Spring 2024 Bike Packing: New Start

Today is Wednesday and originally I wasn't supposed to leave until next Monday. It looks like my trip will start on Friday after all - the day after tomorrow. But things always turn out differently than you think anyway. I also wanted to finish my work before the Easter break. That didn't work out and I had to finish the last important jobs in the days before Easter and up until now. Burnout is an asshole. I dragged myself a little further from day to day and the weight on my shoulders hardly got any lighter. Yay, that's over now and I'm free. I still have to take care of a few things, but that will take time and I can forget about them for now.

A look at the weather forecast shows that it will be warm and summery from Friday. I was gripped by euphoria and so I decided not to wait until next Monday, but to start on Friday. Today and tomorrow I'll pack my bags and do the errands and the day after tomorrow I'll be off in the morning.

So I just raced through the house and collected all the stuff and threw it in a pile. Fuck, that's a lot of stuff. It just fits in the bags. But I haven't packed well yet. That will probably get better with time. There are still a lot of small gaps and I've packed all the clothes, for example. Even the ones I'm going to wear - riding naked would be stupid despite the warm weather.

I wanted to waterproof my hiking boots again and saw that they had a hole in the front of the crease. It's too late for new shoes now. That's bound to cause blisters on my feet. Should I take the sneakers now? But they are just as leak-proof as the hiking boots are now. The trail runners aren't suitable either. They have rough studs. In the long run, they push through the sole when pedaling. I'll probably take my hiking boots with me after all.

Because the journey is going to be longer, I've plundered an old first aid kit from the car. Tomorrow I also have to go to the pharmacy to get some painkillers and something against diarrhea.

So far I've only packed in the bags in the office and not yet on the bike. That will be my task tomorrow. I'm curious to see how and if it works. I haven't been on the road in this configuration yet. I'm already missing the two front panniers.

I'm slowly saying goodbye to my family. I'm bouncing around like crazy here and full of action. My partner doesn't want to let go and can hardly share my euphoria. But my emotions are also running high and low. I've wanted to go on a trip like this for ages and the last few weeks have been very exhausting and exciting. The date got closer and closer... and now I even start earlier. I want to go now and can hardly wait. It's all mixed with fears about whether I've thought of everything, whether it will be dangerous on the way and whether everything will go well at home. There will be no one at home to fix things, wake people up, do breakfast and laundry, pick up from school, do shopping, and so on. The two will manage it. I'm not completely out of the world either. There are still phones and these days they even have video cameras. I'm just not physically there.