Packing for tcr#6

I’ve been making good use of the sales over the last 6 months, to try to keep the cost down to non-divorce levels.

My Clothing / Personal Kit

• Shorts – Castelli Free Aero bibs – only worn them once, but they are very comfy.  They have aero dots on them to make me faster.  That will make absolutely zero difference to me.
• Socks – Morevelo stripy socks – the meet Emma Ossenton’s minimum sock length requirements
• Jersey – Pirate top – its bright and yellow, and hideous.
• Cap – #39 – I’ll get that at registration
• Cycle shoes – Bont riot MTB shoes.  These are half a size up from my normal 44s, but I’ve been struggling with the width of cycle shoes.  I got these a month ago and have been riding in them ever since including 2 long rides.  My old faithful specialized sport shoes were about 8 years old now and showing their age.  They are now in the bin.
• Glasses / Sun Glasses – Oakley prescription half jacket sunnies – they are brilliant, and so good not to have to carry contact lenses this time. – in left rear pocket or on face
• Leyzyne wallet – holds passport, money etc – in central rear pocket
• Phone – Sony xperia 5 – in central rear pocket.  Its waterproof,
  • komoot on it with all the route gpx’s as emergency navigation backup – all maps pre-downloaded
  • OpenStreetMap for android for searching for food when I have no wi-fi
  • google translate  – polish menus..??
  • music

Wet / Cold Weather Kit

Really?, in this weather?
I am haunted by images from Melons, Trucks and Angry Dogs when Erik was climbing the Stelvio, in torrential rain.  It looked freezing.  The north side of the alps can be grim in summer.  So I am going kitted up to be able to ride for 8 hrs in the rain, descending at 50 kph at 2 degrees C.

• Rain / Windproof Jacket – POC Essential Its bright, orange, and feels pretty substantial.
• overtrousers – really? I use softshell windstopper long leg bibs in winter, but they bulky.  I’ve therefore got a pair of Assos Sturmnuss – Ridiculously expensive, but bearable at 65% off as no one else was buying them.  Light, waterproof and conpact.
• wet weather gloves.  An old pair of endura autumn/spring gloves with no palms, (the’ve worn out).  I’ll lose these somewhere once I am sure they are no longer needed.
• Overshoes – Prendas Aqualight overshoes – These got me through last winter, and now have holes in the soles – but they will get me through the alps.  They will get lost somewhere in croatia
• knee warmers / arm warmers.  endura windchill – Will be heavily used – will go under wet weather kit for warmth.
•  warm top – old thermal.  I was going to take an old long sleeve jersey, but its bulky.  This thermal is warm, but more compact.  Again it will get lost somewhere.
• Hi vis / reflective top – needed for riding at night in France – i’ll where it on all night rides.  Its a top I picked up from Sportful a few years ago – compact, light and very bright.

Spare / Off Bike Kit

• Evening wear / emergency thermal – Endura Baa Baa – long sleeve.  Worked well last time, so no reason to change, (except maybe for the fact my cat slept on it last night and its now covered in cat fur).  It does not need washing as its merino.
  Also  will be used to sleep in when bivvying
• Alternate shorts – dhb aeron bib shorts.  The blue sections match the flashes on my bike.  I’ll alternate these with my castelis
• spare pair of morvelo socks.  A clean pair of dry socks feels nice in the morning

Bivvy Kit

Everything I used on tcr#3 is coming out to play again.  This gives me confidence that I can push on into the night, (dogs allowing) and sleep just about anywhere.

• Bivvy / Mini tent – Nemo GoGo elite.  its probably overkill, but means I can sleep out in the mountains, and also means I can escape the mosquitos when needed.
• sleeping mat – thermarest neo air x-light – a good night’s sleep is important.
• sleeping bag – yeti passion one – light, small, expensive.

Electrics / Lights / Navigation

• Front light – Exposure Revo dynamo light – another carry over from tcr#3 – Its just excellent.
• rear light – exposure red eye – powered from revo, its very bright.
• rear light – flashing – cateye rapid – I like to look like a christmas tree at night.
• helmet mounted light – exposure joystick + red-eye.  A bright helmet mounted light makes night riding a joy – you look ahead of the main light beam in corners, so you can see where you are going.  Means carrying a specific charging cable, but its worth it.  However, I did fuse a hotel room charging it on tcr#3…..
  This lives on a mount on my tri bars when I am not using it
• usb Power bank – Zendure A3 – Recharge wahoo’s, and garmin 935.  Can be charged from dynamo if really needed
• dynamo to usb convertor – synewave revolution.  Backup only if the zendure runs out of battery.  I used it on tcr#3, its small and gives me a backup.
• Bike computer/navigation device – wahoo Elemnt * 2.  My primary navigation device(s).  Having two gives me a backup, (planes have 2 gps devices) and means I can recharge one while using the other.  Not bomb proof but way better than my garmin 800s.
• watch – Garmin 935 watch. – I will record all my rides on the watch as well as the wahoos, but I find syncing from the watch to strava etc to be far simpler than the wahoo.  It just uploads automatically when ever I have wifi with my phone.
• charger – euro 4 point charger – charge phone, 2 wahoos and zendure at the same time, (and zendure charges watch at same time).
• cables –  4 micro usb 10cm cables, 1 30cm micro usb cable, 1 watch cable, 1 exposure joystick cable,
• di2 charger – can charge di2 from zendure when needed when eating lunc
• other – 2 spare power meter batteries

Misc / Repair Kit

• 2* 750ml elite bike bottles
• foldable toothbrush
• travel toothpaste
• spork – to eat yoghout
• pen knife
• cafe lock
• p20 sun tan lotion
• assos chamois creme
• assos skin repair gel
• medium pot of sudo creme
• chain tool
• quick link
• 2 inner tubes
• puncture repair – 2 packs sticky patches, 2 glue based kits, tyre boot
• 2 tyre leavers
• silca wrench (with hex bits etc)
• cable ties
• saltstick salt tablets
• 2 tubes of hi-5 electrolyte tablets.
• bike lube (50ml)
• pump – tcr#3 vintage lezyne pump

Bags

I was going to use a restrap full frame bag but gave up on that idea, due to not liking the camelback bladder.  I’ve therefore added a smaller frame bag, and also a small handlebar bag.  I did not want to use the handlebar bag, (as I want to be aero) but I cant fit everything in otherwise.

• alpkit feed bag – b/w aero bars
• apidura top tube bag – holds electrics in a dry bag
• apidura handlebar bag – small – wet weather kit
• apidura frame pack – chamois cream, sun tan lotion, arm/knee warmers, inner tubes, hi vis jacket
• apidura rear seat pack – large.  sleeping kit, spare clothes, overnight bag, (toothbrush, skin repair, charger, cables etc) – in 2-3 dry bags.  Should have some spare room for additional food etc.
• pedal ed tcr#3 musette bag – for evening food raids etc

I think thats it….