Bivvy a month 2023.

[Bearlegged]

Nice one Bob. That's a fair old break you've had, hope you feel better for getting back into the swing of things.

a very observant driver

<Hollow laughter>

[Kumquat]

January bivvi completed on Saturday night.
Rendezvoused with my cycling buddy at St Malo des trois fountains. From there we rode to Loyat, then picked up the off road doubletrack route to Trehoronteuc.
From there, a short sharp climb with hike a bike up to the bivvi spot- a recently scorched outcrop of snaggle toothed shist on the edge of the Broceliande Forest.
I was hoping for a spectacular night sky but there was cloud cover all night.
Morning saw thankfully very little condensation inside my bag due to a gentle breeze.
A quick cold breakfast then we packed up and took a slightly circuitous route home via some woodland single-track, a somewhat unnecessary hill climb and a bit of a chilly schlep on the road back to Guilliers where we parted company.

[Lazarus]

Well did get out for mine but ( and it's a big but )
It was incredibly late ( son to a & e) and I forgot everything electronic in my rush to get out and might not have even got in bed before midnight / might have cannot be certain. No phone to check.
It's was bloody windy and rained a lot is my report and i was a whole 4 miles ( or about 1 in a straight line ) from my house. Sheltered ish from the worst but not great -would never have made it to the very sheltered spot unplanned to go.
I shall let the keeper of the rules decide but I am not 100% sure it complies with the rules( was it even Jan and no photos or Strava so no proof at all) and have no way of being certain re times.
It was nice to get out but I am having a snooze later !
Note to self don't leave it to the last day

[sean_iow]

If you started the ride before midnight then you were on you 'bivi' in Jan so I'd say it counts.

Once we get into being in bed before midnight then do we also say you have to be asleep before midnight? As it's not run by the UCI we need that level of rules

Extra kudos for getting out at all if you'd been to A & E first, most would just have sacked it off at that point.

[RIP]

Yeah I'm with Sean - reckon it starts when you close the door. Or maybe when you actually get on the bike? Nah, door, surely? I once set off at 23:59 on December 31st and the authorities said it was fine. Admittedly it was in lockdown under "emergency rules" so it was an own-garden bivvy, and as well as setting off at 23:59 I think I was actually also in bed at 23:59 so I was covered both ways

[fatbikephil]

I once started riding on the 31st of July but purposely didn't get into my Bivvy until the first of August at 2 am so I could claim it as August - I was engaged in a rather lengthy ride at the time...
Sounds like we need to get the BB lawyer in again Why is it we always end up in a knot about last / first day of the month bivvies...

I propose one of two rule changes:-
1. No bivvies on the last day of the month to avoid these protracted debates
Or (note OR!)
2. If you go out on the last day of the month and wake up on the first day of the next month (i.e 31st/1st in this case) you can claim it for either month, but not both

[RIP]

Arg, no changes please. I've enough trouble remembering the five (six?) rules as it is .

Not sure we can afford the BB lawyer's fees anyway can we?

Actually, there might be something in what you say because some folks on Here believe we either "ride to bivvy" or "bivvy to ride". Although I personally think it's a sliding scale with all of us somewhere along that scale, I hover around the middle for example. Anyroad, if you think you are a "ride to bivvy" (ie the aim is the bivvy not the ride) then the ride is secondary to the bivvying. That means you might claim your BaM-ing is entirely because you like to bivvy and therefore each one doesn't start until you get into your shelter. If that's you then you're covered and that August example was 'legal'. If you're a "bivvy to ride" (ie. the ride is the aim) then you would be too early and still in July, and in your example you'd end up with two Julys and no August.

Then again, the rules state that you have to sleep out and ride a bike to get there. So surely the biking is part of the whole outing and the outing, and the BaM, therefore starts when you get on the bike.

[psling]

Just to chuck my two-pennyworth in ...

The night is part of the day in which it starts; e.g. Monday night is the whole of the night at the end of Monday, Thursday night starts late on Thursday, and so on.

On a Wednesday morning if you've just arrived at work after a bivvy out you don't say "I spent Wednesday night out", you say "I spent Tuesday night out"; Wednesday night hasn't happened yet.
So, the night belongs to the date in which it started and the time you bivvy down during that night has no real relevance.

