Microadventuring

[Joshvegas]

It gets alot of abuse here! I can understand why as it get bandied about alot but....

Bikepacking... seriously think about it you're describing a miriad of different things to different people by how you carry your luggage.

Some people like parachute folding I guess.

Trailering your dinghy to the sea anytime soon?

Is microadventuring any worse?

Troll over hehe

*Edit* dissapointed to note no filtering of microadventuring.

[Dan_K]

Personally, I think it's just marketing BS and the words "microadventures, epic, extreme" etc could often just be replaced with the word "exciting".

I watched a programme about Chris Tarrant on an "extreme train journey" to Siberia. He was describing the journey as epic but to me, it was sitting on a train for a couple of days, looking out the window at snow.

Each to their own I guess. If it gets people off their sofa, who cares?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Personally, I think it's just marketing BS

+1

[whitestone]

I thought Stuart had added it to the swear filter?

I suppose Alastair Humphries uses it as a marketing term for his books/films/talks etc. To me it (microadventuring) is just "getting out" though I'm lucky in that we live on the edge of the Dales so local stuff would be uA (no key for "micro" or Mu!) for most people. Like anything it can have its positives and negatives. Most people are isolated from how food, energy, etc are produced and what pressures our modern lifestyles make on our environment then I'd see that as a positive. Of course if in getting out and doing things they create friction and antagonism then it makes things more awkward for everyone else, i.e. us, which is I admit somewhat selfish.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I thought Stuart had added it to the swear filter?

Sorry, I never really considered it a verb, although it would appear to be used that way now.

[DrMekon]

I thought Stuart had added it to the swear filter?

I suppose Alastair Humphries uses it as a marketing term for his books/films/talks etc. To me it (microadventuring) is just "getting out" though I'm lucky in that we live on the edge of the Dales so local stuff would be uA (no key for "micro" or Mu!) for most people. Like anything it can have its positives and negatives. Most people are isolated from how food, energy, etc are produced and what pressures our modern lifestyles make on our environment then I'd see that as a positive. Of course if in getting out and doing things they create friction and antagonism then it makes things more awkward for everyone else, i.e. us, which is I admit somewhat selfish.

I guess I see microadventuring as a real positive. It's given a load of mums around my way ideas of cool things to do with their kids, and made dads with stupid ideas for dragging their kids out with them seem like good parents.

Certainly, living on the edge of Nidderdale means a uA requires no more than a 5 minute walk with a prepacked over night kit. In that sometimes the kids just need getting out of the house, that taking a wood stove out into the woods with a sawyer filter and a handful of hot chocolate sachets can be made into that an afternoon of parenting is a godsend.

[Zippy]

so local stuff would be uA (no key for "micro" or Mu!) for most people.

Ha! I'm going for a nano adventure when work finishes - I'm riding a bicycle home, but as it's not driving a car and out of the ordinary for normo's, it counts as a nanoadventure I'm happy to downgrade to pico-adventure if that's more appropriate.

[Matt]

I've no problem with it, great idea really. Met Alastair briefly and he seems a good guy.

Package it up, give it a name, make it digestible, get people off their arse. What's wrong with that? I think being a snob about about 'adventure' is a lot worse than giving 'getting out' a name and trying to promote it.

We live in a world of marketing & epic hyperbole (see what I did there) and if you want to get a message out there you gonna have to work within those parameters. 3 years ago we didn't use 'M¡croadventure' now we all know what it means. So good on him and well done

[johnnystorm]

I watched a programme about Chris Tarrant on an "extreme train journey" to Siberia. He was describing the journey as epic but to me, it was sitting on a train for a couple of days, looking out the window at snow.

Why go to Siberia, getting the seat you paid for instantly rules out any "EXTREME" labels. Now arriving at the station for a Greater Anglia train with your bike expecting a place that is extreme!

[Bearbonesnorm]

Met Alastair briefly and he seems a good guy.

I'm sure he's a lovely chap and from what I've seen, he's a lot more sensitive about promoting it than some other folk.

I think being a snob about about 'adventure' is a lot worse than giving 'getting out' a name and trying to promote it.

If the cap fits then I'll wear it ... although, I'd prefer to substitute 'snob' for 'someone who's concerned about the impact of increased numbers on a finite resource that's easily spoilt'.

[Dan_K]

This is nothing against Alastair, I really like him and his enthusiasm. He’s done well to carve a career out of his travels and appeal to people, plus he has made some great films. I’ve met him and have a few of his books – including the kids’ ones. I sit with my little boy and read with him. It’s a refreshing change to the usual nonsense school makes him read and can open his mind to a bit of travel and thinking outside of his little world.

I’m not against what he’s trying to get people to do, I just hate having a label on doing fun stuff outdoors. It’s like the outdoor equivalent of management speak.

[Ben98]

short ride

(Sorry, wanted to see what it corrected to)

[ootini]

I've never used the term microadventuring. To be fair, apart from my website, I actually rarely use the term bikepacking. When people ask me what I'm doing this weekend I just say I'm going camping, on my bike....

It's pigeon hole, brand empowering, marketing BS as has been said before.

[voodoo_simon]

I'm with the urban fox on this debate.

