ADVENTURE UNPACKED
venturing into the unknown is easier than you might think, says intrepid photographer dan milner
Dan Milner has travelled the world for three decades in search of life-changing experiences on two wheels. Here, he busts some myths about adventuring and shows how it’s easier than you might think
Getting outdoors is good for you, we get that. As mountain bikers, we rally to the endorphin-heavy call of rides, filling our lungs with fresh air and liberating our minds from the tedium of daily life. But what about adventure – you know, the stuff that magazines keep banging on about being so fortifying for the soul? If going outdoors is a big, tasty endorphin cake, then adventure is the icing on top of it. Finding your way through the maze of adventuring’s unforeseen challenges helps us develop as individuals, as riders and as human beings. It teaches us to problem-solve, trust others and learn more about ourselves, and it adds context to lifestyles that nowadays are often predictable and risk-averse. And if that isn’t enough to sell it, adventure can leave us with a sense of accomplishment – knowing that we survived the ordeal, however big or small. I’ve been chasing mountain bike adventures for three decades. The countless experiences and places this journey has taken me to have taught me how to look for adventure and where to find it – something that’s not as hard as it seems if we unpack the mystique...
1. adventure doesn't need to be punishing
The internet is brimming with mountain bike guiding companies who’ll immerse you in far-flung, exotic cultural experiences with the paternal care of bathing a newborn baby. Such trips might represent a slightly more curated adventure experience than the half-cocked DIY plan to cross the Andes that sees you kipping in a dead llama’s carcass for warmth, but they’re good at delivering a taste of adventure nonetheless.
While experiencing other cultures is a priceless part of many adventuring experiences, it isn’t the main USP. The expense, travel time and risk of hugging a toilet that often come with exotic trips (whether guided or DIY) can strip away their appeal – so its lucky that adventure is easily found close to home too.
A good thing about the UK is its abundance of wild places that can make for great overnight or multi-day adventure rides, but even your local woods or hills – places that on the surface might seem tame – can make great adventure locations. It’s all about how you look at them and what you set out to do. Thinking outside the box, adding a challenge, sleeping in a bivouac, or anything else that involves uncertain outcomes can turn a ride into an adventure. And you can do it cheaply, without jet-lag or the squits. Hangovers are another thing though!
2. realistic goals beat pipe dreams
Ambition goes hand-in-hand with adventure. After all, the curiosity of what lies over ‘yonder ridge’ has been at the heart of Homo Sapiens’ drive to cross continents and sail to unknown lands for millennia. There’s nothing wrong with being realistic though. When us media types shoot a story about riding in the most hostile, monsoon-deluged or hottest-as-hell places on the planet, we know that very few readers, if any, will follow in our tyre tracks. Such stories of daring-do are meant to be inspirational – to show what can be achieved if willing and a slight bent towards masochism are allowed to flourish, to encourage others to do something for themselves, whatever adventure they might have in mind.
Adventure isn’t binary, but a spectrum of possibilities depending on your metaphorical starting place. So reconsider that once-in-a-lifetime plan to summit Annapurna on an e-bike that never happens, and instead focus on something more accessible. A bothy outing in Scotland maybe, or a week’s riding between refuges in the Alps. This simple reality check will cut through the procrastination and at least get you out of the door; and once you’re embedded in the magnificent unpredictability of the great outdoors, the unknowns will present themselves to you. All you have to do is live through the adventure, learn from it and snap a selfie or two.
adventure isn't binary, but a spectrum of possibilities depending on your metaphorical starting place
i get a lot of my ideas for adventures from just seeing a neat photo of a location and thinking i'd like to ride a bike there
3. adventure has a price, inspiration is free
I get a lot of my ideas for adventures from just seeing a neat photo of a location and thinking I’d like to ride a bike there. But what turns a holiday in Spain into an adventure is the element of challenge. You won’t find adventure while lapping lifts in Les Gets Bike Park, but ride the Pass’Portes du Soleil route over two days in September after the lifts have closed and you’ll find solitude and adventure in abundance.