[fatbikephil]

So in summary, we are no further forward

Lazarus, feel free to claim it as a January bivvy. Whilst timings may have slipped that was your intention so go with that.

I may add another award - 'last minute of the month'

[RIP]

Tend to agree with Peter.

But..... (nooo-o-o-o....).... contrarily the 24 hour clock doesn't help does it? 00:01 on a Monday is, well, 00:01 on Monday. I imagine it's dark unless you were riding and bivvying at the North Pole. So if it's dark it's 'night time'. Later on that day it will be, say, 14:30, and it will be light so its 'day time'. So in fact night time comes before day time.

This is is reinforced by the AM and PM business. AM and PM are on the same day.

Actually, as free-spirited outside-the-rules scorn-the-Normals bikepackers (not scorn the Normans! ((well not our Norm anyway, we obviously scorn the 1066 Normans, the basts))), surely we're not bound by those artificial boundaries of time cooked up by the Normals who want to keep us tied to their corporate slavery-based feudal system? If we're not then we should define night and day by our natural rhythms not by clocks.

So, night is when it's dark, and day is when it's light. Obviously there isn't an on/off switch, because we have dusk and whatever it is at the opposite side of the day (what's that? I can't remember), but let's put those aside to keep things simple(?).

Annoyingly this means that whether 'night' is part of the 'current' day or the 'next' day varies with the seasons. In winter it gets dark at 15:30 and light again next day at about 08:00. So, the dark/night stage is longer as part of the 'current' day, and is therefore its night. But in summer it gets dark at 22:00 or later, and light at 04:30, so the dark/night stage is longer as part of the 'next' day and is therefore its night.

So using the natural dark/light night concept, your night's bivvy might be in the first or the last 'day' depending on the season.You'd have to be careful how you claimed it.

So that's pretty straightforward isn't it?

[RIP]

we are no further forward

Ah well, good point, I'd forgotten about that.

In March the (artificial human construct of) clocks go forward, so you would be further forward then if you can wait that long to resolve this. But this also obviously makes the timing of a BaM across that night even more complicated and problematic. Note to self: don't BaM on 25th/26th March.

[RIP]

Since you're here Peter, are you coming on this February BaM in the Freak District with Frog, Kev, (Bearlegged?), and Reg, or what then? There will of course be ample time (during either AM or PM or dark or light) to discuss the very important points raised above.

[Lazarus]

I may add another award - 'last minute of the month

I am not doing another entry and I am aiming for this Sunday for this months and may even get a decent ride to get to the chosen spot

[redefined_cycles]

So in summary, we are no further forward

Lazarus, feel free to claim it as a January bivvy. Whilst timings may have slipped that was your intention so go with that.

I may add another award - 'last minute of the month'

I'd been thinking that too

[redefined_cycles]

1/1 (which didn't happen).
The one that never happened. Like John I'd left it til the last minute aswell. Then the missus wanted us to go to my mums so I hobbled along and complied. On the way back I told the family and there was a small telling off as soon as I showed her the bridleway I planned to ride down to get a nearby bivy withing a mile or 2 from home.

Went past the masjid (I assure you, the name is masjid as they're not 'mosques') that I'd eyed up as it runs behind the canal but without suffering the litter (boundary wall of the masjid seperates them). I looked behind the cabin quickly which I'd thought of as a plan b. But the houses overlooking it didn't fill me with confidence.

Earlier in the day after school I'd taken the little one to the graveyard behind his school. Explained to him what I needed to do for the badge and he suggested a few spots. Open to the wind and ovelooked by the houses obviously. In the end I/we decided that if some locals saw us it'd not be good for rep... "That's the man that sleeps in the graveyard" they'd say from afar, not realising I'd only done it cos it was walking distance from home so I could have walked my bike in case the sciatica didn't allow!

So, in the end, after the little telling off from the wife I decided to just stay indoors. Not that the wind speeds were encouraging but I didn't tell her that. She felt sorry for me, but I felt good st sleeping indoors and not in a little bivy with howling wind and a quarry for comfort (that was the original plan b).

