Ping: Willem. I'm no lightweight!

[Ticktockmy]

Thing is, of course, on day 1 everything is full. You have 500 grams of pasta, a full bottle of pesto, a full (in my case plastic because of the 150 gram weight saving) jar of marmelade, a full (plastic) flasc of olive oil, a whole litre of meths, a full bottle (or more precisely, a Platypreserve because of the lower weight) of wine or gin, etc. After a couple of days, you will be low on some things, and fully up on others. But yes, food weighs a lot, even though some food is far heavier than other food. I try to buy fresh stuff every day, but obviously you need some fall back provision, depending on conditions: pasta with pesto and grated cheese is great as an emergency food, as long as you can be absolutely sure you will find water.
Willem

I guess I am lucky in so much I am happy to live on very bland diet. Thus apart from using, salt and pepper, I will in the UK happily live on my Boil in the bag high energy (900 Kcal per Bag) and supplement that with visit to Cafe,s or Pub for lunch and evening meal. One of my cycling companions just shakes his head in Horror, at the thought of such a bland diet, and carries loads of niceties.

When In the past have been cycling in Asia and Africa I used to eat native no problems at all, apart from the squigges sometimes, thus reducing the need to carry very little food, Outside of the UK in that magical land called Europe I tend to eat in the cafes, as I find the food rather twee :-)

 

[smeg]

Sounds way too heavy to me. Would it be possible for you to break down the weight Helen? Don't need to know your weight and the bike's weight. It might be more accurate if you stand on bathroom scales holding the gear/panniers then subtract your weight. If you could separate the food weight / gear weight / clothes weight?

What food have you packed? I suggest only taking food that's high in calories for weight i.e. cheese, crackers, peanuts, chocolate, cake, biscuits (there's an excuse for you to eat junk food ). I like beef jerky but it's not particularly high in calories. For meals - dried stuff, Vesta meals, the beef curry is nice as is the prawn paella, lots of options for dried pasta meals in packets, inc. macaroni cheese, I usually bung in extra cheese to make it nicer...Noodles etc... Mixing dried mash with dried soup is nice. Looks like baby food but tastes quite nice and fills you up. The most difficult meal for me is breakfast, porridge seems to give me a bad stomach so I usually have noodles for breakfast urgh. Army ration pack beans and sausages are much nice but heavy compared with dried stuff. I've been experimenting with dried egg powder to make omelettes but it seems you need a lot of it to do anything useful with it. On my previous attempt at making scrambled egg with it it tasted bloody horrible so I've kind of given up with that idea It's alright for making omelettes though.

I've had up to 2 weeks of food on me whilst backpacking in the Highlands along with all the other gear, a bit excessive but it can be done I wouldn't have thought you'd need that much food on a bike, you'll be passing towns unless you're really in the middle of nowhere? Where are you going?

 

[HelenD123]

Sounds way too heavy to me. Would it be possible for you to break down the weight Helen? Don't need to know your weight and the bike's weight. It might be more accurate if you stand on bathroom scales holding the gear/panniers then subtract your weight. If you could separate the food weight / gear weight / clothes weight?

Sorry, I don't have access to any bathroom scales.

 

[Arch]

Sorry, I don't have access to any bathroom scales.

You should have packed some!

Willem: You take gin on tour!? Wow, that's hardcore!

BTW, on the subject of condiments, I was most impressed with something I saw Piemaster do last year on the CC camping weekend. One of those sets for toiletries, designed to take on airlines. Two screw top bottles and one pump action one, with oil, ketchup and brown sauce....

Now, talking of dinner... I'm off to do something creative with a Mattesson's sausage.

 

[hubbike]

i'm about 45kg including bike...

Psmithy....I like your pie chart!! seems like the heavy items are really bike, clothes, cooking, pannier and tent. these are areas to have weight in mind when purchasing new kit...

I find it a pain to squeeze everything in too helen.

I have a rear pannier of "stuff I don't use" spare tyre, water filter, spare parts, glues, tools, first aid and spare clothes. I am often tempted to just leave all that behind.
Then a rear pannier of sleep. sleeping bag, down jacket (mostly used as a pillow).
Then the front pannier of food. food and stove and cup.
Then the front pannier of junk. diary, books, bits and bobs.
then a handlebar bag with camera, map, useful bits and peices...
Then fold up backpack, tent and roll mat on the back rack.
the "stuff I don't use" and "junk" panniers are the heaviest ones!!

clothes are the luxury weight for me I think... I have a hoodie and some trousers and niether of them are any good to cycle in. perhaps I will give them away...

 

[Ben M]

I doubt very much that a set of scales designed for weighing things which weigh tons will be at all accurate for weighing a bike.

 

[willem]

Nalgene do an excellent set of litle plastic bottles inh various shapes and sizes for things like olive oil, balsamico, shampoo, washing up liquid, etc. They really do not leak. As for the gin. This was in Norway, where anythng other than lager (and not even that after six) can only be bought in state liquor stores, of which I have seen only one in two weeks. My more normal use of the Platypreserve is for wine: you buy one bottle, and save half for the next day. As for PSmithy's interesting pie chart: I think my weight for most of these categories is often only half, or two thirds.
Willem

 

[psmiffy]

Psmithy....I like your pie chart!! seems like the heavy items are really bike, clothes, cooking, pannier and tent. these are areas to have weight in mind when purchasing new kit...

Cooking stuff I could cut back on – but I would not be happy

Clothes – Everything has a use and everything gets used – stuff for hot weather is very light and does not take up any space – stuff for wet and cold weather is bulkier and heavier and often I really wish I had the space for more

Panniers are panniers

Tent could be smaller and lighter but when cycling for a week or more in bad weather it has been a godsend – new one will be similar

Bike – well, I would not change it – it has to carry all this stuff without me worrying about the racks or the wheels failing

My daily run is normally 80km to 120km day in and day out so I take enough to keep me warm and dry in relative comfort – both while I am on the bike and while I am camped - bearing in mind that I spend around twice as much time camped as cycling



If it will go up it goes

 

[HelenD123]

Well, I passed another weighbridge today and thought I'd get a second opinion. It hesitated and settled on 50kg. I was carrying slightly less water and food this time so I guess my bike is somewhere in the mid 50s.

Like Hubbike I had a pannier full of stuff not needed regularly that was pretty heavy but I couldn't get rid of, things like a spare tyre, tubes, battery charger. I've ditched the spare, spare tyre I was carrying but still have a spare cassette. I can't decide whether it's worth sending it home or keeping it in case I need to change the cassette later in the trip, although it's slightly higher geared than I like. Really there's very little I could get rid of.

 

[HelenD123]

I doubt very much that a set of scales designed for weighing things which weigh tons will be at all accurate for weighing a bike.

It was just a bit of fun.

 

[HelenD123]

Well done!

This is me somewhere prepared for a little bad weather


Helen - I am glad you posted that - In light of a lot of recent posts on here I was begining to get a bit embarrased by how much stuff I carry - pretty much though in line with what most long distance tourists I have met in Europe and New Zealand

Glad I made you feel better!

If you do want to lose some weight my tent only weighs 2.1kg plus footprint and I'm very happy with it. It's a Terra Nova Supalite 2.2.