Originally Posted by
LuckySailor
I say relax man! You're on tour
+1
My first thing in the morning at camp is to get up, make a mug of coffee and meditate quietly, enjoying the sights and sounds of the camp site that I worked so hard to get to the previous day. I may spend an hour at this along with breakfast. Striking the tent and packing the bike are the last things I do. I cannot appreciate the morning "hurry to beat the rush hour traffic, heat, wind or whatever" mentality of many of today's cycle tourists.
The first ACA "Cycle Montana" that I staffed, each morning was the sound of at least 100 insomniacs un-zipping their zippers, clickety clacketing their tent poles and rustling their ground sheets in the dark at 5 AM in order to get the day's "chore" of cycling out of the way. I felt like I was a kid on a fishing trip with my dad being dragged out of bed in the dark so we'd be out there when they were biting.
By mid-tour most of my 2009 TransAm group adopted the habits of a few early risers and were up at 5AM. Whenever we'd enter a new time zone westbound I'd see it as an opportunity for a more leisurely start. Many of group would see it as an opportunity to pack up at 4AM instead of 5AM!
Only one young 20 something couple in the group got up at leisurely pace. One of the older group members would actually run between the lunch prep table and his bike packing location, inhaling a bowl of cereal while in motion between the two. Supposedly this morning rush was to beat the heat and wind. However I recall the same morning rush to abandon camp on a frosty, sub-freezing morning in Jackson MT when we had an easy 60 mile ride mostly downhill to Darby MT scheduled for the day. Folks were shaking the ice off their tents at 5AM in order to beat the heat! "Relax" I said to the group, "Let's wait until the sun hits our tents. The cafe doesn't open until 8am". I had breakfast at the cafe by myself. The group was long gone. Some stopped at the cafe in Wisdom 18 miles down the road to warm their fingers. The leisurely young 20 something couple had left the group back at Yellowstone.
In summary, I cycle tour to relax. The morning rush to "work" is not my style, thus I've never timed myself packing up. Like Rowan, the only time I rush is when the camp location is undesirable or if it's raining.