How to prepare for your first BUL mountain bike tour?
Construction and maintenance of bicycles

How to prepare for your first BUL mountain bike tour?

BUL (Ultra Light Bivouac) is the practice of offline or semi-autonomous mountain biking for several days. It is also called nomadic mountain biking. We have fun, like during a day or half a day, with the added pleasure of moving forward each day while remaining independent.

In your opinion, what's worst is between:

  1. Are you angry with your hiking partner because we never spent more than 6 hours with him and didn't know him as grumpy?
  2. Are you forced to end your hike ahead of schedule due to an unforeseen event that you cannot resolve on your own?
  3. Abandon the BUL mountain bike tour because you are afraid of getting stuck when you dream about it?
  4. 1,2,3 and therefore 4?

All answers can be linked yes, but in fact it is 3.

It always happens that way. When we are afraid to do something, we attach great importance to it. Doubt takes over and we don't act.

So we listen with envy as our friends talk about their last 4-day hike to Vercors, we tell ourselves that we would like to be part of the trip, but ... but ... But stop. Actually, nothing.

If so, why not you?

The key to making a BUL mountain bike a good memory is preparation. And the choice of a partner is also yes. Working on your own for a few days can quickly turn into a fiasco. Too much weight, too much carry, not enough water, not enough food, too cold at night, etc. If you really search, you can find 1000 reasons not to start.

But ... it would still be a shame not to try the experiment, right?

How to prepare for your first BUL mountain bike tour?

First questions to ask

When you search for information about BUL mountain bike tour on the Internet, the problem is that you immediately come across tech forums or forums. stories from seasoned "bulists" who dissuade us before we even begin !

It is difficult to find resources on which to give step-by-step advice. Let's attack technical clothes, models of saddlebags, etc. Everyone tells their own story ... blah, it doesn't really make you want all of this.

Jean ran into this problem when he wanted to do his first BUL mountain bike tour in semi-autonomous. « I have a mining practice. I wanted to get the same practice, actually all the fun of mountain biking, but for a few days. The challenge, therefore, was to travel very lightly, without a bag that protrudes all over the place to maintain the agility required for mountain bikes. »

Jean had been preparing for this first campaign for 4 months. To navigate this jungle of tech advice, he started with three questions:

  • Do I want to hike first or try out the technical side of mountain biking? The answer to this question will depend, among other things, on the choice of bags or saddlebags..

  • What level of comfort am I looking for? We adapt the choice of equipment for the bivouac and the feeding regime depending on the function.

  • For how many days do I want to go? The number of days will largely determine the weight and volume of the bags or saddlebags.

“We need to find a balance. The lighter you ride, the better you keep the quad in control, but the less comfort you have. I left with 10 kg on board. I had a backpack, a bag on the frame and on the handlebars. The justice of the peace, in the end, is always on weight. “

How to predict the weight you will be carrying?

We recommend 2 tools: a scale to weigh EVERY item and an Excel file to centralize everything. Nothing more !

Your biggest enemy will be "just in case." Every time you tell yourself "I'll take it just in case"you add weight to your bag. You will have to optimize whatever you are going to take with you and avoid duplication. For example, your softshell jacket can turn into a very nice pillow for a night under the stars!

A heavy bag is a bag full of longing  (this also applies to a suitcase on vacation 😉)

How to prepare for your first BUL mountain bike tour?

Manage Difficulty Mountain Biking BUL

Of course, great preparation won't prevent the unexpected. But it allows you to counter it with discernment without compromising your trek.

Jean explains that he encountered lack of water during this first BUL mountain bike ride. “During preparations, we noticed water sources on our route. But the Vercors is a limestone and very arid region. We did not expect the springs to dry out in the spring! Dealing with the lack of water is not easy... We started thinking about descending into the valley, and that was the end of our journey. Luckily, we met a family whose father was a former ranger in the Vercors. He gave us a lot of advice about the area, especially the waters around where we were. “

This is another strong point of mountain biking tours, either autonomous or semi-autonomous: meetings.

Cut off from everything for a few days, you are more inclined to connect with people. We strike up conversations with strangers, have lunch with other travelers, etc. These moments are so many memories that are interspersed with images of magnificent and indescribable landscapes that we keep in mind.

You will learn a lot about yourself, your physical limitations, your psychological blockages. We also learn a lot about our hiking partner. Taking multiple mountain bike rides together on weekends and living together independently for several days, 24 hours a day, is not the same thing.

Choosing a partner is almost as important as choosing your gear for your first BUL mountain bike tour. Together you will ride, it is together that you will face difficulties. You will need to know how to encourage each other, listen to each other, know what your respective sources of motivation are, so that you can activate them when the time is right.

We leave together, we go home together!

Finally, it is also important to know the wild camping legislation, at least in France. This is permitted wherever there is no prohibition. However, there are many limitations. Thus, it is impossible to pitch a tent in many places. To learn more …

Sources: Thanks to Jean Schaufelberger for his testimony.

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