Lessons learned from my first bike camping expedition

[azfiddle]

After acquiring the Surly LHT in April, this was the first weekend we could possibly escape for camping. It's already getting hot here, so the only reasonable destinations involved climbing. We planned a route to Madera Canyon, south of Tucson and left after work on a Friday afternoon. We parked the car in a shaded lot near the airport and got on the road about 5:45

First lesson: it's a good idea test the equipment thoroughly before the expedition. I should have ridden more than 5 or 6 miles in the shoes / pedals before the actual camping trip. They must be too small- my feet were miserable by 10 miles and by 20- I had to take them off. Fortunately, I had campus pedals with SPD on one side and just a flat pedal on the other, so I was able to swap them out for sneakers. Unfortunately the sneakers had pretty flexible soles, so it wasn't perfect. And it took a couple of bumps to illustrate quite clearly that I hadn't correctly strapped down one of the panniers (when it popped off the rack and began dragging along like cowboy with his foot caught in a stirrup.

Second lesson: Don't forget to fuel! (Doh!) Of course I knew this already, but somehow in the excitement of the trip , we just didn't eat very much. One and half bananas and most of a granola bar is not nearly enough for 34 miles and 2500 feet of climbing with loaded panniers. The last ten miles climb about 1500 feet, and most of that (1000 feet) comes in the last 5 miles to the campground. My muscles just gave up and I couldn't pedal anymore, so we ended up walking the bikes about 2 - 2 1/2 miles except where it flattened out briefly. I couldn't get enough momentum to get the pedals going, even in the lowest gear, when the slope was 5-8%.

Third lesson: Riding at night on a mostly deserted road through the desert and watching the moon rise is beautifully and peacefully hypnotic. Worrying about whether a campsite will be left at 10:30 pm after the riding/walking ordeal is not. (Fortunately, there were two campsites left when we got there.

Fourth lesson: A 5 mile hike with 1500 feet of elevation gain is probably not classified as a recovery activity the morning after a stressful ride.

Fifth lesson: It is possible to organize some pretty yummy meals for the weekend (wish I had packed the Moroccan lamb and vegetable tagine to put on the couscous instead of the turkey sausage pasta sauce in the same kind of freezer container though). The crab tostadas at lunch were delicious though.

Sixth lesson: Doing this same ride, but during midday with in temps close to 100F and pulling a 70 lb BOB trailer puts a person at risk for severe heat exhaustion, as our buddy found out when he rode up to meet us on Saturday.

All in all it was fun and I have gotten some new shoes to try out, and made a date with a bike fitter to fine tune the fit on the Surly (which leaves me feeling a little stretched out).

I'll post a couple of pics tomorrow.

[Crankin]

It sounds like a learning experience.
I would have been seriously complaining and turning around!
I've found with anything that has to do with camping, it is imperative to test things more than you think you need to. And, even my measly 5.2 mile commute to work with a sometimes very heavy pannier changes the equation for a lot of stuff, so I can imagine how riding with 2 packed panniers, elevation, heat, etc. would affect the ride.
I like camping and I like riding, but I don't think I would do well with this.

[azfiddle]

I didn't mean to leave out a lot of other positive parts of the weekend. Our new tent was perfect, and my husband carried most of the heavier and bulkier stuff (tent, camp cooking pots, extra water bottles). When we car camp, we always have 3 times as much food as we need, but this trip I planned an measured everything so what was leftover at the end was: 1 clif bar, 1 gel, a pack of shot blocks and 2 apples. The ride back down was fun, and we stopped for coffee at the bottom of the hill before heading north with a tail wind.

[Sky King]

Sounds like a learning ride for sure. Inspiration for the blog post I have been working on about touring. I have to confess, even as a "seasoned" S240 I headed down the road this weekend and instantly remembered I was going to put some tape on the front low riders racks I was using because the rails are to narrow for my panniers and the panniers tend to bounce. Love the visual of your pannier as the cowboy
Another note to self and others with racks - check your racks, make sure they are still attached snugly before heading out. We were on an extremely rocky jeep trail and one of my bolts rattled loose. Fortunately I have spares on the ECR - gotta love Surly

[Jolt]

Thanks for sharing your learning experience. I hope to do at least one bike camping trip this summer/fall and will probably have my own "things learned the hard way" to share!

[colorisnt]

It's awesome you were able to do it although you live and learn.

I am so looking forward to trying this at some point. We saw some bike campers two weeks ago while car camping with our new tent. LOVE the new tent. It's the perfect size but still just a tad too heavy for bike camping, I think. Maybe in a few years, we will try it now that I have the bike for it.

[azfiddle]

Colorisnt, we have done tons of car camping and backpacking in our more youthful days, so it was mostly getting the equipment together. And I'm going to try the new shoes....

[Wahine]

Third lesson: Riding at night on a mostly deserted road through the desert and watching the moon rise is beautifully and peacefully hypnotic.

I love love love riding at night. Totally get this.

What a great adventure. Thank you for sharing.