The route screen
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Opening a route shows the map above the trip's numbers: distance, climbing, ride time and how much is unpaved. Below sit an elevation preview, where you'll sleep, and the list of days. The share button exports the whole trip as GPX through your phone's share sheet. On a saved route, Mec, the AI route partner, stays out of the way until you tap 'Ask Mec to tweak'.
The numbers
| Figure | What it means |
|---|---|
| Dist | Total distance of the routed line. |
| Climb | Total metres of ascent, with rises under 3 m left out as elevation noise; the sum of the days once the trip is split. The same figure as the elevation screen and the chat's summary band. |
| Time | Your estimated riding time for the whole trip, like '~2 h 30', rounded to the nearest 15 minutes. It's worked out from your bike type, e-bike setting and trip pace over the riding distance (ferry crossings left out), with extra time for the climbing. Breaks aren't included. |
| Surface | The share of the route recorded as unpaved (gravel, dirt, grass, cobblestones and the like). When part of the route has no surface recorded, a second line gives that share as '% unknown'; it is never counted as unpaved. A dash means the route carries no surface data at all. |
| Difficulty | A plain label worked out from the climbing against the distance. |
| km/h avg | The average speed that ride time works out to over the riding distance. |
Every ride time in the app comes from this one estimate. The elevation screen shows it as a range, the day-by-day screen gives each day its share of it so the days add up to the trip's Time, the route-option cards show it per day, and Mec quotes the same figure. Your trip pace starts from your ride preferences, and you can change it for a trip by telling Mec.
The map
- Each day is drawn in its own colour, with a bed marker at the end of each one.
- The layers button swaps between Map, Satellite and Topo.
- Expand map opens the route full screen, where you can pan and zoom.
- A blue dot shows where you are, once you've allowed location access.
- Tapping a stop marker on the map at the top of the route screen opens its details.
Exporting GPX
The share icon in the header writes the whole trip as a GPX file and hands it to your phone's share sheet, so you can send it to a bike computer app, a cloud drive, or a message to yourself. Stops ride along as named waypoints. For now the app exports the whole route only; for one file per day, use the web planner.
Changing a saved route
A saved route opens read-only with an 'Ask Mec to tweak' button along the bottom. Tapping it opens an empty chat against that route; if the route has earlier chats, they're listed there under Chat history so you can pick one up. Opening a chat from Your chats on the Plan tab brings you to this screen with that chat already loaded. If you walk away with route changes you haven't saved, the app stops you and asks whether to save, keep editing or leave; Leave drops those changes. (A route you've never saved is different: leaving keeps it on this phone as a draft, reopened from the Plan tab.) Leaving the route screen also ends the current chat, which then joins the route's Chat history.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get the route onto my Garmin or Wahoo?
Tap the share icon on the route screen and send the GPX file wherever you like — your device's companion app, a cloud drive or email. Bikepackia doesn't sync to devices directly (coming soon).
Why is the ride time slower than another app's estimate?
Bikepackia estimates the time for a loaded bikepacking bike: it uses your bike type, e-bike setting and pace, and adds time for every metre of climbing. That's usually slower than a routing app's figure. Set a faster pace in your ride preferences, or tell Mec, and every ride time in the app changes with it.
Can I download a route to use offline?
Not yet. The Account tab lists offline maps as coming soon. Export the GPX before you set off and ride it from an app that holds maps offline.