here's the tale of my July bivvy

Good stuff ) I like the route-less-planned approach.

6/8. Missed July. 1 in August so far, 2 half days and 1 full day riding, stayed at a friend's one night and in a cornfield the other. From home and out towards the north east of Woburn area. Felt like riding in Northern France with the number of yellow cornfields and open rolling hills. Went with no plan at all, just using my SS CX bike to cover different ground and find new trails. Ended up on a lot of unmarked country lanes, nice gravel tracks and some lovely flowy, flat singletracks. Fun stuff on a light + simple bike with 42c tyres.
Sat in a field for a while doing nothing. Laid-in well past dawn. Drank a beer under a tree in the evening light. Reflections. All the things I wanted to do on the Divide and during prep trips but didn't.. 'It's good to be back'.
~5lbs kit weight too - 1 3/4lbs sleep system, a mytimug and beercan stove, few spares and a tube, a gillet, showerproof and a spare thin top, spare bars - and a phone that I forgot to take any pics with.. all worked well.

I'm impressed you took spare bars, were you expecting yours to bend?

Had another August outing after work last night. Sort of training for the BB200. Only manged 63km partly due to finishing work later than planned, partly through tiredness. Still fun though!

Headed up the north river don path to outibridge then over the (new super smooth) top roads to broom head res. then decided to detour to the plough inn at bradfield, for some quick Friday night refreshment. Then upto the dukes road and on't moors for a bivy by some rocks. Was a lovely evening but was woken at 2:30 by rally strong winds. Had to move and put up the tarp but slept well after that.

In the morning trundled over the tops and down to howden then round ladybower up to hope cross. Popped in to 18 bikes then met the family for lunch at the woodbine cafe.

Amazing what you can pack into 18 hours really!

P.s. still didn't take any photos :-0

8/8

A trip over the pond with Kevin, Glen and Susan



Lots of gravel roads, trees, sunshine and the whole spectrum of fun. We all road together down through Montana together to the fabled High Country Lodge, where the others decided to take a day off while i had a plane to catch.



At some point theres a left turn



Theres an amazing Canyon as you complete the 100 mile section between Polaris and Lima, and this place was too good to pass up to stop for the night



The next day I had a huge tail wind so it was time to make the most of it and put in a huge day and finally say good bye to Montana



A brief trip through Idaho through the corn fields



Before eventually getting to the deserts of Wyoming



Due to the distance between towns 70-80 miles it was a case of being slow and carrying plenty of water and food and splitting the distance up, or going light and fast, taking a few chances and knocking off some of the longer stints in one go. Generally i went for the latter.

This backfired a bit as I rolled into Atlantic City to find everything closed. It was only 7.30.....
Luckily the nice lady at the community centre/village shop was still open and i was able get a few ice creams and a bottle of coke down my neck, so i could a least remember my name. After a bit of a chat she asked me where i as planning to stay the night (i had no idea).
I've slept in a few odd places in my time but now have the back of a community centre to add to the list



The plan was always to minimise the time in the sun across the Basin. Setting off at noon and riding into the dark with a dawn start the next day with a hope of getting to Rawlins before the heat of the day became too much.
A full range of emotions crossing the Basin. Thinking this is the most stupid thing i've ever done pushing out the the hill out of Atlantic City (you could be in the pub), blasting down the hill with the biggest tailwind i've ever known and the biggest grin on my face (the cross winds were a bit less amusing), being memorized by the huge thunderstorm which was just out of reach (until i'm on the top of the hill on a huge bit of steel and one lightning strike which was a bit close for comfort).

A good friend who got be back into riding my bike again passed away earlier in the year from cancer. Unfortunately i couldnt make his memorial ride due to the trip, but these miles were for you DeeJay



It was getting dark and another storm was threatening so it was time to stop for the night



Then onto Brush Mountain Lodge to put my feet up and spend some time off the bike

vaguely exciting Chew... looks like a great trip. Love the sunset camp in the scrubby desert shot.

That looks great ... I like the pic of your Hobbit foot too

Those photos look incredible, it must have been properly incredible actually there.

Unconventional one for me currently under way

And this morning

Nice one Scotroutes, seems a few of us have been exploring the Cloich Hills of late.

