Execution

The first BICYCLIST Adventure Team field trip. Or BAT trip. Maybe BATventure? With a name, and an idea, some calls were made and a trip was set. A 24-hour overnight that would challenge different aspects of the bike, and the individual.

Beyond just a shakedown for a new low cost bike, it was an opportunity to introduce some strong riders and racers in their own right to an entirely different way of spending time in the saddle; touring. Or if you end up in the dirt, ‘bike-packing’. Semantics aside, the idea is simple: ride your bike with provisions to sustain the basic comforts of home on the road or trail, in this case for 24 hours, essentially the first two days of any multi-day tour. Also, it would offer a stress test demanding enough to ascertain the value proposition on offer. Though it must be restated, we are considering a complete bike for what some spend on their bibs. The value proposition is strong on this one.

I talked to Luis to help find willing participants who were interested in this adventure and we’re capable to ride under these conditions. Luis recruited friends from his monthly club ride, The Fixed Beer Crew, bringing Ignacio Oseguera, Johnny Morphis and brothers Alex and Mario Parra on board to join us on this overnight excursion. All from various backgrounds, mostly with race or daily commuting experience, few having experience mixing camping and bikes.With six demo bikes, and six riders testing them in different wants, any quality or construction issues would present themselves. The trip would also provide an instructive guide for future adventures, serving as a preparatory introduction to the overlaps of camping, bike travel and backpacking.

Motivation

Carrying your home away from home, contained on your bike, is a freeing experience. When everything you carry has to be considered for usefulness and utility, it can provoke a realization that you can not only exist outside the advertised comforts of modern life, but that you may find it a more enjoyable experience. This can be a profound realization, one that provides a security and self-reliance that is fleeting in todays lattice work of interlaced technological dependences.

It’s clarifying, and you’ll come home seeing your world differently. The longer you’re on the road, the more changed you’ll come to be upon your return home, just like any travel, though I’ve always found travel by bike accelerates this process. This dilation of time gives you a sense of being away for a long time, when in actuality, your time away was much shorter. That### sense### is a recognition of the mental development, a building of resourcefulness and tenacity that carries the spirit after the ride is over. Your mental strength is improving, and your sense of time distorts to accommodate this experience.

This shifting sense of time becomes especially pronounced when the only goal for the day is not getting lost, getting to camp by sundown and bringing enough water for coffee in the morning. Though we managed to fail at these specific goals for this inaugural trip, our mistakes become your ‘teachable moments’. And minor setbacks aside, the trip was a resounding success.

Practicals

For the trip we all carried our own gear for the night, including food, cooking utensils, tents, sleeping bags, and various other necessities for the trip. All of us rode on the Poseidon X, courtesy of Poseidon Bikes, to get the full experience of the new model. We all used our own versions of touring gear to carry our camping supplies.

Preparations for Camping

We planned to camp at Crystal Cove State park because of the proximity to the central location. It’s also a beautiful location that many locals and tourists visit.

Before we left, it was determined we’d head straight to camp, prepare dinner when we arrived, coffee and oatmeal in the morning alongside materials for making sandwiches. By mid afternoon, a decision was made to head to another camp, The Camp, an outdoor shopping center of sorts, with a wide variety of options for a range of diets. Enjoying the atmosphere and false sense of accomplishment, beers were drank, burritos eaten and schedules missed. After everything was said and done, a 3:30 departure from the late lunch left another 15 miles of road to clear, 5 miles of grades over 6%, the final push to the hill-top campsites.

Making a stop at the Newport Coast Shopping Center (see map, page 11) for some further delays of the final ascent provided us an opportunity to wave goodbye to the sun just as we reached the entrance to the State Park after the grueling trip up the 11% of a local extra credit, Ridgepark Road. As lanterns and lights clicked on, this merry band of travelers bobbled and bounded down the miles of double-track to our campsite for the evening located at Moro Flats.

How did it turn out? Did we all survive? The ride continued without incident, the best conclusion for a trip that was pushing for surprises, anomalies and anything that would creep up on a longer tour. The only complaint that came up was a unanimous feeling the handlebars weren’t wide enough for the frames. That was the whole of it. The landscape is shifting when -that’s- the complaint for a $600 bike amongst demanding riders with fully loaded packs, going down rutted out double-track, and up 11% road grades. Quite impressive how far the industry has come and specifically to Poseidon, what they’ve been able to achieve in terms of logistical and operational efficiency, making a bike that helps open up the sport to more people. ▲