I’ve lately found myself more and more interested in cycling and mountain biking over engine powered enduro. Although I do still regularly train enduro with the 500, I have very little interest in getting out and riding gravel for days. However, my lust for two wheeled travel has not diminished in slightest.

My first bikepacking tour in Estonia ended up being a bit of a mixed bag. I loaded my ultralight kit on my Specialized Diverge, and headed west from Tallinn, without too much of a plan, except ride. The weather was perfect ant the scenery the typical Estonian variety; flat and boring for the most part. It was only on the seaside where the endless trees gave way to view to a view over the water.

To be honest there really isn’t much to tell, except that I followed the coast west and and then south where I had planned to camp. Unfortunately I had been faster than expected and it was still too early to camp, especially since every potential camping spot was infested with mosquitoes which would have made for a pretty long and miserable wait for the morning in the tight space of my ultralight and ultra small tent. So I just kept riding and eventually found myself back where I started in the morning. The ride was just over 230 km so not too bad for one day of bikepacking I suppose.

It was funny to observe how much the game changes when you replace MX gear with a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. There is absolutely no cover from the bloodthirsty mosquitoes, and setting up a tent in the swarm would have been a nightmare without changing first. Well it was a lesson learned I suppose. But to be honest I think the lesson was actually never to bike pack in Estonia in the summer again. On lighter note the cycling was an incredibly nice way to travel. And I felt much more in touch with my surroundings on the bicycle, as opposed to a moto.