Bikepacking for Nerds

Tag: Packing

  • Packing List

    Packing List

    Here’s my final pack list, excluding food items:

    Sleep System

    • Appalachian Gear Company alpaca quilt liner (soft, comfy sleep sack for inside a quilt, or without it on a warmer night. 100% a comfort item!)
    • Kammok Bobcat Quilt 40F
    • Nemo Fillo Pillow w/ Pillow Strap
    • Nemo Tensor sleeping pad
    • Tarptent Rainbow DW w/ freestanding poles, tyvek ground sheet, stakes + sand stakes
    • Helinox Chair Zero & Footprint (my other comfort item!)

    Clothing

    • Long & short finger gloves
    • Outdoor Research baseball cap
    • Patagonia NanoPuff jacket
    • Patagonia lightweight pants
    • All-Packa alpaca hoodie (comfortable, warm, cozy)
    • Outdoor Research Sun Shirt
    • 2x short sleeve shirts (REI & Showers Pass)
    • lightweight, long sleeve Smartwool baselayer
    • Bedrock Sandals
    • Xero Scrambler shoes
    • Columbia shorts
    • Under Armor Compression shorts (used for riding, no pad)
    • 2x socks for riding
    • 1x wool socks for sleeping
    • Halo Sweat Headband
    • 1x underwear
    • Lightweight merino wool Buff

    Cooking & Water

    • 1/2 Swedish dish cloth
    • Camp Suds dish soap in dropper
    • Bandana
    • Bic Lighter
    • Fire Starter – Cotton balls dipped in Vaseline
    • Firebox Nano w/ grill plate and Trangia alcohol stove, bottle of 80% ethanol hand sanitizer for fuel
    • Folding Plate
    • Snow Creek Ti Low Pot & Tall Pot w/ Hot Lips
    • Stasher Bags – Large, 2x Small (for cold soaking, or in bag cooking)
    • Ti Tongs, Toaks long spoon, fork & knife, Spyderco Knife
    • Ziplock Freezer Bags (trash, misc.)
    • Hydrapak 2L bladder w/ Katadyn BeFree filter & drinking hose adapter
    • 64 oz Klean Kanteen (w/ 2 Voile straps for mounting below the downtube)
    • Hydrapak 3L bladder w/ drinking hose (sits in the framebag)
    • Aquamira Tabs
    • 28 oz cycling bottle (for electrolytes)

    Tools & Safety

    • 20’ microcord & 4 Loop Alien line locks
    • Leatherman Pliers (thanks, John!)
    • Ottolock & lightweight cable lock
    • Whistle
    • 2 oz Stan’s Sealant
    • Altoids tin tire kit – Patches, Boots, Schrader adapter, needles, thread, shoe goo, extra tubeless darts
    • Racer Dynaplug & extra preloaded plugs (rides in my framebag for accessibility)
    • Chain Lube
    • Chain rag
    • Crank Brothers M19
    • Extra Tube
    • Latex Gloves
    • Pressure Gauge
    • Pump
    • Tire Levers

    Electronics

    • Garmin inReach Mini satellite communicator
    • 120V AC dual USB-C charger
    • AirPods Pro
    • 2x 10,000 mAH Anker battery packs
    • Fenix Front & Rear Lights
    • GoPro Hero 11, 4 batteries, charger, & GoPro Tool
    • NiteCore Headlamp
    • Kindle Paperwhite
    • Mini Tripod w/ iPhone and goPro mounts
    • Cables
      • USB-C – Lightning
      • USB-C – micro USB-B
      • USB-C to USB-C (2x)
      • USB-A to Apple Watch
    • Wahoo GPS
    • Fairy lights (I strung up a short strand in my tent for light. They run off my battery pack, consume minimal energy, and I can trim the strands to reduce the brightness if needed.)

    Personal Care

    • Chamois Butt’r
    • Dr. Bronners soap
    • Ear plugs (noisy campsites suck)
    • Eyeglasses cloth & cleaner
    • First Aid Kit (ibuprofen, naproxen, immodium, bandaids, leukotape, etc.)
    • Gear repair tape
    • Glasses case w/ glasses (to store either sunglasses or prescription RX, whichever is not on my face)
    • Hand sanitizer
    • Shit kit w/ The Deuce trowel
    • Lotion bar
    • Prescription medications
    • Pack towel
    • Suncreen stick (2x)
    • Toothpaste tabs & travel toothbrusth
    • Wipe pucks (lightweight and compact, they rehydrate with a few drops of water for your face, body, or butt.)
    Everything that’s going with me, except clothes, the 3L Hydrapak, and the Lezyne pump. The light green bag (top, left of center) and purple bag (top left) are food, the red bag (bottom left) has personal care items. 
  • It fits!

    It fits!

    Last weekend I took some time to try packing my bike in it’s new travel bag, an Evoc Bike Travel Bag XL. Packing my bike taught me a few things. First, use only the tools you plan on bringing with you. If you cannot pack and unpack with those tools, you need more tools. My Crankbrothers M19 tool is sufficient to pack and unpack, it rides in my toolkit on every ride. A set of Wera L keys, Wera bicycle set, and a 15mm wrench are MUCH easier to use and faster, too. The Park Tool ATD1.2 torque wrench is a nice to have. Latex gloves to keep from getting dirty are always a good idea.

    Second, the order of operations is important: Pedals come off first, then wheels. Thru axles are replaced front and rear to protect the fork and frame. Spacers are placed in the hydraulic brake calipers. Handlebars are removed last and strapped to the frame. Rear derailleur is removed (optional, but desirable). Finally, the seat post is lowered. At home I can do this in a repair stand which makes it convenient. On the road I’ll be working on the floor.

    Placing the bike in the bag has a specific order, as well. The rear wheel is placed in the bag (on the side opposite the bike) first. Pedals are placed in an interior pocket along with tools. Next the bike frame gets mounted and strapped in place inside the bag. Any other gear is loaded into the bag and the side is zipped up, allowing the front wheel to be stored. As long as it’s under 70 pounds with everything is secured inside, it’s ready to fly.

    There are a few items I still need to work out. I didn’t expect to have to remove the rear rack given the small size of my frame, but it did not fit as mounted. Next time, I’m going to try to tip the rack forward so that it stays mounted on the frame and only needs to be rotated back into place and secured. I’m still debating whether to remove the disc rotors before travel. They appear well protected in the bag, but a bent rotor could end a trip if I can’t fix it or find a replacement.