This Man Set Off on a 5-Year Long Bikepacking Adventure With His Dog
One of the great and sometimes unexpected things about bikepacking is that you almost always meet people you never would have otherwise met. Even if you’re on a solo expedition in a remote area, chances are, at some point, you’ll run into another person. And those chance encounters can be life changing.
John Freeman and his 6-year-old Border Collie/Heeler mix pup Mira are bikepacking superheros. They’ve already bikepacked epic distances, and now they’re on a mission to bikeback all the way around the world. And as Freeman told CTV News out of his hometown of Canmore, Alberta, everyone who sees them smiles. “They’re looking and they’re smiling…imagine riding all over the world and everyone’s smiling at you and thinking ‘how cool that is,’ so I mean, that’s the biggest gift that I got from riding with [Mira], it’s terrific.”
Freeman started bikepacking, or as he calls it, dogpacking, with Mira when she was just 3-months-old. He told CTV News, “That’s the youngest you can fly internationally because of the vaccinations and we flew to Spain and we spent five months riding around the country.”
Because Mira is a working dog, she loves to walk and run alongside the bike when she’s not riding in her special basket on the back. She can cover up to 25-miles on her own, and the rest of the time she plays navigator from the back.
And if you’re worried about Mira’s health, rest assured, she is incredibly well cared for and absolutely loves to travel. CTV News reported that Krista Hawlling, a veterinarian who specializes in orthopedic surgery, spent a month with Freeman, learning all about dogpacking. She said, “He’s doing such a fabulous job and also showing how you can safely get out there with your dog.” Hawlling also said they had talked a lot about nutrition and energy requirements for a dog like Mira, who is so active.
Author, filmmaker, YouTuber, and lifelong adventurer Ryan Duzer has spent many miles with Freeman and Mira. They met in 2020 about halfway down the Baja Divide route. “I was riding solo,” Duzer told Bicycling, “and John rode up to me at my campsite in San Ignacio and said, ‘Hi Ryan!’ He recognized me from my videos. I always love meeting interesting people and John is definitely in that category.”
But Duzer said that it was Mira who really captured his heart. She cheerfully greeted him while sitting in her basket. “We then rode together for the next week, having the time of our lives. And since then, we’ve pedaled most of the Great Divide together, the Arizona section of the Western Wildlands route, and a couple different routes in Mexico. I'm usually smiling from ear to ear when we ride together, John and I talk about everything under the sun, while Mira keeps us entertained with her goofy antics. She loves fetching sticks.”
Duzer said that watching Freeman and Mira travel together is like “witnessing a beautifully choreographed dance. They’re so in tune with each other.”
Freeman and Mira have quite the following on social media, including YouTube, where Freeman posts updates about all of their adventures. So follow along, and if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll cross paths with them out on the trails and roads.
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