What are you packing?

SwimBikeRun

I was out on my first decent length ride in a while with the local club today and halfway along the return leg I hit the wall.
Lucky for me my brother was out too who is a much more regular rider, has a lot more stamina in the legs, and he offered to take my second water bottle and seat pack off me, WOW.
I went from feeling like telling our small tail end group to carry on without me, to steadily making it home at a reasonable pace just by having a little weight taken off the bike.
I weighed my seat pack when I got home, just shy of 900 grams, excessive you think?

I carry the following;
Co2 Pump
Levers
Tube
Multi tool
Loose change
Patches
Spare gas

Obviously the full bottle would weigh a fair bit and I'll be thinking twice before taking that in future.

So I was interested in finding out what other people carry on club runs, I don't think my list is excessive, perhaps my individual items are just heavy.
:?

Strith

That's probably much the same as most people would carry. If you're hitting the 'wall' then you should carry some extra food and have a suitable meal a few hours before you head out, and build up the milage slowly to get used to it.

pride4ever

You should have had at least 400 calories worth on you. Your supplies is in keeping with what you need for a ride out but you need those sugary carbs too.

Mikey41

I carry pretty much the same, though I don't use CO2.

I doubt it was simply removing that small amount of weight from the bike. You stopped and had a rest, let your legs recover a bit, then found you could carry on and get home.

philwint

what the others said.

If you are looking to cut down you could ditch the CO2 and just carry a pump. Oh and the levers - do you needed them? I've checked and I can get the tyres off without them, so stopped carrying them.

Bozman

I don't get the C02 thing, a shed load of weight to save yourself 30 secs.

slowbike

Bozman wrote:

I don't get the C02 thing, a shed load of weight to save yourself 30 secs.

5-10 mins puming vs 1 second on the gas - I carry co2 when I want the convenience of a faster tube cange

simon_masterson

Mikey41 wrote:

I doubt it was simply removing that small amount of weight from the bike. You stopped and had a rest, let your legs recover a bit, then found you could carry on and get home.

This.

The weight debate rears its ugly head again, but suffice to say that that weight can't make that difference apart from psychologically.

As for the equipment I would argue with none of it, and it is similar to what I also carry around:

Tyre levers
A basic multitool (which is more handy for adjustments than essential for emergencies, to be honest)
A multispanner (for my non-QR wheels )
A chain tool
Some self-adhesive patches I hope to not need
A spare tube
Some disposable gloves
My trusty HPX framefit

...And a bag of jelly babies. Since I started carrying these as bonk rations I can't remember ever having needed to use them and therefore can't comment on their effectiveness, but at least they can just sit there until needed without going off.

SwimBikeRun

Thanks for the replies.
Bozman, 2 cartridges weigh in at 120g so not exactly a shed load of weight.
Mikey, if 60 seconds is your idea of a rest on a 60 mile ride then I'm never coming out with you! Lol
I did have a gel shortly before offloading the bag and bottle (sounds like a dodgy pub) so perhaps that kicked in.
I've decided that it would be easier to lose a couple of kilos from my large self than worry about a few non rotational grams on the bike, and to put more regular miles in the legs.

Mikey41

Ah! So a minutes rest and something to eat. Stopping even for that one minute helps, then the gel kicked in and got you back. You needn't have offloaded the pack and bottle

heh, if you came out with me I'd be holding you up I would say

ricky1980

haha saw the title and just wanting to say "BALLS OF STEEL"

Lycra-Byka

Water alone weighs 1g per 1ml

That's 3 quarters of a kilo per 750ml bottle!

I carry 1.5kg of water even if riding 25miles in the cold. I'd rather have it than want it.

I'd say the stop helped. And the gel..... Well it did what it's supposed to do.