This weekend was testing day ! This is one of the last weekends I can try my gear out there in real conditions. So I decided to go on an overnight trip.
However, there was one problem : the weather was mostly bad all over France. My goal was to put to the test all of my gear including the camping seat, the shower, the cooking stove, etc. not only the rainproof vest. To put it differently, I did not want to get soaked all day long ! Fortunately I found a spot were there was little to no rain : Brittany's north coast (most western part of France).
So I loaded my bike in my car, drove for 2h30 and managed to arrive just before the rain, despite the weather forecast.
Setting up everything on the bike before starting
During the first few hours I took the opportunity (or more exactly, the conditions forced the opportunity onto me) to test the different clothes I have :
- A cool breeze at the start, polar vest on !
- The air gets really moist, weatherproof vest on !
- The sun is finally settling in, let's remove everything but the shirt.
- And ... nope, the sun goes away again, time for a warm layer again
But all in all, this was a nice ride. I reached the Channel coast within an hour and after that always seeing the sea on my right was pleasant. I took my time to take some photos, to test out my gopro (vlog, videos, different perspectives, ...).
After around 40 km, I decided I had tested well enough the "riding equipment" (bike, clothes, gopro, phone, etc.), it was time to go for the "camp equipment" now. So I settled the camp around 5 p.m. in a hidden spot. I got plenty of time to pitch my tent, take a shower and cook some pasta and vegetables.
Everything was mostly OK, except when I tried to wash my clothes : I only managed to wet them and the outside conditions were not good enough to dry them up. So the next morning my bike clothes were still wet. Nice another opportunity to try my second set of bike clothes !. That's a bit annoying but still manageable, I knew I would be back home in the evening.
My tent deployed and my dinner cooked (actually very simple cooking but still elaborated for bike touring)
On the second day, I rode a mere 65 km to get back to my car. Again I spent quite some time playing with the GoPro and filming stuff around while enjoying the ride.
I have to admit that, during these 2 days, I realized my endurance is not as good as last year. The last few kilometers were hard and I suffered climbing every hill I came across. This is not really a surprise tough, since I bring 40 kg (bike included) with me. This does not worry me, I will have plenty of time to get in shape this summer.