Planning a Bike High Adventure

Troop 60 plans out a Cycling High Adventure every 3 years and we revisit the planning process each time.  We also get inquiries from other Units on how to set up a Bike Adventures.  Here the are basic steps.

• Group Decides on a Bike Adventure

  • We tentatively plan on a Bike High Adventures every 3 years

• Determine Adult Leads

  • Lead needs to know all about type of the type of biking you intend to do

  • Road, tour, trail and mountain biking each may require different lead

• Brainstorm Routes and Locations with Scouts

  • Review troop library of previous and potential adventures

  • Talk to other troops about adventures

  • Internet

    • Cycling Apps

    • YouTube

  • Rails to Trails

  • San Juan Islands

  • Coastal roads

  • Oregon

  • Idaho

  • BC

  • Moab?

  • Hub and Spoke – to Mountain Bike hubs – including ski lift areas for downhill biking

  • Hub and Spoke – Road or trail rides

  • Urban vs rural vs remote

  • Road vs Gravel vs Single Track

  • Travel by ferry?

  • Biking only vs Biking plus Hiking, canoeing, climbing, fishing, or other activities

  • This is an entire class on its own

• RESEARCH the TRAIL

  • Just because you saw a trail on the internet or heard about it from a friend, beware!

  • Trails close, deteriorate or otherwise become unacceptable for your Crew

  • Check Apps for trail information

  • Read reviews

  • Talk to people who have do that route

  • Learn about local sites, history and places you'll want to check out

  • If you can, drive it 

• Who’s Interested?

  • Some Scouts and Adults are into more Adventure than others

    • Technical trails with steep hills and jumps?

      • Requires riders with more advanced skills

    • LONG distance rides on long or hilly roads

      • Requires riders with endurance

    • BikePacking without a support vehicle?

      • Allows for an expedition style adventure

    • Packrafting with bike!

      • Combines the challenge of carrying gear, moving water and biking!

    • Hub and spoke trail riding with challenge by choice (easy and technical trials)

      • Allows for Very Challenging Routes, easy Routes, and everything in between

    • Short distance only rides with ice cream stops and nice urban touring and option to hang out at camp?

      • This can be great options for:

        • New Troops just forming

        • Troops composed of just younger Scouts

        • Troops with Special Needs Scouts

        • Troops focused on family outings with mixed aged Scouts

    • eBiking?

      • Not currently appropriate for BSA Adventures

• Location and Route Determines Equipment

  • Bike Selection

    • Paved Roads

      • Road bikes with skinny tires are best

      • Touring bikes are comfortable and can carry gear

      • Gravel bikes will do fine

      • Mountain bikes will fall behind

      • eBikes are possible for Adults or Scouts with special needs

        • Requires daily recharging

        • NOTE: E-Bikes are Prohibited by the BSA

    • Gravel Trails

      • Gravel Bikes rule

        • Tires Size will depend on the trail

          • 32mm is fine for the first section of the Palouse to Cascades Trail

          • 40mm+ is recommended for the trail east of Ellensburg

      • Road bikes will get flats and may crash

      • Mountain bikes are fine

      • eBikes are possible for Adults or Scouts with special needs on SOME trails

        • Requires daily recharging

        • Check regulations for which bikes are allowed

        • NOTE: E-Bikes are Prohibited by the BSA

    • Trails

      • Mountain bikes rule

      • Gravel bikes might work - depends on trail

      • Road bikes - Nope

    • Technical Trails

      • Mountain bikes only

    • See our Bicycle Page for more on Bikes

  • Gear Vehicles or Panniers?

    • Will you carry adventure gear on bikes or in support vehicles?

    • Either way, we need to plan on what vehicles to take and what we'll need to carry on our bikes

    • Outfitting adventure bikes with panniers can get expensive

      • Square buckets and hardware can be purchased in mass to make DIY Panniers

      • See our BikePacking Gear Page

  • NOTE:

    • Bikes of any kind are prohibited in many wilderness areas

    • eBikes are prohibited on many trails and roads

      • NOTE: E-Bikes are Prohibited by the BSA

      • Some eBikes are allowed on certain roads, or require unassisted pedaling when used

    • Check prior to finalizing plan

• Determine Support

  • Support Vehicles

    • Follow car – pickup tired/injured rides and repairs

    • Gear Truck – transports camp gear and food

    • Other bike haulers

    • All vehicles require extra adults in addition to adults on bikes

  • Bike Carriers

    • Hitch

    • Roof

    • Truck

    • Trailer

  • Bike Gear

    • Repair kits

    • Extra tubes and tires

    • Extra bike(s)

    • Bikepacking requires special gear and train-up

  • Determine funding needed for trip

    • Equipment costs

    • Food

    • Lodging and camp gear

    • Ferry transport

    • Bike racks

    • Square bucket paniers?

