I was recently asked what we take on a bike packing trip.  This is an interesting question because everyone has different priorities and are taking different trips. For instance, if you are on an extended trip; one year or longer then you will need to take more to account for different weather conditions and where you are travelling. If you are camping you will need to take camping and cooking gear. However, if you are going for a month or less you can generally plan your gear for where you are going and what types of weather you may encounter. Also, you will have to decided where you will be staying at night: camping, hotels.

The other thing to take into consideration is flights and weight allowance. We have been lucky with the flights we have taken – bikes are considered sports equipment and some airlines have separate regulations for sports equipment, and bicycles. Generally speaking, we keep the panniers to a weight limit of 5 kgs each pannier for a total of four bags of 20 kgs. On this trip, we managed to keep the weight down to 17.5 kgs for all our checked luggage, which was one bag, that held three panniers and a handlebar bag inside. The fourth pannier converts into a back pack and that was my carry-on. Ralf had his handlebar bag as his carry-on.  There are a lot of variables to take into consideration when bike-touring/packing.

Friends of ours who are currently touring in Thailand was told by a fellow bike-packer that they took too much. They only needed a hammock, mosquito net, one change of clothes, and you do not need bike specific clothes …. Our friends are in their early sixties and can afford a nice hotel (or not so nice) and like to take some comforts of home with them. Each to their own needs.

Therefore, I am basing this advice on what we take and why.

We decided after our three-month Europe trip that we are no longer camping. On this most recent trip we did take our foldable bowls/plates, cups and KFS (knife, fork, spoon). We had considered taking our Jetboil, so that we could boil water for noodles or tea/coffee. We decided not to take the Jetboil as we figured we could always get hot water if we needed to rehydrate some noodles and that was the case. We might take it on other trips. Everything including the gas canister is stored inside the Jetboil, which makes it very compact.

We use panniers rather than bike packing bags. The Montague folding bikes do not have a triangular frame.

Here is the list of things I took on this trip:

Although I usually take three changes of clothes, on this trip I only took two. I do wish I had taken another skirt for off-bike wear. Ralf also decided he needed another pair of shorts. We generally take the same, although Ralf doesn’t take a bra.

On Bike: two pairs of padded shorts, two cycling jerseys (Hi-vis, good quality), one sports bra, two pairs of light weight merino wool socks, one pair of leg warmers (didn’t use), cycle shoes/sandals, two jackets lightweight wind breaker and a rain jacket hi-vis. Helmet, gloves, sunglasses, buff neck tube. I wear SPD sandals.

Reasoning behind the stuff I take on-bike: I like shorts rather than bibs, if I need to take a wild-wee I can get out of them quickly. Good quality cycling jerseys, they tend to wick away sweat better than cheaper jerseys, Hi-vis because I want people to see me. I love merino wool socks, even if they are wet, they can keep my feet warm. SPD shoes/sandals, I wear SPD cycling sandals because Ralf told me that they can give you 20% more power than flat pedals. I have worn Keen cycling sandals for over ten years. I like them because they are comfortable and airy. If it’s cold I wear merino wool socks with them (very stylish).

Unfortunately, they are now falling apart, and Keen do not make them anymore. I am trying to find new sandals, but they are hard to find and what I have found are really expensive. Two jackets because sometimes the windbreaker isn’t enough. We also wear these off-bike if we need to have a light jacket when we are walking about. We don’t usually like to wear the same coloured clothes, but we do have matching jackets! I didn’t wear the leg-warmers but it is better to have them in case it is cool in the morning, and you can take them of as the day progresses. I figured on this trip the leg-warmers would be sufficient.

Off Bike: one pair of zip-off trousers (pants), one skirt, three merino wool tops – two short sleeve and one long-sleeve, one pair of merino wool thicker socks, two bras and three pair of undies, night wear, swim wear and a beach wrap (didn’t use), packable puffy jacket, sandals. hat.

