0 CommentsOne of the goals I set for myself this year was to do at least one overnighter each month. Calling that a goal doesn't exactly sound right though. A goal sounds like work and these overnighters are definitely not intended to be work. They are meant to be a nice quick way to have some fun, get in a mini camping excursion, sleep outside under the stars, and breathe some fresh air.
A few years back, Grant Peterson of Rivendell took to calling these overnighters Sub-24 Hour Overnight (S24O) trips. I don't always agree with Grant but I think he hits the nail on the head with his thoughts on overnighters. If you want to read more about what Grant says about S24O's you can do so at www.rivbike.com. Click on READ and you'll see some stuff about bike camping and what to bring. Another site you may enjoy is www.bikepacking.net.
My outing last night would officially qualify as a S9O on the Rivendell scale, but to me spending a night outside is priceless. That doesn't always mean I get the best night's sleep, but it is worth it to me anyway. At the most basic level I just like being outside.
Because I wasn't going to be out long it was easy to keep a very light load for the outing. Even lightly loaded there were plenty of things I could have left behind I suppose.
Here's my gear list from last night:
Fargo with Wildfire Designs frame bag
Mini pump, tube, 3 Allen wrenches, tire levers
MSR Titan kettle
MSR Pocket Rocket stove and gas cannister
Princeton Tec Apex Pro headlamp
36 oz Nalgene bottle with water
2x 24 oz water bottles
Ridgerest camping mat full length
GoLite ultralight backpack
An old ground cloth
Marmot super burly down sleeping bag, too warm for the conditions
Matches, tea packets, granola bar
Puffy synthetic jacket
My lady's digital camera (shhhhhh!) and a super light mini tripod
The temperature was just barely below freezing which felt pretty warm after a winter with some good cold weather. It also meant the ground was hard so my gear and I stayed mud-free.
A quick ride took me to my stealth location for the night: under a stand of pines where it makes being seen at night virtually impossible, unless you are prancing around with a light on. Best of all I had a sweet unobstructed view of the downtown skyline just a handful of miles away.
It was an uneventful night. A bit of wind now and then, but basically a peaceful night that let me think a lot.
On the ride home this morning I was going through a small park a mile from my house and had the good fortune to have a fisher run across my path about 10 feet in front of me. Not the Gary Fisher type of fisher mind you. I'm talking about the animal type of fisher. That's only the third time in my life where I've seen a type of weasel out in nature doing its thing. No pics though as the camera was zipped up in my jacket pocket. It was a very dark brown, almost black fisher about 28 to 32 inches long I'd say.
I did experiment with using aero bar extensions as my sleeping pad carrier last night. It worked well. Road bars and the wide sleeping pad I was using were a bit limiting. I think it holds more promise in the warmer months of holding both my sleeping bag and a sleeping pad. Look for some more experimentation with this in the future as I think it could work very well with mountain handlebars. Potentially, a more intentional bend of the current aero bar extensions could hold both items out in front of the handlebar with no brake lever interference.
And yes, folks. Put that one down in the record books! Kid Riemer is using aero bars! Booyah!
Cheers.
Kid
Labels: adventuring, bike camping, bikepacking, Fargo
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