Viv has had her saddlebags for a whole month already, and I still hadn’t found the opportunity to take my first overnight trip.
It really stretches me to think that a “long distance” trip will be leaving me really hanging out there, what feels like, completely on my own. At first, it seems like I have no safety net at all. If I’ve forgotten something I need, it’s kind of too bad, Ray! If I don’t have the right clothes, I could be cold, wet and hypothermic for hours. If I drop the bike, I’ve got to pick her back up. If I get lost, I’ve got to figure it out, all by myself. If she breaks down, well hell, I have no clue what then!! Wait for the help of generous, kind-hearted strangers??
But, first things first. I went back to foundational principles – focusing my efforts on the next bite-sized, manageable task I had in front of me to accomplish. Packing was something I could do, and getting it nailed down would add another competence to my growing list of abilities, which would, subsequently, add to my confidence to take the next step.
I had to make sure I could take what I felt I needed to take with me, in the space that I have. My bags hold next to nothing, the equivalent of two large shoeboxes worth. But, as with all things, I divide-and-conquered the task. I split the task between what goes on my body and person, and therefore didn’t require any space, and the extras that I had to take with me and that, therefore, did require packing space.
After mentally separating the two, I tackled one piece of the puzzle at a time. I first assessed the things that would be on my body, which I discovered, strangely enough, is a LOT!! It turns out that that is most of what you take with!!
So here’s a pic of all the layers that I wear. Underthings, clothes, heated jacket, outwear, gloves, helmet, boots, (and my favorite beanie from Chamonix, France, to hide my helmet head hair when I must, eventually, pull my bonnet off my head!) I was shaking my head in disbelief – that’s a lot of weight that goes on my body!!
Next, I assembled my health and beauty essentials (the gallon Ziplock bag on the left). I cannot overstate how motivated I was to be weeding out any nonessentials, then repackaging anything that was left in the essentials pile into the smallest containers that would serve me for the length of my trip. I got myself down to just the things that I consistently use.
Finally, I put together my extra set of clothes, swimsuit and pjs, the pile on the right above. Then, just to test out if what I had was pared back enough, I put it into my tiny, 20 liter daypack, just for giggles. And, IT FIT!! I didn’t even need my saddlebags if I really didn’t want to have to use them. WOW!!! Everything fits on my back!!
When I’d completed this task, I DID feel more competent, and as a result, MUCH MORE CONFIDENT to take this overnight trip.
With all that clutter out of my mind, it then only took a few minutes thinking to put a mental safety net under myself. I messaged a friend to see if he would meet me for lunch or coffee part way into the trip. I thought about who I could call on if Vivie broke down, and realized I had any one of three to four high-probability angels all about an hour away at most on any given part of my trip that I could call on for help all locked into my phone. I soothed myself, reminding myself that I was already familiar with the first half of the trip since John and I had ridden it a few weeks back. I even know a good portion of the rest of the route from having driven it the week before to attend an Appleseed marksmanship event. The ideas just kept piling up – I also knew a restaurant 2/3 of the way into the trip that I would plan to stop at for a break. It all suddenly felt very doable!! Baby steps, always baby steps!!
Smarter-Not-Harder U 