Author Topic: The S24O  (Read 25014 times)

Charlotte

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The S24O
« on: 03 April, 2008, 10:04:52 am »
After Chris's post here, I was wondering what he meant by a S24O, so I Googled it.

It would appear that a S24O is a sub-24 hour, overnight bike ride.  You leave on one day, returning the next, with an overnight stop somewhere.  Not really an overnight ride, like the Dun Run or the FNRttC, where you don't sleep - but one that involves camping out somewhere.  Preferably wild camping or bivvying.

Kent Peterson (he of the Great Divide Race onna singlespped fame) is an enthusiast of this kind of riding and there's a good piece on gear at the Rivendell site.  I suppose it appeals to a lot of people in the US because they have so much less annual leave there and to get out camping for a few days requires much more forward planning.

Anyway, reading round the subject I think I really like the idea.  Get on your bike onna Friday afternoon (I can often knock off at midday) and ride as far as you can.  Fifty miles, seventy miles, whatever you can manage.  Go somewhere different.  When it gets dark, find somewhere remote and safe and sheltered and set up a really lightweight camp.

Get up the following morning, brew up, have breakfast and ride home, maybe by a different route.

I'm finding this strangely alluring.  One of the things I'm not too crazy about with bike camping are multi-day trips where I get dirty and stinky and have to haul a load of crap round with me just to cope with it all.  A S24O gets away from all this.  You don't need much and you don't need to worry about the long term picture.  All you need is what will keep you fed and warm and happy tonight and nothing more.

I think I may be having one or two of this little adventures this summer.  Anyone fancy joining me?
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Julian

  • samoture
Re: The S24O
« Reply #1 on: 03 April, 2008, 10:16:41 am »
Definitely.  :)

Camping of any description always appeals to me (well, apart from Camp Trench Foot).

Re: The S24O
« Reply #2 on: 03 April, 2008, 10:21:02 am »
doop & I are doing something a bit like that in a fortnight.  Leave first thing Saturday, with a map, and head off at random.  Ride until we're bored, find somewhere to sleep, head back on Sunday.

The original plan was to find a B&B rather than camp up, but since I will have newtent (hurrah!) to play with, if the weather's nice, & it looks like two people prepared to be friendly* can fit in it for a night, we might camp instead.  Won't be bivvying-level lightweight, mind. 

So yes!  I am up for adventures.  But likely to be lightweight-tent rather than bivvy (do not have bivvy bag & don't want to buy one atm).  It'll be good practice for Australia, though :) 

* doop only had a single bed for the first six months we were going out, so we are used to this :)

alan

Re: The S24O
« Reply #3 on: 03 April, 2008, 10:23:06 am »
The S240 principle is very interesting.I might try this  into the Peaks or Welsh borders later in the year.

Chris N

Re: The S24O
« Reply #4 on: 03 April, 2008, 10:31:54 am »
 :thumbsup:

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The S24O
« Reply #5 on: 03 April, 2008, 10:39:12 am »
doop & I are doing something a bit like that in a fortnight.  Leave first thing Saturday, with a map, and head off at random.  Ride until we're bored, find somewhere to sleep, head back on Sunday.

The original plan was to find a B&B rather than camp up, but since I will have newtent (hurrah!) to play with, if the weather's nice, & it looks like two people prepared to be friendly* can fit in it for a night, we might camp instead.  Won't be bivvying-level lightweight, mind. 

So yes!  I am up for adventures.  But likely to be lightweight-tent rather than bivvy (do not have bivvy bag & don't want to buy one atm).  It'll be good practice for Australia, though :) 

* doop only had a single bed for the first six months we were going out, so we are used to this :)

There's a lot more headroom in a single bed than in a JetPacker Plus.
Having another occupant would be a challenge. I hope you are able to breathe and can organise where you'd have specs if you wear them...

Re: The S24O
« Reply #6 on: 03 April, 2008, 10:41:21 am »
Oh well, if it can't be done then we'll stick with the B&B option.  Which might be for the best anyway in April :)

andygates

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Re: The S24O
« Reply #7 on: 03 April, 2008, 10:42:32 am »
That sounds bivvylicious. :thumbsup:
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hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The S24O
« Reply #8 on: 03 April, 2008, 10:45:27 am »
You'd be welcome to put the tent up on my lawn to assess its dimensions, if you wish.

I agree a B&B might be preferable.

I gave away my Hilleberg Nallo last year...

Re: The S24O
« Reply #9 on: 03 April, 2008, 11:05:55 am »
Well, when it's just me (which will be the case when travelling), a one-person-size tent will be fine.  I'm just keen to try out exciting new thing, but will have to contain myself in patience till I can take a weekend off by myself!  Ideally when it's a bit warmer.

bikenerd

Re: The S24O
« Reply #10 on: 03 April, 2008, 11:44:38 am »
I'd certainly be interested in doing this.  I have the gear and did a couple of similar overnighters last summer but walking rather than cycling.  Doing it in a walking style is very liberating, as you can pack everything into a 30L rucksack, including 2 days food, rather than having to use 45L one, which is neccessary if I take my tent.
Mind you, I was glad of the tent when I went hiking in the Black Mountains last year and it rained for two nights and one day solid.

You'll all be setting off from London, though, innit?

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
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Re: The S24O
« Reply #11 on: 03 April, 2008, 11:46:13 am »
Dunno yet.  Probably.  Depends if I just go on my own or if we gather up a posse of like minded types.

