I did a mini adventure and it revealed my true character. Wild camping alone allows you to reconnect, explore and spend a lot of time with your own thoughts thinking about how your bike is probably going to be stolen when you wake up after 3 hours sleep.
I think I enjoyed it?
Link to the blog here. Enjoyment not guaranteed.
Nice article, honesty appreciated!
Really engaging and enjoyable. I like your writing style!
Enjoyed reading that,keeping it 'real'!
enjoyed that.
made me think, i am trying to like bikepacking. but it just isn't happening.
spent 15 years doing polaris events, which i loved. but now i hate camping, and bikepacking is just camping but harder.
Like all things, it's not for everyone.
Well done to the OP for giving it a go though. That was a nice wee tale.
I too often think about what I might write as I'm riding. Mostly it's trying to whittle it all down to a few words that might describe my feelings. My initial reasons for writing stuff down and taking photos was so that [i][b]I[/b][/i] might later look back on it, so the audience is primarily me 🙂
I guess I'm also a fairly trusting soul. I'm comfortable in the dark, outdoors, in strange places. The notion of someone coming past and stealing my bike never really occurs to me.
Love it! Reminds me of a time when I was about 20 and going through girlfriend issues. I decided I was going to take my bike to Spain and cycle home; wild camping on the way back. In my head I had a clear vision of what an amazing adventure it would be.
As soon as I set off, reality bit hard. I'd loaded literally 20kg of kit in my rucksack which made cycling thoroughly unpleasant. About 30miles from home 3 spokes in the rear wheel gave out. I turned around and headed back. All I achieved was a totally shite ride. That was close to 20 years ago and I've still not done a wild camp.
Nice write up Adam, Ive been playing around with this for years now also and hopefully at some point will get round to it.
Enjoyed that Adam - keep up the writing!
The makeshift alarm genuinely had me roaring with laughter. I can't explain why. We're trying bikepacking for the first time next month, so not really in a position to comment
😀
Forget about blogging and photos for a few rides.
Ride further, until you are exhausted and sore. Then you'll wish that either a) a deranged moorland madman drags you from your bivy and puts you out your misery by beating you to a pulp, or b) someone steals your infernal bike and you can sack the ride and go drink beer.
I was bike camping at the cuillins campsite, and was worried someone would see the bike lying there and steal it.
So worried was I, I had a bit of cord tied around the bike, in through the tent door to the sleepingbag cord.
About 2 am I got up for pee and then realized the entire area was pitch black. Thieves would need to be using nightvision goggles to see the bike, or even the tent.
After that I was pretty OK with leaving the bike next to the tent unattended overnight.
I love the last line!
Brilliant! 😀
By which p20 means he was actually crying with laughter and lost the power of speech for 10 minutes. Which made me cry with laughter, laughing at him. Do not understand the power of your blog 😆The makeshift alarm genuinely had me roaring with laughter. I can't explain why.
Ha ha, love that. I did my first bikepacking bivvy in the Pentlands after taking advice from scotroutes and others on here. The same sort of thoughts did flash through my mind, but it was a lovely experience and as soon as we get a warmer Thursday night (it's what suits me best) I'll be back out there.
I did wake up in the middle of the night in a panic that I was getting breathed on / attacked by a sheep... but turned out it was just the wind rustling the mouth of the bivvy bag!
Great read thanks.
I like your others too.
🙂
Ha ha, love that. I did my first bikepacking bivvy in the Pentlands after taking advice from scotroutes and others on here. The same sort of thoughts did flash through my mind, but it was a lovely experience and as soon as we get a warmer Thursday night (it's what suits me best) I'll be back out there.
I did wake up in the middle of the night in a panic that I was getting breathed on / attacked by a sheep... but turned out it was just the wind rustling the mouth of the bivvy bag!
Ride further, until you are exhausted and sore.
@mcnik - exactly! I think that is key. Ruin yourself to the point where the prickliest of bushes is like a king size bed.
The same sort of thoughts did flash through my mind
@fatmax - glad it's not just me then!
The makeshift alarm genuinely had me roaring with laughter.
Security is no laughing matter. You'll have to let us know how you get on with your first wild camp attempt. Would love to hear about it.
Arf! Enjoyed that, thanks
Oh we know only too well having had bikes stolen last year and loosing a lot of sleep afterwards. In all seriousness I've looked at bike locks that come with 100-120 db alarms to give me piece of mind. p20 is just putting up with my madness.Security is no laughing matter. You'll have to let us know how you get on with your first wild camp attempt. Would love to hear about it.
We have however wild camped before, just not with the bikes.
Our laughter was only in a good way, worried about the consequence of a piece of string around your head 😆
We'll do a write up when we get back, as so much of it has been planned with singletrack input.
