The latest of our guest bloggers is Tatiana Broman. She tells us about setting up her exciting new venture, BikepackingOslo. Over to Tatiana…
“What are you looking forward to?
For me the spring of 2020 brought cancellations in the travel industry where I worked; the planned trips with family and friends were paused; and the bike-races I had trained for were postponed or cancelled altogether. I’m sure you recognize a similar scenario from your own life this strange year.
As a freelancer in the adventure travel world, my lifestyle, surfing on top of a meringue, had turned from sweet to crumbs. I pretty much lost all work contracts overnight. Or they were put on hold. I couldn’t complain since I had roof over my head and food in the fridge. Many people were in much more difficult situations. But I lost my forward focus. I was in a slump.
After some serious slumping, I de-slumped myself and started my own business. Why not start a travel and adventure business in the face of adversity?
I thought that if I start with combining my outdoors experience with my passion for cycling, camping and making people comfortable in the wild, I have a good start. If I then generously add some Norwegian nature reserves and hook up with a network of local entrepreneurs and businesses, I could have something going. Finally, I talk to everyone I know to join me for a test-trip, so that I can test my ideas live and get some content for social media. I could then get instant feedback on what worked and what didn’t get people jumping for joy. I package it and sell it.
I did all of the above and started BikepackingOslo. Now I had something to passionately focus on again!
Bikepacking is a lightweight and minimalist way of travelling by bike. You only take what you really need and cleverly attach everything to the frame, the seatpost and the handlebars. Bikepacking gives you freedom, since you pack your gear in a way that keeps your bike agile and able to handle offroad riding. Weather you choose to go on singletrack with a mountain bike, or on gravel with a more specific gravel bike, or just brave whatever road with the bike you have at hand, it gives you freedom to head out for a simple overnighter or a month long expedition.
BikepackingOslo provides guided adventure-cycling trips, the know-how, the specific bags and packing suggestions, the cooking gear, the lightweight tents and all the food and snack provisions. We provide great company, putting groups together so that you can sit by the bonfire at night and laugh under the stars.
We bring you on an adventure into the nature reserves surrounding Oslo, Norway. We offer an overnighter, 2 days, or 3 days. You can choose gravel roads or singletrack. Whichever you decide upon, you’ll find yourself among pine forests, rapids, lakes, granite rock and flowery meadows.
For every guest that has joined BikepackingOslo this summer I have had this surge of happiness and felt a purpose. My focus is locked on target again and I’m looking forward to when the staycations can become explorations. Imagine when we can freely welcome each other over the borders again!
Maybe your next project to look forward to could be packing some bags on your bike since a lot of mountain bikers are getting into bikepacking too? Or packing your mountain bike in a bag and heading to Pure Mountains in the Sierra Nevada! Now that is really something to look forward to!”
Tatiana Broman
Owner and Guide, BikepackingOslo
