Rose Parkin is "Rose on Wheels"

This is me

Hi, I'm Rose Parkin, and I really like bikepacking - that is riding quiet roads and trails in remote countryside with just enough gear to meet basic needs, but not so much that my bike is too heavy to enjoy riding it. Bikepacking for me is traveling light, and enjoying the scenery. This often means I'm not traveling very fast.

I've always been actively involved in sport and outdoor recreation, and bikepacking is my latest passion. I've made this website to share my experiences while riding from Portugal to Denmark following Andy Cox's European Divide Trail - unless it gets too hard, in which case I'll be on some other trail!

I enjoy the simplicity of pedal-eat-sleep-repeat, and after twice riding the length of both of New Zealand's islands I didn't want to slot back into "normal" routines.

I may have taken this opting out a step too far by planning to pedal- eat-sleep-repeat for 3 months while on holiday - but that problem will reveal itself in due course.


How did I become a bikepacking convert?

Start at the top

I sort of fell into bikepacking. When in 2019 friends suggested bikepacking Tour Aotearoa (TA), I was in a bit of a life fog, had nothing else planned for Feb/March 2020, so I signed up. I mean, how hard can it be to ride 100km/day for 30 days, starting at Cape Reinga and winding up at Bluff?

I didn't think too much about the realities of a month long bikepacking trip, but set about buying the bike bags, borrowing a tent and packing some miles into my unfit 56 year old body. Get the nitty gritty on how TA2020 unfolded here (link to T2 Bike packing TA, plus T3 gear selection, packing list, "route" planning)

It was a slow burn into a life-re-inventing experience, and looking back now, from 2023, I can see how significant that small decision was, and although there were bumps and diversions on the way, I am SO pleased I stepped off the ledge and free fell into that first bikepacking experience. It would be fair to say I'm now evangelical about bikepacking, and after having at least as much fun on my second TA in 2022, I decided to push the boundaries a little more and take my bike to Europe.