Bikepacking 101 Class (December 7, 2025)

nocellajoe
Dec 7
2 min read

718 Outdoors is a 1-person operation that has remained small, local and independent by design since 2008. If this resonates with you, your support is welcome and greatly appreciated! If not, that's cool too.

718 Outdoors Classes:

Free classes have been a part of the 718 DNA since our inception in 2008. For over a decade at our 3rd Ave location (2010-2019) we held free classes each Thursday no matter what, We also had additional programming like a Woman's Intensive Course as well as youth and other group events. We currently offer Free Bikepacking 101, Camp Kitchen and Trailside Maintenance Classes.hjnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Image Galleries from Classes from the past (scroll to bottom pf page)
Class and Event Schedule

Keeping them free was also critical. Ive heard the arguments about "not giving it away", but my thoughts were that everything we do/did is available on YouTube, so why not create a reason to come to the shop. Also, better educated customer make for better customers.

The Offseason:

Right when our season ends (October or so), I start getting our offseason class schedule together. Katie at Principles Coffee House and Charlie and Libby at Bicycle Habitat have always welcomed my use of there spaces with open arms.

December 7, 2025 Bikepacking Class:

On a cold Sunday morning in December, we hosted a Bikepacking 101 Class at Principles Coffee House.

We had about 12 people brave the weather. With a smaller class size, I was able to be more informal with the group, looking to teach to their specific questions. As with most of our Bikepacking 101 Classes, I broke it down to 5 topics:

Intro/Terminology
Planning a Trip
Packing and Gear
Bike and Riding
Camping

The goal of these classes is to really demystify the whole bikepacking thing and to get people excited about our upcoming Tours and Micro-Tours.

Check out our upcoming Class Schedule here.

Final Note:

For better or worse, I do not use AI to create my posts. This is all me, with my misspellings, questionable grammar and tangential thoughts. I didn't get into this line of work to hand over my thoughts, expertise and experience to AI to spit out blog posts.