What do you need for cycle camping?

[Wowbagger]

But two people don't take double what one does. Same tent, same stove, same pans, same toolkit, sometimes even the same bike.

[Chris N]

But two people don't take double what one does. Same tent, same stove, same pans, same toolkit, sometimes even the same bike.

And what you need for three days isn't far off what you'd need for a week or a month.

[Vava]

Same tent - noooooo - his stinky feet would make me gag!

[Regulator]

If it were me...

For 2 weeks in Scotland...

bike
dynamo & lights
F & R panniers
2x large bottles
pump
GPS
Bar bag

Tent
footprint
thermarest
thermarest chair kit
sleeping bag
silk liner

2x gas  (you can only not carry 2 if you can guarantee to replace whenever you want).
stove
lighter
panscrub
pan set (big, small, frying pan/lid)
plastic mug
orikaso folding dish eat from the pan
KFS that's why we have Sporks!
4L waterbag
may take a water filter
food in a variable amount - muesli/pasta/sardines/condiments/teabags etc
Cafetiere

3x cycling shorts
2x SS cycling jerseys
1x LS cycling jersey
2x Sealskins socks
Either cycling longs or legwarmers
cycling shoes SPD sandals
Waterproof jacket
rainlegs
overshoes, maybe
rainhat
gloves (warm rather than cycling)
buff

2x T-shirt
LS thermal top
zip-off trousers
3x undies
warm fleece (now replaced by an insulated jacket)
sandals use the SPD sandals
wash kit (bar soap/toothbrush/flannel/toothpaste/razor/towel/earplugs)
bog paper
1st aid kit (of sorts)

radio and/or mp3
camera
binoculars
paperback
map or road atlas pages
L2D torch (doubles as spare bike light)
spare AAs. May take a mains charger for campsite use
spare glasses
toolkit (inc sewing kit, gaffer tape & zip ties)
spares (tubes, gear/brake cables, spokes, brake pads, sometimes a foldup tyre, tent pegs, guyline, pole section)
swiss army knife
wallet, keys
coil lock
bum bag for keeping valuables in

[GrahamG]

This thread has me all excited checking our kit list for the first ever (more than overnight) tour on 5th September, both me and the other half are tour virgins but can't wait to hit France.

[alan]

A wife to drive the car in which all the gear is carried & a late afternoon rendezvous point

Is this the style of cycle camping where the missus takes a leisurely drive from point to point taking in some cake shops and book festivals and culture while the hubby rides, then both meet up having had great fun and done something that the other would rather die than do themselves?

absolutely correct
Though in Marj's case she would prefer to be able to ride her bike again.

[woollypigs]

But two people don't take double what one does. Same tent, same stove, same pans, same toolkit, sometimes even the same bike.

I agree, though with all the cycling touring sites I have have been crawling as of late. I surprised how much others are carrying because their panniers looks full to the brink. I understand if you are cycling around the world that they would be, but they are also full for a few days tour.

Peli and me was talking about it last night and we are sure that it is a secret that only will be told to you after your first cycling tour

Just about to leave to get a map and then we are off on our first tour

[mike]

A wife to drive the car in which all the gear is carried & a late afternoon rendezvous point

Is this the style of cycle camping where the missus takes a leisurely drive from point to point taking in some cake shops and book festivals and culture while the hubby rides, then both meet up having had great fun and done something that the other would rather die than do themselves?

was just discussing how Mrs Mike and I are getting to the lake district in a month, that's almost word - for - word
(except fewer book festivals, more sauvignon blanc)

[LEE]

This was a 3-night camping trip.  You don't need a whole lot more for 3 weeks than you do for 3 nights really.

I had a sleeping bag on top of the rack in a compression dry-bag.

My tent was stuffed into a pannier with the poles slid vertically into same pannier.  Most of my camping kit (stove/pans and so on) were in the same "Wet Pannier". 

My clothes, towel and so on were in the other "Dry Pannier".

I find a tent takes up much more room when it's rolled into it's original stuff-sack.  I put all my "wet gear" in a pannier then stuff the tent around it.  If it was sodden then I suppse I'd put it on the rack.

If I really needed to carry more then I'd use low-riders and Ortleib front panniers to balance the load better (although it handled fine like this)

I wish I had more opportunity to do more of this.

[Polar Bear]

Who puts the tent inside a pannier ? I do.

Sits along the top of the rear rack.

[Bledlow]

I usually don't take a phone because it needs a charger, which then needs an adapter for the continent etc etc etc. Touring without a phone is a hugely liberating experience.

If your tour is for days or weeks, rather than months, charge before you go, but don't switch it on unless you really, really need to make a call. You are liberated from the tyranny of phone calls (a concept I've never understood - every phone has an off switch, & Mrs B uses hers most of the time), but still have the emergency backup.

[peliroja]

Well, we're back from our first cycle tour (three days in wet but lovely Wales) and here's what I have learned:

- take lots of plassy bags. They come in useful. They just do.
- buy a groundsheet/footprint for the tent
- take a full outfit of dry, loose, non-cycling clothes so you're not messing about in cycling shorts all the time, and have something to sleep in 
- take 2 pairs of mitts
- taking sandals was a Good Idea
- taking baby wipes was also a Good Idea
- buying the Exped Downmats & down sleeping bags was a Very Good Idea
- ditto the Jetboil
- long hair and touring is hard work, but not impossible - keep it tied up and take a tiny hairbrush 
- take vitamins and eat fruit & veg whenever possible; dry packaged touring food is not the healthiest
- let the (heavy) bike find its rhythm - don't sprint for the hills, you'll just knacker yourself. Just plod
- when faced with a deadline, early starts are brilliant for keeping stress levels low
- blackberries don't like water

Oh, and cycle touring is 

[mark]

