Home Forums Bike Forum Sick as a dog so, show me you Bivi / Bikepacking / Adventure racing gear…..

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  • Sick as a dog so, show me you Bivi / Bikepacking / Adventure racing gear…..
  • valleydaddy
    Free Member

    Calling IanB and Flatfish are you ok?

    Did you make it back ok??

    Was thinking of you this morning walking the dog in the pouring rain 🙁

    Tiger6791
    Full Member

    Hello all, I’ve just invented something.

    How’s this sound

    It will blow your Thermarest up for you (Tested on a NeoAir regular)
    It will fill your Thermarest with ‘moisture free air’ (well air not from your lungs at least)
    It will blow it up in less than 45 seconds
    It only weighs 24grams and has no moving parts!
    It cost £1.50

    I’ll make a video and post it. 😀

    valleydaddy
    Free Member

    😀 ooo I like inventions do show us 😉

    99percentchimp
    Free Member

    Tiger – me too – pray tell!

    Does the £1-50 include postage 😀

    IanB
    Free Member

    Back safe. Will report back later with tales of extreme endeavour, high winds, army check points, descending darkness and lashing rain.

    IanB
    Free Member

    Tiger – CO2 canister and some rubber hose?

    stills8tannorm
    Free Member

    I dread to think what it is … my mind’s running riot 😉

    valleydaddy
    Free Member

    sounds like you had fun – did you come across any blow up tanks and taliban check points??

    We often come across those on a Wednesday evening spin in the Beacons

    IanB
    Free Member

    Right, washing done and kit now drying out. I don’t think anything escaped getting wet to some extent.

    Overall, a good weekend. Not the best nights sleep I’ve ever had, but it did give me lots of time to contemplate improvements to my kit which wouldn’t have presented themselves if the weather had been fine. In many ways, this bivi was harder on kit and self than the Winter one was in December.

    All the pics are linked here[/url], but here’s a summary:

    You don’t get the sense of strong headwind in this picture, but the going was hard:
    [/url]
    Up and into the wind[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

    My tarp set up worked well considering the conditions:
    [/url]
    My tarp setup[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

    Flatfish’s tarp just before he twiddled it round to keep the wind out:
    [/url]
    Flatfish’s initial tarp set up[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

    Dinner time – Saag aloo and mullagatawny noodles went down a real treat.
    [/url]
    Dinner time[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

    Morning brew and Flatfish’s wind-reconfigured tarp…:
    [/url]
    Morning brew[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

    Leaving no trace:
    [/url]
    Breaking camp in the rain[/url] by ianbarrington[/url], on Flickr

    So, anyway. The trails were soft and the going very hard. The frozen ground I experienced on this route two weeks ago had gone – trails were very soft indeed. There was a headwind. At 5pm we were still about an hour away from the camp, but we pressed on anyway, negotiating the army checkpoint on the way. We did one of the descents in the dark, but the last one down to the camp was too tricky to ride. The rain didn’t start until about 9pm, though it was still windy when we set up the tarps. The wind and rain was persistant throughout most of the night, which took a greater toll on flatfish’s tarp than mine, though mine needed some adjustment part way through the night. We broke camp pretty early and enjoyed the tail wind home. Kit was tested to it’s limit, which was good to see how far you can take stuff and what you need to do to improve it for next time.

    valleydaddy
    Free Member

    some great pics there Ian 😀

    The frame bags look great did they work well in field test?

    What else would you change from your kit list?

    Tiger6791
    Full Member

    Looks like a good weekend. 🙂

    IanB
    Free Member

    What else would you change from your kit list?

    I wouldn’t change many of the items significantly. Most relate to refinements of the tarp set up to improve performance in windy conditions and to better exclude wind driven rain.

    One issue I had this morning was trying to get the stove lit in a strong wind – got there in the end but it was quite tricky to get it primed which at the time was a concern though not life threatening. The Whitebox might have been better than the Triad, so might use that one next time.

    valleydaddy
    Free Member

    Yes that’s something I need to practice is tarp set up, as I guess we won’t have Stu’s marquee tarp to cover us all on the WRT (if I do it that is 😉 )

    Tiger6791
    Full Member

    One issue I had this morning was trying to get the stove lit in a strong wind – got there in the end but it was quite tricky to get it primed

    Caldera cone

    IanB
    Free Member

    Caldera cones – I’ve seen those but never used one. Not sure whether it would have allowed me to get the stove primed more easily, but it would have been more efficient at boiling the water at least. I think I have some material that would allow me to make my own to test the theory at low cost.

