Bikepacking with Aeroe

Digital Imaging Ambassador

Heading into Mavora lakes is one of our favourite destinations to escape. Rather than drive around the mountains from Queenstown we decided we’d take a more direct line as the valleys start just across the lake from our home. A bit more of an Adventure and perfect place to test out the Aeroe bikepacking carrier system.

We boarded the boat with our bikes in a last minute rush to get a few extra bits of gear from the shop. Packing minimal isn’t easy taking away luxuries and leaving just the necessities. 100km ride round trip we skimped as much as we could other than food. A big bag of salt and vinegar chips, followed by a 3 course camp meal, freeze dried, then curry and mash topped with sprouts, finished off with a soup. It was by far the best I’ve eaten in one sitting while out in the bush.
Riding through that part of the country with very little traffic on the dirt road was easy to see why the it’s so popular. What was uncomfortable was the head wind biking back and estimating how much it would slow us down before our pick up time at the wharf.

Photography gear I took was pretty simple, the lightweight full frame Sony a7C + FE 24-105mm f/4. This gave me enough variation to capture what I needed on the trip. One thing I skimped on was a lens cleaning cloth. We were so dusty by the end of it and no bit of clothing was safe to use. Noted for next time!

We split the Aeroe bike carrier system between us. I loaded up my Mountain bike with the Aeroe Bike pack rear spider rack with 2x 12L dry bags side mounted and tent on top. That left me with just a camel back on my back. Jade had her 52L Osprey mutant bag as she had a single handlebar rack with 8L dry bag. We haven’t done a huge amount of bikepacking so it’s always further refining gear structure, weights, food etc. After the first day Jade was pretty uncomfortable with her neck angle due to her backpack. She’s now keen to get herself a full Aeroe set up as it’s very much on the cards for next summer. We’re mostly out riding the single trails around Queenstown so it’s ideal that the racks can work on the dual suspension without the need to get a specific gravel bike. Pretty stoked to have this bikepacking kit added to our gear!