While ambitions of spending a night shrouded in an alpine refuge’s cheese-vapours or in a bivvy atop Wizard’s Nob can fuel a fulfilling nip into the unknown, multi-day rides are the bread-and-butter of the adventure-seeker. They add layers to the adventure by virtue of the greater planning, and usually the weightier undertaking which is, both physically and mentally, involved. A Google search for ‘long distance hiking trails in… [insert appealing destination name here]’ has led to many of my best adventures – from ‘simple’ four-day traverses of Mallorca and Gran Canaria, to a week riding the Colorado Trail and even an eight-day point-to-point along the Lebanon Mountain Trail. Committing to following a specific trail can give you focus as well as an overall ‘expedition’ aim – say, to cross an island like Corsica from coast to coast. Such trails, like Scotland’s West Highland Way, are also often waymarked, making them easy to navigate, and are usually divided into convenient, manageable sections between accommodation options.
But whatever you choose as the foundation of your adventure – whether it’s following the GPS plot of an ultrarunning race route through the Dolomites or summiting the three highest peaks in the Brecon Beacons while subsisting only on Welsh cakes – that choice of how, where and why will define your adventure. It’s no longer just a ride.
4. logistics are easier than you may think
So you have your destination and a route from A to B in mind. you’ve even got a couple of mates wanting to share the experience. The next step is how you get to point A, how you get back from point B and how you carry the kit you need to have a modicum of comfort along the way. Luckily, most humans don’t like to go too far without somewhere to eat and it’s been like that since time immemorial. Scotland or Yorkshire, Nepal or Kyrgyzstan, no matter where you are, ancient trails rarely wind through the landscape for too long without arriving at a place to dine and (usually) sleep. They’ll normally be as far apart as the day-range of a horse or mule, which luckily is about as far as you’ll want to ride. This useful infrastructure lets you ride light, carrying just an overnight change of clothes, even on multi-day adventures.
If your trail lacks accommodation, then you’ll need help. This comes in the form of bikepacking bags, friends or luggage-transfer services – any of which can haul your camping gear, spare clothes and the invaluable phonecharging pack between your overnight stops. Many of the biggest trails boast bag-carrying services, with companies charging a modest fee to ensure you have your creature comforts each night. And if Nepal is your adventure Shangri-La, then local porters will get your gear to the next overnight stop. Better still, this service gives them valuable employment. When it comes to getting back to the starting point, bike shuttles are a growing industry, whether in Gran Canaria or Italy’s Ligurian coast. In Morocco, Nepal or India, taxis are a versatile option. Trust me, your bike will not be the most unusual thing they’ve carried on their roof bars!
5. hope for the best, plan for the worst
Cliché or not, adventures aren’t about telling stories (sorry, grandkids!), they’re about living experiences. You don’t need to sacrifice your digits to the gods of frostbite to have a good, rewarding adventure – it just makes better TV viewing figures if you do. But occasionally adventures do go awry – possibly because of the unknowns involved, but more likely because, well, you just wanted to look over ‘yonder ridge’.
The planning stage isn’t too early to start considering bail-out options and how to get help – don’t wait until you get there. Safety considerations might not prevent a mishap, but they could at least mean you get home. What’s the local emergency number? Will my mobile phone work, and what will I do if it doesn’t? Is it worth carrying an emergency locator beacon? Do I need a SAM splint in our first aid kit? Do I know how to use a SAM splint? What’s the weather likely to be like? Can I drink the water? Do I need to worry about altitude sickness, heatstroke or hypothermia? And what about snakebites, jellyfish stings or rabid dogs?
It’s easy to over-think scenarios and to allow anxieties about an (unlikely) animal attack to scupper a dream, but injecting a little realism to consider likelihoods, eventualities and solutions depending on your plan should be part of every journey. Just don’t let them put you off trying!