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gravel overnight adventure

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Tags: blog gravel bike bikepacking camping

i have not exactly fallen in love with gravel yet. even though i have tried many times. the idea of cycling anywhere and pursuing adventure off the beaten path is very enticing to me, at least in theory. i have this all-terrain / fake-cyclocross bike for more than ten years, still it has seen actual off-road use on very few occasions. i think my main problem with gravel is that the definition is very broad and very often i see myself under-biked. but i keep trying. this tiny overnight adventure was no different, i did felt my bike and skills were not adequate in some points, but i guess it helped me find what is my gravel sweet spot.

this was such a short adventure that is kind of funny to be writing about it, but it was a first in many ways, so it kind of makes sense. this trip was planned with very short notice and only barely happened. this all started with reading the manga MAJO NO MICHI by tony concrete and getting bitten by the bikepacking bug again, hard. and then, a couple of days later, reading about Robbie Danger Webb, the first openly trans person to cycle around the world. i started planning and reviewing previous plans for a million escapades only to realise that for the next 20 days i wouldn't have the chance to do anything remotely close to an adventure because of a bunch of personal and work commitments. the last possibility was tonight.

so i quickly reached for my bikepacking bags, packed a bunch of things, asked for a day off at work and drew a line on the map. but i had a little less than 24h for this, I couldn't start before 20h and had to be back no later than 15h the next day. very constraining but this also helps my overachieving mind to focus on what can actually be done.

for the first day i was already very ambitious and planned for 30km, 20km of which of climbing, before nightfall - remember, my depart was after 20h and sunset is around 21h at this point. of course this didn't happen, the climb was hard specially just after eating a huge vegan french tacos. i ended up having to stop before my planned destination because it was already too dark for setting up camp. i ended up sleeping on a slope that was far from ideal. i was rolling down the hill on my 3/4 inflatable sleeping mat, which proved once again it doesn't work for me, specially when backpacking as there is nothing i can use to rest my legs over and replace the 1/4 missing from the mat. my legs were getting freezing cold and i had to sleep all crunched over. i did sleep though, which was a bit surprising given the conditions.

the next morning there was still a lot of climbing to do, some very steep segments with loose rock. on more than a dozen occasions i was reaching for the shifters looking for more gears. the loose gravel making my rear wheel skid every time i got off the saddle to overcome the lack of gears on my compact road groupset. more than once i thought about turning back and descending straight home. at one point, in a hairpin curve, i spotted a bunch of huge rocks being touched by the sun. i decided to stop even though i haven't made much progress yet. its always a struggle for me to allow myself to stop and enjoy, a non-spontaneous effort to look around. so i laid there almost as if someone was telling me to it, slowly getting warmed by the early morning sun with my eyes closed. i think i slept for a few minutes in my rocky cradle. time to continue pushing. more skipping, more hairpin turns, a deer that crosses the road gently not too far ahead, bare stone walls... and not long after i reached the mortier tunnel, this legendary tunnel that never seem to remain accessible for very long. it is funny that this tunnel has been on my wish list ever since i moved here but i plotted this course in such a rush that i didn't even realised i was going to go through it. it was an amazing surpise, the cherry on the top of the cake.

once i traversed the tunnel i was in a different planet. it was a cold, alpine scenery with lush green trees, still untouched by the sun at this point. i was riding on a gentle road with rolling hills, sometimes in compact gravel, other times on unmaintained asphalt, overseeing the vercors plateau. perhaps most importantly, i wasn't far from the nearest coffee. moral was high :)

a couple more climbs and a long asphalt descent and i was at the l'interlude café, a very cute coffee place with oat milk available. i finished my soaked oats together with a oat latte, and then had time for one noisette with pastelina recently imported from brazil. i continued on some gravel roads that went parallel to the main road and were very often a shared path for bikers and hikers. i have never been to this part of the mountain in spring and was enchanted by the fields blooming with wild flowers. once i reached the top i was starting to get a bit stressed with time and decided to take the asphalt descent home, which i'm very familiar with, instead of the gravel one i had mapped. at this point my watch also decided to die, exactly when i was going to improve my average speed with the crazy asphalt descent!

overall this was a very nice experience, to be repeated and improved. i'm on the lookout for a more gravel oriented crank-set to make it easier on the climbs and i'll definitely get a full length sleeping mat soon. the departure after dinner was nice, way less food to pack and easier to opt for only cold meals, but next time having a lighter meal before starting might work better and not being overconfident about how many kilometers you can do before your sleeping spot, or at least having a plan b in case you can't reach the planned spot.

the ride by the numbers:

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