This was my bed a few weeks ago, near the shooting cabins in Hayfield. It wasn’t exactly hidden. The thought of someone stealing my bike or stabbing me to death did cross my mind for a few seconds but then I thought your average psycho killer doesn’t pop up for a walk around Kinder at midnight on a weekend. To be honest it was the Curlews and Grouse keeping me awake was the bigger problem.
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Nice!
Excellent &I laughed at the thought of you providing the bike thief/murderer with the murder weapon.
"Here I am sleeping ,please garrotte me whilst taking my bike"
I'm yet to have my first proper wildcamp- I did try the hammock and tarp in the garden and it wasn't a good kip- trees too close together...I have a few locations in mind for the first mini adventure but being in the South east I'm frightened of axe murdering youths .etc.
Keep up the good work.
Jolly entertaining and closer to most people's lives than most magazine chuff! 😀
Speaking as an axe wielding homicidal maniac, the problem with the countryside is that it isn't a target rich environment. You have to stomp around for ages before finding your victims, there just isn't that instant gratification that you get from a quick grab and slash behind Asda.
Speaking as an axe wielding homicidal maniac, the problem with the countryside is that it isn't a target rich environment. You have to stomp around for ages before finding your victims, there just isn't that instant gratification that you get from a quick grab and slash behind Asda.
handy that they come wrapped already in a body-bag though......
Enjoyed that very much.
Cheers
Sometimes mistrust of humanity is justified.
Five minutes later he returns and is with a friend and making a bee line toward me in the tent. Still I´m unconcerned, and prepare for a cheerful encounter. When they get to within a few yards I realise something is wrong. No smiles, animals on the hunt. The first guy who is about 35 reaches into his pocket and pulls out a gun, this is serious. The other younger man with stave in hand helps drag me out of the tent. With the gun to my head I´m in no mood to argue against their blows.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?page_id=447413
I'm not sure Ecuador and a random forest in Scotland exactly compare in potential kidnapping stakes.
Now to see if Alpkit will create a custom a frame mount for my emotional baggage.
Hahaha nice
That was a great read.
same, can't really think offhand of any nice grassy spots (like you see in all the bikepacking photos) that aren't a stones throw from a main road. So it'd have to woods, but then I'm paranoid about pitching on one of the massive ants nests that seem to occupy 98% of the woods around here! Having said that there is a "wild" campsite in the woods about 40 miles ride from me so that could be a good test adventure for a night before heading up somewhere a bit more remote for a couple of days camping if I actually enjoy it...I have a few locations in mind for the first mini adventure but being in the South east I'm frightened of axe murdering youths .etc.
@ton I remember going along to the Polaris Challenges with my dad! Great events! Haven't ventured out to try a bike packing adventure yet but since I love miles on the Gravel Machine it seems like a logical step (like everyone else not sure how a wild camp would get on :|)
Has anyone seen that they are bringing the Challenge back as an app??
[url= https://goo.gl/96Iv7p ]Gravel App Challenge [/url]
Might use it as a first navigational tester and it is free/local....
Ha ha, this is interesting - i am currently planning a 500-mile solo bikepacking / credit card tour from Scotland down through the country to home
… and i have a horrible feeling that the planning will be the bit I enjoy most, and the reality of it will be a horrible, cold, expensive, painful and lonley mid-life disappointment.
I have a question for OP though.
Now you've written that and recovered a bit, are you feeling any urge to go out again, or has the call of the wild left you for good?
Love it - really nicely written 🙂
Glad I'm not the only one in that boat then! I tucked the saddle of the bike under the fly of my tipi to give me an early warning of possible thievery. As it was it was only rabbits taking interest in me. FWIW I decided to use my tipi fly instead of a bivi bag as there was rain forecast and I'm soft.
It's a good idea to watch a relaxing movie like Dog Soldiers before bikepacking.
Then you won't worry about people at all, at all... 🙂
Very nice writeup. I'd be keen to read more. Keep it up.
I enjoyed that, made me chortle and nod with some recognition.
It bit me a couple of years back one sunny Sunday when I packed tarp (purchased from STW classifieds) and rode up into the Hills. Slipped away from the crowds and 'disappeared' into some rhododendrons over a little rise not half a mile from a car-park. Out came the new sil-nylon micro-tarp, a roll of paracord and my SAK. Cut some cord, forgot knot-lore, tied tarp to some branches using idiotic pseudo-knots. Lay propped on an elbow, sliding imperceptibly down a gentle slope. Had a momentary [s]OOBE[/s] flash of self-awareness and saw an overweight middle-aged man squeezed under a drab-green nylon handkerchief gazing at some sycamore and holly trees*. I remember an exposed tree root hurting my elbow, right before (gently) admitting defeat and cycling ten minutes back home. It didn't even rain.
Much prefer tent-camping with friends and cheer.
*Sycamore and holly are the most boring woodland companions.