Bikecamping to Robertsville State Park

I got away for my first overnight bike trip of the year. I biked from my home in Saint Charles south to Robertsville State Park, camped, and came back the next day. I rode 91 miles and climbed 5935 feet in total. David joined me at the Pacific Brew Haus for dinner and rode the last 1.5 hours into the park with me. The next morning, we rode back into town to Little Ireland Coffee for breakfast. He drove to work and I spent the rest of the day biking back.

For this trip, I decided to take my Nikon Z 5 camera and look for interesting photos, instead of just grabbing snapshots with my phone. That really did tweak the ride for me, giving me a focus beyond just pedaling the miles and soaking up the spring air. Despite cold, windy conditions, I did get a few interesting shots.

Here is my favorite, taken under the Missouri River bridge on the Creve Coeur Connector trail.

I also grabbed a selfie at the water plant in Chesterfield.

I got to enjoy the vista that some folks in Eureka are lucky enough to live with. I rode up this hill but there were others on the route (Hog Hollow comes to mind!) where I got off and pushed the bike. I took Doug’s advice to heart: I’m man enough to walk my bike up any hill.

Monday was cold and windy (headwinds 110% of the time, for sure). David and I were both grinning when we finally made it to the entrance to the park.

Tuesday was colder with temps in the 50s, down from the low 60s on Monday, but at least the wind moderated a bit. I had overplanned my route on Monday, with too many hills. I did a little better on Tuesday so there was lots less walking.

I found silliness on Tuesday, like these two signs on a fence.

I grabbed my canonical Route 66 shot, after being closely monitored by a miniature horse. He was pretty funny, turning to look at me as I got of my bike to take his picture, even though I was a good 50 yards away from him.

You can see all 14 of my photos in my Overnight to Robertsville State Park gallery.

This was my first long trip on my Masi Giramondo. I am every bit as delighted with it as I had hoped to be. Having cargo racks on the front was a nice bonus. I pulled my tent out of a pannier and strapped it to the front of the bike which freed up a ton of space for other things inside the panniers. I would have put my sleeping bag up front, too, but it was drizzling when I left home and I wanted to be absolutely certain that I would have a dry place to sleep.

My panniers weighed in at 40 lbs but I have already found several ways to lighten my load.

1. I had hauled a Jackary USB power pack that is a full 4 lbs. I bought it several years ago for a different type of camping. I just bought a Zendure for bikecamping that weights just 6.4 ounces.
2. Next trip, I will swap my Nikon Z 5 with the Z 24-200 lens for my Nikon Z 50 with the Z 16-50 lens. That will save me another 1.5 lbs. When I looked back over the shots that I took on this trip, none except the horse needed the long telephoto.
3. I’ll dump the second pair of shoes, which I never wore. That will get me back another 1.5 lbs.
4. I took way too many snacks, especially since I was riding past stores which sold delicacies like Bissinger’s Dark Chocolate Nonpareils. Trust me, those nonpareils were much better than the trail mix in my bag.

My next trip is going to be flatter, for sure. I think that it is time to explore some of Illinois.

My Overnight at Robertsville State Park collection at RideWithGPS has the maps for each ride.