Do you enjoy biking? Do you love backpacking? If you said yes to both, combine the two and try out a bikepacking trip this year. Avid bikers, Ben Hergott and Laura Wilson made this their focus in 2024. They hit the road in January of 2024 with their Coho XC trailer and are still on the road today. Let their answers in this Q & A encourage and challenge you to make this your reality!
Q: Can you tell us about yourselves?
My name is Laura, hi! And this is Ben. Based on the Surfcoast in Victoria, Australia we have spent the past few years juggling work and our passions for the outdoors, the environment and chasing waves in remote areas.
In January 2024, we set off from home to embark on a journey from Antarctica to Africa. This blog update is about our ride from France to Africa.
The ‘plan’: ride our mountain bikes across France until we reach the Atlantic coast and follow it all the way to Senegal, carrying all our gear on our bikes and on a Burley Coho XC trailer to allow us to ride, camp and surf where possible.
The route is approximately 7,000 km, and our goal is to immerse ourselves in the outdoors, chase some waves, connect with those we meet along the way, and explore beyond the typical tourist spots as we travel further down the African coastline.
I’m not sure how or when we decided to swing our legs over some bikes and ride from Dolomieu in France to Dakar in Senegal, but here we are, our little lives packed up on two wheels (well, three for Ben with a trailer) and part way through our grand plan. We have now been on the road for 76 days and have just ticked over the 3,000km mark in a small town called Vila de Nova Milfontes, south of Lisbon, Portugal.
Q: What is your daily bikepacking routine?
Before embarking on our trip, we daydreamed about all the time we would have to enjoy relaxing activities like reading, yoga, and meditation after a long day of riding. However, reality has been a little different, especially with the shorter days as we move into winter.
A typical day looks a little like this:
- 6.30am: wake up and start packing up our tent and gear. Enjoy a brekkie of oats, nuts, banana, yoghurt, peanut butter and cinnamon.
- 7.45am: on the bike to ride 15-20km, at which point we are on the hunt for a local boulangerie / panaderia.
- 12.30 - 1.30pm: find a nice spot to rest and eat lunch.
- 3 - 4pm / after riding anywhere between 50 - 100km: we are looking for a spot to sleep (sometimes accommodation when there is heavy rain as we are not in love with packing up a soggy tent in the rain).
- 5pm: setting up the tent, handwashing our riding gear, bike maintenance, planning the next day’s route and making dinner. Then into our tent and sleeping bags by the time it is dark!
Q: What product is essential for bikepacking?
Since one of the key goals of our trip is to surf, our traditional bikepacking set-up had to evolve. The Burley Coho XC trailer ticked a number of boxes for us and has helped to make this trip a success:
- Allows us to safely carry our 2 surfboards (6”4 in lengths) along with wetsuits and a bunch of spare parts, baguettes and blocks of cheese!
- The ability to carry an additional 16l of water for upcoming section of the trip in the Sahara desert.
- We can get across long and sometimes rugged off-road sections without damaging the boards due to the inbuilt suspension in the trailer.
- The sturdy stand on the trailer is capable of holding both the fully loaded bike and trailer - this is an absolute game-changer!
- The ability to easily unclip the trailer from the bike without tools, as we sometimes sleep at guest houses (when it is raining heavily or after a few tough days) and need to store the bike and trailer separately.
Coho XC Bike Trailer: Click Here
Q: How would you describe your trip?
All in all, our little adventure throughout France, Spain and Portugal has been truly wonderful. We have soaked up the special moments of human connections, found a new relationship with time and distance, and love the feeling of riding our bikes alongside each other, in nature, every day. Next stop, Africa!
