Not going for the one a month club, unfortunately.

“Look natural” I said.

At the beginning of each year, someone proposes the idea of doing one bike camping overnight a month. Here in the pretty-damn-temperate Northwest, it IS feasible to bike camp (with tent!) every month of the year, so for the last couple years I thought about joining the “One A Month” club. Last year started off on a good foot, with camping in January! But things petered out, and I ended up going on less camping trips than I expected.

And this year? This year, I won’t be part of the “One a Month” Club. January came and went, and no camping. This is due to two things: lack of time, and crap weather. While January was better than December in the rain department, it would be hard for January to be worse, since we had record-breaking rains in December (over 13 inches!) While we didn’t see the deluges of December this past month, it was still fairly wet overall, and planning of trips was hard since the default forecast was “chance of rain” even if it wasn’t going to.

But I think the harder thing was the lack of time. In order for me to enjoy a mid-winter camping excursion, I need two consecutive days off. With the short days, I’m not in the mood to do a “dash from work and set up camp in the dark” experience. Summertime, sure, but not now. And I only had two consecutive days off from work in January, as things there have been very busy.  And the weather was crap then. (I had actually planned on camping that “weekend”, but bailed when the weather forecast didn’t improve.

That all doesn’t matter now. But it’s hard not to get jealous when I see someone else having a great bike overnight in January. Sigh.

And now February is here. And I really would like to camp soon. Thankfully the “long-range” forecast for next week promises drier weather. With any luck, my two days off will happen then. And as long as the stars align, I’ll pack up my bike and head to a campground. If I can’t get a camping trip in every month this year, I’ll try to get in as many months as I can!!