As the Transcontinental Race No 9 was my first multi day bikepacking adventure I’ve invested a lot of time researching what to put on my bike and what not. Following I’m going to take you through a few key aspects of my thought process when googling and instagraming for all the bits and bobs to take along for the trip. For the ones who don’t want to read all my jibber jabber I’ll cut through the chase and put the picture and kit list right here at the beginning.
Bags
- Apidura Backcountry Saddle Pack 6L
- Apidura Expedition Frame Pack 3L
- Apidura Backcountry Long Top Tube Pack 1.8L
- USWE Outlander Pro Hydration Pack 2L
- USWE Phone Pouch
Clothing
- 2 x Endura Pro SL Bib Shorts
- 1 x Assos Mille GT Jersey white
- 1 x Endura Pro SL PrimaLoft Vest neon yellow
- 1 x Endura Pro SL Lite Vest neon yellow
- 1 x Endura FS260 Pro Rain Jacket
- 1 x Nathan Sports Safety Vest
- 1 x Emergency Blanket
- 1 pair Endura Pro SL Knee Warmers
- 1 pair Shimano Knee Warmers black
- 1 pair Pear Izumi Arm Warmers white
- 2 pairs of random ankle height Socks
- 1 pair of Endura MT500 Gloves
- 1 pair Grip Grab Toe Warmers neon yellow
Electronics
- 1 x Garmin Edge 1030 Plus
- 1 x Mobile Phone
- 2 x Lezyne Macro Drive 1300XL
- 1 x Bontrager Ion Rear Light
- 1 x Knog Rear Light
- 1 x Bluetooth Ear Buds
- 2 x USB-A to Micro USB Charging Cable
- 1 x USB-a to USB-C Charging Cable
- 1 x USB-C to USB-C Charging Cable
- 1 x Nitecore NB10000 Power Bank
- 1 x Samsung Duo Power Adapter
- 1 x Shimano EW-EC300 Charging Cable for Di2
- 1 x Shimano PC-R9100-P Charging Cable for power meter
Hygiene / Medication
- 2 x 10 Wet Wipes
- 1 x Flask Head and Shoulders Shampoo
- 1 x Tooth Paste
- 1 x Tooth Brush
- 1 x Nivea Cream
- 1 x Sun Screen (Blocker)
- 1 x Bepanthen Plus
- 1 x Fucidin Crème
- 1 x Traumalix forte
- 9 x Olfen Retard 75
- 1 x Dispenser Lactase 7’000
Bike repair
- 2 x Butyle Inner Tube pre chalked
- 1 x Latex Inner Tube pre chalked
- 1 x Squirt Chain Lube (Wax)
- 1 x Tyre Lever
- 1 x 6mm Allen Key
- 1 x Lezyne Pocket Drive Pump
- 20 x Patches Lezyne Smart Kit
- 10 x Zip Ties
- 1 x Lezyne V Pro Multitool 17
- 1 x Adapter Presta to Schrader valve
- 1 x Swiss Army Knife
- 2 x Quick Link
- 1 piece of spare chain
Miscellaneous
- Salt
- Bungee cord
- HipLok Z Lok
- Wallet
- Passport
Bags
Looking at my bag setup 3’800km later there are a few things I would have done differently, especially keeping in mind, that with 166cm (5 foot 4 inches) of body height, I’m quite a small fella. This bears the consequence that I’m riding a size XS bike frame meaning there isn’t much real estate available in the frame triangle to begin with. Checking kit lists, on for instance the Apidura Website – which is a great resource to get a general idea of what you need to bring – or from other riders, they’re mostly geared towards at least a size S or usually a size M or larger bike frame. One of the main problems arising with riding a size XS frame is the size and accessibility of the water bottles, especially if as a small individual you decide to run a frame bag. The installation of almost any frame bag will make it hard to access at least one water bottle. In my case it was difficult to access both although they were small, 0.5l bottles.
Something else to consider is when you have short legs and you decide to run a top tube bag, stopping at intersections is going to be more circumstantial as your lady’s or gentlemen’s parts will inevitably collide with the bag. This made me develop a love/hate relationship with the top tube bag as apart from the stopping-at-intersections-inconvenience it’s great and I’ve come to appreciate how easy it is to access all the thing in there while pedaling.
Another item I absolutely love is the USWE hydration pack with its 2L water bladder. Every time I go for a ride, I notice that I drink a lot more than if I was just running water bottles. On top that the harness system makes it sit very high up on your back in a way that it doesn’t interfere with the jersey pockets plus it absolutely doesn’t bounce around. USWE even offers a variety of different pouches that can be added to the chest straps. For the TCR I only went with the phone pouch but right after the race I went ahead and ordered their organizer pouch allowing me to carry more food at a well accessible location.
One little item I absolutely don’t want to miss is the bungee cord I placed in-between and around the aero armrests. I ended up putting my down vest and rain cape there whenever I didn’t need it and on top of that there was always some food in this location.
Future Changes?
