Life during the pandemic has been weird. But at least it gave me a window of time to try new things. I built a greenhouse, converted a van to live in, and went on my first bikepacking trip with the Burley Coho XC Trailer.

I’m normally a hiker and a backpacker. I like to get places by walkin’. So it was a bit of a wild card for me to try bikepacking. Bikepacking seemed like a daunting task. The gear required seemed highly specialized and complicated. I wasn’t sure it was for me. That is, until I actually tried it. Back in December 2020, my girlfriend and I went on our first bikepacking trip together. She’s been a willing and enthusiastic participant in building the greenhouse and converting our van. So why not try one more new thing together? We rode to an overlook, one of my favorite spots in Arizona. The overlook is about twenty miles back through a ponderosa forest. It doesn’t seem like you’re approaching the end of the world. But after twenty miles of gray December weather and monotone forest, we emerged from the trees and saw a spectacular and invigorating scene, sunset over the cliffs and red rocks of Arizona.

Some bikepackers choose elaborate setups for hauling their gear: saddles, seat packs, frame bags, top tube bags, handlebar packs, all of which strap gear directly to the frame of your bike. I elected to try a much simpler approach, hauling a trailer. The Burley Coho XC, a single wheel trailer, that took all the complications out of bikepacking. It made sense to me. Take everything I’d load into a backpack, pile it onto a trailer, and go for a ride. Simple as can be. It turns out, you can go really far while bikepacking. The miles that crawl by while backpacking, roll by with ease and joy while bikepacking. Twenty miles of bikepacking is practically a leisure cruise. The stress your body accumulates when bikepacking is significantly less too. No more aching back and shoulders or blistered feet.

The Burley Coho VC trailer was surprisingly nimble and easy to use. I was thrilled at how much it felt like just riding a bike. I often forgot the trailer, loaded with two people’s overnight gear, food, and water, was even behind me. On flat ground, the trailer offers no resistance at all. On uphills, I certainly felt the effects of hauling the 40-ish pounds, but not as much as I expected. I was still able to navigate tricky uphills, even technical sections of ledges and rocks.

Downhills were much more in control than I expected. I thought I’d feel like an out of control 18 wheeler. But a good braking system handled the extra weight and I could easily make my way down fairly steep terrain. I didn’t plan the bikepacking trip to be the same experience as a mountain biking on technical trails. I wouldn’t choose the gnarliest expert trails for bikepacking. But the trailer can handle some, ahem, burley terrain. Much more so than I anticipated.

The trickiest part was simply getting the right thru-axle for my bike. Because mountain bikes are all unique, and depending on your components, fork size, etc, the thru-axle that the whole system hinges upon varies depending upon your bike. It’s very important to get an exact fit, both the length of the thru-axle and the proper thread. But once you have the thru-axle installed, something that requires no skills as a bike mechanic, clipping and unclipping the bike trailer is extremely easy and intuitive.

Check out the video to see more of the trip!