This is Keita. I recently went on a camp ride to Nagano. The location was a place called "Ohdaira Prefectural Forest Campsite" in Nagiso, Nagano Prefecture. Incidentally, my last name is "Ohdaira," so I felt a real connection to the place and was looking forward to it before I even left. Ohdaira Pass, Ohdaira Road, Ohdaira Highlands, Ohdaira-juku—it was just "Ohdaira" everywhere. lol
Since it was only a two-day, one-night trip, I tried to keep my packing as compact as possible, stuffing only the essentials into my pannier bag: a tent, sleeping bag, change of clothes, sandals, towel, light, cookware, and food. The bag gets full surprisingly quickly with just these items.
This time, instead of a sleeping bag, I strapped a blanket to my rack. I figured it would be enough for a summer camp, so I picked up a lovely new one from COMMONO reproducts. It was my own little way of adding a sense of playfulness to the camp ride.
The campsite was located at the end of a pleasant forest road reached by cycling over a mountain pass.
There wasn't a soul in sight, and there was no cell service (which was a nice change of pace for someone like me who's usually glued to their phone). The elevation was about 1,200 meters, so the temperature was incredibly comfortable compared to the recent heat in Nagoya.
The first night was fantastic, but I'd like to focus this report on breakfast.
Because I'm so used to my daily routine, I wake up at 5:00 AM. lol. I leisurely started preparing breakfast while everyone else was still asleep.
This is my cooking gear. Recently, CIRCLES has also started carrying items like these for camp rides. In addition to these, I picked up a tool for toasting bread and a frying pan. I still want to get a few more small tools, though...
Even so, you can challenge yourself to make all sorts of dishes with just this much. I'm always impressed by how it all packs down into such a compact size. It’s really well designed.
Once you gather the gear everyone else brought, you have a fully functional kitchen. We boiled sausages, sautéed potatoes, and made fried eggs and toast. It was basically an EGG PLATE, a familiar favorite at EARLYBIRDS.
People often think cooking with a camp stove is a high hurdle to clear, but if you don't overthink it, simple dishes are actually quite easy to make. Doing some prep work beforehand will definitely make things much easier. This time, I pre-cut the bread, packed the sausages by individual portion, and peeled the potatoes before leaving. Just doing that saved a lot of hassle and time.
Above all, there’s an equation that says almost any meal tastes good when eaten with friends in the great outdoors, so there’s no need to worry. lol
Breakfast at RIDEALIVE (we even created a special page called ALL NEED IS BREAKFAST!) is also all about the fun of packing everything onto your bike, so I want to enjoy the process of packing it all compactly. Even just toasting bread and spreading jam is a proper form of outdoor cooking. As I gain more experience little by little, I think it will become even more enjoyable. I’m still a beginner myself, so I’m looking forward to trying out many more things in the future.
Ride To Cook, Cook To Eat, Eat To Ride
Once you realize this cycle is possible with bike outings, the scenery you see and your everyday mindset start to change. This camp ride was the kind of catalyst that leads to that shift.
I want to play more. Let’s make the most of summer.