Field Journal

Stories Behind the Gear: NEMO Dragonfly Bikepack OSMO Tent
Written by: Daniel Neilson // Photography by John Summerton
Produced in partnership with NEMO

It’s over days when you start to really notice the nuances. Of the road, of the routes, of the culture, of the food. It’s over days in the saddle when you begin to feel the flow along the new terrain of the trails. It’s also over days when you begin to absorb and truly take in the surroundings. The luxury of days riding provides the time to observe and reflect, to see and to learn.

We were riding south, now along the Catalonian coast, and the novelty had subsided somewhat, and the lessons of cycling along the rocky, hilly trails had become ingrained in us. We fell into the evening routines of making camp and then dinner. Now we could really experience Catalonia, really take in the scenery, meet the people and notice the detail. This is the most joyful part of the journey – not that bikepacking along the Catalonian coast could be anything other than beautiful.

This trip was about taking our time. An escape for a few days to journey south along the Catalonian coastline without a specific destination in mind. We’d just see how far we got. We took long breaks sitting on bluffs jutting into the sea, the winds of the Mediterranean cooling us from the afternoon sun. We travelled past estuaries and upstream through rural farmland, past vineyards, and along the less obvious trails and back roads, aiming for nowhere in particular.

We rode into ancient villages (several of which dated back to Roman times) for coffee in the morning and something stronger in the evening. At Palau-sator, we stopped in a tiny rural museum, took photos we’d never look at again of the old farm machinery, and ordered Vermut de la casa and croquetes from a menu written in Catalan. The village’s name relates to its oldest tower, ‘Sa Tor’, built in AD 994. Once nothing more than a medieval castle stood here, but the village slowly grew up around it. The castle was well preserved and didn’t look like it had seen much action. Perhaps the only foe was fighting windmills instead. There’s an inscription on the tower’s clock: ‘Només compto les hores serenes [I only count the serene hours]’.

We filled up our bottles from the water fountain in the central square, and guessed our way back to the coast, following our nose into the breeze. It was cooler again, and hillier. There was nothing particularly high here, but the undulation was constant and extremely steep at times – and it was hot. A convenient excuse for another stop, this time in beautiful Begur. This is another ancient town, with Roman remains and a medieval castle that overlooks the town from a hill now at the centre of the settlement. Whoever built it must have stood back and admired their handiwork with satisfaction, so perfectly it sits atop the hill.

By the coast, 16th-century defensive towers protected the town’s residents from pirates of the Mediterranean. Today, it’s small fishing boats and leisure boats we saw most of in the harbour and yachts farther out to sea. There was no wind; like us, the sailors seemed to have decided to knock off early and enjoy the lazy afternoon.

It was a short downhill ride to a quiet spot near the beach where we could make camp, close enough to leave the bikes and go for a dip. We pulled the tent out of the handlebar bag and set up among a small grove of Aleppo pine as the sun lowered in the sky. A delicate pink rockrose, which we later learned was a grey-leaved Cistus (Cistus albidus), had opened its crinkled petals, its leaves absorbing the last of the sun. The breeze died down, and all we could hear was the admittedly quite loud buzz of cicadas in the trees. We liked it there.

These are the best days – a few days into the trip, when you’ve found your flow, the wheels turn effortlessly, and there’s time to sit, to relax. The Catalonians know that. Només compto les hores serenes. I only count the serene hours.

NEMO DRAGONFLY BIKEPACK OSMO TENT

New Hampshire-based NEMO has been developing high-quality, lightweight backpacking gear since 2004, immediately winning awards for proprietary airbeam-supported tents. Today, it is still owned by founder Cam Brensinger. Over the years, we’ve found NEMO gear incredibly pleasing to use. Everything just fits, the attachments are solid, and there are neat features that are clearly the result of painstaking consideration.

Earlier in 2026, NEMO released the second iteration of the Dragonfly Bikepack OSMO tent, designed for bikepacking and kayaking. It is lighter and has a significantly improved handlebar bag.

It certainly packs down easily and, yes, we know we should test it all out before embarking on a bikepacking trip, but time didn’t permit. Instead, we strapped it to the bike and headed south and trusted in NEMO. The handlebar bag is easy to attach with two compression straps, daisy chain loops, and a headtube strap. The tent comfortably fits in, with a little room to spare, and the daisy chain loops mean you can also affix other gear to it as well.

So onto the tent. We recently tested a NEMO backpacking tent, the Hornet Elite OSMO Ultralight Backpacking Tent, which had some similar features, but it has to be said, the Dragonfly is effortless to put up… and no, we didn’t read the instructions. The poles – shortened to fit in the handlebar bag – are all attached to a central hub which springs up pretty quickly. They are also pre-bent. An update, we’re told, is the cross-roof pole that has added an extra 34 per cent volume. And as you can see from the photos, there is ample headroom. The floor space is 2.7m2, and the tub floor offers a lightweight yet durable surface, even on the prickly, stony ground of our chosen camp spots.

The sides are light mesh that allows air to flow through – this is a three-season tent, perfect for our days in Spain. On really hot days, we left off the fly cover, made from Bluesign-approved OSMO recycled tent fabric ripstop, and watched the stars through the black mesh roof. When there was a chance of rain, the fly cover was a cinch to put on with a positive attachment on the corner anchors.

Once up, the vestibule has plenty of room for gear and space to put these neat little triangular waterproof floor tubs, called ‘landing zones’, to keep things dry from the ground.
We also used the daisy-chain loops that hang from the tent to dry clothes, and used the two nightlight pockets too.

As we said, NEMO is solid and positive, just like our bikes. The best plaudit of all is that it was effortless to use, and no niggles at all… except for the stony ground, but we can’t blame NEMO for that.