• Select an Adventure

  • Select an Alternative Adventure

  • Initial planning for Primary Adventure

    • Plan out route for each day

      • On Day 1, you'll have a ton of energy

      • Day 2 and 3 will be a bit harder, plan for an easier day

    • Plan out each day to include where you will lodge/camp

      • Reservations?

      • If you plan on First Come First Served Camping…

        • Have an alternate plan

        • Don’t plan for a giant crew

          • Easier to find camping for small group than a giant group

    • Plan out how follow vehicle and support vehicles will get to next point each day

    • Plan out how meals will work each day

      • Cooking times and clean up in morning?

      • Supported/delivered lunch vs carried lunch vs restaurant and where will you stop for lunch

      • Cooking times and cleanup in evening

      • Picking up groceries on the way?

    • Plan out evacuation routes for each day

      • People get injured

      • Gear breaks

      • People may not want to play anymore

      • How will you get out an injured Scout?

      • How will you evac the entire team

    • Special events

      • Visit a special venue?

      • Take a picture at a special spot?

      • Service project?

      • Special tour?

    • Equipment

      • What type of bikes are required

      • If eBikes are considered

        • NOTE: E-Bikes are Prohibited by the BSA

          • If you are planning a Scouting event, eBikes are off limits

          • But Adults are allowed to ride motorcycle, so why not eBike?

            • eBike is safer to follow the crew with than a Harley

            • What about following the crew on an Electric Motorcycle?

          • What if an Adult or Scout has special needs? 

            • Are they also not allowed to use motorized wheelchair or scooter?

            • Why not an eBike?

            • Does this violate the American Disabilities Act?

          • This topic is beyond the scope of this page

            • If you want to see if you can use an eBike, please contact your Council

        • Are they legal for all or part of your adventure?

          • eBikes are prohibited on  many trails

          • What if you have a disability?

            • The use of eBikes by persons with disabilities where eBikes are restricted is beyond our scope of knowledge

              • Please contact the Land Manager of the place you wish to visit

            • Forestry Service: fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd582277.pdf 

        • What type of ebikes are allowed on your adventure?

          • Certain eBikes may be allowed while others are prohibited

          • Still a “new” topic – Land manager may not know what new rules are and rules may change

        • Recharging?

        • Hills?

    • Determine MAX number of people your Adventure can handle

      • Groups with greater than 12 riders are challenging to manage

    • All members must have an Medical ABC with physical

      • Inform all potential participants in prior calendar year so they can schedule this

    • This is an Initial Plan – it will change

  • Initial Planning for Alternate Adventure

    • Give some thought on how Alternate Adventure will work

    • Make sure it is doable

    • Does it require reservations?

      • If reservations are needed, decide early on what your primary adventure will be

      • Maybe consider another Alternate Adventure if you have problems with Primary Adventure

• Assemble The Crew

  • Two+ dedicated Adult leads who are experienced riders

  • Adult drivers for support and follow vehicles

  • Other Adult riders – trail team

  • Scouts

    • Select a Scout Lead and Assistant Lead

    • Select quartermaster(s)

    • If group has multiple patrols or ability groups – may need multiple leaders

  • You are forming your High Adventure Team

    • This may include alternate team members if you max out on how many can attend

• Shakeout Ride

  • Can start on bike highway, even if planning a mountain bike adventure

  • Learn base capabilities of Adults

  • Learn base capabilities of Scouts

  • Learn about gear challenges

    • Bikes that are too small

    • Helmets are too small or don’t have one

    • Broken bikes – may or may not be fixable for that ride

      • Who brought tools?

    • Bikes that won’t work for adventure

    • Why are you wearing flip flops?

    • How do we even transport all the bikes?

  • Learn about interpersonal challenges

  • Ideally do this the calendar year prior to adventure

    • Plan to do this in early spring at the latest

• Bike Classes

  • How do you ride on the road?

    • Safety

    • Traffic Laws

  • How do you ride on the trail?

  • What equipment do I need?

    • Bike types

    • Sizing

    • Clothing and safety gear

    • Other gear

  • Maintenance and repairs

• Maintenance, Repairs and Modifications

  • You might need an entire session for tuning up and repairing bikes

  • If you are planning on a Bikepacking Adventures, plan on setting up bikes to carry gear

    • Square buckets can be used has bike panniers and will be more durable than economy panniers found on Amazon and much cheaper than name brand ones at REI.

