Packing for Great British Escapades | What Bikepacking Race Gear am I using?

What to take on a 500km bikepacking event?

That’s the question I’ve been asking myself, sleep kit, no sleep kit?

In this video I reveal what I’m taking on the Great British Escapade bikepacking event.

I also provide an overview of the bike I’m riding.

I’m trying to go light, especially compared to the much longer Atlas Mountain Race.

Will it be enough, only time will tell!

Tailfin:
– Earplugs
– Emergency Bivvy
– Down jacket
– Waterproof jacket
– Gillet
– Arm warmers
– Tool kit inc. spares
– Leg warmers
– Gloves
– Medical kit
– Hygiene kit
– Carb mix and peanut butter

Stem Bags:
– Food

Top Tube Bag:
– Power banks
– Cables
– GoPro battery
– Lock
– Buff
– Ear Buds

#cycling #bikepacking #adventure #race #bikepackinggear #bikepackingsetup

here we go again another what’s in my bad video when this video goes live I should be on the start line of the Great British escapades event a 500 km 8,000 M of climbing bike packing event that takes place in June the route takes in both the North and South Downs starting and finishing in Canterbury it’s an event I’ve written before and in this video I’m going to go through what I’m taking in my bags my bike setup and my top three bits of Kit so this is all the gear I’m taking on the Great British ES paid starting at the Top This Is The Stuff I’ll be carrying in my top tree bag I’ve got two batteries in here one to power on my phone one to power my Garmin and I’ve got a Garmin cable and a charger for my phone my little headphones two GoPro batteries for the filming and a dino plug for any quick puncher fixes the rest of the gear is going to be going in my tail fin I’ve got a selection of carb mix drinks and a few bars to give me a good start on the food so I can get a good chunk of the riding done before I have to stop anywhere to refuel and to go with that some electrolytes to keep those electrolyte levels topped up over here’s kind of my hygiene gear I’d call it got some antibacterial wipes some tissues two bottles of shammy cream some sun cream just in case this one I bought on the Atlas mountain race and paid a ridiculous price for a very small bottle in the middle of nowhere I think they probably saw me coming toothbrush and toothpaste some suda cream some little wound cleansing wipes and plasters Etc and some tick removal tweezers just because I hate ticks and we’re going onto the South Downs and there’s a lot of ticks in that area in terms of spares and repairs it’s kind of the usual stuff really got some spare brake pads a spare cleat for my shoe this is my little multi-tool wrap which has got various Allen keys and whatnot in there a pump with a load of tape wrap around it my little magic box some spare chain lube cable ties just in case spare Mac hanger just in case Tire boots with some Fred little mini multi- tool a thingy a bob whatever you call it to put the old bacon strips in the tire if you get a puncher and a set of Tire levers which also got a spare chain link in there and it can be used to break the chain as well oh and a spare gear cable as well just in case and of course two spare inner tubes not forgetting a little bike lock in case I want to secure my bike while I run in a shop to get some food and water Etc now on this ride I’m going to take a few risks you might see there’s something missing there’s no sleeping bag or bivy bag other than this little soul emergency bivvy and perhaps my down jacket at the back there when I rode this event last year I stopped for about half hour for a sleep this time I’m going to try and push through and if needs be I’ll put that down jacket it on maybe some other layers and lie on the ground somewhere for half hour and see how that works but sometimes you just got to take a risk in terms of clothing I’ll be wearing most of it but it can get quite chilly at night time even though is June so I’ve got a selection of things to deal with that I’ve got some arm warmers leg warmers got a buff I’ve got this warm Gile and I got a pair of gloves in case it gets very cold and of course being England the old rain jacket cuz you never know even if it says it’s not going to rain it probably will and worst case scenario is it gets really cold and that’s just another layer I can bung on so that’s the gear I’m taking obviously way less on the took on the out Mountain race hopefully it’ll be enough but we’ll find out in a few days time so here’s the bags on the bike ready to go got that tail fin on the rear and the tail fin top true bag up here and also tuck around here I’ve got a feed bag which are filled up with harrybo and other suits which I can easily reach while I’m riding and in terms of the bike itself again it’s my Tre Pro Caliber hard tail up front I’ve got my aerrow bars there won’t be huge sections of this route where they’ll be useful but there are bits here and there which will provide a little bit of relief for my hands and a bit of comfort being able to ride in a different position and what’s helpful about the a bars is they provide a nice bit of room to mount my Garmin and my exposure six-pack light which frees up a bit of space down here also so I’ve got some extra grips both on the ends of the bars and in the middle of the bars again all about that Comfort I’m riding the Victoria mcow tires I think these were the ones I rode at Atlas mountain race in part I just couldn’t be bothered to buy another set of tires really and there still quite a good bit of grip on them so hopefully they’ll be all right on the way around there isn’t a huge amount of new kit that I haven’t used before I got a new set of pedals because my other ones were totally knackered and actually worn away a Lo the metal so a quick little zoom in you can see the cool cats are still there there’s the Garin mounted up front with the exposure light beneath my Feed Bag a little belt to give some people a warning from coming through down here I’ve got my Sid Rock shocks Fork which I had service not very long ago I think the service intervals were something like 40 hours maybe and obviously probably did double that just in the Atlas mountain race on the top Jew been keeping it fairly limited with just the one top Jew bag this time it’s not as far and then you can see the tail fin mounted to the back of the bike with a rear light on it I might have to add another little rear light down here has a backup just in case it runs out of battery otherwise just two bottle cages which I’ll use for my bottles which will have carb mix in and I’ll keep a hydration bladder in my vest for pure water so the bit we all enjoy is how much does this weigh remember my Atlas mountain race bike was something like 22 1/2 kilos without any water or food and my dal’s divide setup I think was about 19 1/2 20 kilos so if I get my handy luggage scale from wish we hook it up and give it a away that’s 18.4 kilos with some food in the Feed Bag a few packs of harrybo and loaded carb mix and other bars in the back without that stuff it probably be more like 17 1/2 kilos so certainly lighter than some of the bikes I’ve been logging around on these events so far so that’s my kit my bags and my bike but what on my top three pieces of Kit which I’m taking with me first up it’s the tail fin pack although it’s heavier than using a normal saddle pack like an apidura pack which I have been using in the past getting things in and out of tail fin is really straightforward and very simple so I’m hopefully going to spend a little bit less time faffing around taking things out my bag and then trying to pack it up nicely again and put it back on my bike because with the tail thing you can essentially just open the top of it pull what you need out roll it back down again and off you go my second favorite bit of Kit is these cheap little headphones when you’re riding deep into the night I’m feeling a bit tired sometimes you just need something to perk you up I’ll be downloading an audio book and a load of tunes so when I get into those dark hours perhaps between 2: and 4:00 a.m. I can put something on and take my mind off of that tiredness and desire to go to sleep and finally it’s this nice little puffy Gile from raer although it’s the start of June it’s still forecast to pretty chilly at night time maybe 7° something like that and when you’re up high on those exposed areas with some wind it’ll probably feel even more chilly so this little gay I can pull out my tail fin put it on and get rid of some of that wind chill to try and stay warm so there it is the kit I’m taking and the bike I’m riding as I say I’m taking a few risks on this one not taking any proper sleeping gear because sometimes I think you just have to go for it I may mean to do a video of my ride which I’ll hopefully be able to share in a week or two and maybe I’ll follow up with a review of the kit I took and wherever I got away with taking those risks anyway thank you for watching and catch up soon [Music]