Well, we're back from our first cycle tour (three days in wet but lovely Wales) and here's what I have learned:

- take lots of plassy bags. They come in useful. They just do.
- buy a groundsheet/footprint for the tent
- take a full outfit of dry, loose, non-cycling clothes so you're not messing about in cycling shorts all the time, and have something to sleep in 
- take 2 pairs of mitts
- taking sandals was a Good Idea
- taking baby wipes was also a Good Idea
- buying the Exped Downmats & down sleeping bags was a Very Good Idea
- ditto the Jetboil
- long hair and touring is hard work, but not impossible - keep it tied up and take a tiny hairbrush 
- take vitamins and eat fruit & veg whenever possible; dry packaged touring food is not the healthiest
- let the (heavy) bike find its rhythm - don't sprint for the hills, you'll just knacker yourself. Just plod
- when faced with a deadline, early starts are brilliant for keeping stress levels low
- blackberries don't like water

Oh, and cycle touring is 

You can make a groundsheet/footprint for the tent, just buy a roll of heavy plastic sheeting (not sure what the real name is) from a hardware store or building supply store and cut the size and shape you want. Make it a little smaller than your tent so rain doesn't collect between the tent floor and the plastic sheet.

Sandals are great, I tour with 1 pair of cycling shoes and one pair of Teva sandals.

Down sleeping bags are a Very Good Idea as long as you keep them dry.

A couple pair of disposable rubber gloves are a good thing to have in the tool kit in case you have to handle greasy bicycle parts.

Jetboils are nice, any dedicated cooking system where stove, windscreen and cookware are designed to fit together will work better than a random collection of parts.

[clarion]

Jetboils are cool, and v. good if it's just you or you +1, but not very flexible for more.  We use a Primus Gravity, which is pretty good, but nowhere near as efficient.

Sandals are fine, but flipflops pack smaller.

We don't have a footprint, but we do have a small groundsheet, which Butterfly pointed out could be better because it didn't reach the edges of the tent.  Useful, too, for keeping things off the ground while packing, and sitting round on outside if you feel like it.  That said, a footprint is probably lighter.

Downmats are wonderful, but I wish they made an extra wide one so we could use it.  We normally take a single airbed, which is more compact, but something a teeny bit wider, shallower and better insulated would be great.  I wish someone recognised there was a market for couples who want to camp lightweight but not sleep separately.  We can't be the only ones.  You can link two Downmats, but it leaves a gap down the middle   Similarly, linking two sleeping bags leaves a zip down the middle of the bed for someone to lie on

[Treewheeler]

THE most important thing you need for cycle touring is...
 A waterand wind resistant positive mental attitude.
 

[gordon taylor]

Near the top of this thread I pontificated and displayed my ideal list - perfected after years of grubbing about in windy fields.

I'm just back from a wee trip (  ) and took a huge pile of stuff I never used and missed several things (like a windproof top) that I really needed.

So. Don't listen to me. Ignore my patronising tone. Tell me to bog off I I ever offer sage advice again.

Tuggo is right (for once  ) it is all in the mind.

The kit is the least of our worries.

[toekneep]

We use two pieces of 3mm closed cell foam as a footprint. Yes it is very bulky to carry but it weights nothing and makes the tent much more cosy because there are no cold spots if we are not lying/sitting on the thermarest. Obviously it also protects the groundsheet. GillP carries the roll with the Thermarest seats rolled up inside. It does make her look as if she has some sort of rear facing bazooka on the back of her bike but that just helps to keep motorists from coming too close.

[MattH]

3x socks

That is packing efficiently. Cycle through them - wear one on the left foot, then the right foot, then wash. The spare sock is drying out during it's non-worn day.

[Wowbagger]

I'd have a problem with that policy.

Nearly all my socks are "Coolmax" from Field and Trek and inside the neck of each sock is embroidered either the word "RIGHT" or the word "LEFT". Such is my lack of an adventurous spirit that I have never, ever put a sock on the wrong foot.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Wowbagger, I have similar socks.
Once, in a fit of madness, I tried them on the 'wrong' feet. What happens is that the cranks then turn backwards, you go nowhere and fall off. On a fixie I suppose you would go into reverse. Take my advice, leave them on the correct feet.

[Jaded]

It's a good policy, since it keeps your athletes foot on one foot only.

[drossall]

Black socks, they never get dirty
The longer you wear them the tougher they get
Sometimes I think I should wash 'em
But something inside me keeps saying not yet, not yet, not yet...

Sorry, my daughter learnt that from the Guides

[Deano]

I hope no-one is reading this and making notes, or they'll need to fit front and rear panniers, and carry a huge trailer for all the stuff they'll need to carry (I did meet a Dutch lass in Newcastle touring this way - she'd spent three weeks touring around Scotland and the Borders on Sustrans routes, and was remarkably cheerful).

We should have a parallel list of things we don't need.  Without going into too much detail, the things I find most useful are things which serve dual purposes, so I'll choose clothes which can be worn on and off the bike, and carry a travel towel which doubles as a blanket (especially handy for picniccing and sleeping on beaches when it's too hot for a tent).  And I try not to carry electronic devices which need regular charging.  I don't have a GPS, and I keep meaning to leave the mobile phone behind.  A camera is harder to leave behind.

Food is a great indulgence - I tend to be a cheapskate and carry plenty, but if you can afford it, eat as you go along.  This approach isn't recommended in northern Scotland.

[alan]

when it's too hot for a tent). 

 
It's not a problem I recall suffering from
Next time we meet you must tell me where you do your cycle camping

[Deano]

Only in the UK, Alan.  I do tend to run to warm, though, so it may not be an issue for others.  There are occasions when I've pitched the tent only to keep out the bugs.