Funpacking is the riding equivalent to Friendsgiving, an excuse to say no to other plans and yes to prioritizing a good time with great pals. Come along for a snow-day funpacking ride through Denver with Topo Designs with this quick video—it might have you rethinking your next group ride.
Sometimes you have to name something to justify its existence in your life. Bike rides became touring, centuries, or bikepacking trips. So, let me introduce something to you that’s just as grand but less elaborate: Funpacking.
A townie ride with Alter Cycles in Bozeman, Montana introduced me to the idea that the funnest rides could be right out your front door, and the wrong bikes on the right trails make for the best times.
Our inaugural Funpacking trip hubbed out of our friends Alyssa Gonzalez and Kolby Clements’ bike shop, Treehouse Cyclery, in Denver. Treehouse feels like the living room you wish you had. Warm, soft light pours through the windows with character, creating a feeling that the space could put on its own play.
Our route intentionally involved trains, bluffs, and some singletrack goodness, but a December snow storm made other plans for us. Mother Nature kept us off the dirt and had us riding stairs and corkscrew hill climbs instead.
This is the great thing about Funpacking—it’s not defined by a destination. Point your bike towards fun and go. This took us to our friends’ backyard chicken coop, a mega ramp drop-in, getting high fived by an inflatable man and some fresh pow lines at the local sledding hill.
The one thing we took seriously, like any bike ride, was nutrition. Coffee and donuts at Queen City Coffee, Bánh mì and sesame balls at Vinh Xuong Bakery, and we caught the last five minutes of happy hour at Cart-Driver Pizza.
Life gets busy and it can be hard to wrangle friends, so ask them if they wanna go Funpacking. When they ask what it is, tell them it’s a single-day epic ride, full of terrain they never dreamed of riding, and the best riding food they’ll ever have.
See more from this day-in-the-funpacking-life at Topo Designs.
