Hopefully this will help you make some choices about kit you choose for your adventures.
Great article, really informative.
It *is* a lot of kit mind... maybe its having it all itemized... I took pliers on my last jaunt and those aren't on this list...
I may be a little cynical, but you seem to be carrying enough kit to survive some sort of bikepacking nuclear holocaust - is it a very, very long night you're thinking of? It's also almost as if you're quickly name-checking a whole load of test kit that you've not got round to properly reviewing - told you I was cynical.
There also appear to be two lightweight insulated jackets, albeit with slightly different properties, which seems excessive.
Otherwise, using bivi bags in a lot of UK conditions is pretty grim ime. Particularly when you get into the whole Houdini-like contortions needed to extricate yourself and sleeping bag, clothes etc without getting soaked, I'd rather carry some sort of ultralight tent or at least a hooped bivi and reduce the grimness. Mind you we're not exactly experiencing classic UK weather atm, so what do I know.
Also, if you insist on using a bivi bag, you may be better off with a lightweight synthetic sleeping bag - MHW Lamina or similar - rather than a down one unless your bivi admin is very good / it never rains very hard - you believe fervently in hydrophobic down.
More generally, the thing about critiquing lightweight kit is that half of it is knowing how to use it to maximise performance plus different people have wildly differing takes on what's an acceptable level of comfort / utility etc. Personally I'd ditch a bunch of your stuff and swap in a very light tent. Cutting the weight means you'll probably enjoy the actual riding more, but that's just my take, YMMV.
@badlywireddog the forecast (Easter holidays) was somewhat variable and I was committed to the dates, so I packed for getting soaked to the skin (but hoped it wouldn’t happen). I was also going through pretty remote terrain, and my fell running background kicked in - I prefer to be prepared to stop because I have a problem or I need to help someone else with one. I honestly don’t think I had more than 1kg of things I didn’t use. I’ve definitely got more bodylard than that on board already 🙂
I would 100% love a little mini tent but sadly I don’t have one and couldn’t get one in to test in the time available. I already owned the bivvy. I don’t mind it at all for comfort/wriggling, but in the rain or with bugs about I’d much prefer a tent.
@ajt I should have had pliers - they’re on the penknife that I forgot!
Im a bit with BWD here. all that electronic stuff?
its always a weight / comfort balance as well.
It always amazes me how much I take for a 2 day, and then barely anything else for a 2 month! It's always the way......
I love a night under the stars in a bivy bag but I would personally never head out with just a bivy bag if there was a chance of more than a few drops of rain. I’d sacrifice a bunch of that clothing and virtually all the electronics for a tarp or tent.
Everyone’s take on this stuff is different though. The important thing is to get out there.
@tjagain the electronic stuff was largely because I absolutely had to get a magazine feature out of the trip! If photography didn’t matter it would take the pressure off having electronics that worked, had memory for photos etc.
Oh, and I forgot: I packed for two nights in case I missed the last train back (or just wanted the time to go a bit further).
but in the rain or with bugs about I’d much prefer a tent.
....which reminds me of a few 'ultralight' nights where I woke up with a slug on my lips! Not quite the way I was hoping to wake up. It's only happened twice, but cold memories seem to stick for some reason. 😱
I would 100% love a little mini tent
Some of them are ridiculous in price. I'm lucky to have a few (you're welcome to test them). I think that good quality outdoor stuff needs to be a bit more accessible - it's been a while since I was shopping for the best all round option, but maybe that could be a feature?
No coffee in the morning?
Now that's a must! A cold-blooded animal like myself requires a hot brew in order to get moving. How did you cope?
For one or two nights, I really like meths because it's so light and packable.
Toothbrush, cut down or folding. And I got a load of small toothpaste samples from the dentist. One is Big enough for a weeks camping
I really like meths because it's so light and packable.
I prefer coffee but each to their own
@badlywireddog the forecast (Easter holidays) was somewhat variable and I was committed to the dates, so I packed for getting soaked to the skin (but hoped it wouldn’t happen). I was also going through pretty remote terrain, and my fell running background kicked in - I prefer to be prepared to stop because I have a problem or I need to help someone else with one. I honestly don’t think I had more than 1kg of things I didn’t use. I’ve definitely got more bodylard than that on board already 🙂
I would 100% love a little mini tent but sadly I don’t have one and couldn’t get one in to test in the time available. I already owned the bivvy. I don’t mind it at all for comfort/wriggling, but in the rain or with bugs about I’d much prefer a tent.
