Bike / Gear Prep ‘Part Two’- Riding NZ

68 days until I start

 

Part Two brings us to the how and what I will carry but also the Why

• How? – how do you carry everything except for the Stainless Steel Kitchen Sink (joking, We have a Butlers Sink in our Kitchen and that bitch is heavier than stainless)
• What? – seriously. What am I going to carry with me?
• Why? – Why do I need to carry all that stuff anyway?

Let us talk about Weight First.

I often get asked what my Fat Bike weighs. Well, to answer that, it weighs 14 kg unloaded (no bags). I weigh 85kg, and since I am technical geeky, the bike is rated to carry a total weight load of 130kg. 130kg – 85kg(me) = 45 kg max carry weight left over.
Phew!, ok here is more.
But ponder this. Let’s say all my bags did weigh 45kg (they won’t, but hypothetically, let’s say they do). I’m pedaling 144kg. How did my maths arrive at that? Bike 14kg, Me 85kg, hypothetically weighted loaded bags 45kg = 144kg.
See, Maths is fun.

However, let me strike you down with some knowledge. Weight doesn’t mean much when you are moving.  
Yes, the internet told me so. Well, some dudes did a bikepacking set-up weight test with different combinations of weights/bags, and they didn’t notice much difference in the times from destination A to B.

To put this in perspective. The internet has also told me that for every 1kg of weight, you add about 60 seconds to your movement time.

But we bikepackers are not stupid. Just because weight doesn’t ‘technically’ matter, we don’t want to carry unnecessary weight.

I wrote the following as a comment against someone’s bikepacking setup, where he looked to have a lot of bags and gear. And people were indicating that it looked too heavy.

Weight v.s. Essential needs. In my experience, where Weight is always something you aim to reduce (no one wants to carry unnecessary Weight; we all get that), Essential needs are more important than Weight because the suffering could have been avoided if you had just brought [insert something you needed].
What you carry should be more towards the “type of” and “the duration of” the bike-packing you are doing, plus what is possibly available to you at your intended destinations.
Weight is a question I always get, and I say, “I don’t know; I haven’t weighed it .” Weight doesn’t matter if you can still comfortably move it.

See, I almost sound like an expert. (almost)

OCD Bags

Cue, Laughing now. I have 15 bags on my bike. Let that sink in first.
Oh, and look at this photo of bag-a-rama

I’ve seen YouTube videos of cyclists riding NZ with only two bags on their bikes.
One big front bag under their handlebars with all their “stuff” and then a small bag under their seat for bike tools.
Yeah, I can’t do that.
I’m not staying in motels and don’t have a support crew to carry all my stuff.

So 15 Bags. Why? Glad you asked. (well, laughed then asked)

Here is my first-ever bikepacking setup.
Left is fronings fat bike (back in the days when he used to ride) right is mine.
This is outside the Earnslaw in Queenstown Jan 2020.
See the big bags on the back, yeah, those bags. I can’t find anything in those bloody bags!.

I had been backpacking with dual rear panniers and a rear rack bag, where I stuffed what I could in wherever it fitted. It was hard to find what I needed because it resulted in emptying a bag only to find it wasn’t in that bag, then opening the next bag, and so on. Ahhh, annoying.

See what I mean: I still have yet to find my portable hairdryer, which was over three years ago. (Maybe Froning still has it?)

I don’t think I have OCD (well..). Yet, I need to know where everything is. My solution? I wanted to have designated bags for grouped items.
So I opted for small, purposeful bags, which in the end grew to 12… I mean. After I counted them, 12 become 15.

Lets do the Bag Tour

 

Bag 1	Position:	Front of Bike
	Bag:	Custom Made by Paper Roads Aotearoa (for me!), fully waterproof.
	Contains:	11″ Macbook Air, Kindle, Mac Charger, Emergency Blanket It seems very laughable to carry a laptop on the bike. An essential need, though, if you need a laptop to do work and you’ll be away for 30+ days—this Macbook Air weighs 1.08kg.

