The 3 reasons you will fail to take the pictures you want on your first bikepacking trip

So you bought all the gear, you’ve created the perfect route and you know the kind of pictures you want to take because you’ve been living on Instagram for the past few months waiting for your first trip to start?

So did I.

Although I loved every minute of my first trip I ended up with just a few usable photos and none of them are particularly good (as you can see for yourself in this post).

Hopefully reading about what, for me, where the top 3 reasons this happened, will spare you the same disappointment and have you end up with real bangers of photos of your first trip.

It’s a trip, not a workout!!

I’m so used trying to squeeze every bit of quality out of my time in the saddle, closely watching the Garmin and power output, that this behaviour has become the default mode I’m in whenever I get on a bike. Even when it’s just to take it to the grocery store.

When I’m in this mode I’m looking for constant pedalling, forward progress and maintaining momentum. I guess I don’t need to explain how this is very incompatible with the idea of being in the moment, enjoying the sights, slowing down or even stopping and backtracking to capture that perfect scene.

So when you leave on your first trip, do not set out for a bike ride, but for a vacation.

Self-awareness like you’ve never felt it before

I’m no stranger to taking a selfie when I’m out riding my bike, but even in those situations when I’m riding by myself, I get very self-aware when others, complete strangers to me, are around and I usually hide the GoPro I use on those occasions until I’m out of sight.

If you’re familiar with that feeling, then imagine how this is going to feel when you’re not using a small GoPro but a full-size camera. When you’re not taking a selfie while riding the bike, but actually stopping, positioning the camera and doing multiple trips back and forward to get the image you want.

Then add to that the fact that you’ll most probably won’t be going on that first trip by yourself. And even though your partner in crime will probably have the same ambitions with regards to documeting the trip, you’ll still have to constantly ask them to stop because you want to take a picture and maybe even to pose for that picture.

Speed is your friend! Just not when it comes to documenting your trip

Everything on a bike is easier at speed. You need speed to win races, momentum helps you stay rubber side down when going over technical courses and even just the act of balancing on a bike gets easier as the speed increases.

Speed is, however, not your friend when you try to document your trip! When I go out shooting with a friend we take our time to scout the location, look at different possible angles for our shots and different ways to compose the scene.

The combination of the two reasons I mentioned above will make you rush through the process of taking the pictures you want. You forget to try different angles. You forget to think about a good and interesting composition. You even forget to check the settings of your camera to get the right exposure. You will end up just taking a bunch of snapshots hoping you’ll be able to pull something useful out of them in post processing. That’s for sure what happend to me.

So to summarise:

Slow down. Take your time. Enjoy the moment and the scenery.

If documenting the trip is important for you, make it a part of the experience and not something you just try to squeeze in.

Now stop reading articles on Bikepacking.com, stop watching bikepacking documentaries on Youtube and start planning your next trip!

Check out @my_ride_my_life on Instagram for more mediocre pictures made while I’m rushing through life.