@ajt I should have had pliers - they’re on the penknife that I forgot!
@stwhannah It's all a learning experience. The more you do stuff, the more you work out what works and doesn't for you. I'm in the very fortunate position of having a lot of very light, very free, very expensive light-packing kit, which helps you appreciate just how much nicer it is to travel with a minimal load. Then again, people gets fixated on paring their kit to the absolute minimum and forget - seemingly - to enjoy the actual experience of riding their bike, sleeping out under the stars etc.
Yes on emergency stop kit. Mountain bikers are generally quite terrible at remembering a simple mechanical may leave them stuck in an exposed place in terrible weather without the luxury of exercise-generated heat. Then again, as I'm sure you know, there's a continuum between being equipped for a full luxury bivi 'just in case' and having barely enough with you to just about survive, maybe, at the other. And it'll be different for different people depending on expectations, experience, conditions etc.
Anyway, good luck with your new direction, hope it all goes great for you 🙂
Toothbrush, cut down or folding. And I got a load of small toothpaste samples from the dentist. One is Big enough for a weeks camping
I'm with you on the toothpaste samples, but cutting down the actual toothbrush feels like one of those weird, performative things that people do, which in reality saves a couple of grammes of plastic, but makes brushing your teeth unnecessarily more fiddly.
See also ultra-lightweight stoves made from coke cans, weird sleeping mats that only support tiny protuberances at the expense of any sort of comfort and minimalist down blankets that are ultimately less efficient in use than an equivalent sleeping bag because, hey, they have no hood. Fine if you're racing and every gramme counts, but for more general lightweight use, it always feels like the gramme counting has become more important than the journey to me, obviously YMMV and some people love the whole shaving grammes from everything process as an end in its own right.
For me, it makes a lot more sense to think about the big items when it comes to saving weight - shelter, bag, mat, stove, fuel and food, food, food in particular.
It’s weird. Unless I know the weather is 100% going to be dry and mild, my 1 night bikepacking kit is the same as my multi day kit, I just omit the waterproofs and warmer layers.
An old, learned habit of mine is a wet dry routine. I have my daytime riding kit and then a clean pair of gym shorts and a base layer for the evening/sleeping. I know for 1 night, it might seem unnecessary to have clean kit to get in to, but it does help me sleep well and wake up fresh.
I’ve also stopped taking any cooking kit. Croissants/pan au chocolat can be compressed into tiny balls and the cold cans of coffee are quite nice. 😆
Yes on emergency stop kit. Mountain bikers are generally quite terrible at remembering a simple mechanical may leave them stuck in an exposed place in terrible weather without the luxury of exercise-generated heat.
+1 on this. It is amazing how fast things can go from "fine" to "uh-oh" even in not-particular remote places. Or, for instance, if someone you're riding with has a mechanical - or medical incident - and now you're standing around, getting cold yourself, and that can also put you in jeopardy. Space blanket, one more layer. (This does vary a bit depending on where you're going, but on a recent Cairngorms trip I definitely used all the layers way more often than I was planning).
The other thing that can be hard when reading about other people's packlists, and going "am I packing too much?" is remembering where they're riding; warm, non-changeable weather can make a huge difference in knowing what you can leave behind. (See: everybody on bikepacking dot com with tiny kit lists for warm climates). The other way to run light is to accept a certain amount of discomfort is going to be involved, and working out what you will and won't compromise on; what your non-negotiables are, and where you can suffer a bit.
An old, learned habit of mine is a wet dry routine. I have my daytime riding kit and then a clean pair of gym shorts and a base layer for the evening/sleeping. I know for 1 night, it might seem unnecessary to have clean kit to get in to, but it does help me sleep well and wake up fresh.
Sounds very sensible, but also - nothing wrong with a bit of luxury. (My two luxury items: pyjama trousers, a Kindle). Not sleeping in riding kit - and ideally, swapping out of it once at camp into something loose/wooly hat/down jacket) - make such a difference to comfort, and for me, means I rest better. Some people appear to be able to rest properly in a hedgerow, though!
