Thanks for sharing your experience with everybody. Firstly, it’s great that you got to enjoy your bikepacking experience, or at least many parts of it. Secondly, thanks for being open about your anxiety and self doubt. It’s lovely that you were able to overcome it with your own resilience, and a little help from your partner and ride buddy. I look forward to reading the rest of this.
Would like to echo what everyone else has said. Often everything looks rosy when these kinda trips are blogged about - good on you for being honest about the challenges.
You done good, son. I’m proud of you xoxo. Keen to shred with you one day.
Me and some mates did a ride on the weekend. All done heaps of this stuff before. Weren’t gonna make the train and had to be picked up in Mansfield.
Great write up and pics, Ezy. While I’ve never done any bike packing to that extreme, I’ve certainly had plenty of ‘go back vs keep going’ moments, good on you for pushing on.
I enjoyed reading that, the rawness cut through (excuse the pun) and really grabbed my attention. It’s inspirational, not just from a yeah let’s get out bike packing thing, but for dealing with what is in our heads. Thanks for the honesty, looking forward to part 2, but no pressure.
This.
Great write up, looking fwd to pt.2!
When’s part 2 ready? I need to organise some time off to read it.
Maybe tonight - I like to write with a beer beside me.
ftfm
It’s 5 o’clock somewhere (currently Honduras). GET WRITING, I NEED MY FIX.
Why don’t you give us a write-up of your weekend kookfest? I’m interested to hear if you have a girlfriend.
Harry has a girlfriend? I didn’t know.
I’m impressed with what you’ve put down so far Ezy and look forward to part 2.
Wonder whether that Old Bag cycling bag would work with your front basket?
Ohhh shit have I not told you guys?! I DEFINITELY DO!
Yeah, I am thinking it would… or the one that Lemo pointed out the other day.
https://shop-realm.com/collections/dark-realm/products/wald-basket-bag-multi-cam
I have that Realm bag (139 sizing though) - tbh I’d go with Terra Rosa/Old Bag (which I saw irl last night, looks good) over it… my bag is pretty meh
Noted. Cheers!
EDIT: Have created another thread to get away from bag discussion in this one.
I woke up feeling the cold of the earth on my back - as my senses fired up I realised that my air mattress was flat. I fondled around with my eyes closed for the mouth piece to blow it back up again, it took me a while to fall back to sleep. The cold returned - repeat. I accepted that the night wasn’t going to bring a good rest and continued to battle the mattress every hour. I took a swig of whisky to at least warm up my insides and to hopefully bring on the much needed sleep.
Light leaked through the tent, day was arriving and i poked my head out of my cocoon to meet the stillness. A white blanket of frost covered the ground which would slowly thaw out as the sun woke up. I took in my surroundings of the familiar unfamiliar. A place I have spent some time in, but am yet to see. The landscape was amazing, light rays peeked over the hills we had descended in the dark the night prior - birds were calling out, the crisp morning was drawn into my lungs. I returned to my cocoon, not quite ready to face the day yet to see if I could sleep for a little longer, or until the air ran out in the mattress.
I was awoken by the crackle of fire and quiet voices discussing each others little battles with sleep and the cool temperatures. I wasn’t alone last night. I met the boys at the fire -there is something about campfires that reminds me of when I was a boy and going camping with my family, I smiled with fondness as I dug into those memories for a bit as I watched the flames. The vibe was picking up and the morning was starting to set in. It was at this point where I turned to something to give me some comfort - something that I did have control over and would give me some much needed confidence back - I returned to the tent and fired up my camera to start capturing the moments of the morning. The chatter around the fire, the landscape, the clothes draped over my bike that now had a nice layer of frost.
After getting a few shots I headed down to the creek where I would meet Adam, he taught me how to use my water filter and I filled up my bottles - often drinking one as fast as I filled it to replace much needed fluid. I discussed with Adam that I would feel better if I headed back to Canberra today rather than stay out another night with an air mattress that wouldn’t hold air… the catch was that with my lack of knowledge when it comes to being creative when fixing mechanicals, is that I would need someone to accompany me. A big ask, but Adam considered it.
We returned to the campfire - Keith pulled me aside and reassured me that he was looking after me. It was a really strange thing - all of a sudden I felt like a little brother who was looking to his older and wiser brothers for guidance. It was a really nice, comforting feeling (thanks Keith and Adam once again!). Plans were made. We were going to fish the river we had passed the night before, try our luck at trout hunting and have some lunch before a 40km ride back to the first hut where we would camp another night before another 40km ride back into Canberra.
Camp was packed up, timber was collected for the next person to visit the hut and all departed in small groups, Myself and Adam being the last to leave the hut. It was good to get back on the bike - I took it easy, looking around at what we had rode in the darkness the night before. It was a little easier to stay on the roller coaster tracks this time around. Suddenly that moment was interrupted by a strong vibration on the front wheel - A strap had broken on my rack which held my tent poles in place, the poles were now bouncing off the front of my tyre edging dangerously to my spokes. The familiar frustration was back. I took the poles from the front of my rack and tucked them underneath my net - a quick curse at the straps that I bought only a number of days before and I was on my way.
I reached a peak that looked down below to the river - I could see the boys rigging up their fishing lines in the distance. I needed to get down there and get involved! I put my body of over the rear of the bike and negotiated the loose, steep section of track. I imagined myself looking like a confident cowboy riding a wild bucking bull whereas in reality I was holding on for dear life wondering what item is going to fall off my bike next. The bull rider was triumphant and he rode confidently to the rest of the group and leant his bull into the grass. He moseyed over to the river.
The next hour or so was only good memories - people went off and did their own thing. I stayed close to my bike to reconfigure the load, I cut up some cheese and salami and snacked in the sun. I visited the river and drank from it to ensure that I was to be hydrated on the ride back in the warmer spring weather. I got the camera out and tried to capture different moments of this time. The first triumphant fisherman who landed a respectable river sized trout, a frustrated fisherman who’s line became a mess of knots, a quiet observer, the movement of the river, the way the grass had been folded over by the trampling feet of many wild brumbies, the dead tree that was now a steady structure to lean bikes up against. Some people were successful capturing fish and I was successful capturing moments.
TBC.
Ezy’s erotica