For this setup a 1 man cheapy from Amazon. Food is a ready meal heated up on a rocket stove, usually a curry. I don’t drink tea or coffee, so make do with water scrounged on the way. I have been known to find the odd pub or too when I can wild camp nearby.
Loaded cycles
- Thread starter cwskas
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- Location
- London
oo - a mulchy looking wood - similar pic from me.
am definitely a kitchen sink person, even though that tent, Snugpak Ionosphere, is small and minimalist. I had three drybags on top of that rack. Am still intrigued by your minimalist set-up @Milkfloat - where's the sleeping bag/what is it? Mine on that trip took up a very substantial bit of one of the panniers - definitely more room than the tent. I would have been carrying more if I had been cooking - I just had espresso making gear with me.
edit - have been vaguely looking for a wild/free camping pic thread on here but can't find - maybe this thread can also encompass that - unless someone wants to start another.
am definitely a kitchen sink person, even though that tent, Snugpak Ionosphere, is small and minimalist. I had three drybags on top of that rack. Am still intrigued by your minimalist set-up @Milkfloat - where's the sleeping bag/what is it? Mine on that trip took up a very substantial bit of one of the panniers - definitely more room than the tent. I would have been carrying more if I had been cooking - I just had espresso making gear with me.
edit - have been vaguely looking for a wild/free camping pic thread on here but can't find - maybe this thread can also encompass that - unless someone wants to start another.
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Sleeping bag is an Aldi special - about the size of 4 pints of milk. It is far too small/tight for me at 6'4" and I have to wear all my clothing to keep warm
It lives in the dry sack attached to the bars, together with a thin inflatable mattress and silk bag liner.
- Location
- London
cripes - I've seen that. Not sure i could use that on all but the warmest of summer nights. When do you use it? Mine is a Snugpak - very good, 3 seasons, am planning to try using it in winter with an extra thermal lining.Sleeping bag is an Aldi special - about the size of 4 pints of milk. It is far too small/tight for me at 6'4" and I have to wear all my clothing to keep warm
Realistically 2 and a little bit seasons. I am ok for a couple of nights, but anything longer than that and I cannot cope with the discomfort, then the big boy comes out, but then I switch to another bike with panniers.
- Location
- London
I wouldn't put up with any serious discomfort at all to be honest.
(of course some folk would consider sleeping in a wood hell in itself but that's another matter)
That pic of mine above was taken this month in the recent downpour - snug as a bug.
I got the snugpak from their factory for a good price.
I own 3 sleeping bags and am not really happy with any of them, I keep looking for the elusive extra long, left sided zip, super warm, packs small and is a great price bag, but never quite get there.
- Location
- London
I have the impression that you have to go, er, down the down route for really compact with performance - both of mine are snythetic - good bags but not super compact, particularly the Mountain Equipment one. Maybe you need to toss the bikepacking lark into touch, embrace more volume. I usually put my bag on top of a rack - no great problem.
This is my snugpak, got mine for well under £100.
https://www.snugpak.com/softie-9
made in the UK
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- Location
- London
saying that again, tho am sure it's very good/well made
https://www.phdesigns.co.uk/minimus-down-sleeping-bag
£402
I think I'll stick to my snugpak with various linings/add ons. Am a fan of layering/a certain redundancy.
In truth unless a real minimalist or after touring speed records I don't think you need to go ultra compact on a bike.
- Location
- London
I came across a very lightweight bikepacker recently sat on a grass verge at the bottom of waddington fell - he was heading back to Bristol on this horror:
https://audax.uk/event-details?eventId=9107
been sleeping in fields.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
On an audax you’ll only sleep for 3-4 hours at most. When you do sleep it’s because you really need to. So minimalist as in nothing or just a bag to keep weather off. It is.
- Location
- London
fair answer - though reinforces my idea that ultra audaxes are some sort of obsession/drug/self-inflicted punishment for a crime imagined in a previous or this life. In past ages, folks crawled over glass to holy shrines.
edit - he was a nice and rather chatty guy but in my chat to him I do remember saying how wonderful the cycling and scenery was in the place he'd found himself. "is it?" he said - had the idea that head down/grind/grind/grind he was somewhat blinded to it by the sheer effort.
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