Did you sleep well? If yes, good kit list : )
Otherwise, using bivi bags in a lot of UK conditions is pretty grim ime. Particularly when you get into the whole Houdini-like contortions needed to extricate yourself and sleeping bag, clothes etc without getting soaked, I'd rather carry some sort of ultralight tent or at least a hooped bivi and reduce the grimness. Mind you we're not exactly experiencing classic UK weather atm, so what do I know.
Perhaps the mistake there is treating a bivi bag as a military or mountaineering survival bag, which it may be if you're really unlucky but if not a real emergency, if you're bike touring with a bivi and you end up inside the bivi trying to change clothes as it pours down you've made a load of bad choices to get there.. Bivis are wonderful in good weather and if the weather's looking iffy find a church doorway, cricket pavilion, bus stop etc. 'Found shelter' - a nose for those kind of spots is a good thing to develop. I'd take a small tarp as back up normally. I've ridden across France a couple of times with just a bivi and once toured round Wales for a week that way, it was light and simple but I did end up in some interesting and memorable spots. Which is part of the appeal tbh.
On the lightweight gram-counting approach, I used to do that. 3/4 mat, 280g down quilt, 180g sleeping bag cover as a bivi bag, pro-plus instead of coffee making kit etc. Not so comfortable but I was over a decade younger and with well under 4kgs tucked onto my bike it was eye-opening to realise how far you can go in 4-5 days w/o getting into all-nighter sleep deprivation stuff. Also good to realise how little you really do need - I add a kilo or 2 for comfort now and it's still a light pack list.
A small tarp (I got mine second hand years back, £25) can make the difference between a decent night and an endurance test if the weather comes in. Tuesday this week case in point. Use landscape features to your benefit. I use a Snugpak bivi bag with a chest zip, easier to get in/out, but I'm sceptical about just how waterproof/breathable it is (as I was with a Hunka XL I used to have). I wouldn't inflict either on a down sleeping bag.
I'm with you on the toothpaste samples, but cutting down the actual toothbrush feels like one of those weird, performative things that people do
Same here - a complete toothbrush takes barely any more space than half a brush. I found a tip about using contact lens holders to carry enough toothpaste for a night or two, and it works for me, although I have almost put my contact lenses into the wrong container!
(My two luxury items: pyjama trousers, a Kindle).
A Kindle, phone and Airpods can provide all my entertainment for a normal week's holiday so always go with me on a bikepacking trip.
I may be a little cynical, but you seem to be carrying enough kit to survive some sort of bikepacking nuclear holocaust
Not even read the article but saw the pic and that was my first thought. I'm on the verge of buying some kit to do some bike packing - just big ride, 1 night in a camp site, ride home sort of stuff but theres about 10x as much kit in that picture than what I was planning on taking...
I'm with BWD on this one, at some point taking stuff to make the overnight bearable starts to impact on the riding.
And +1 for I'd rather take a tent and forgoe any number of other luxuries to afford it.
It always amazes me how much I take for a 2 day, and then barely anything else for a 2 month! It's always the way......
And even vice versa, sometimes I question my sanity taking so much for an overnight (but what if the weather changes?) then will go out for 3 nights with almost nothing. Usually the difference comes down to a decision over food. 1 night means taking a stove and food from home for 3 full meals. 3 nights usually means shopping, and from there it's a shorter mental leap to just buying food. Same with clothes, 2 days -take clean clothes, 3 days if I've got the faff of washing stuff I may as well only take 1 set (and evening stuff).
+1 for carrying a micro tarp when bivvying - makes all the difference if the weather changes! If there's likely to be excessive midges or bad weather I'd rather be in a tent though
Did I miss the microfibre towel?
even the very small ones, packed into a dry bag are a handy way to wipe the rain off your face if you stop at a caff.
As regards toothpaste, I find that toothpaste tablets work really well. They are compact, easily carried (a small pill bottle is ideal) and can be simply crunched when all else fails 🤣
Without going through the whole tent vs bivvy bag thing again, some folk need to realise it's not ALL about weight. Some of us just prefer the bivvy bag experience. My most commonly used tent is a SMD Lunar Solo and, even then, I'll usually sleep with it wide open, sometime just using it as a glorified tarp to keep the wind off my head. My most frequently used sleeping kit is a waterproof bivvy bag and microtarp, which I prefer for the feeling of being outside. Of course, the experience is affected by the weather but, even in the UK, it's just a question of preparing accordingly.
I did suggest on another thread that I might revisit my old bikepacking kit list and this thread has given me another prompt to do so.
