Hi!
It's getting cold and the days are short.
Chances are you are mostly reminiscing about adventures from earlier in the year, or dreaming about where you are riding next year.
Just as the riding season was winding up here in northern Europe, our man Steve Frost took a couple of weeks holiday from Adventure Spec and managed to squeeze in one last adventure on the ACT Pyrenees.
You will normally find Steve either on our Helpdesk or managing the many (and sometimes complex) systems that keep the wheels turning behind the scenes at Adventure Spec, but he's also very at home on his T700 (as I found out earlier this year!).
I caught up with Steve to find out a bit more about the ACT, riding in Spain, and why a Welshman would sail to Ireland in order to get to Spain.
It's a long one so go put the kettle on.
Enjoy!
🇪🇸 🙂
Greg Villalobos
Tom & Steve take a moment at Cap de Creus.
AS:
Why this trip and why now?
STEVE:
It had been a busy year outside of bikes. Having not been abroad all year, deciding not to participate in any racing and it being two years since my last (and first) bike trip around Norway, I felt it was time to try and squeeze something in before the end of the year.
Tom and I attended a local bike night and I mentioned a few trip ideas I had floating around. The top of my list was the ACT Pyrenees, it seemed to provide a good amount of off-road riding with great scenery without too much road riding involved.
The convenience of downloading a GPX file and following said route was really appealing. I appreciate some would consider this less of an "adventure", but it means more focus can be made on the riding itself, not route planning.
As soon as I mentioned the Pyrenees, Tom was keen.
After juggling a few things my side, the stars aligned on a 13 day trip starting in the early hours of 25th September.
It was fairly last minute with only 3 weeks’ notice. But we booked the ferries and started acquiring some kit for the trip.
AS:
You came up with a novel way of getting to northern Spain. How did you do it?
STEVE:
Living on the West coast of Wales, I've always felt a bit out of the way for European travel. Having to do a full day of road riding before getting to a ferry port or the channel tunnel made things less appealing.
I spend a lot of time browsing Google Maps looking at potential trips/routes and something clicked one day.
Can I get a ferry from Pembroke Dock or Fishguard (5 miles and 21 miles from home) to Ireland (Rosslare) and catch another ferry from there to France or Spain?
A mild amount of investigating revealed the outbound trip timings aligned perfectly. We caught the 2:45am ferry from Pembroke Dock to Rosslare, landing in Ireland at 6:46. By the time we'd cleared customs & queued, it was time to board the 9am ferry from Rosslare to Bilbao.
The requirement to board the ferry at least an hour before worked in our favour here.
Being able to catch the ferry from Pembroke Dock meant the bikes/tyres only had to cover 5 miles before landing in Bilbao, our newly fitted tyres were still new on arrival to Northern Spain.
This allowed us to fit a slightly more aggressive tyre than initially anticipated. On the T7, I opted for a Motoz Tractionator Rallz for the rear, paired with a Michelin Tracker up front. Tom opted for Michelin Anakee Wild's for the 990.
AS:
How did the ACT compare to the TET?
STEVE:
The ACT mainly offered wide gravel tracks with steep ascents and descents which the bigger bikes really excelled at. There was nothing show-stopping and not many technical sections which brought you down to sub 10mph. It felt good, we were making good ground whilst riding off-road with amazing scenery.
There's something really rewarding about riding off-road and covering good milage, as there's often a trade-off between the two, and it's rare to find days like this in the UK.
We decided to do the route in reverse as Bilbao's only a couple of hours from the finish (start in our case), and it gave us more time/flex on the return journey back across the Pyrenees and home.
There were a few sections where reversing the route made us stop and double check where/how to join back onto the route due to one-way systems, but there were no major issues.
Our ferry landed us in Bilbao around 1pm on the 26th, we headed two hours up the coast to San Sebastian for the evening and stayed overnight, ready to start day 1 of the route the following morning.
The Tapas in San Sebastian was the best food we came across on the whole trip, it is well worth a visit and worth spending an evening here if you get the chance.
