Loose Ends

It’s been a while… the events that caused me to return home from Spain a little early had a more profound and long-lasting effect than initially appreciated; I was off my bike for eleven weeks in the end, a break that somewhat embarrassingly meant that I was forced to buy petrol for the first time since April.. the horror! While not quite fully recovered I feel well on the way – this week, for the first time, I felt close to my old self on two wheels. As such there are no stories to tell, hence the absence of inspiration to write, however with the end of the year drawing close there are a couple of loose ends that could be tied up, and as I’ve decided that I’m not working today I can turn my keyboard to this instead.

While in the Sierra de Gredos I’d promised to write a little bit about the bags I was using during that journey. While perhaps not the most stimulating of topics to the non-participant, choice of bags does appear to be almost borderline obsession within the bikepacking community, and I’ve often found inspiration from what other folk are making and writing about, so here we go…

Not being in a position, yet, where I can travel for more than a week or three without working as I go means having to carry a 13″ laptop; a reason I like traditional-style saddlebags rather than the more popular wedge-shaped seatpacks. In 2019 through South America I used a less conventional take that I’d put together – a cavernous roll-entry thing with 4 detachable pockets made from army surplus grenade pouches (at £3 each it wasn’t worth the bother of making pockets.. and they looked great). That bag is still in good shape (you can see it on the back of my bike in this post) but is enormous and doesn’t pack so well when half empty so something a little smaller and more ‘normal’ had been on my mind for a while.

Back in the summer I finally got around to putting a prototype together – an expandable, roll-entry long-flap bag, with a view to giving it a good test over a few weeks in Spain. It worked well. While there are a couple of things that could tolerate some adjustment – mainly things like strap length and the length of the doubled flap (I made it too long) – I’m overall very happy with it to the extent that I don’t, at present, feel any need to make a further version of it for myself for future journeys. The only aspect I’m slightly kicking myself over is that after fitting poppers, for the extendable flap, I remembered that I had some sew-in neodymium magnets kicking around that would have been a particularly elegant alternative. The pockets are roll entry because while I intended making lidded pockets, in the end making the lids seemed a bit of a faff, so I did this instead, and I’m glad I did.. it made it very easy to over-stuff the pockets, and I think looks kind of cool too. Rather than the usual approach of an internal dowel and straps from the saddle-loops through the back of the bag, I instead used an external dowel (a length of PVC conduit) semi-permanently fixed to the saddle loops with velcro straps through a webbing ladder (and internal alloy stiffener) on the back of the bag. It worked really well with the added bonus that taking the bag on and off the bike was super quick and easy for things like having to negotiate awkward hike-a-bikes, or simply slinging on the bus (the bag has a detachable shoulder strap too).

The baseline size is about 24 litres but extends quite well past 30 litres for cramming in extra supplies. Making it was also a good use for a couple of pieces of olive green cordura in shades just different enough to make them useless for turning out bags for other people. It’s lined with waterproof ripstop & has a removable 1mm polypro liner in the body for shape, and while being decently rain proof, also has a packable drawstring ‘storm cover’ in waterproof ripstop that proved to be very useful during the deluges I experienced on that trip.

There will be a second iteration of the design as my friend in the Basque country, who essentially lent me his apartment for a month, wants one and it’s a nice way for me to return some of that generosity. As for turning it into a Chough Stuff product though… probably not.. at least not yet; it was a lot of work and I don’t have the time at the moment to be able to make them alongside the Puffin Burrows, and my day job. It would also be expensive.. somewhere between £200 and £300 and I’m not sure the market could support that. If however it did become a Chough Stuff offering then, in recognition of its capacity, a mate reckons it needs to be called the Fogou – Cornish for cave or underground chamber.

Carrying my camera is also something I spend a decent amount of time thinking about, and experimenting with. Back in the summer I’d made myself a roll-entry waist pack with a padded liner for my X-Pro 2 plus a couple of lenses… I wasn’t sure about setting off on a longer trip with a bag around my waist being the only option for carrying a camera. I wanted something that would convert to a shoulder bag for about-town street photography duties, and that could also snap to a handlebar harness should I find myself not liking it on my waist all the time. With that in mind I made a version of the waist pack with a removable padded waist strap (removal revealed harness attachment points) and a detachable shoulder strap. Overall it worked pretty well with the caveat that because of the faff of removing and attaching the belt, when I did want it on my bars (particularly sweaty days for ex) I simply wrapped the waist belt around the bars rather than take the belt off to reveal the harness attachments… it worked but look kind of offensive ;-) I’d used a military-style ‘MOLLE’ webbing arrangement for the belt attachment, which, while  super secure and stable, can be a bit of a faff when taking on and off frequently. Overall the concept was great but I need to think again about the waist strap attachment before I head off again.

While on the topic of bags… Chough Stuff is still going and has taken on a life of its own which is nice. I do no promotion at the moment as the volume and rate of orders coming in is just about right in that sits alongside work without eating up all of my free time. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the engagement with everyone that has ordered, so if that was you.. thank you! Not having an online “buy it now” really works for me in both limiting the volume of orders, but also giving me the opportunity to actually communicate with, and get to know, the buyers. It’s nice. I will keep it going as a time may well come soon when I need to derive a bit more income from it as I wind back the software work :-)

Also a loose end… a couple of bits of street photography from the end of my trip that I didn’t post. I spent an evening and morning in Santander prior to hopping onto the ferry home. I liked the city very much, and at the risk of sounding like a stuck record with regard to places in Spain, it felt like a very liveable place with sea, surf, sailing, mountains nearby, a great vibe, friendly folk, and a lovely waterfront. I found the transition back into winter-time Cornwall with the rain, mud, gloom, and green slime growing on everything, quite hard.. not helped by not being 100% and not being able to ride.

Right, that will do I think. All that remains is to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. See you in 23 :-)