Bag 2	Position:	Cockpit: Inside of Jones Bar H Loop
	Bag:	Custom netting type of Bag, not waterproof (netting right, netting has holes = rain goes through it, hehe)
	Contains:	2nd phone to take photos with, Phils Garmin Inreach Mini. Serves as a place to put stuff when riding that I need to grab. (like half eaten bars, egg vegan sandwiches)

Bag 3	Position:	Front of Bike
	Bag:	Revelate Designs Pronghorn, Dry Bag (Waterproof)
	Contains:	Sleeping Bag (One Planet), Bed Roll (Nemo), Air Pillow (Sea2Summit), 2 quick dry towels, Gas Jetboil and cooking Pot.

Bags 4 &5	Position:	Cockpit, around Bike Stem, one left one right.
	Bag x2:	Revelate Designs Feedbags (Not Waterproof)
	Contains:	Snacks, Gels, Bars Bike lights, One Niterider light and One Gemini Duo light

Bag 6	Position:	Top Tube
	Bag:	Backcountry Apidura long top tube bag, 1.8L fully waterproof.
	Contains:	Powerbank, charge lead. Asthma Inhaler, Sunscreen, Lipbalm, Small clothes line, GU Drink Tablets.

Bag 7	Position:	In front of Seatpost
	Bag:	Revelate Designs Jerrycan Fully Waterproof
	Contains:	Spare Axs Battery, Sunglasses, Jetboil Igniter

Bag 8	Position:	Behind seat post
	Bag:	Evoc small saddle bag (not waterproof)
	Contains:	First Aid Kit (I hope not to open this bag)

Bag 9	Position:	Frame
	Bag:	Revelate Designs Framebag (Not waterproof)
	Contains:	LHS (small) pocket: Allen keys, Bike Lock, Cable Ties RHS (large) pocket: Nemo Tent Poles & Tent Pegs, Retractable hiking stick, Muscle Roller, Stake Hammer, 2 Litre collapsable water bottle, Reflective riding vest, Winter Gloves

Bag 10	Position:	Downtube (Top)
	Bag:	Apidura Backcountry 1.4L Downtube Fully Waterproof
	Contains:	Toiletries You know, Like: makeup, hairspray, lipstick

Bag 11	Position:	Downtube (Bottom)
	Bag:	Apidura Backcountry 1.8L Downtube Fully Waterproof
	Contains:	Bike Tubes (x3), Multitool, grease, chain lube, chain cleaner brush, Tube repair patches, Tyre Levers, Chain Pliers, Rag, Mechanic Gloves, C02 Canisters

Bag 12	Position:	Custom made Rear Mounting Rack  Left Hand Side. Cage mounted.
	Bag:	Revelate Designs Polecat Fully Waterproof
	Contains:	Anything Wet Weather Macpac Rain Jacket, Macpac Rain Cap, Macpac Rain pants,  BB Rain Shoe covers, Nemo Tent Outer, Nemo Tent Groundsheet.

Bag 13	Position:	Custom made Rear Mounting Rack  Right Hand Side. Cage mounted.
	Bag:	Revelate Designs Polecat Fully Waterproof
	Contains:	Aeropress, Groove Espresso Coffee Beans, Charging Cables, 2nd Powerbank, Nemo Tent (Inner)

Bag 14	Position:	Seat
	Bag:	Revelate Designs Terrapin System 8L
	Contains:	All clothing. On Bike clothes: Spare Bike Short liner, Spare Bike shorts Long sleeve Merino Ride Top, Spare Ride socks, Long leg ride pants Off Bike clothes: Short, Long sleeve Top, Socks, Macpac Puffer Vest

Bag 15	Position:	Strapped on top of Seat bag
	Bag:	Sea to Summit eVac Compression Dry Bag
	Contains:	Generally I will carry all my dried food in here (3 days worth), but it also doubles up as a miscellaneous carry bag.

Stay tuned for next week's post, 
when I will write about what the 
hell to do about Nutrition.

 

---

New to this Blog.
Find and read below the series of Posts.
In order as released