Adventure comes in many forms and many sizes for the tribes of the Endura clan. For MTBers it might be a road trip to rip big mountain trails, bikepackers might be aiming for a multi-day bothy ride out in the wilds and roadies might be thinking of a bit of lightweight, credit card touring. However, adventure riding doesn’t have to mean a multi-day epic in far flung places, true adventure can be found a lot closer to home, maybe even from your front door. Let’s make 2020 the year where you get #AdventureUs.
Here are our top tips on how to plan something out of the ordinary and some ideas to help kickstart your 2020 vision.
Keep it achievable.
Make sure your plans are do-able and not just the bit out on the bikes- but just how likely is that flyer from work on a Friday? In our experience, choosing something that’s too tricky means you’ll put things off and never do them. Pick something that’s in range for your first adventure and it’s more likely to happen. Sounds simple, but it’s often hard to resist adding a wee bit more and a wee bit more...
7Ps – proper planning and preparation prevents piss poor performance.
A useful military adage that adventurers should borrow. Having learnt the hard way that you should always check that you have a way of making fire if you want to warm up a cold bothy it pays to take time to prepare properly. Whether you use a mind map or a plain old list of stuff it pays to be prepared.
Get ruthless about gear.
Having once lugged six inner tubes on a three day MTB trip, it’s well worth having a proper think about what you plan to packaround. Do you really need a pump each? Split the essentials between riders for a slightly easier ride. Don’t skimp on the essentials – good whisky weighs the same as bad whisky after all...
Listen to Wainright.
The legendary Fell chronicler once said that there's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing. Which is where we come in. Kit for adventures is spread right through our wide selection of gear. If your plans take you off-road then our MTR and MT500 ranges will provide the bulk of your riding outfit, but don’t discard our road ranges – the light in weight, small in pack size items that are so coveted by roadies, transfer brilliantly to other flavours of riding. Our top choices? A Pro SL Primaloft Gilet to wear on cool mornings and the FS260-Pro Adrenaline 3/4s for additional leg coverage that almost disappear when tucked away into a bag.
Document.
In the modern world if it’s not on Instagram then it didn’t happen. Make sure you take lots of photos and video and encourage your friends to join you on your next trip with photos of crispy trails, the sun rising over town or a cheeky night cap of a fine whisky from your hip flask.
Some starter ideas – why not hit us up on social media and share yours?
Breakfast commute.
Pack a stove and some snags and find a nice spot on your ride in to work for freshly cooked breakfast out in the open.
The overnighter.
Grab a bivvi bag, a sleeping bag and head out to a somewhere near you where you can watch the sun come up before re-entering civilisation.
The mad dash.
Work > ride > bothy > ride > work. This one has been on our list of things to do for a while. 2020 is the year we do it.
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