The ACT Pyrenees is split into five GPX routes, with the intention of covering one per day. Four of the days are between 126 and 137 miles, but the 2nd day (day 4 if you're doing it in the intended direction) was 164 miles. The extra 30-40 miles was quite noticeable and it's worth setting off a bit earlier for this day, or possibly covering some of that day on the previous or following day. For me, days 2 & 4 stood out as the best riding days, but they were all very good.
AS:
It looked like you packed super light. What did you take? Did you have enough room?
STEVE:
My first bike trip was 95% on road, covering 5,500 miles in 17 days around Norway on a 2013 Honda CB500X. It was my first bike trip, and like most do on their first trip, I overpacked. I estimate my pack-weight for that trip was near 40Kg (no joke). My tent, mattress and sleeping bag was 11Kg+ alone.
Given that the ACT was around 40% off-road, I wanted to be near 1/4 of that at 10Kg.
Packing became an enjoyable challenge against myself. The plan was to take half as many things, and the things I did pack to be half the weight. I really enjoy the planning side of things, and I like good kit.
The final figure was 12.95Kg ready to mount on the bike.
For luggage, I opted for a pair of Kriega OS-12's mounted to the Adventure Spec T7 side pannier racks and a Kriega US-10 on the pillion seat, fastened to the bars on the Adventure Spec T7 top rack.
The first OS-12 contained my tent (OEX Phoxx 1 V2), air mattress (Rab Ultrasphere 1.5), sleeping bag (OEX Drift 700) and an unbranded £1.50 inflatable pillow.
The second OS-12 contained a dry bag for clean clothes, a dry bag for dirty clothes, a dry bag with my waterproof over-trousers, my Snugpack wash bag with toiletries, and a thin North Face packable mid-layer fleece.
The US-10 contained tools, tyre levers, spare front tube (can be used as a rear in a pinch), hand pump, small first aid kit, spare nuts and bolts box with cable ties, chemical metal, duct tape etc, a Snowpeak titanium mug, C100 Xtreme gas (smallest form factor with threaded fitting), a mini stove that threads directly to the gas canister from Amazon, long titanium spork, small knife (trailside chorizo chopping), Rave coffee bags, head torch, spare straps/bungies, paracord, and a power bank. Along with the T7 Logbook, my Passport and charging cables on the top facing external waterproof pocket.
I also had a Kriega Trail 18 backpack which contained a drone, GoPro, food/snacks for the day and some MRE's. The external netted section of the bag housed my AS Singletrack Jacket when it wasn't raining and a 1L bottle of water.
Small panniers = small tents.
AS:
So you took tents but only camped out a couple of times. What was the experience of finding hotels? Did you stick to your budget?
STEVE:
Despite packing full camp gear, we only managed to camp two nights out of a possible nine nights (three nights were covered by the overnight ferries).
This largely boiled down to it being out of season and not many campsites being open, along with some that we arrived to too late in the day where the reception was closed. Travelling by bike does mean that you're able to ride to wherever there may be cheaper hotels, and most evenings did require a 10-minute ride to find one, often between £40-£70, which is pretty reasonable once split between two people.
Fancy food or fancy views?
On the topic of budget, I didn't have a set spend in mind, but had a rough idea on what it might cost. Staying in more hotels than anticipated and eating well most evenings did mean we finished above this, but it is what it is.
We had some amazing food (particularly on the Spanish side), often whatever was on the set menu for the day, and I don't regret the additional spend here. A mix of food obtained from convenience shops for a quick lunch and local set menu cuisine was a good balance in terms of budget and sampling what the locals had to offer.
It wasn't all sunshine.
AS:
You and Tom had different sets of AS clothing for the trip. How did they compare?
STEVE:
For this trip, I opted for a Supershirt, Linesman Jacket & Pant along with a Singletrack Jacket, RST waterproof overtrousers and a pair of Alpinestar Tech 7's.
The temperature varied greatly. We'd often wake up to 4 degrees (celsius) and towards the end of the trip near the Mediterranean coast, it peaked at 28 degrees. Having the ability to strip layers whilst still having my Supershirt as a baselayer was crucial to my comfort.
Steve's gear.
I'd often start my mornings with a merino base layer, Supershirt, t-shirt, Linesman Jacket and Singletrack Jacket.
