The Equipment

Based on previous tours I decided to take the following equipment, the items marked with an asterisk (*) have accompanying notes at the foot of the page:

Clothing*
1 long sleeved base layer
2 merino wool t-shirts
1 base layer leggings
1 thin wool jumper
2 pairs of shorts (long running type – 5″ and 7″)
1 pair of 3/4 length trousers
1 rain coat
1 gillet windstopper
1 long fingered gloves
1 track mitts
1 cycling race cap
1 thermal hat
3 pairs of underwear
Sam Brown (Hi-vis) Belt
Bike helmet

Footwear*
2 pairs of socks
Cycling shoes
Sandals

Eyewear
1 pair of glasses (I’m short-sighted)
1 sports glasses with misc. lenses
1 cleaning cloth

Cooking/cleaning*
1 small pan (1L) with lid
2 750ml water bottles
1 fuel bottle for denatured alcohol
1 Vargo Titanium Decagon Stove
1 sponge
1 wash fabric liquid
6 clothes pegs
clothes line (doubles as tent guide rope!)

Personal Hygiene/Health
1 small towel (quick dry)
1 flannel (which I lost half way!)
1 toothbrush
1 toothpaste
1 antiseptic Hand Cream
1 sunfactor 50
1 sunfactor 25
1 Ibuprofen gel
1 lipsil
1 razor
1 bar of soap w/box
Multi Vitamins and Minerals

Camping*
2 man Tent
Sleeping bag
Sleeping bag liner (silk)

Electrical*
Garmin Vista CX
Silva Solar I Battery Charger
AA NiMh Batteries
Micro SC cards
Micro SC card adapter
Kingston USB Micro SD Reader
Digital Camera
12″ iBook and power adapter

Creative stuff*
Small writing pad
Sketchbook
Selection of pencils
Scissors

Bike equipment and tools*
Cateye EL410 Front Light
Cateye rear light
Kryptonite New York 3000 D Lock
Kryptonite Cable
Rohloff oil change kit and syringe
Park Chaintool
Finish Line Cross Country Lubricant (4oz Bottle)
Thorn Eccentric bb tool
Spare inner tube
Puncture Kit
Tyre levers
Pump
Selection of Allen Keys
Small adjustable spanner
Screwdriver (phillips and normal)
Zip ties
Brooks saddle tension spanner
Brooks saddle Proofide
Rags (in the form of an old cycle jersey)

Misc*
Nathan 10K Waist Pack
Maps (picked up along the way)
Selection of webbing

Everything (not to mention food, a few holy books and travel documents!) will be distributed between a pair of Ortlieb front roller plus panniers (25l.), and a pair of Ortlieb rear roller plus panniers (40l). The great thing about Ortlieb is that they are very waterproof, which is good for days spent in the rain (but no good for storing food or a wet tent in hot weather), and this particular model is fairly lightweight due to it’s minimal design (no zips and useless pockets).

*A few extra notes

Clothing
I am a big fan of merino wool and you will notice that I packed four or five garments made from this. None are cycling specific but I found them to be ideal for spending strenuous hours in the saddle. The property of the wool mean that you can wear these garments for longer without smelling like a mountain goat! This in turn means that less time is spent washing cloths and more time doing something more interesting… like chasing after mountain goats!!!

The great thing about these clothes is that no two garment is alike, and so you can mix and match. So on hot days I’d be wearing possibly five things and on cold days… everything!!!

Footwear
As most cyclist know shoes are very important. A good cycling shoe is one that ties comfort and efficiency together. The Sidi Bullet I used have a simple design (so dry quicker when wet), they’re light (which helps at the airport), are stiff, and don’t squeak with every revolution (unlike other shoes).

Off the bike I wore a pair of sandals. On shorter tours I would only carry a single pair of shoes, but this time I didn’t fancy wearing the same ones the whole time – besides, the Sidis are no good for walking further than the garden gate!

Cooking/cleaning
I picked up a Vargo Titanium Decagon Stove whilst I was on the road because I wasn’t too sure what to take with me prior to departure.

I packed my trusty Tefal travel pan and lid (which doubles up as a sieve), it has been everywhere with me and is the ideal size for a gastronomical feast!

Camping
This will be the tenth bike tour using this tent, it getting a bit worn, but I was confident that it would last the trip. It withstood two crazy storms in South Dakota, whilst other tents collapsed under the torrential rain and high winds, so I think it will last another few years.

The sleeping bag is about 8 years old and still going strong, but I replaced the cheap polycotton liner en route, with one made out of silk. This was much more compact packed away and felt nicer to sleep in.

Electrical
I used the Garmin Vista CX GPS as my bike “computer”. It recorded where I visited and was a navigational aid at the same time. It was powered by two AA NiMh batteries which gave just over two days operating time. Once the power ran out I simply popped them into the Silva Solar I Battery Charger and let the sun charge them for 8-10hrs.

Held on the internal memory of the GPS was the entire route which I based on gps files found at Adventure Cycling and edited using Garmin Mapsource software.

I found a page on the AudaxUK website helpful in explaining how to use a handheld GPS for navigation (because they are not as straightforward as those found inside cars).

The GPS has many other functions, including alarm clock, and altimeter. I didn’t use the “hunt & fish” mode, but it was there just incase!

It was crazy to rely on technology, so I picked maps up along the way, but found that I only used them to show people the route taken, or to remind me where I was in relation to the beginning, middle and end.

The digital camera I used was a very practical camera to take. It wasn’t flash just lightweight, took a few clear photos, and ran off the same rechargeable AA batteries as the GPS, so there was no need for carrying a separate charger. The 2Gb SD card stored hundreds of photos at best jpeg quality, and as soon as it became full I transfered everything to the computer, and started all over again.

Three months is a long time to be out of the office, and so I took the laptop with me. Being an old G3 Apple iBook it is no good for creating and editing GPS data (you cannot run Windows using Boot Camp on this one), but at least I could continue with creative work and it was handy to have when updating the blog as nearly every library along the way had wifi.

Bike equipment and tools
Cateye EL410 front light doubled up as a torch. The Kryptonite New York 3000 D Lock was a bit of an overkill for this trip (it’s very heavy!) but I wanted peace of mind for the times I left the bike on its own. In retrospect a much smaller lock/chain would have been sufficient.

My intention was to do one Rohloff oil change during this trip, but I packed two, just incase. As for tools, I only took what was going to be of use to me – and hoped that I didn’t have to use any of them!

To view the first post, click here.