Reasoning behind the stuff I take off-bike: Zip off trousers are not the most stylish trousers but they come in handy as shorts or wear them with the legs if it gets chilly at night. I usually wear my long trousers and long sleeve merino wool shirt on the flight. I like to take a skirt as it is so nice to get out of cycling shorts and slip on a skirt. Also combined with a black merino wool top it can look quite nice. I love merino wool shirts you can wear them for four to five days without them smelling, even in hot/ humid temperatures, something to do with the properties of the merino wool. They dry quickly as well. The undies I take are quick drying, you can wash them, and they dry overnight. The packable puffy jacket often stays at the bottom of the bag but is handy if you are coming back to Canada and the weather is different from where you are travelling from.

Toiletries: soap, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer, toothbrush, toothpaste (small), floss, comb and tweezers.

First Aid kit: antiseptic wet wipes, plasters, polysporin antiseptic cream, small lint free bandage, scissors and safety pins. Advil 200 and 400 (we suffer from migraines), Benydryl cream and benydryl tablets for bites, voltaren for our old muscles.

Bike stuff: two cloths for drying and cleaning the bike, oil – wet and dry, pedal wrench and multi-tool, garmin, varia light, bell, mirror.

Electronics: laptop, ipad, mirrorless camera, phones, and a host of electronic cables to recharge all the electronics we have and to test the power grid of every country we go to. Ralf carries the camera, battery and connectors for the camera in his handlebar bag.

Kitchen stuff: two foldable bowls, two foldable cups and two smaller cups which can double up as egg cups!. Two sets of KFS and a swiss army knife, that has a knife and a bottle opener and a can opener.

Miscellaneous: Two water bottles, Sun cream, Butt butter (see lady part blog), Sea to Summit clothes washing liquid. If you cannot get this, I have taken a small container of liquid Tide, quick drying bath towel and a hand towel, sleeping bag liner (helpful in less than clean hostels). Three dry bags: one for off-bike clothes, one for on-bike clothes and one stuff sac for dirty clothes, washing line and pegs.

Lady Stuff: I took mascara and an eye-liner, make-up remover and face wash. After the first few days these were relegated to the bottom of my bag and never used! If we had gone to a fancy restaurant, I might have used them. I no longer need menstrual pads, but there is something called a Diva cup which other women I have spoken to on an extended trip swear by. I also briefly had a she-wee. A she-wee is a gizmo that allows you to stand-up to wee. It didn’t work for me.

Logistics of washing clothes on a bike trip. I always have a small bottle of concentrated clothes wash, from Sea to Summit and a washing line with pegs. With this you can quickly rinse bike shorts, tops and undies in a hotel sink or campsite. I wash one pair of shorts as soon as we get settled in a hotel. After we have showered, we use the towels to wring them out and use the washing line to hang them up. Then when we are in a Town or City, we find a laundromat and give them a good wash in a washing machine. On this trip in Taiwan, we found lots of coin laundromats and they were cheap. We would throw all the clothes in the same wash, usually on a gentle cycle, we would also use the dryers. Most laundromats have soap that you can buy or if you have allergies you can take your own with you. The merino wool clothes, we do not put in a commercial dryer, we would hang them up in the hotel room.

Camping Gear:

We didn’t take camping gear, but when we did: Three-person tent (if you are only one person, I would take a two-person tent). You can put all your gear in a two/three person tent, and still have room to move. Sleeping mat, sleeping bag, pillow (although some people use a pillowcase and stuff their clothes into it). Stove, we had a muti-fuel burner and a jetboil, which uses canisters, pot-set – everything should pack into the pot, – pot, plate, cup. small frying pan, small kitchen utensils set included folding spatula, spoon etc. We also took a Helinox chair on our last Europe trip – lightweight and was very comfortable. Some campsites in Europe did not have picnic tables.

Our new bikes have a back rack and no way of attaching front racks, although we could possibly attach fork mounted bags. The benefits of two people sharing the load. On this trip Ralf carried all the clothes in two panniers. I carried the rest in two smaller panniers. Total weight for the blue bag was 17.5 kg. We had a weight allowance of 20 kg per bag. The bikes were considered sports equipment and had no charge with United Airlines.