Bikeraft Checklist Tips from a Canadian Multi-Sport Adventurer
Canadian Adventurer Anthony DeLorenzo recommends making a bikeraft checklist and checking it twice, and then revisiting it years later. For his first big trips (and even big trips he does now), he lists all the gear he plans to bring and how much each piece weighs. “Starting out, spreadsheets are your friend.”
Though it may seem “ludicrous” how much you bring at first, as he initially felt, the only way to learn is to try different things. He also keeps notes for after the trip so he can look back at what he brought in 2012 and compare it to what he carries now. He says: “Keeping track of everything helped me learn. As you get more experience you tend to bring less stuff because you figure out what works and what you need and don’t need. Now I can throw a trip together in a half hour and have everything I need.” We recommend you develop your own checklist, but here’s a good place to start.
Making a Bikeraft Checklist & Checking it...
- Do I have a map AND a GPS track downloaded on my phone?
- Do I have a list of important landmarks and are they identified on my maps and in my GPS track?
- Do I have an exit strategy?
- What are the most current route conditions?
- What experience do I have in this area I want to go to? If not sufficient, how will I get the experience I need?
- What gear do I have? If I don’t have what I need, what can I afford? And will it work for the adventure I want to do? (If you don’t know, as your local outdoor store owner or an experienced bikerafter).
- What’s the weather like during the time of year I’m going?
- What’s the weather forecast just prior to departure?
- Do I have someone I can check in with to get weather reports and to help me if something goes wrong?
- Where are the water sources?
- What sort of purifying system do I need for where I’m going?
- Where can I resupply food?
- Do I need a cache?
- Can I have a fire?
- How do I manage your trash?
- Can I poop in the woods, or do I need a Wag Bag?
- Where should I pee (in the river or 50 feet from the river, depending on the river’s size).
- Am I crossing private lands?
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