Cycling offers a number of benefits, including increased leg strength, a great cardiovascular workout and a way to get around town while reducing your carbon footprint. Whether you're riding for fun, exercise or transportation, wearing a backpack allows you to bring any additional items that you might need. If you're not careful, though, a fully loaded backpack can increase your chance of winding up in an accident or losing your balance. Using a weighted backpack in your training lets you learn to ride safely with a loaded pack and also increases the health benefits of your rides.
Items you will need
- Weighted backpack
Prepare your backpack by starting with a well-built backpack that features wide shoulder straps and a waist strap that snaps or buckles in the front. Use sandbags or other malleable weights to add weight to the pack, placing them so weight is evenly distributed between both straps.
Check your bike to ensure that the seat, handlebars and other components are installed securely at the height and angles you require to ride comfortably. When riding without a backpack, you might be able to correct your balance to adjust for poorly installed components. But the added weight of the backpack makes this much more dangerous.
Put on your backpack before getting on your bike, adjusting the straps and the pack's positioning as needed to evenly distribute the weight of the backpack between your shoulders. Secure the waist strap of the backpack and adjust it to prevent the pack from shifting significantly while you ride.
Straddle your bike and begin pedaling slowly. Make slow, wide turns while getting used to the added weight of your backpack, paying attention to how the weight shifts as you turn and how it affects your balance on the bike.
Increase your speed gradually, tightening your turns slightly with each increase and adjusting your balance as needed to keep from falling during the turns. By working slowly toward your regular speed instead of trying to assume it from the beginning, your body has more time to adjust to the change that the backpack makes in your center of gravity.
Ride for gradually longer periods, increasing your speed with each training session as you become more accustomed to riding with a weighted pack. Once you can ride without difficulty, switch to your standard pack, or increase the weight gradually and add intensity to your cycling sessions.
- Specially designed cycling backpacks are available that focus the pack's weight on your upper, instead of lower, back. This helps distribute the weight of the pack more naturally and reduces wind resistance when you are cycling faster.
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