikes on them and each bike area only takes two so in theory if it was full you may have to rush to get to another but that hasn't actually happened to me yet. Yes there are a few stipulations I looked up as I was curious on the specifics: -Morning rush hour: bikes are not allowed on trains arriving at Union between 6:30AM and 9:30AM on weekdays. -Evening rush hour: bikes are not allowed on trains departing Union between 3:30PM and 6:30PM on weekdays. -Rush hour restrictions are not in place on weekends or Ontario statutory holidays. -Foldable bikes (that are folded up) are allowed on all GO Trains, even during rush hours. I think it may also be worth double checking if there are any big events when you're planning to ride as if there's a big concert/the Ex/etc it can fill up! But overall really good experiences so far :)

[@julierossall7569]

I believe bicycles are to permitted during rush hour, however that is defined@@SheelaghDaly

[@Bikepacking]

Next time try bikepacking setup more fun than tradition touring set up

[@jetboy770371]

What is the bike that you're riding, and how did it perform ? You didn't mention any bike problems or maintenance on the trip.

[@SheelaghDaly]

I had a KHS grit that I altered to have butterfly bars and put 27.5 wheels on. The tires max out at 48s due to clearance and a little wider would have been nice but the bike got the job done well with no mechanical issues!

[@jetboy770371]

@@SheelaghDaly Thanks , that bikepacking ride looked like a great ride, plenty of all types of terrain conditions. I am 64 and time is running out for me to do something like that . I plan on spending the summer in west Phoenix area for the summer and get to know the southwest area on my bike. I would like to maybe a Surly Bridge Club or a Kona Dr Dew. Just something with a wider tire. Canada has the Brodie bikes but they are really hard to get.

[@SheelaghDaly]

@@jetboy770371 That sounds really nice! I'm actually building up a Bridge Club for bikepacking right now :) Yeah, Brodie makes such great bikes, but harder to get like you said. Good luck with your next adventure!

[@jetboy770371]

@Sheelagh Daly That's great. Can I ask your height and bike frame size you're going with ? I'm 5'6" and am looking at size medium and 27 inch tires I think they are not 700c. I got into biking way late up in Minneapolis but I rode into the riots 4 days straight. That was like a bucket list event. Crazy

[@tiagobraga1480]

Hey guys, so, fun fact, all waterways are crown land, so, ya know, if u follow a river...

[@philiprayner]

some of that route all I see is mosquitos Ticks and Black flies lol

[@SheelaghDaly]

We did it in September so there were barely any! Didn't even use bug spray ;)

[@pedroclaro7822]

60$ for two people... as a Portuguese I'd expect a 3 star Hotel for that

[@SheelaghDaly]

Ahaha I know right!? It’s brutal.

[@davidrobinson9507]

Hello, Been a touring cyclist since 1971 here. Just FYI ; ' bike packing ' is just a word. Sometimes, in this consumerist capitalist system that we're forced to live in, we are forced to hear new words because they're trying to sell us a bunch of new stuff, all under a new banner, of a new fad. But bike packing is just a word. Like changing violin to fiddle, or football to soccer, it's the same thing as touring. Bike packing is meant to sound like 'back packing'... that's the big pun. Riding a bike is riding a bike, and carrying gear and camping and living on the road/ route, is all pretty similar. It's tough, and I've had a long life of it. Now along comes this word. It's like other new words that pop up, trying to sound fresh and different, but it's the same as bike touring was in the 1920's. Touring. What's wrong with a perfectly good word ?

[@1966johnnywayne]

Sixty dollars a night for two cyclists to set up a tent...in a park that we taxpayers fund...pfft! Just 'Rough Camp' it.