Autumn Riding – Who’s Up For A Midweek Bivi?

Cycling UK has been out on a midweek adventure in the hope of enticing you away from your sofas and out on the bike for some golden autumn riding.

Shortening days and cooler nights don’t have to mean an end to adventure. In fact, the cooling weather spells and end to biting flies, and the short days mean you can see the sun rise at a sensible time. No more rude awakenings from your bivi nest at 4am. Autumn riding might just be perfection.

Cycling UK’s Sam Jones says:

‘It’s a Wednesday autumnal evening – perfect timing for a post-work bikepacking microadventure! If you’ve ever suffered from the hump day blues, why not bring your weekend adventures a little bit closer with an overnight trip…’

If you want to read his rather poetic blog piece, you can do so in full here. Here’s a snippet for you:

‘Summer dried branches crackle beneath my wheels, the cool night air swoons with the heady scent of cep and a lone tawny owl screech breaks the silence.

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‘Our bike lights strafe the woodland gloom as we search for a flat spot to make our beds for the night. The leaf strewn floor is a potential minefield of jolts and judders, and requires careful navigation with one eye on the ground ahead and the other looking for that right bivi spot.

‘Distant rustling of nocturnal predators beyond our lights’ haloes show we’re not alone in the darkness, but for the heart of Surrey, barely five miles from Guildford, it feels as though we are.’

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Sam’s mid week trip is as a result of his new year’s resolution to spend a night outdoors each month of the year and so far has kept to the challenge through snow, wind and rain in Surrey, Dorset, Lancashire, Cape Wrath, the Isle of Wight and Tuscany. However, he’s not the only one extolling the virtue of shorter-days riding. In issue 127 of Singletrack Magazine, out this week, Sanny takes us on a ride to prove that the dark mornings are the perfect time to get high and see the sun rise. Goodbye midnight sun, hello autumn rays.

If you’ve subscribed to Singletrack, your copy will be landing any moment. If you’re not a subscriber, you can get your copy of Issue 127 here:

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