Field Tested: A Weekend of Racing, Camping, and Cooking
Last weekend, we headed to the foothills near Yosemite for a high school mountain bike race and a couple of nights of camping. Thousands of riders and their families descended on Barrett Cove Campground, adjacent to the Exchequer Mountain Bike Park, for the NorCal race.
This wasn’t overlanding—or even semi-dispersed camping. Some teams set up their pit zone tents in the campground and prepped team meals right at their campsites. Our team had a small cluster of sites together, which made for a great spot to host our Friday night potluck.
Competition for campsites is steep, and I’d jumped on one with power so we could charge the truck overnight. Unfortunately, I didn’t read the fine print closely enough—it was a 30-amp site. Pro tip: 30-amp trailer outlets require a special adapter. Last year, we had a site with a 50-amp outlet, which worked with the NEMA 14-50 adapter included with the Rivian Travel Charger. I ordered this adapter once I realized the issue, but it didn’t arrive until after the trip.
Even so, we managed to trickle charge using a standard 120V outlet. Since we stayed an extra day, we gained enough juice that we could’ve made it home without stopping to charge. We did end up pausing at the Manteca RAN so I could use the bathroom at Bass Pro Shop—giving Matthew time to chat with some fellow Rivian drivers at the chargers.
On the way to the race, we decided to camp Saturday night as well, giving Matthew and our son a chance to explore the extensive trail network Sunday morning. It also gave us more time to break in the new Thunderbolt Field Kitchen we brought along for the weekend. The Field Kitchen is a tidy little setup that made it easy to cook and carry everything we needed for our small group of three.
Since we left the Overland Kitchen at home, we used the gear tunnel to stash our son’s ground tent, a camp chair, cycling shoes, helmets, and other essentials. I still love the Overland Kitchen for the gear tunnel, but the Field Kitchen is a great solution when the campsite parking spot is far from the picnic table.
The weekend gave us a chance to enjoy the race, spend time together outdoors, and fine-tune our camping setup. The Field Kitchen made mealtime easy, and it’s quickly becoming a go-to for quick trips like this one. But more than anything, it was about being out there as a family—watching the kids ride, sharing food with friends, and making memories around the campsite. A little mud, a little chaos, and plenty of good stories to take home.
