The ultimate sense of freedom

Is there a better way to spend your first month of retirement than on a bikepacking trip? Leo Beukeboom sets off on a two-week cycling adventure through Andalucia, celebrating the freedom of post-academic life on two wheels.

Bikepacking requires careful preparation. Traveling with too little can turn an adventure into a nightmare, while packing too much leads to regret on every climb and each morning when it’s time to repack. “To make a bikepacking trip more convenient, the right equipment is essential,” says Beukeboom. “Not only should the bike be in good condition, but the bikepacking gear you use also matters.”

Beukeboom prefers traveling light over spending time packing in the morning. “For me, the SKS Germany bikepacking bags are therefore the perfect fit.”

He creates a route on Wikiloc that largely follows Spain’s Vías Verdes, former railway tracks that now cross the country and are ideal for bikepacking in Andalucia. The total distance is around 1000 kilometers, with each day up to 2000 meters of elevation, aiming to complete it over eight days of cycling, with two rest days to for instance also enjoy regional highlights such as the famous city of Ronda along the way. Instead of camping, as many bikepackers do, Beukeboom stays in hotels, ensuring proper rest and breakfast each day.

He rides a Stromer e-bike with two batteries to cover longer daily distances. This setup increases his range but reduces available packing space. The Explorer EXP Barbag, which may be slightly too large for performance-focused cyclists, proves highly practical for this type of bikepacking trip. Together with two Infinity Urban Sidebags and an Urban Frame Bag, he has plenty of storage capacity for all his gear.

“SKS Germany’s bikepacking bags focus on the details,” Beukeboom comments. “Some features I really appreciate during this trip are the high-quality zippers, the mounting straps for lights or small items, and the rear mounting system, which is secure and easy to use once installed correctly. The SKS Infinity Urban Sidebar, for instance, is spacious and very easy to put onto the pannier rack of a bike. A lot of bike bags I used in the past tend to bend and touch the spokes of the wheels while riding, but these ones don’t, which is great. Also, they stay upright when put on the ground, unlike most bike bags.”

Since he doesn’t carry a sleeping bag, mat, or tent, packing becomes much simpler. Instead of filling the bar bag with bulky gear, he uses the front space to rest his elbows on long, quiet roads, while the extra e-bike battery sits securely behind the saddle. “Testing your bikepacking setup before the trip is important. If I pack too much in the frame bag, it becomes bulky and I touch it with my knees. By testing in advance, I avoid this.”

Beukeboom experiences this journey as a trip of a lifetime and already looks ahead to more. “I enjoy this a lot,” he says. “I plan to do more bikepacking trips in different regions, using the same bikepacking bags I use now.”

“The sense of freedom is incomparable,” the bikepacker concludes. “This way of slow-travel is fantastic to get to know a country or different places. It is quite different from last month, when I was still working at the university chasing deadlines and having the responsibility over my research group. Now, I don’t have to do anything, but I can do anything I want to. For instance, I don’t have to finish a route or a certain distance: if I feel like it I just stop somewhere else to rest. The only thing I need to be careful of, ultimately, is that my batteries are charged. If that’s my only worry, then I think bikepacking is the ultimate sense of freedom.”