Tent Camping

[Kathi]

The Hope ride! I've done it a couple of times. It's a great ride and unless they've changed the route there are no hills until after the 50 mile marker and there aren't that many even then. It did get windy later in the day.

I do remember that the 100 mile ride was something like 108 miles so don't get discouraged if you're not back at exactly 100 miles. Often those last few miles are the hardest.

The only other rides I know that are flatter is in Decater, Indiana and the Flat 50 in Ohio.

Enjoy.

[eofelis]

I have a shameful amount of camping gear....um....6 tents!

I try to get out for car camping, some bike touring, and I love backpacking. I use different tents for all those activities. I have a little short overnight backpack trip planned for the weekend of the 25th. I have been piling up items (as few as possible!) next to my backpack already.

Your ride sounds like a great time to see what tent camping is like!

I rode the the Bicycle Tour of Colorado in June and I was concerned about camping with 1000 other people, I'm used to camping in very remote areas, but it was just fine. I was tired enough to go to sleep right away every night, and it seemed like everyone else was too!

[Catrin]

In the end I decided that after a 70-hour work week that a good nights sleep was needed to have a good day on the bike today - and that meant sleeping in my own bed...but the ride is only an hour's drive away so am leaving soon.

I really wanted to do this though, so will look for a chance to do it soon!

[Crankin]

You made the right decision. I went on a 4 day bike/camping trip. I truly did not sleep for the entire trip. We have decent equipment and I like camping, but I usually have a little trouble sleeping in a new place. It was magnified about 100X by camping. This did not make for a fun cycling experience.

[badgercat]

I've done the MS Ride in Arizona the last 2 years (which is stationed at a large park and is 2 days of loops of various distances, not a city-to-city ride like it is in Texas, for example), and camped 2 nights both times. I'm not much of a camper, myself, but it's a lot of fun to "live" at the venue. I understand it wasn't in the cards this time, but do try it out sometime.

I hope you have/had a great ride!

[Irulan]

You made the right decision. I went on a 4 day bike/camping trip. I truly did not sleep for the entire trip. We have decent equipment and I like camping, but I usually have a little trouble sleeping in a new place. It was magnified about 100X by camping. This did not make for a fun cycling experience.

Tylenol PM is a regular part of my camping kit as I do not sleep well outside of home, period. Taking it has literally saved several of my vacations.

[Aggie_Ama]

Camping with the other participants can be really fun. We do this for mountain bike races and have done it twice for the MS150 in Texas. You get a unique experience, so if it works out in the future it will be worth a try.

I don't sleep well until a few nights in my environment, unfortunately I also do not respond to the sleeping ingredient in OTC things. It is the same thing that makes you drowsy from Benedryl but I get wired on Benedryl. My doc claims only 10% of people will not get tired. I find cool temps, sometimes a Trazadone (prescription sleep aid for my insomnia) helps. Plus don't overhydrate so you aren't needing to pee a bunch.

We have some Big Agnes brand insulated sleeping pads, we used to use a big air matress but now using our own pads helps. They are quite comfy but a bit pricey, I think they were $69 for the short and $79 for DH's tall.

[Catrin]

I was disappointed, a little, at not camping Friday evening. From the evidence when I arrived the next morning only 3 or 4 people actually did. I was still only able to get 5.5 hours of sleep - I was just too tired to fall asleep easily. Let me tell you though, when I got home yesterday afternoon I was exhausted and took a hour's nap - then had a great night's sleep last night!

The ride was great yesterday and the weather cooperated. I do want to try the camping thing prior to an event sometime, but it just wasn't in the cards this time.