I think many people forget that he cycled around the world over a period of three years. Think when he came back, he had a hard time adjusting and started out on his own, smaller trips in the UK (walking around the London circular mid winter anyone?) and took it from there.

If he gets people out of their comfort zone for a night or two, then that can only be a positive thing

[Bearbonesnorm]

If he gets people out of their comfort zone for a night or two, then that can only be a positive thing

... at any price?

[adjustablewench]

uA (no key for "micro" or Mu!)

μ

just incase it was still needed

[ctznsmith]

My ten pence.

1. 'Adventure' as the latest way to sell people stuff is total BS.

2. However no one is immune from that, we all buy stuff for our 'adventures' some of which we probably don't really need.

3.I worked in a bike shop that was a specialist in 'cycle touring' for almost 3 years before I went on an actual cycle tour. Alastair Humphrey's books contributed to me actually loading my bike up and riding somewhere. I started with an overnight purely to test stuff for a multi-day trip. I don't think the 'phrase' was even 'out there' at this point.

4. My politics sit way to the left of AH's so I don't agree with everything he does (e.g. corporate sponsorship/talks etc.) however more people connecting with the outdoors is a good thing.

5. With my friends we found that 'microadventures' were useful for those who had family or work commitments.

6. Wasn't 'short ride' called S24O in the CTC magazine?

7. I understand Stu's concerns about people spoiling the limited resource of the outdoors. AH is fairly 'responsible' in the advice he gives,often mentioning the concept of 'leave no trace'. There is no easy solution here though, people need to connect more with the natural world in order to alter our society for the better but if they connect with it irresponsibly then it is to the detriment of that environment*.

*I've met people who have deliberated on writing about trips through fear of publicising certain 'unspoilt' places and inviting others to repeat the experience thus spoiling/impacting those places.

[whitestone]

If he gets people out of their comfort zone for a night or two, then that can only be a positive thing

... at any price?

As I mentioned in my previous post there's a risk of someone heading out with either little realisation that the "empty" countryside is someone's home and workplace or, worse, no respect for others and don't care what mess they leave behind - literally and figuratively. Education will work for the former, little (legally) will work for the latter. Of course, human nature being what it is, it's the latter that will be remembered.

Landowners/farmers around urban areas have always had problems with, for want of a better word, trespassing (perhaps "persons not understanding rural ways"). I grew up on a Lakeland farm but my father grew up on a different farm close to a village and they could not leave tools out whilst they went for lunch. This was in the 1930s so there's always been "ne'er do wells" around.

[ctznsmith]

P.S. I'd be more worried about horse owners/riders than people out on 'microadventures' when it comes to impact on the countryside.

There was a (justified) moan in the Parish magazine last issue about them crossing working farmland and putting holes in the hedges*.

Plus in my experience conversion of fields to horse paddocks from grazing often results in rights of way being blocked by multiple wire fences (sometimes electrified), I mean as much as like puzzles I'd rather deal with a herd of cows than a bloody maze in every field!

Rant over.

*although if we 'laid' hedges in the traditional manner then they wouldn't be able to do this.

[Single Speed George]

So much ranting have I acedentally cliked on the UK climbing forum, or stw , if people want to brand them selves as mucroventurists then they can it's just a bit lame, but the more people that don't just sit about indoors the better I guess

[Bearbonesnorm]

although if we 'laid' hedges in the traditional manner then they wouldn't be able to do this.

I tought myself last year ... very therapeutic.

[voodoo_simon]

If he gets people out of their comfort zone for a night or two, then that can only be a positive thing

... at any price?

Almost, yes (in a very simplified way)! We all go into the countryside /hills for a bit of escapism/quiet time etc and I don't think it should be exclusive to anyone. I'm lucky enough my dad used to take me out into the hills and now, I take my wife and daughter out. Without my dad, I wouldn't have gone into the hills and without me, my wife and daughter would either!

The countryside is for everyone to use, you just hope everyone who does use it respects it

[fatbikephil]

Surely its up to this forum to define all of these terms - a micro-adventure, a mini adventure, quite a large adventure, a massive adventure, an epic and a need to call out the mountain rescue etc. etc.

We are at the cutting edge of bikepacking after all so we owe it to the bike industry to do this sensibly. BBNorm - lead off

[Richpips]

Microadventuring is just like bikepacking, something relatively new that lots of people talk about, and not that many people do.

[Trail-rat]

Do remember we all started somewhere ......

But also remember that certain things should be learnt before you leave the house like -

respect. (How much like my grandad do i sound !!!)

Leave it as you found it.

If you hauled it in,you eat it or haul it back out

Tell folk where your going and check in when you get back.

Have an exit strategy to a safe place.

As stated above , some of us were lucky enough to have family nd friends into this to teach us the basics ..... I remember an older friend of mine going to college to learn how to read a map, long before i was doing this, how ever i was taught enough in standard grade geography to get by at orienteering events and find nothing more facinating than pouring over maps .... I dread the day when i run out of os maps to buy :(

Im all for the short ride ... Its proving a useful tool to get my mrs to take up bike packing opening up trails she other wise wouldnt get to ride. Not sure she will be keen to live like that to do something like the tour divide but its getting her out on her bike for overnighters. -( shes no couch potato we have done extensive bike touring its just the minimalist side that doesnt appeal to her for long periods)