So, with a big plan for next summer, I decided to head out and test my ability to ride long on consecutive days after bike camping. New bags arrived a while ago, and the message from the guy who makes them was a sign. At least I took it as a sign. I needed to go out and do a long ride. I convinced my friend Marc to come along, although he rarely needs convincing. We packed up our gear and set out from my house around 3:30 with 2 and a half hours of daylight and charged up lights to see how far we could get. We rode a mix of trail and road towards Stowe. After taking several wrong turns (all uphill) we found where we wanted to go and made it into Stowe's downtown where we decided to set up camp. We rode trails to the high school, and then hit the bike path hoping to make it to a secluded place to camp away from the main drag. Unfortunately, it was getting late and we ended up camping across the river from the bike path behind a stand of fir trees, hoping they keep us out of sight. We set up our tarp tents and got comfy, then made dinner. I chose cous cous, while Marc went for the Ramen. We crashed pretty hard after dinner, as the 4 hours we rode tooks us about 40 miles with 4000 ft of climbing. Sleep came pretty easy, although in the middle of the night a loud "pop" startled me awake. I immediately thought Marc had let his little campfire get to big and my fuel canister exploded. Thankfully, there was no fire, and Marc was sound asleep. I thought nothing of it and went back to sleep. Waking up in the morning was a bit tough, as sleep was fitful. We packed up, made oatmeal for breakfast and started to head out. Marc took off before me to visit a port-o-let on the bike path. That was when I noticed the large tear in my rear tire. I guess it wasn't a great idea to use my 4 year old tires for this journey. To make the morning even better, it started to rain. I had to ride to Marc who was about a mile up the bikepath. It was a slow, wet ride, punctuated by the lump of the valve stem every time my wheel rotated. I actually felt pretty good, but with no cash or cards, there was no chance of repair or finding a new tire. I caught up to Marc resting under a covered bridge, where we called anyone we thought would take pity on us and pick us up. My wife was out running, Marc's parents were out, but his brother came to our rescue. Not the best way to end a bikepacking trip, but I certainly learned a few lessons.
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