    Tiger6791
    Full Member

    stills8tannorm
    Free Member

    Looks a nice spot fellas, however I’m not too sorry I missed the wind/rain.

    Slightly puzzled by the ‘leaving no trace’ picture as the third pic down obviously shows flatfish enjoying a ‘wild one’ 😯

    IanB
    Free Member

    flatfish enjoying a ‘wild one’

    Not sure what that was, but not what you think or looks like. When we packed there was no sign we’d been there. Even recovered all the tent pegs 🙂

    Caldera clones: found this, which looks good – http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/forum/forummessages/mps/UTN/22357/URN/5/dt/4/srchdte/0/cp/1/v/8/sp/

    Bigface0_0
    Free Member

    IanB, Looks like a good trip chaps…

    stills8tannorm
    Free Member

    Ian you didn’t by chance leave the flat one behind in the mountains did you? … he’s being very quiet.

    IanB
    Free Member

    LOL, he made it out alive, albeit somewhat sleep deprived..

    Ambrose
    Full Member

    Is that spot really not very far from Sarn Helen by any chance. If it’s where I think it is, it’s a lovely place to spend the night. I’ve used it many times.

    flatfish
    Free Member

    I’d like to say it was lovely but i didn’t see much of it due to the driving rain that battered me all night!
    My kit is just about all dry now. Oohhhh, how i wished it was colder and it would have been snow instead.
    Unfortunately for you Stu, Ian brought me home, a little wetter and colder than i care to be though.

    stills8tannorm
    Free Member

    Glad you had a nice time then 😉

    flatfish
    Free Member

    wasn’t my best but it did teach me a few things!

    valleydaddy
    Free Member

    Pretty miserable at times I’d imagine in that weather 😯

    dare I say maybe a tent may have offered better shelter??

    flatfish
    Free Member

    At some point during the night i did wish for a tent, i wished not to be there, i also wished Ians tarp would fall down so he could join me in my misery.
    Only one of these thing actually happened, only for a short time, but it happened!
    THERE IS A GOD!!!!!!

    valleydaddy
    Free Member

    Did you teleport back home for a warm up and then back before Ian noticed or was Ian suffering the same as you??

    stills8tannorm
    Free Member

    Ya big puff 😉

    flatfish
    Free Member

    If you still coming out to play next month and not playing with a bunch of girls were going hammocking. I found i sleep so much better in a hammock than a bivi bag.

    valleydaddy
    Free Member

    Big respect for going bivvying in Feb though 😉

    Busting to have another crack at it 😀

    stills8tannorm
    Free Member

    Hammocks good with me, I’ll have a look on the map for trees. If the hammocks rockin’ don’t come knockin’ …. as I’m obviously just about to tip it over and fall out!

    IanB
    Free Member

    i also wished Ians tarp would fall down so he could join me in my misery.

    I did offer you some space under my tarp, which you declined. Like I said before, you learn more in suffering. You’ll be better prepared next time 😉

    flatfish
    Free Member

    Although you did offer, which I was grateful for, you got wet too without me helping you get wet. I was also using my considerable weight to stop my tarp from blowing away. 🙄

    valleydaddy
    Free Member

    You’ll be better prepared next time

    argh you lot trying to get me to be uber minimal and now I am worrrying I need to think about more kit!!!

    So is the real lesson here more about tarp set up and placement???

    this is what I need to practice as I said before, Stu link ^^^^^ is really good.

    flatfish
    Free Member

    My lesson this trip was:
    My hammock tarp is shite for bivvying,
    My jacket, whilst waterproof, doesn’t breathe at all,
    And my non party food was shite.

    stills8tannorm
    Free Member

    Is that your RAB jacket?

    flatfish
    Free Member

    No it was a cheaper one, I regret not taking my Rab, I went for pack size and suffered a bit

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    So is the real lesson here more about tarp set up and placement???

    Or check the weather forecast and use an appropriate level of kit?

    I have too many cold wet nights out in the past – It ain’t happening again. 4 season tent for dodgy weather. I am going to make a totally waterproof bag / tent hybrid to use in better weather tho

    Tiger6791
    Full Member

    I’m up and about next weekend if anybody fancies it?

    ‘spose I could sleep outside 🙂 Got a new frame bag to test.

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