By far the biggest alteration to my setup would be finding a solution to get rid of the frame pack. The reason for that is, I want to make space for two large water bottles and in combination with a size XS frame that’s simply not possible. On another ride I’ve done in the meantime, I stuffed my other 17L saddle pack I own, running the two large water bottles in the frame triangle and the USWE Outlander Pro 2L hydration pack on my back. This brings the advantage that I can carry almost 4L of water, but it bears the disadvantage that I have a ton of things in the saddle pack and in the jersey pockets, making it very hard to organize all those little things. I’m going to experiment with a 10L saddle pack and USWE Outlander 4L hydration pack containing a 3L water bladder and a little bit of extra space to store hygiene related items.
Clothing
I’m overall happy with the decisions I took regarding clothing. I’ve been running the Endura Pro SL bibs for a while now and the shammy works for me, especially in combination with the Bepanthen Plus creme, eliminating friction and the Fucidin creme killing all bacteria. Until I’ve lost them, I was also happy with the white arm warmers, which I also wore as sun protection when it was scorching hot. I consciously went for a white jersey since there would be extremely hot days by the end of the race. If anything, I should have chosen bib shorts with a brighter color as well. Other than that, the down vest was one of the pieces of clothing I appreciated most. I went with two pairs of knee warmers because I know my knees do not like cold and this worked out perfectly fine.
Overall, I’ve had enough layers with me but at the top of San Bernadino Pass, at night, in a storm, in the rain and at 2°C, too tired to move on, I was missing a bivy bag as well as a proper base layer. Nonetheless I might decide exactly the same for another iteration of the TCR as that particular problem at the top of San Bernadino pass was very well avoidable by staying in a hotel at the bottom of the pass.
Electronics
The single most important piece of equipment is quite definitely the head unit, which in my case is a Garmin Edge 1030 Plus. I’ve used Garmin cycling computers for a while now and they’ve always worked for me. The battery on the 1030 with WiFi deactivated usually lasts me about 32 hours until it really needs a recharge. For that purpose, I brought a Nitecore 10’000mah power bank as well as a wall-charger with two outlets. Whenever in a hotel one of the first things was charging whatever required charging with the wall-charger. The power bank as well as the wall-charger worked flawlessly and so did the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus. As for lights, I went with ones from Lezyne. They offer quite a few different modes whereas there are four static modes of which I used the second darkest for riding through the night, as the 150 lumens you get from this setting was enough for me. According to the manufacturer the battery is supposed to last for 23 hours on this setting but in my case, it was 16 hours, which is something I’ve tested before the race. Although this is quite the discrepancy 16 hours at 150 lumens is something I can definitely live with as it means that I’ve had to recharge the lights once every two full nights of usage. The rear lights worked flawlessly as well and so did the Di2 – electronic shifting – as well as the power meter on my bike. I’ve had to give the both of them a charge after a little more than 2’000km and they lasted me until the end of the race.
For a next multi-day race I would check for shorter charging cables for the Di2 as well as the power meter as they simply took up an unnecessary amount of space.
Hygiene / Medication
This part of the game was spot on for me. As incredible as it sounds but I’ve not had any issues related to saddle sores. The combination of Bepanthen Plus (disinfecting) and Fucidin (strongly antibacterial) plus the fact that I made sure to have showers on a regular basis and wash my clothes every time I slept in a hotel, made sitting on the saddle for hours on end, comfortable.
About 2’000km into the race tendonitis started to develop on my right achilleas tendon and my right knee was hurting as well. The combination of Traumalix forte and the Olfen retard 75 (75 mg Diclofenac released over a 12h time period) pills helped me keep the swellings related to the tendonitis in check plus numb the pain in the left knee, which ultimately was caused by shortened muscles.
Bike repair
I was overall quite happy with the Lezyne Multitool. It did the job whenever I needed it. I never needed the zip ties, and the chain links but the adapter to pump tires with an air compressor at petrol stations was very useful.
One item I’ll never buy again is the Lezyne self-adhesive patches. They just didn’t work. I’ve used all 20 patches I brought with me and none of them stuck to the butyle tubes good enough, so I’ve had to replace them every 10 minutes until I finally made it to a bike shop to buy new inner tubes and two-components repair kit from Park Tool.
Miscellaneous
The bungee cord, which I’ve had wrapped around the armrests on the aero bars were probably one of the best additions as they’ve allowed me to strap so many things to a place where they were easily accessible. Another great thing for peace of mine – in my case at least – was the bike lock, which I’ve used every single time I went into a supermarket. The salt dispenser is another little thing that can be very helpful to stay on top of your salt levels although I didn’t use it often enough.
Things I didn’t bring
Most obviously I didn’t have a sleeping bag as well as mat with me. Since it was my plan from the beginning to spend the nights in the stay in hotels, not just for the quality of sleep but also for hygienic reasons, I didn’t see the need for those two items. Other than that, I think my setup was fairly standard and straightforward.
Closing remarks
I hope this gave you a good understanding of what I’ve decided to take with me and why. If you have any questions regarding my choices, please feel free to drop them in the comments. Also, if you have any questions related to adventures you’re planning yourself, feel free to hit me up and I’ll try my best answering them to my best knowledge.