What do you carry?

diane143

Is there a standard gear pack people carry with them on long rides/races? Tube and tools are obvious, but I've heard there are those that actually carry an extra tire as well.

Is there a list of suggestions kicking around?

Thanks!

Diane

tafi

On any ride I carry a mini pump, tube, tyrelevers and bits of old tyre to put under cuts etc. Never need any more than that.

If you have to stop in a race you're stuffed. A new tyre isn't going to help you win. Its time to go to the saggin wagon.

diane143

OK, then what if you are on a "recreational" or training ride of a great length? No saggin wagon then unless you have really really really nice friends with no lives.

rob of the og

Up to you what you carry, you can't predict everything that could go wrong. I snapped a chain during a long ride the other week, couldn't do much about that (it happened at a good time though, nearing the top of a long gradual climb, I rang for a lift then rolled 10 miles to the dip at the bottom of the valley while waiting)

FWIW, I carry: spare tube, mini-pump, levers, multi-tool, box of patches, money, phone and a rain cape (even if it's sunny it's a light extra layer you can put on to stay warm while waiting). I think that that's about the minimum I would try to get away with on a longer ride. Beyond these you can try to guess which problem you could have, perhaps a spoke key or chain tool or outer tyre, but you can't carry everything, so you're better off just checking things over carefully before you go.

cycleboy

Well, you can approach it as a simple risk analysis experiment. Each of us has a different idea of what's likely to happen and how serious it would be. You can do a simple analysis as follows:

On a sheet of paper make four columns titled something like "What might happen", "Probability", "Severity" and "Total".

Under the first column list all the things you believe might go wrong on a long ride such as flat, bent wheel, struck by lightning etc. Then rate on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being most likely or most severe. Try to use the entire range of 1-10 if you can. When done multiply Probability by Severity and put result in last column. A spreadsheet program like Excel is great for this. Now resort the list by the last column. The list of what might happen is now in order of worst event first. Begin by deciding what items you need to deal with the event. At some point the weight and volume of the items will make carrying them impractical.

After doing all of this you'll probably find that the 'normal' items like tube, levers, patch kit, etc. are what float to the top. Don't forget to consider a cell phone, money and basic first aid.

Good Luck.