In the summer of 2020, I rode 5521km from Vancouver, British Columbia to Whitehorse, Yukon and then onwards east all the way to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Covering a distance of 5500km (3400 miles) over 29 days of riding, averaging 190km per day across 6 different major Canadian highways, packing the bike in an efficient and organized manner was key to success.

Detailed below is the setup and packing list I used throughout the tour, including changes I would make in future major undertakings.

The Bike and Setup

On the person

For a long-distance cycling trip in the summer, it’s important to have a comfortable set of clothing which you don’t mind wearing for 10+ hours a day. It’s also a good idea to have a good pair of sunglasses, a cycling cap to protect your head from the sun and a pair of arm sleeves.

• Bike jersey
• Bib shorts
• Socks
• MTB gloves
• Heart-rate monitor
• Cycling cap
• Arm sleeves
• MTB shoes
• Helmet
• Sunglasses

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Handlebar Roll

I was extremely pleased with my gear selection for the handlebar roll. The only change I may have made would have been to not bring an extra set of bib shorts, and just stick with 1 pair of bib shorts and 1 pair of MTB shorts, which would allow my backside to get a chance to breath and air out. I also didn’t use the sleeping bag stuff sack and instead just stuffed the sleeping bag into the drybag. The Blackburn Outpost Elite Handlebar Roll uses a harness and drybag system. The harness attaches to the handlebars with a bar-clamp type attachment and provides a lot of adjustability. As a result of using 40cm wide handlebars, I had to keep the roll almost as low as it could go so that it wouldn’t interfere with the shifters. This made it really tough to attach the drybag, as the top strap had to connect to the handlebar itself, which provided additional support for the drybag and harness. However, the webbing provided for this was hardly long enough, and I often had to pull as hard as I could in order to connect the hook. Another common issue with drybag type front-rolls is that they are a pain to get gear out of and usually require you to all but empty to get something out.

• Bike jersey x 1
• Bib shorts x 1
• Socks x 1
• Merino wool underwear x 1
• Merino wool long-sleeve shirt x 1
• T-shirt and running shorts (1 set)
• Lightweight insulated gloves
• Galibier Tempest Pro rain jacket
• Louis Garneau rain pants
• Endura MTB shorts
• Big Agnes Air Core Ultra air mattress
• Mont Bell Downhugger 800 sleeping bag

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Seatpost Bag

My typical setup for my seatpost bag had me putting a lot of the lesser-used gear at the bottom of the bag and the more used gear towards the top. On occasion other things were stuffed in the bag, such as rain gear when the weather was nice and there was no chance that I would need it. In future trips, I would take a more slimmed down version of my first air kit, most likely removing the small bit of duct tape and 2nd Skin. From my spare parts kit I would probably only bring 1 CO2 canister, put the tire patch kit into a very small ziplock bag, not carry chain-links and possibly not bring the air pressure gauge, but just rely on feel and check the tires more regularly.

The Blackburn Outpost Elite Seatpost Bag is very stable and had minimal side-to-side sway. The same can't be said with all seatpost bags. This setup worked and allowed me to carry everything I needed. In hindsight I think that a lightweight rack with a rack top bag would have been better as it would have allowed me easier access to my tent without neding to dump everything out whenever I needed it. I also had to manufacture a bracket to mount my bag to my Brooks B17 saddle, as the provided bracket was too narrow for the wide-railed Brooks saddle. This essentially meant that I was carrying around extra weight for nothing.

• Tarptent Rainbow 1 person tent – approx. 1 kg
• Spare tubes x 2
• Sawyer Mini filtration system
• Homemade first aid kit
  • Tylenol and Ibuprofen
  • Bandaids
  • Medical tape
  • Duct tape
  • 2nd Skin
  • Gauze
  • Sterile bandage

Tools & Spare Parts

• Tire levers
• Tubeless tire plug kit
• Tire tube repair kit
• Extra self-adhesive patches
• Parktool tire boots
• Blackburn digital pressure gauge
• Spare brake pads x 1
• Spare chain-links
• Quicklinks x 1
• CO2 canisters x 2 and mini adapter
• Spare shifter cable
• Spare valve cores
• Spare cage and accessory bolts
• Air mattress repair kit

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Frame Bag

The Blackburn Outpost Elite Framebag was excellent and overall, I had no major complaints with it. My only gripe with it was that the Velcro divider between the upper and lower compartments would often come undone, due to the weight of the gear in the bag. Although this would cause it to bulge, it was never an issue as it didn't rub against my legs while riding.

In the lower compartment, I carried my spare chain, chain wax and wax remover, as well as two bottles of tire sealant. For this tour I opted to ride my chains without lube and instead use wax, which was reapplied every few hundred kilometres. Overall this worked out really well, keeping my drive train incredibly clean and smooth.

The upper compartment of the frame bag held the things that I often needed as soon as I stopped my bike for a rest, such as my head net, chamois cream, and other things I had nowhere else to put. Any leftover space was usually filled up with jujubes and licorice.

pocket (right side)

• Small tripod
• Mosquito headnet
• Sea to Summit Airlite Towel
• Sea to Summit Micro Clothesline
• Silicone travel bottles with chamois cream
• Emergency fire starter
• Headlamp
• Rope for hanging food
• Peanut butter x 1 small jar
• Nutella x 1 small jar
• SNACKS!!!

Lower pocket (right side)

• Spare chain
• Dry chain wax
• Chain cleaner
• Tire sealant x 2 bottles
• Ziploc with toilet paper
• Small rag

Document pocket (left side)

• Zip ties
• Spare credit card
• Face mask (for covid)

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Toptube Bag

The top tube bag was my tech bag and played such a vital role throughout the tour. This was where I carried everything that kept me connected to the world. It is supposed to be very rain resistant but at some point, I decided to put my electronics in a ziploc just to be extra safe.

Blackburn Outpost Elite Toptube Bag

• Anker 10,000 MAh power banks x 2
• Anker Power Port (wall adapter)
• Jabra wireless ear buds
• Spare GoPro battery
• Spare memory cards
• USB C cables x 2
• Micro USB cable x 1
• Sunscreen (outside mesh on top of bag)

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Cooking

For my food solution, I used 2 drybags to carry the food and cooking gear as evenly distributed as possible, and which were then attached to the Salsa Anything Cage HD, which were in turn mounted to the front forks. This worked out really well, except for the fact that all my drybags wore small holes into them from the constant rubbing.

When bound for remote places I would carry up to a week worth of food and attach the extra drybag to the top of my seatpost bag. This wasn’t ideal as it caused it to bounce more but was the only place available to mount it.

Drybags x 2

• MSR Rocket Rocket 2 Mini Stove Kit
• Fork/Spoon
• Spiderco folding knife
• Sea to Summit Shampoo
• Toothbrush & toothpaste
• Mini can-opener
• Mini bottle of olive oil, chilli peppers and salt
• Sea to Summit X-cup (to replace pot cozy I melted)

Food

• Uncle Ben’s fried rice
• Idahoan instant mashed potatoes
• Instant oatmeal (breakfast)
• Tuna or canned ham x 3-4 cans total
• Granola bars