Woke up to have my little one ask about the BAM badge and he reminded me that I could have secretly slept in the nieghbours garden. I accepted the sympathy and that one day he'll be getting some record-BAMs. Then I dropped off the daughter due to the wind speeds and noticed a fallen iron fence gate on the way back. Right outside ASDA and I knew I'd made the right decision (Alhamdulillah).

Anyway, all is not lost and I'll have to stop trying to do these last minute missions. Watch this space for the actual 1 of 1 but in Feb. I'll just have to do the Jan next year for the badge

[redefined_cycles]

Oh... and some time during this whole drama I remembered my actual first bivy. So can hopefully report that legendary (I mean, top banana) day soon on the V-thread.

[samwise]

January's bivvy took place on Tuesday 31st. Leaving work at 5.30pm and meeting a friend, we went for a bit of a spin and headed along the Roman Road in South Cambridgeshire to find a spot for the night.

Last minute packing is always easier with panniers......


We finally found a spot on a muddy field edge (without any blackthorn) had a couple of bevvies, cooked some food and settled into our bivvies around 10pm.

The forecast was for lows of 5 degrees but we woke up to a frost. A chilly night with lots of layers but the perfect opportunity to test the limits of my new Valley & Peak synthetic quilt! Clear skies with plenty of shooting stars, planes and satellites to watch.

Some terrible night shots with the lights of Cambridge glowing in the distance.



Coffee enjoyed in the morning and then back at work for 08.30 for a shower and canteen breakfast!

[Moder-dye]

Just ordered my underquilt for the hammock today so I'm hoping February's outing will be a little less nippy in the nether regions

[redefined_cycles]

Just ordered my underquilt for the hammock today so I'm hoping February's outing will be a little less nippy in the nether regions

What did you get please MD

[Moder-dye]

After much debate I ended up going for this one, a less than stealthy colour but a big discount at only £38.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09F986N93/ ... 11_TE_dp_1

There's not a lot of difference in the weight/bulk stakes between ones I was looking at as they're all synthetic which isn't a bad thing for something that's hanging in potentially damp air near the ground.

Other than the nippy nethers last time I was more comfortable camping than I've ever been. Just need trees, which isn't quite so challenging since I left Shetland

[redefined_cycles]

Bargain

[Moder-dye]

Lunch in the woods checking out the underquilt with both my hammocks. Seems good. Needs a little extension of the suspension cords for my big (preferred) hammock. It is bulkier than I'd like (isn't everything?) but if it means I can continue to get out for camps I'll have etc accommodate it.

[JimmyG]

Looks good and certainly longer than my DD version. A bargain price too! I'll be interested to hear how you get on when you use it on a night out.

[JoseMcTavish]

Hello again all, I've enjoyed catching up with everyone's exploits after a year out of the BAM business. After a badly timed COVID infection killed off my fifth consecutive year of BAMing before it had even began, I took the rest of the year off in a huff

I've not missed stressing about trying to get out for a night without disrupting family life, but have definitely missed the nights out in the cold more! So, to get the ball rolling I popped out on Monday night for my comeback bivy once the kids were in bed and my wife back from work. Unfortunately my wife is a GP, so off I rolled at 10:45 with my usual kit, plus a laptop and ironed shirt for work the next day.





I had a spot in mind on the edge of the Skene estate, but with the high winds and a whiff of rain in the air I stopped in the forest near the edge of the loch instead and started putting up the tarp to keep me dry before bed.



The rain never really came to much, but I was playing it safe in case my laptop got a soaking before work!



Once my faffing was complete, I had a cuppa and a sandwich and settled down for sleep well after midnight. The impromptu change of location turned out to be wise, as I could hear the wind blasting the countryside around me, but barely felt it deep in the trees. My original plan would have had a better view, but was much more exposed. As it was I could still peep out at the moon and stars through the canopy above if the desire took me.



My alarm was set, but probably not early enough - I dragged myself out of bed and by the time I'd packed away all the tarp paraphernalia properly it was well after 7 and I was pushing my luck for getting to work on time with 25km to cover.





I kept a steady pace and whizzed through the near dawn, getting in and showered just in time for the morning's first meeting - it's good to be back on the hoss!

[JimmyG]

Nice one Jose. Welcome back!