#11 - With a little help
I’ve gotten to know the bike packing community as a rather close and welcoming one in the short time i’m cruising in it. Yesterday, I posted about the steps I’m taking towards my first tour. About the things that I have to overcome before starting one. Soon after, I got a message from Dennis Struck. He’s an experienced bike packer, and had some things to share with me.
Dennis suggested starting out slow. Taking camping and providing food out of the equation for example. Ride to a hotel, or B&B for a place to sleep and provisions. Then ride a loop from there on day two, and ride back home. This idea really struck me. It’s so simple, and it focusses on the physical side almost exclusively. It eliminates the hustle of looking for a place to stay at the end of every day. Or the planning of it beforehand. It’s still part of what I want to do eventually, but for my first steps, it leaves room for exploration and experience more then when I have to do all the other things too. And since I’m still very unsure about what my body can take, this may be the way to go.
I’ll be putting those Ortliebs to the test
Now as it happens, it seems I planned my first tour in exactly this way, without even realizing it. Next weekend, I’ll be joining the Belgian HPV club on their weekend. Originally I was planning to go there in my van, and sleep in it, but now I decided to ride there on the trike. As the bird flies it’s only about 15 km from my home, but I may take a little detour to make it more of a ride on day one. The event starts late in the afternoon, so that should give me some time to ride. On the second day, the organization planned two rides.
One is 40 km, the other one 100 km. I’ll let the day decide on which one I’ll do. And then on the last day, I can take a ride home again. Since this is a three day ride, with two overnights away from home, I guess you can say I’ll be bike packing the weekend. I just didn’t realize since it didn’t feel that way. It’s so close to home. In my head, I’ve been planning rides away from home. Crossing borders, into other countries. It has some epicness to it. It feels bigger, just by crossing the borders. But I guess the simple logistics of staying somewhere else, and carrying my gear for the weekend, makes this my first tour. It just had to be pointed out to me I guess. Thanks for that Dennis.
