We’ve been purchasing, organizing, eliminating, prioritizing, weighing and packing our gear in preparation for our first bike tour planned for the spring of 2020. We have quite some time before our departure to get it together but we also head south to Mérida in the fall to escape the cold winter. Upon our return we will have less than one month to prepare. So here’s how we’ve broken it down:
Kitchen
- MSR Pocket Rocket 2 Camp stove
- Pot
- 2 Bowls
- 2 Stainless steel mugs
- GSI cutlery
- Cutting board
- Fozzils Folding dishes
- Waterproof sack for food
- Microfibre towel
- Campsuds
- Lighter
- Ziplock bags
- Salt & Pepper
- We will buy camp stove fuel on arrival
- No spill bottle for cooking oil
- Platypus water carrier
Toiletries/Personal
- Hair/body bar soap
- Sunblock ~ also used for leave-in hair conditioner
- Folding Toothbrushes & Toothpaste
- Dental floss
- Deodorant
- Wet wipes for personal use but also to clean the bike
- Razors
Hairgel~ ya maybe not- Wash cloth
- Toilet paper & Kleenex
- Scissors
- Nail file/clippers
- Comb
- Lip balm
- Mosquito repellant
- Sewing kit
- Medical kit with assortment of bandages & medicines
Tools/Spare parts
- Rob is busy working on this part of the kit…………
Electronics
- GoPro Hero 5 plus attachments~ gift from Robs brother ~ thanks Gord!
- Garmin Edge Explore
- Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablet
- 1 cell phone each~will be buying a sim card on arrival
- Charging hub
- International adapter
- Avantree speaker
- Ravpower portable charger
- Big Blue 28W Solar Charger
- Bike lights
Tent and camp stuff
- Marmot 3P Tungsten tent and footprint
- Clothesline rope
- Clothes pegs
- 2 MEC Intrepid Traveller sleeping bags- we are going with a inexpensive bag that is small and lightweight. One side is a sheet and the other side a thin quilt. If it dips below 15 degrees celcius we intend to sleep in our warm clothes. If it gets even colder we each have a SOL emergency bivvy to wrap up in.
- 2 Therm-a-rest sleeping pads ~ also purchased a therm-a-rest trekker chair which converts the pad into a chair. It’s lightweight and doesn’t take up much room.
- 2 Sea to Summit pillows & covers
- 2 Micro fibre towels
- 1 headlamp
Clothes ~ Leslie
- 1 long sleeve merino wool sweater
- 2 long sleeve quick dry shirts
- 1 short sleeve quick dry shirt
- 1 tank top
- 1 pair shorts
- 2 pairs bike shorts
- 1 skirt
1 pair thin pant wind resistent- 1 pair legging capris
- 1 pair Taiga leg warmers
- 1 pair wool long johns
- Swim bottoms
- 3 pair underwear
- 2 bras
- 3 pair socks
- 1 pair Rab VB socks
- Gortex rain jacket~bought at Value Village 2nd hand store for $12
- Rainpant
- Taiga rainhat
- Taiga polar fleece neck tube
- 1 pair cycling gloves
- 1 pair latex gloves
- 1 pair wool glove liners
- 1 pair Keen Sandals ~ Thank you Jenna!
- 1 pair slip on sandals
Clothes ~ Rob
- Shoes
Did we miss anything?
Hey guys, Squirrel here. Just noticed that you are planning on using an MSR pocket rocket for your cooking (good choice, btw, we have lots of MSR gear!). Heads up on the fuel in Europe though, every big supermarket and “high street” sporting goods store we encountered had these blue butane fuel canisters that would not fit the North American threaded valve standard on an MSR canister stove. They look similar, but won’t fit (https://www.campingaz.com/uk/p-27450-cv300-plus-gas-cartridge.aspx). We had to go to a specialty climber supply store in the U.K. and a huge out of town sporting goods store in France (called Decathlon, basically a French version of MEC/REI). So it is possible to get threaded fuel canisters, but if you’re relying on a steady supply of them, make sure you plan ahead!
We were wondering if we would encounter difficulty finding fuel after reading your post. We will have to do a bit more research on this or eat cold sandwiches 🙂
This seems like a solid list! One thing I’ve been really grateful for is earplugs, the local festivities can go on late into the night and I need my 8 hours 🙂
Good idea. Might help block out somebody’s snoring too. Not saying who.
If Rob goes like that he’ll have no problem carrying all your stuff!….way to step up to the plate Rob and don’t worry European’s are more open to your style of fashion!
He’s great isn’t he!