Chefonabike

  When you set off for a bikepacking trip, how do you plan / organise your meals?  Are you a dehydrated / freeze dried meals kind of bikepacker or are you more into cooking from scratch..even if it’s going to be a simple pasta with tomato sauce, tuna, sweet corn and Parmigiano? Or..are you a restaurant, pizzerias, food stores, cafes, supermarkets, gas stations kind of guy / girl? During lockdown I had plenty of time to search the internet for those ready dehydrated / freeze dried meals. In sports such as alpinism, mountaineering, expeditions and backpacking these meals are quite the normality.  A quick google search is enough to stumble upon a vast availability of products in the market and at first, it can be overwhelming to choose the right meals for you from. I found a lot of similar “dishes” like the famous chilli con carne (or sin carne for the vegetarians); Mac & cheese; Indian Dahl; and the unmissable pasta dishes like pasta primavera; pasta arrabiata and so on...

Since I moved to Chamonix, I always wanted to ride this route (mostly on tarmac). I already rode the TMB on mtb and that was an epic solo adventure so I wanted to replicate and recreate the same kind of adventure.  I think I got what I asked for. Departure day / Friday 11:00am Taking the advantage of the two good weather days I spotted on the forecast I packed my bike the day before (Thu) so I was able to get and go on Fri morning..BUT..it kind of didn’t go as planned. I overslept and woke up at 8:30am and by the time I was ready to roll it was already 10am / then..doubts started to creep in! Fear; indecisions; apprehensions..you know..the same creep really!  I spent 30mins sitting by my ready to roll bike, wearing the helmet and all stuff..just thinking if I was ready or not.  So..from Chamonix to Martigny was quite straight forward..then I took the train from Martigny to Orsiere just to avoid a dull section of the a main road. From Orsiere I knew it going to ...