Step outside, and you’re greeted by the ringing chorus of cicadas.
"Wow, it really feels like summer has arrived... it's hot..."
I think to myself, but every year, I also find my mind wandering to the thought, "I want to do something summer-y."
The beach? The mountains? The river? Fireworks? Festivals??
There are so, so many quintessential summer traditions, but
this year, I got started right away! I went camping with the Circles crew at the beginning of July!
I’m a beginner when it comes to the outdoors, but my camping debut was so much fun
that I’m sitting here writing about it now!
It was a "meet on-site" style trip where everyone headed out on Wednesday night after work, packing their bikes into bags for the train.
We each loaded our trusty bikes with whatever camping gear we could manage to bring.
Yuya, Kamo-chan, and Seo-kun, who are experienced campers, brought the cooking equipment, tableware, burners, headlamps, and so on.
Beginners like Aya-chan and myself were in charge of the food and drinks to be used at the site.
And since we both had sleeping bags but neither of us had a tent, we chose to borrow a two-person tent, split it in half, and share the load.
When you assemble it while being taught by everyone else, even the tent (which I felt was a bit intimidating) becomes easy to understand, and in no time at all, our bed for the night was complete.
By the way, I have my first flight with a bike coming up for the GIRLS RIDEALIVE in Hokkaido, so I’ve been practicing my bike-bagging style exclusively at CC recently.
So, for this train trip, I took on the challenge of a style where you remove both the front and rear wheels as a form of review, and I managed to succeed and get it onto the train without a hitch!
We arrived at the nearest station in the middle of the night, met up with the members who arrived at the same time, grabbed some food at a convenience store, and then made a quick dash for the 3-4 kilometer ride to the campsite.
The illuminated bridge over the river was beautiful, and running along the riverside path while screaming and ducking through spider webs—I felt like I was already on an adventure.
We arrived at the park, and just as we were getting ready to toast, the late-arriving group joined us.
Under the vast night sky, we cheered, "Great work today! Cheers!!"
Even just heating up canned goods and nuts from the convenience store on a burner, it was, "So good!"
While snacking on our makeshift appetizers and chatting about nothing in particular, we realized late night was already upon us.
With that, goodnight for now.
Good morning, it’s a new day.
With freshly brewed coffee in hand, we had hot sandwiches for breakfast using bread from PFM.
We had fun trying out all sorts of variations by sandwiching different ingredients. We used burners to make fluffy scrambled eggs and experimented with some unique fillings using Trail Butter, all gathered around the table having a blast making breakfast.
Laughing at the "Hot! Hot!" exchange going on, we stuffed our faces with hot, steaming sandwiches.
As expected, we ate too much, so we started riding our bikes around the sprawling lawn—this is another unique pleasure of camping with your bike!
We hopped on each other’s bikes to enjoy the different riding feels,
and if we spotted a puddle, we’d dive right in and get soaked.
After packing up the tents and saying goodbye to the park, we headed for the forest trail.
There were some light ups and downs, of course, but riding through the greenery feels great because the air is so clear.
We found ourselves captivated by the sunlight filtering through the trees, listening to the rustling leaves and the songs of birds.
Seo-kun, who joined with his MTB, looked like he was having a blast too!
After exiting the forest trail, this view opened up before us.
After that, we headed into the city, and in the blink of an eye, it was evening.
We all met on-site and parted ways on-site.
Each of us headed home in whichever way was most convenient.
It was only a day and a half, but when you're with a bike, you can experience such joy and such a wonderful kind of fatigue!
Even if something seems difficult to do alone, or if you’re missing something, if you have others with you, you can do it and you’ll have what you need.
Plus, you even end up enjoying the process itself, and you even start thinking, "I want to be able to do this on my own."
Anyway, simply put, cooking and eating together in the great outdoors is the best, and going camping by bike is just so, so much fun!!
So if you’re wondering what to do with your bike this summer, definitely try camping!
I’m already itching to figure out where to go next.
By the way, here is my setup for this camping trip.
Backpack: Yamatomichi MINI.
It’s a short camping trip, so let’s pack everything into one bag!
With that in mind, I put everything into this backpack, which I use heavily for my daily commute.
The backpack itself is incredibly lightweight yet has a huge capacity, so it fit all the daily essentials, camping gear, and food I needed this time.
It also has a waist belt, so it didn't sway and stayed stable even when riding the forest trails.
Cap: Yamatomichi Stretch Mesh Cap
Pants: Yamatomichi 5-Pocket Shorts
Before I knew it, my gear was all Yamatomichi too.
Both of these are items I use regularly.
The cap is lightweight, made of mesh fabric with great breathability, and fits well under a helmet, so I use it as a substitute for a cycling cap.
The pants are my favorite item I own!
The comfort and ease of use are simply the best. They are absolutely stress-free.
The Yamatomichi series that I use in my daily life was also incredibly reliable and worked perfectly for the camping ride.
After diving into the water multiple times that day, racing through dust-filled forest trails, and riding through mud left by the rain, maybe the fact that my All-City was the first thing I cleaned when I got home is proof that my bond with my bike has grown stronger.
"Thanks for such a fun time! Let’s go have lots more fun next time too!"
Asumi Ueno here, I made my camping debut this summer!
