A question that I get fairly often is – What’s in the bags? Well, here’s a quick rundown of what works for me. The biggest piece of advice I can give anyone that may be interested in Bike Packing or Ultra-Endurance Racing, is that it takes some trial and error to find what works for you.

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This is my bike in “Camping” mode, which is slightly different than “Racing” mode.

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The cockpit is pretty straightforward. K-Edge Garmin mount, BarFly to get my light over the bags, spare blinky.

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On the bars I use a BarYak mounting system for a Revelate SweetRoll bag. Inside the roll is an Outdoor Research Bivy with my Sleeping Pad rolled inside. Sleeping bag is in a Sea to Summit Dry Bag in the harness. Lock and Wet Wipes stuffed in the side of the roll. I usually keep my Keens between the Roll and Harness as well, which you can see a couple pics up.

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I custom made a bracket for the back of my BarYak to hold the bag forward and off the front tire. I run my stem all the way down so when I have a 5in tire on clearance is VERY tight.

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Revelate Gas Tank is pretty straight forward. FOOD!!

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Revelate Mountain Feed Bag is simple as well. Hydration. Empty food wrappers go in the side.

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Revelate frame bag. 32oz Nalgene, spare bottle, tool kit stuffed into a Thomson Stem Bag, spare tube, headlamp, butt stuff, more food. I’ll also throw RedBull or more bottles in here depending on how far I need to be self-supported.

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Jerry Can. Spare Garmin, USB charger, Micro and standard USB wires, iPod and charger, and cash monies.

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Revelate Saddle Bag. Spare main light, Off, plastic soap box filled with stuff, stove and container with cooking accessories, change of clothes and Patagonia NanoPuff in the Zipp bag, spare food goes in the Santa Cruz dry bag, gloves in case I need them. Note* I don’t wear gloves when I ride. Note 2* Spare clothes in Zipp bag double as a pillow.

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Soap container detail. Aleve, Ibuprofen, flossers, chapstick, tums, q-tips, emergency loot. This box almost never gets opened except for the tums. Sometimes during long rides I eat things that don’t mix well.

I also run a pump and a Co2 mount on the outside of the bag.

And that’s it!! Now get out and have an ADVENTURE!! :)🙂

Jim Vreeland | The Adventurous Commuter | Wednesday, September 9th, 2015