About a month and a half ago I bought a ticket to Georgia (the country) after I gave notice to leave an uninspiring job with no plan! Typically, I ALWAYS have a plan. After some internal debate, I intentionally left my job without having a plan to show myself that following my gut will lead me to where I want to be and sometimes not having a plan is the best way to go. GO WITH YOUR GUT! Oh, and stick it to the man, too! I went back and forth between going back to my roots as a rafting guide full time or finding another job or maybe traveling? I chose to do a solo travel to Georgia based on a recommendations from a few friends that had nothing but wonderful experiences there. I was sold, and I booked my plane ticket.
My idea for bikepacking came up for an initial desire to travel to Mongolia. After diving into research on how to get around Mongolia, I determined that taking my own bike and bikepacking was really the only way to independently travel in Mongolia. Renting a car was way out of my budget. After some thinking, I came to the conclusion that traveling to the least populated country in the world alone, was not where my heart was right now or what I wanted out of my travels. In the beginning of my trip planning, I had a long conversation with my friend Hanne about bikepacking solo and she really did inspire and encourage me to go for it whether that be Mongolia or Georgia. Thank you, Hanne!
Planning for bikepacking has been more of a creative project than I expected. Strapping, rigging, stuffing, balancing, puzzling the oddly shaped gear into reasonable spots on the bike was no easy task. It took a lot of trial and error, swapping of mountain bikes, and crash courses on bike mechanics to get myself feeling ready.
I’ll be bringing Gary (ol’ Gare, GareBear, more nicknames to come?) with me to Georgia as my valiant steed. The bike brand is Gary Fisher (hence his name), which are no longer made. Apparently the inventor (Gary Fisher) was kicked out of a mountain biking race because his hair was too long, so he stuck it to the man (I feel ya, Gary), and started his own business building mountain bikes. I think Gary and I will be good buds at the end of this one.
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For those interested in seeing the route I’m doing, the link is below. The author does a fantastic job of describing the route and takes great pictures. https://bikepacking.com/routes/caucasus-crossing/
I’m planning on biking a little over half of the route starting from the western side of the country in Zugdidi.
More posts to come, hopefully!
Grace Peven 