So, what do you carry on a 1000+ km audax? Here’s the packing list I used for 2013’s 1400km LEL. For that ride we had 2 bag drops available, I choose to have mine at Pocklington and Brampton so I could access them at about 330, 550, 850 and 1050km. This meant in theory I was never more than 350km from some clean dry clothes.
On me or the bike. Main carrier was my usual Carradice Barley
Bike
- Bottles – 2x 750ml
- Garmin Edge 800 GPS
- B+M Cyo front light powered from front Dynohub
- Spare link – Magic chain joining link
- Brake blocks
- Oil – small bottle just in case weather went nasty of things started squeaking
- Flip flops – last minute addition once we’d been told that some controls would have a shoes off policy. Were ditched at Brampton north bound
- Helly – spare base layer
- Knee warmers
- Arm warmers
- Gloves – took full gloves in case of wet or cold on night time descents
- Gilet
- 3 inner tubes
- Over shoes – battered old pair of neoprene jobs
- Nunn – one tube of the caffeinated cola ones I like
- Tools – Leatherman, tyre levers and a bike multitool
- Toothbrush
- Toothpaste
- Headtorch – not so much for riding, but for repairs/punctures/toileting in the dark
- Painkillers – traditional stash of Vitamin I
- Silk liner – Taken for comfort of sleeping at controls. Never used
- Immodium – Just in case, not used
- Cap – Stupidly left at Pock southbound the day before I REALLY needed it in the heat
- Buff
- Phone cable
- Gps
- Usb cable – 2m long one to stretch from Barley to Garmin 800 on the stem
- Battery – Technet 5000 mAh
- Ixion – extra battery light to complement Cyo and dynohub for fast descents.
- Sunglasses
- Clear glasses
- Hi vis gilet – workman’s jacket type purely for huge amounts of reflective tape
- Sleeping shorts – pair of baggy running shorts. Was great to air the undercarriage a bit at controls and make sure everything was dry.
Pocklington
- Tube
- Wicking top
- Jersey
- Spare socks
- Spare shorts
Brampton
- Tube
- Wicking top
- Ls jersey – through this in just in case the weather turned, or I was feeling the cold due to tiredness southbound
- Jersey
- Socks
- Brake blocks
- Nunn – more cola flavour
- Battery – A spare tecknet 7000 mAh
- Spare aa
- Towel – Didn’t need this in the end as controls had towels. But as it was a bag drop it didn’t need carrying
- Ibuprofen
- Pro plus
- Spare shorts
- Spare 3/4s – through this in just in case the weather turned, or I was feeling the cold due to tiredness southbound
That little lot seemed to cope with pretty much everything I encountered on the ride. The only stupid thing I did was leave my cap behind too early, and had to improvise with my buff, which wasn’t brilliant.
Just in case anyone’s interested I rotated 3 pairs of shorts over the ride. A pair of Endura Pro FS260s bibs, a pair of Gore bibs and a cheap pair of Decathlon’s own brand BTwin bibs. Didn’t seem to sustain any disasterous undercarriage damage, though sitting on the saddle 2 days later was still a tender experience for the first 5 minutes.
Now the challenge is to work out how to carry this much kit without bag drops for next years challenge, The Highlands, Glens & Western Isles 1300km. Hopefully I’ll have a new frame and can look at some slightly roomier luggage than the barley.
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