So with the trip out of the way and the benefit of hindsight what did I learn that I can use for future trips? An easy place to start is with my gear.
I really need to get a lightweight quilt for summer camping. My nights will be much more comfortable and if I’m better rested then my days on the bike will go much better too. The thing doesn’t need to be too warm but it should be small.
My commuting setup that I’ve used everyday for thousands of kilometres had no problem handling a week of long days on gravel roads, ATV trails, and singletrack. That being said there are some changes I’d make in the future. First off I’d want to get my tent and any sleeping bag out of the panniers and onto my front fork. My panniers have enough space to hold them but they get in the way because they’re pretty big. By getting them out of the way I’d be able to access my other things in the panniers more easily and wouldn’t have to fill them up as much. Sometimes I feel like I want to get rid of the panniers and put a trunk bag on my rack instead. The advantage of a trunk bag over a large seat pack is that it won’t bounce around and will be easier to open and close. If I didn’t have the rack then I’d be stuck with the seat pack but as it’s there I may as well make use of it. The only thing is with the panniers I can still strap stuff like my sandals and lock directly onto the top of the rack. With a trunk bag the real estate is gone on the top so I’d probably end up strapping them to the sides of the rack.
The hydration pack was great for keeping me hydrated and storing things but it wasn’t great for holding my camera because I’d have to take the pack off in order to open it to get to the camera. Stopping to take a picture is one thing, having to take my backpack off as well probably prevented me from taking more pictures on the way because it would be too much of a hassle. I think if I get a bigger handlebar bag then I can put the camera there instead as long as I’m able to easily open it from the top.
Apart from gear, what lessons have I learned from the trip in general?
For one thing pacing matters. My days were fairly long, I could have gone farther on my second day but otherwise I didn’t have much time at camp at the end of the day which was fine because sitting around camp by myself doesn’t really sound that fun. If I was going with other people I’d probably shorten the days because hanging out at camp is more enjoyable then.
Route choice matters too. When I was just picking points on the map and letting apps auto-route me the rides were fine but it was definitely more interesting riding along the GNBR. I think wherever possible it’s a better idea to use actual routes. It’ll add distance but it’ll also add variety. When I rode part of the No Winter Maintenance route 2 winters ago it had us on closed roads and ATV trails for sections, and even though some of them were in bad enough condition to be unrideable in part it was still a fun ride. More than if we had just been riding on small roads or gravel roads for sure.
Cooking really is optional. There were always opportunities to pick up food along the way and if I knew there was going to be a long period before being able to resupply, like on my way back from Tobermory, I could just buy some extra food to eat later on. As long as I have some granola bars and other snacks then I’m even good for riding a couple of hours before getting a proper breakfast, although that isn’t ideal. If I was going with others I’d probably bring the stove and kettle so that I could make hot chocolate or coffee around camp but otherwise there’s no need to do any cooking if the route is passing through communities.
The more you know about how to fix your bike on the road the better. I’ve heard that a tubeless tire that is repaired with a plug is pretty much good as new and the repair will last as long as the rest of the tire. Of course when the time came for me to actually plug my tire I wasn’t able to do so and I had to use my backup option of putting a tube in and replacing the tire. Probably the tire would have lasted until I got home but that wasn’t something I wanted to risk.
Related to this is if you don’t have confidence in your setup then you’re going to have doubts in the back of your head, so really try out as much as you can ahead of time so those doubts are gone. Putting on extra clothes at night and wondering if I’d be warm enough was not a good way to try to sleep at night. Similarly once my tire was punctured, even though my emergency repair would have probably lasted I’d lost faith in the tire and would be worrying about it the whole time. Better to just get it replaced instead of worrying and risking an unrepairable tire in the middle of nowhere.
I want to plan another trip this summer to put all these lessons to the test and learn some new ones but the only possibility would be doing a family trip in August, maybe a 4-day trip around a weeken, and I have pretty large doubts about my ability to convince everyone into doing that.
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