Joe Cruz

Jan 2, 2025 | bikepacking.com | Joe Cruz

If gear, clothing, and bikes were chosen purely for function, we’d likely have settled on a uniform list by now, varying only by climate and terrain. Instead, the market fuels our acquisitiveness with minor differences and new standards, shaping a consumerist mindset that feels self-driven. In Joe Cruz’s 2024 Editor’s Dozen, he offers a hopeful alternative: that the gear we choose can also reflect how we imagine and hope a ride will feel.

Jun 20, 2024 | bikepacking.com | Joe Cruz

In this piece, Joe shares a trip report of making new friends and riding Bike Friday’s all-terrain All-Packa folding bicycle in Montana last autumn before forbidding weather ended the bikepacking season. The party of four—which included Willie Hatfield, the bike’s lead designer—were all on the mini-velos.

Apr 8, 2024 | bikepacking.com | Josh Meissner |Joe Cruz |Neil Beltchenko |Lucas Winzenburg

In today’s edition of Weekend Snapshot, we catch up with a few members of the team who were recently out bikepacking around three different continents.

Apr 3, 2024 | bikepacking.com | Joe Cruz |Lucas Winzenburg

Today, British footwear brand QUOC announced its new Grand Tourer XC Lace off-road shoe, featuring a carbon midsole and a new grippier TPU tread material. Joe has been testing a pair for the last month.

Feb 1, 2024 | bikepacking.com | Joe Cruz

By a defensible reckoning, the history of bikepacking is the history of bicycling itself. If what we mean by “bikepacking” is the idea of heading forth on a bicycle seeking quiet dirt tracks for long rides with a sense of openness while carrying everything one needs for the day or for an overnighter or a journey of many months, then bicycles inspired the imagination from the start in that very way. In the late 1800s, a trek from one’s hometown incurred expense and challenge.