A couple of rascals, one Goblin Queen & the Sierra Nevada
Check out the original article on the Surly bikes website here.
Brethren and sistren, tis me, the arctic dwelling pasta eating pathetic excuse for a respectable adult Jack Mac. Oh, 2019, you absolute joker, giver of elation, servant of destruction. Yes. I both love and hateth you. It’s safe to say that last year was one of the very best ( and most challenging ). I made a semi-permanent relocation in my home-onwheels to the Arctic Circle, took on a bunch of totally crazy Norwegian clients and found…wait for it….love. Yep. I got me a ball and chain. I know what you’re thinking, how did you, Jack Mac, find anyone accepting of your deep LOTR fetishism. Good question. I simply expressed a fondness for enjoying all three extended films in a day and brushed off the full Gandalf latex costume and elven ears as an outfit I put together in the London School of Fashion ( ….which I didn’t attend ). The criteria for my prospective Goblin queen was strict. I needed someone small enough to live in the van’s second bedroom ( ….the rear cupboard alongside the bed ), she needed to turn a blind eye to my obsession with Jason Momoa, enjoy a game of Risk at least three times a day, consider conversations about the Syncro’s viscous coupling role-play and crucially….the DEAL BREAKER….ride a Surly. Well, ladies and gentleman, call me a wizard’s second cousin’s aunt, she just so happened to be the perfect goblin for me. I actually can’t be bothered to go into any detail beyond that but in hindsight it might have all been a BIG MISTAKE. Jokes. She’s just about the coolest human I’ve ever met and like me she rides a Karate…Kitten…yeah I know, I learnt pretty quick not to argue with that terrible rebranding. Anyway, more on that later, back to riding.
Riding in Lofoten is a pile of garbage. The end.
Jokes aside, Norway is a beautiful place to ride and you can read all about it in my previous article for the Surly blog. However, here in Lofoten trails are slim pickings, particularly in the south. In the winter the roads are sheet ice and summer tourism means you’re just one corner away from being clocked by one of the bajillion motorhomes. There are more trails as you head north towards Narvik but with a hectic work schedule I was limited to dodging traffic. I had to get away. First, I needed a team. Bart and Michalina, my bikepacking amigos, were straight on the list and I figured I should probably invite miss Karate Kitten. Next. Location. Bodo, my nearest aiport, flies direct to just about nowhere. However, it does close between midnight and four in the morning, which is ideal when the only ferry arrives at eleven thirty and you spend the night on a bench outside in minus five. Not bitter about that. In the end we settled on flying to Spain to tackle the infamous Sierra Nevada, which I since learnt doesn’t mean ‘ pleasant meandering hills ’. We arrived in Malaga seamlessly. Oh, accept it took me about two days and Amber’s bike didn’t arrive. Moreover, it was thirty five bloody degrees on the day we landed…in October….that my friends is scary climate change. I may joke a lot, but it was meant to be fifteen to twenty, that is terrifying. The heat ended up being pretty relentless and at high altitude with no shade often unbearable. Our route was devised by Bart ( it’s a mistake I seem to make time and time again ) who forever talks about reaching some sort of comfortable plateau…which definitely doesn’t exist. Now, in hindsight we did make some errors on this trip and arguably the biggest was underestimating the scenic route we chose from Malaga into the Sierra Nevada a.k.a two days of 1500-2000m of climbing on frequently 30%+ gradients in the most unbearable heat. Now, this had a pretty profound effect on all of us ( except Bart who’s super human ). The scenic route to the Sierra Nevada did have some beautiful sections but also had many truly savage climbs that I feel are best avoided. It’s not that I ever want the easy route per say ( and I certainly don’t regret it ), it was just a shame to miss some of the national park due to slow progress getting there. Moreover, the Sierra Nevada is truly a bikepacking paradise and the journey there simply cannot compete. So, the Sierra Nevada.
Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when flying out to Malaga. I’d been so busy at work that I was just excited to go bikepacking and hadn’t had a lot of time to check our route or the landscapes before arriving. I’ve been to Spain a few times and aside from a brief road trip through the Pyrennes I’d never experienced ruggedness in Spain like the Sierra Nevada. The highest mountain may only come in at 3,479m but it’s one of many peaks this size that are actually reasonably accessible by bike. It is a bikepacking dream with plentiful gravel roads and a good selection of singletrack that allows the avid bikepacker to tailor a bespoke route through these wondrous mountains. The climbs are frequent and often brutal but you’re rewarded with jaw dropping views and a selection of beautiful mountain villages that offer great food ( and coffee ) at very reasonable prices ( our personal favourite being Capileira ). The food in Spain is famously delicious but often simple with the quality of ingredients being the real showpiece. We were keen to be as environmentally conscious on this ride as possible with little to no plastic and with numerous green grocers it was easy to stock up our bike bags with some of the finest fruits & vegetables I’ve ever tasted. I took inspiration on this ride from some of my bikepacking heroes ( namely Cass Gilbert – ‘ While Out Riding ’ ) who have advocated foods that are both high calorie but also packed with vitamins, rather than the easy grab chocolate/biscuits that have poor nutritional value and are usually wrapped in plastic. I can honestly say that this approach benefitted me hugely and I had more energy and remained injury free despite incessant climbing. I definitely would encourage adventure cyclists to replace wrapped snacks for fruits/vegetables/nuts etc as it’s just about the best I’ve felt on any big ride. The main goal was climbing to the top of Mulhacen ( the highest mountain ) on the bikes and spending the night at a remote mountain bothy before returning to a route that looped around the Sierra Nevada. Unfortunately, Amber ( Karate Kitten ) had an allergic reaction to some food that contained a rare type of shellfish, which was pretty scary at over three thousand metres. In the end Amber was really struggling to breathe and was swelling up pretty bad so we parted ways with Bart & Michalina so they could summit and we descended approximately 1500m back to the village we’d stayed at the night before. Amber was extremely frustrated knowing there was just five hundred metres between us and the peak of Mulhacen ( one of the paramount objectives of our trip ), especially after a truly gruelling three thousand metre climb the day before. However, despite her protests, we insisted that it was the sensible choice. It’s important to remember that in remote regions if things were to suddenly turn serious it maybe very difficult for emergency services to reach you. I’m often teased for being Mr Boring & Sensible but I also spend a LOT of time in the mountains ( it’s my profession after all ) so I’ve seen how quickly a situation can escalate. Also, I’m a weird guy living full-time in a van….if anything had happened to Amber I’d have definitely been accused of murder. Thus, fearful of prison bathroom etiquette and a little for Amber’s safety we made our descent to the nearest village ( here it would be much easier to murder her….more suspects etc ).
The next day we reconvened and formulated a more forgiving route that accounted for Amber’s condition ( she was ok but completely wiped from the previous day’s events ). Moreover, our ride had been plagued with delays since day one when the airport lost Amber’s bike. I think all-in-all we lost around three days of riding and this combined with the incessant heat meant our original route would’ve been a miserable slog. Amber maybe the toughest person I’ve ever met but it was also her first multi-day trip and the ride had already been super tough. We decided to continue on our planned ride for one further day and then part ways ( Me & Amber had flights scheduled a few days earlier than B & M). Now, one of the reasons I love riding with Bart & Michalina is that nothing’s a disaster. We embrace the unforeseen and work as a team to recalibrate. Bikepacking is about the adventure and whilst goals are great it’s also important to remain flexible and open to change. It can be very disheartening when you don’t reach your destination until you realise that the real reward is in the journey itself. The next day we said our goodbyes, saddened to part ways, but excited for a day that promised back-to-back mountain descents….and it didn’t disappoint. We finished our journey in a tiny Spanish town where one of Michalina’s friends gave us a lift into Malaga. So what about the bikes?
On this trip me and Amber both rode custom built Surly Karate Monkeys and we couldn’t have been more impressed by the performance. My Monkey had been carefully put together as a project with my local bike shop ( and good friends ) ‘ Herbert’s Cycles ’ in Whitstable ( a detailed review of the build will feature on my website soon ). Amber’s bike was assembled super fast and was only ridden a couple of times before being packed for Spain ( I’m sure she’ll have a word or two for my site & Surly’s blog in the near future ). As always we supported small bikepacking companies for our bags where possible ( alongside some bigger brands ) and had an assortment of gear manufactured by JPaks, Surly Bikes, Car Sick Designs, Revelate Designs, Carradice bags and Salsa. I was extremely happy with my KM; the countless hours of planning and test riding meant it rode beautifully and after numerous bikepacking adventures my bag set up performed flawlessly. As usual I packed way too much photography/videography gear so this will be cut dramatically in future ( namely I’d like to transition to a full mirrorless system that’s adequate for both photography/videography ). I’d also be interested in experimenting with a simple rear rack/saddlebag and front rack/basket/basket bag combo in the future ( I really like the idea of super easy accessibility to all my gear, especially as I focus more on carrying fresh produce on rides – I have my eye on the new Car Sick Designs ‘ 1 three 7 ’ basket bag to fit neatly between the drop bars of my KM and have the Surly Porteur House and 12 Pack Rack already set up on the ECR ). Amber utilised almost exclusively Revelate Design products and was very happy with the overall performance. However, we both agreed that a rear rack and saddlebag is just more practical than a harness for our personal needs. I’ve owned Surlys now for almost a decade and if there’s one consistent factor it’s the f**king smile on my face. I love Surly Bikes, I’m a shameless fan boy and riding for a company I truly support is a dream come true. Now, if shredding gravel roads through the mountains at over forty miles per hour on a bright purple custom built drop bar Karate Monkey doesn’t put a smile on your face then…I dunno…but it’s concerning and will require careful observation.
So, Sierra Nevada 10/10. Surly karate Monkey 10/10. My Goblin Princess 10/10. Bikepacking Amigos 10/10. LOTR…not relevant….but 11/10.
The ride was also featured in my latest Youtube episode…