We could always converge on a particular area?
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Re: The S24O
« Reply #12 on: 03 April, 2008, 12:24:08 pm »
I'd be up for this - I have a half-formed plan to take myself off for a week over the middle of the summer and do a JoGLE as fast as I can carrying just a bivvy and standard audax gear, and some practice would be nice. 

Re: The S24O
« Reply #13 on: 04 April, 2008, 04:17:50 pm »
Although I haven't been able to try this yet, I hear about it quite a bit. The term was invented (I think) by Grant Peterson of Rivendell Bicycles, formerly of Bridgestone Bicycles back when they made some interesting stuff. I'm on an e-mail list elsewhere that originally sprang from GP's snail-mailing list at Bridgestone, and has evolved into a list for mostly noncompetitive, mostly steel-riding cyclists. People talk about S24Os on there quite a bit, and occasionally link to some nice ride reports or photostreams.

I'd love to try it, but it's a long way to any public land that involves camping here. And with our different traditions of land access, "wild camping" on private land is much more of a transgressive thing here. Plus, in my case, since I work in land-use planning for the government of our surrounding county, trespassing could be blown up into a much bigger thing. So I'd have to find somebody with farm who would give permission, or ride 60+ hilly miles to a public campground (or a bit shorter, but crossing the Blue Ridge  :P  :sick: ). In the western US, this idea works better, because there's more public land. And I'd really have to wait until I get a tandem and take Anders along, because just disappearing from family activities on a weekend is not a recipe for tranquility.

Anyway, the whole idea just makes me want to jump on a bike and go, but I'm not there yet.
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Re: The S24O
« Reply #14 on: 04 April, 2008, 05:05:07 pm »
I'd love to try it, but it's a long way to any public land that involves camping here. And with our different traditions of land access, "wild camping" on private land is much more of a transgressive thing here. Plus, in my case, since I work in land-use planning for the government of our surrounding county, trespassing could be blown up into a much bigger thing. So I'd have to find somebody with farm who would give permission, or ride 60+ hilly miles to a public campground (or a bit shorter, but crossing the Blue Ridge  :P  :sick: ). In the western US, this idea works better, because there's more public land.

More public land,but there are still restrictions on where one can camp on Forest Service and/or National Park Service land. There are lots of very nice Forest Service campgrounds tucked away in very scenic spots around here, but they tend to be heavily used by people towing gigantic 5th wheel trailers behind gigantic pickup trucks.

Re: The S24O
« Reply #15 on: 04 April, 2008, 05:43:30 pm »
That's true--especially on NPS land, the options can be pretty limited. You can probably get away with more on USFS land, I'm guessing.

Where (roughly) are you, btw?
scottclark.photoshelter.com

IanDG

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Re: The S24O
« Reply #16 on: 04 April, 2008, 05:51:43 pm »
This sort of ride was part of British cycle club culture too. I used to do the Walsall Roads 'Moonlight' years back (70's/80's) which also involved a lot of drinking.

Meet up at about 4pm on a Saturday, cycle till about 9pm, stopping at a pub and calling at a few pubs on the way. Have drinks and a meal at the last pub. At chucking out time cycle a few more miles to a suitable (pre-determined) barn to sleep.


In the morning breakfast on camping stoves then cycle to a lunch time pub close to home, and after a few more drinks depart and head our separate ways home to arrive mid afternoon (approx 24 hrs after we started)


The good old days   :thumbsup:

Re: The S24O
« Reply #17 on: 04 April, 2008, 06:16:06 pm »

cabin-fever meter is at redline....
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Wowbagger

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Re: The S24O
« Reply #18 on: 04 April, 2008, 06:46:41 pm »
I'd like to have a go at this.

I must see what my tentworthiness is like. The last two or three times I have attempted to sleep in a tent, I just haven't. Mind you, a lot of that has been down to the rain and wind lashing down against the flysheet. However, I've got a load of good camping gear and fancy a bit of this.

I also quite like the thought of just setting out one day with the gear and cycling in a fairly unplanned way.
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Chris S

Re: The S24O
« Reply #19 on: 04 April, 2008, 09:38:08 pm »
I'd better start swotting up on my Ray Mears - I quite fancy a go at this too.

Re: The S24O
« Reply #20 on: 04 April, 2008, 10:11:06 pm »
It's something I used to do quite a bit. Set out on a Friday after work, camp when it gets dark, then up early in the morning to get lots of miles in before breakfast. :thumbsup:
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chris

  • (aka chris)
Re: The S24O
« Reply #21 on: 04 April, 2008, 10:14:24 pm »
I like the idea of this. How about a YACF S240 'arrow'. i.e. we select a venue, all ride there from our own homes / work, put up tents, have a bit of a social, camp, breakfast, ride home.

Chris S

Re: The S24O
« Reply #22 on: 04 April, 2008, 10:22:55 pm »
I like the idea of this. How about a YACF S240 'arrow'. i.e. we select a venue, all ride there from our own homes / work, put up tents, have a bit of a social, camp, breakfast, ride home.

I think this is what Charlotte was mulling over. Somewhere NW of Londinium maybe - SW/W of here (Norfolk) and S of East Midlands.

Of course, wherever you choose, it's going to be wrong for some...

IanDG

  • The p*** artist formerly known as 'Windy'
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Re: The S24O
« Reply #23 on: 04 April, 2008, 10:25:16 pm »
don't think I could make the south, after work, before dark  ;) ;D

Mrs Pingu

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Re: The S24O
« Reply #24 on: 04 April, 2008, 10:39:34 pm »
don't think I could make the south, after work, before dark  ;) ;D
yebbut if you left after work in midsummer you could get an awful lot further before dark!
Mebbee we should have one further north, I bet Pingu would be right up for it.
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