The latest ubiquitous bikepacking video edit has landed from Bombtrack. What used to be the nighttime urban mountain bike video turned longest fixie skid / trackstand / paint-drying video has now become an introspective voiced-over documentary of what it’s like to ride a bag-laden bicycle a very, very long way surprisingly quickly across beautiful landscapes and mountainous regions.

Turns out riding for a very, very long time surprisingly quickly makes you reconsider many priorities in life, because all of a sudden you have a lot of time to contemplate different things to distract you from the cold (yet stunning) sunrises, gorgeous gravel, and late night time-trials to get somewhere before last call.

Bonus points for a Euro accent, drone footage, uplifting (epic!) music, and cheesy graphic showing total amount of elevation across the very, very long ride.

The Torino – Nice Rally is not a race, it is rather food for your soul: an adventure with friends and a memorable experience. 700km on old military cols and scenic historical trade routes leading all the way from the western Italian Alpes down to the coast of southern France.

In 2016 our ambassador JOACHIM ROSENLUND took part in the rally (on his HOOK EXT) and experienced some truly incredible unsupported bikepacking. The backdrop of Europe’s highest mountains never cease to take our breath away, but we couldn’t prepare ourselves for quite how spectacular his journey would be.

As an event in-between all Joachim’s annual long-distance competitions the “Torino-Nice Rally” seemed to be the perfect ‘recovery’ ride, without pressure, and ‘only’ 20,000m of elevation. The rally made such an impression on him that he’s already signed up for the 2017 edition again….to see what exactly brought him back for a repeat visit check out the video, and if you’re tempted to ride it yourself be sure to say ”Hi” to him in Turin.