Taking the Singletrack Jacket off around 11am most mornings (when it wasn't raining) helped me to ventilate better once it had started to warm up.
Tom opted for the Mongolia Jacket & Pant which provided plenty of ventilation on the warmer days whilst providing plenty of protection.
Tom's gear.
For the colder morning starts, he had a Patagonia fleece which was sandwiched between a t-shirt and the Mongolia Jacket.
Given the time of year, we were quite lucky with the weather. We faced rain on the first day and on the very last day back through the UK, but the majority of the trip provided dry and dusty trails. This meant I didn't use the RST overtrousers once during the trip, as the Linesman trousers dried out shortly after the bursts of rain.
Tom wore a poncho for rain protection, along with mariner spec waders which were conveniently in matching KTM orange.
The long ride home.
AS:
You guys came back home through France. Was that the right decision?
STEVE:
When planning a trip, it's always tough deciding where time should be spent. We were timeboxed by 13 days due to other commitments, we knew the ferries and travelling back through the UK took up 3 days, and the ACT route was 5 days, meaning we'd have 5 days to get back to the UK.
If we opted for the Bilbao ferry, we'd lose a day due to the 30-hour ferry crossing. This extra day could be used to ride through France and see/do more things.
We decided to spend 2 days riding back across the Pyrenees on road and spend 3 days up the West coast of France, stopping in Biarritz, Royan and Le Mans. It wasn't necessarily bad, but we both felt these days could have been spent better.
In hindsight, we both agreed it would have been better to have spent 4 days back across the Pyrenees and possibly explored more of Northern Spain before boarding a ferry from Bilbao (or Santander) back to the UK.
Steve's T700 has not had an easy life.
AS:
How did the bikes perform? Any issues?
STEVE:
The Tenere's looking a bit worse for wear after the trip. Both fork seals were leaking by the end of day 2, the mild countershaft seal leak had worsened and a litre of oil was purchased on day 4 and used in full by day 6, all brake pads are down to the backing plates, and the Michelin Tracker was very much passed its best after 2,300 miles.
The number plate broke off after day 3 and it wasn't until a few days later and a stop by the French Police (who were very understanding and friendly), that a new plate was fashioned up using a plastic tub and a Sharpie.
Sharpie licence plate.
The KTM was performing well until day 4 where it developed a heavy misfire and stalling issue after climbing for 20 minutes or so at altitude. Switching the bike off and letting it cool down for 10 minutes relieved the issue until we were faced with another long climb. The excessive prolonged load and altitude seemed to be the cause.
By the end of day 5 we were back at sea level on the Med and the issue never returned. It was certainly an odd one. We suspect it may be a failing fuel pump or possibly a blocked fuel filter, although we're yet to investigate.
AS:
Finally, you and Tom are only just into your 30’s which puts you at the younger end of the ADV rider spectrum. Do you feel like an outsider in that age group? Or is there a new wave of ADV rider coming through?
STEVE:
It's a great question and one that I feel extends beyond the ADV community in motorcycling. At 31, we were the youngest people we met during our time on the ACT.
I feel everyone riding the ACT has a similar outlook and expectations from the trip, regardless of age.
We bumped into two fellow Brits named Anthony & Douglas (aged 40 & 50) who were riding the ACT in the same direction and on the same days as us. We'd pass them and stop for a drink, they'd pass us etc. Stopping in a few places together to exchange stories and at the end, share a beer in Cap De Creus.
Everyone I've met from the ADV community has been encouraging, there are no ego's and everyone's happy to exchange a story.
Most people I know of a similar age riding ADV bikes have a history in riding enduro or motocross from a younger age, that have acquired road licenses and want to merge the two interests. The market seems to have shifted focus from sports bikes to adventure motorcycling over the last few years and I think it's slowly trickling down to younger folk.
With the new push on lower displacement adventure bikes, I think we'll start to see younger people on ADV bikes, but there are bigger factors at play here. Time, money, family commitments along with other factors seems to be particularly tough to balance in your 20's and 30's.
You made it to the end.
Well done and thank you.
Before you go, one last nugget for you.
The Linesman Jacket, Mongolia Jacket and Mongolia Pant that Steve and Tom used for their ACT adventure are on sale right now.
🙂
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