8/8 so far - looking at the forecast a spin round the Rhinogau in west Snowdonia seemed a good route choice.. as it was the end of summer soon I thought I'd add in some beach riding and ice creams.
I camped in the northern Rhinogau after a late evening start (following a cheeky trail along a leat to Llyn Trawsfynydd), followed by a bash through Coed Y Brenin (where I broke a spoke nipple) then down to Dolgellau for a second breakfast and a pop in the bike shop.
Out to Barmouth and replaced the nipple at a bench on the Mawddach Trail. The tide was in at lunch time so I popped back up into the hills with views of Cadair Idris for a few hours before a beach ride to Harlech and ice creams before an easy finish on cheeky trails across Morfa Harlech. About 93km in all.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99percentc ... 270657890/


Aug_Rhinogau_Bivi-14 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr


Aug_Rhinogau_Bivi-34 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr


Aug_Rhinogau_Bivi-67 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr


Aug_Rhinogau_Bivi-68 by 99percentchimp, on Flickr

Great pics Chew, I could look at those for a while. Stunning area. Thanks for posting. Any more on flickr etc?

I'm impressed you took spare bars, were you expecting yours to bend?

boom-tish.. ) bars are never spare unless you're not hungry huh.

jameso wrote:Great pics Chew, I could look at those for a while. Stunning area. Thanks for posting. Any more on flickr ?

There's some more, although the ones above are the best of the bunch/tell the story. If you click on the pics it'll link you through to my Flickr page

Another one for August. Road trippin' with some gravel roads and singletracks. It's all about the gravel roads these days right? : ) I really enjoy finding these 1-2 mile sections of track and linking them with country lanes. Love the challenge of making up classic routes over time from memory. No GPS or maps on the ride, plenty of getting 'lost'. May get onto google earth to fill in some blanks soon tho.

Trails like this - 2 miles of it within 10 miles of home in an area I don't take the MTB, been here 10 years and never knew it was there.



Stu's tarp pole (70cm) provided excellent keepy-upy service and I used my fork-mounted light to light up the 'cooking' area. Late summer cornfield bivvies are so comfy.

Just before taking this pic, 2 fawns came out of the harvested corn field in front of me, to within 2 feet. The breeze was in my face and I didn't move at all for maybe 10 minutes as they ate corn chaff at my feet for a while, totally unaware of my presence.


Gotta pack neatly. The only time I ever do pack anything neatly is on my bike.


Road tripper v3. Like the midge bars, ridden as a road bike using hoods and drops 50/50 here, a higher front would be better for this kind of use though.

Nearly forgot to post up August's attempt.

I'd left it late for a bivi this month as I was going to have a trip out in the Cairngorms whilst on my jollies with the family.
I was to ride from Grantown to Braemar joining in with the Cairngorms loop near Abernethy.

Long story short, I rode until about 7pm and tried to find a suitable place for the night but was set upon by midges so made my way further down the route to a higher, more windy section, but that didn't work so was pissed off enough to ride the rest of the route to Braemar.



FAILED


Fortunately the wife new I'd be miserable to live with if I'd failed the challenge so she sent me back out.

A last minute dash and I found myself at Charr bothy where the midges couldn't get at me! :D


Yay, Success.

8/8 or 20/20 (only by the skin of my teeth though)

^ looks fantastic there FF

Jameso - Your set-up always looks so tidy and coordinated!
Not a strap or a bulge out of place.
Smart as a carrot!

Doesn't last long.. and you should see me trying to get a tarp up )

One in for Sept this last weekend, thinking the dry cornfields won't last much longer. More of the same on the SS CX bike but good while it lasts. Beautiful morning on sunday, bright sunrise across the fields and a coffee brewing in the warmth at 7am.

Think of doing this in 2014, work depending.

One question as it doesn't say so in the "rules" to count do you have to do it on a bike, or can it be part of a walk or even just a bimble into the woods?

John I don't think the rules are firm. It's for you to interpret as you wish.

JohnClimber wrote:One question as it doesn't say so in the "rules" to count do you have to do it on a bike, or can it be part of a walk or even just a bimble into the woods?

Like Ian says no real rules just a few principles so anything goes really. Its more a case of having a reason/excuse to get out every month and have an adventure. Everyone likes reading the reports and hopefully it inspires a few people to get out.

Its traditional to start in January, but theres no reason why you cant start a 12 month run from now

cub camping might stretch it but I'll chalk it up!

Firmo wrote: Smart as a carrot!

Thats my new favourite saying

I'm counting walking, packrafting - and any other means of just getting out there!