Hi!
Comfort zones are funny things.
You never really give your own much thought until you step out of it.
And then things can get... uncomfortable.
Last summer at the ABR festival I got chatting to a couple of guys who were telling me that they love what Adventure Spec is about, but they had never actually camped off the bike.
Now, part of me was quite surprised, the longer you do something the easier it is to assume everyone thinks the same as you, and does the same stuff as you.
But, it turns out, one mans comfort zone is another mans uncomfortable zone.
Interesting.
I think there's probably a life lesson here, but for today let's focus on the adventure riding bit.
We all fall into regular patterns, stuff we know we like and are comfortable doing.
For those ABR guys, maybe it was riding for a day together and then heading home, or to a hotel on a multi-day trip.
For me it's riding with a tent on the bike and finding a campsite.
So what if we all took a step forward, and pushed a little outside of what we are used to?
What if we didn't ride with a tent on the bike, and replaced it with a bivi bag?
What if there was no campsite and we had to find a place to sleep out in the wild?
What would that look like?
What would it feel like?
What would we learn?
Things I learned on our wild bivi adventure.
1: Knowing it's legal to wild camp takes a lot of stress out of the 'where should we stay' conversation at the end of the days riding. That's one of the reasons we popped over the border into Scotland where the rules are different to England. If we had been challenged by a farmer the chances are we would have just moved on, but it was reassuring to know we were not breaking any laws.
2: The amount of space you need without a tent is surprisingly small. But we were scratching our heads a bit to figure out where to put all of our riding gear in case it got wet in the night. I packed everything I wasn't using back into my panniers on the bike.
3: 8hrs sleep was not possible (for me). But for only one night it meant we could suffer a little knowing we could just catch up when we got home that night. The effort / reward was acceptable.
4: We woke up bang in the middle of the wild landscape we had come to explore. It meant that the next day we were straight into the adventure again. That's something that I hadn't really appreciated until we'd done it. Although there was less lounging around in the morning, it was get up and go.
5: We checked the weather forecast before the trip. If there had been a chance of rain I think we would have taken tents. The original plan had been to camp high up on the hill, but in hindsight when we woke up the tops were covered in mist/fog so I think we would have got quite wet even though it wasn't raining. Lucky us!
6: Both Wil and I loved the wild bivi. What had been a little bit daunting before, is now a lot less scary.
The sleeping kit I used:
Rab Neutrino Pro 400 sleeping bag.
This down sleeping bag packs small and offers enough warmth for a comfy night out where it got maybe as cold as 4 degrees C in the night. Down tends to pack smaller than synthetic (for its warmth) which is one of the reasons why you pay more. I kept most of my Adventure Spec clothing on, including my Baltic Insulated Jacket which helped me stay warm.
Rab Cotton Ascent sleeping bag liner.
Not strictly necessary, and takes up a little extra room when packed, I just really like the feeling of sleeping against cotton rather than a nylon/polyester sleeping bag. Also easier to wash than your whole sleeping bag.
Super simple, a waterproof layer for your sleeping bag. I have the regular sized one. The larger XL version is handy if you want to put both your sleeping bag and sleeping mat in the bivi bag to keep everything off the ground. I think if I was buying again I would consider getting the larger one.
Thermarest Neo Air sleeping mat.
It takes a lot of puff to inflate (direct from my human lungs) but its comfy to sleep on and packs small. There's no additional insulation in this one so if the ground is very cold you may feel it. I've punctured it quite a few times too so it's full of repairs but they hold up. I've since upgraded to a Rab Ionosphere 5.5 sleeping mat which is a little larger when packed, but considerably thicker and warmer when inflated via its fancy inflate-bag-thingy.
Adventure Spec Baltic Insulated Jacket.
Super warm and packs down into its own internal pocket. The Baltic Insulated Jacket lives deep in my panniers for warm daytime riding but it's a really easy way to add extra warmth when worn inside my sleeping bag. Added bonus, if it's not so cold it makes a great pillow!
Will stays toasty warm while packing up camp in the Baltic Insulated Jacket
Buy the Baltic Insulated Jacket here
I'd love to think that those two ABR guys have managed to get out on a tent camping adventure since we last spoke. No doubt they will have conversations to share now that are not too dissimilar to the ones you've just read.
We all did it.
We survived.
It wasn't terrible.
We will do it again!
Our comfort zones all got a little bit bigger.
What will yours look like this summer?
☀️😎
Greg Villalobos.
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