• Training

  • Time to hit the trail – but first plan out the calendar

  • Backwards planning

    • First add Adventure Date to calendar – generally in the summer

    • Determine bigger and more challenging rides you want to complete prior to adventure

      • Add these to calendar closer to adventure date

      • If working on Cycling Merit badge – include a 50-mile ride

      • Maybe include some really cool 30+ miler rides

      • If doing Mountain Biking – plan for more technical trails

      • If doing Gravel Biking – do a few longer distance Gravel Trails, maybe do part of the actual trail you intend to adventure on

      • Plan overnight adventures, especially if bikepacking!

    • Add shorter rides farther out from high adventure

      • Start in early spring at the latest – yup, it will be wet

      • Start with shorter confidence rides on bike highways protected from traffic

      • Work up to longer rides to prepare for more challenging rides prior to adventure

    • Note on Road Training

      • Endurance training can be performed on bike highways protected from traffic

        • Great for training outings

        • Doesn’t NOT teach adults and scouts how to share the road safely

      • If your adventure will be on public roads, plan carefully

        • You should practice riding as a group in traffic prior to your big Adventure

        • Choose roads and times carefully

    • Note on Bikepacking

      • You need to test out ALL of your gear prior to the Big Adventures

        • Go on at least 2 overnighters to shake out gear

  • Training does many things to prepare the team for High Adventure

    • Tests gear

    • Test and prepares Scouts AND Adults

      • Some participants may decide they don’t like riding or will wait a year

    • Builds your team

    • Irons out support challenges

    • Learn how to navigate

      • Learn to select and stay on trails

      • Use of GPS and mapping apps

      • Learn how to keep group together

        • Many approaches

        • May need to split group into multiple subgroups

• Finalize Plans

  • You learned a lot over the last few months

  • As you get closer to your Adventure, finalize details to your plan

  • Publish a detailed Plan 

    • Share Plan it with EVERY member and parent of the crew

    • Includes a Stay At Home Emergency Team on 24/7 call

      • Responsible to organizing emergency evacuations and resupplies

      • Emergency Team and ability to contact adventure team via satellite messenger

    • Stay At Home Support Team

      • May be same as Emergency Team

      • Organizes drop off and pickup of team

        • Likely will require several vehicles with ability to transport bikes

      • May include preplanned resupply

      • Contact them when on way home and they can contact everyone else with time to pickup

    • Adventure Plan MUST include:

      • Day One and Day Last Plan

        • Where and when do parents meet to drop off

        • Where and when (estimated range) do parents meet to pickup

      • Daily Itinerary (with lat/long of every point)

        • Start location

        • Route

        • Lunch location

        • Camp/lodging location

        • Any special locations/times – such as ferry, portage, appointments

        • List alternate camp locations if needed

      • Evacuation Points

        • All potential evacuation points should be mapped out and labeled (A, B, C, etc.)

        • Lat/Long of very evac point listed in plan

        • Preplanned messages in case of emergency

          • Vital if using satellite messenger

          • “PU 2S 1A ED” = Pickup 2 Scouts 1 Adult Evacuation Point Delta

          • This gives evac team notice and time to plan and conduct evac (which will likely take hours)

          • Send more information when possible

      • Map Information

        • Overview map in plan email

        • Link to Google Maps if urban adventure

        • Links to Daily Maps

          • Downloadable and printable

          • Map has all key locations labeled

            • Including evac points

      • Emergency Contact information

        • Contact information for every participant

        • Contact information for every parent

        • Emergency contact information for every adult

      • Stay at Home Emergency Team

        • Contact info team

        • They are 24/7 contact with Adventure Crew

      • Stay at Home Support Team

        • Contact info team

      • Crew Information

        • List of everyone on trip and role

          • Adult Bike Lead

          • Adult Support Lead

          • Adult Medic

          • Youth Lead

          • Youth Quartermaster

          • Youth Medic

          • Support Driver

      • Rider Buddy Plan

        • Riders need to have 1-2 buddies they ride with

      • Tent Plan

        • Predesignate tent partners following YPT guidelines

        • Includes who is carrying/packing tent

      • Food plan

        • This can be as complicated as you make it

        • If plan is to pack your individual meals…

          • Must specify exactly what individuals should pack

          • Discussion for different class

        • Stoves and fuel plan

        • Chuck box plan

      • Weather

        • Check weather forecast every day prior to and during adventure

        • Sun vs clouds vs rain

        • Temperature

        • Winds

        • Air Quality – this can derail your Adventure or force you to an alternate location

        • Wildfires – that is part of any weather check outside of the city

      • Roads

        • They close sometimes

        • Check roads each day – you don’t want a surprise on a bike adventure

      • Individual Packing list

      • Group Packing list

      • Tracking Plan

        • Optional – tracking information so stay at home team can track crew

        • We use a GPS tracker with password protected webpage showing location and daily messages

        • Other apps are available

• Go on Adventure

  • Take lots of pictures

    • Post them on our website when we get back