Ok, you guys, here it is, my complete packing list of what I took with me on the Tour Aotearoa. As a bike packing newbie, or rookie, whatever you want to call it, I really looked for these sorts of posts to see what people took with them, what worked and what didn’t work, as I had no idea where to begin, so I thought I’d post about my experience and hopefully I can help or assist with the packing dilemma of such a massive undertaking and adventure when you decide to go on your trip of a lifetime.
My life essentials for 18 days.
Bike Setup: Juliana Nevis carbon hardtail, 27.5 size wheels. This was my first time riding a hardtail - ever! I would have like to take a 29er with some suspension, but my final decision came down to the fact that I needed as much space as possible for my frame bags, so hardtail it was with a Rockshox RS-1 suspension fork (to give my broken hand a bit of relief). A lot of people had rigid forks, but I would highly recommend a bit of suspension if you plan to go off-road a lot like we did. I also added two things that I’ve never used before, the first one was Cane Creek bar ends, which I grew to LOVE. Except that you hook onto things that you never would have hooked onto before, so beware of getting high sided off cliffs. After I broke my hand, I also decided to add some Aero bars onto my already strange cockpit. A wee bit wobbly at first, but after 90 mile beach, I seemed ok. I used these a lot and it was great to be able to change up positions, although I did get quite sleepy leaning onto these at times. I would highly recommend these. Also great to dry out towels, clothing and as my helmet hanger. I went with SRAM 1X11 setup with a 30T chainring and it worked flawlessly. Crankbrothers Candy pedals, SRAM ROAM wheels (I’m not a carbon fan), Maxxis ICON tyres, SDG saddle.
Bike Bags: AlpKit bike bags from the UK. My initial decision to go with them, were the colours that they offered, not too many companies offer bright flouro orange bags, and I wanted to be very visible on the roads (I’m pretty nervous on the road). They were also quite a bit lighter than most other bags out there, and I just loved their whole vibe - all the bags worked like a charm. Highly recommended :)
1 x Custom Stingray frame bag.
1 x Koala saddle bag that I left on my bike the whole time and just re-packed every morning.
1 x Front 20L Airlock Xtra Drybag for my tent & sleeping that I just strapped straight onto my handlebars. To keep the roll nice and small, I wrapped my sleeping bag around my tent, wrapped my thermarest around my sleeping bag and synched them all tightly together to fit in the drybag. AlpKit do offer a stiff Kanga harness for the front, but I didn’t have the need for it, and I preferred the simplicity of just having the dry bag tie straight onto the bars.
1 x Roo pouch on the front of my drybag where I kept my headlamp, chain lube, bike tool and rag.
1 x Big Stemcell on the front of my top tube where I kept my phone, snacks, little bike lock, spork, trail directions & more snacks. With my frame being a size small, I found this bag to be too big and floppy when filled to the brim and it would touch my knee’s when pedaling, so I mounted it on top of my stem, fitting perfectly between my aero bars. I glued some velcro to the top of this pouch for my Garmin, as the mount didn’t quite make it to me in time before the Tour.
1 x Fuel pod pouch where I kept my water bottle, sunblock & it fitted a nice medium sized banana too.
The bags were all really waterproof, except for the time that I slipped crossing a massive river and completely submerged my bike and myself under water. I also just ended up wrapping all my things in good old plastic bags before packing up as we had some crazy wet weather and rain storms on the South Island. I kept all my soft goods, like clothing in my saddle bag and then all my heavier things and food in my frame bag.
Clothing & other gear:
2 x different brands of chamois shorts to change up the “tread” every day. I loved my Juliana Capo shorts and my Ground Effect Siren shorts. Make sure to wash my chamois everyday, I was riding with both of them everyday :)
1 x long sleeved hiking type shirt with mesh and ventilation. I loved this shirt and wore it pretty much every day. It dried quickly, didn’t really smell that bad and I didn’t have to worry about sunblock on my arms. It’s crazy how this shirt faded to the shape of my hydration pack. This ended up being my only shirt as I lost my other riding shirt somewhere along the way.
1 x short sleeved Mons Royal wool riding T shirt. You HAVE to take wool, it does not smell, trust me. Although I ended up losing this one, and I had to worry about sunburn with the short sleeves, this ended up being my chill shirt after riding.
2 x sports bra’s. One Lululemon and one woollen Mons Royal bra. In hindsight one would have been enough, as the days were so long, that once you were done, you never really bothered to wear a bra. Again, wool is the way to go. Never mind this section guys!
1 x pair of woollen Icebreaker underpants. They were great, but again, not really needed as you just end up going commando.
1 x comfy, loose Lululemon casual pants. These were my best. I dreamed of slipping into these during the day and when I finally did at night, they were just fabulous. I suggest loose, baggy pants to give your bum a bit of a breather. The last thing you feel like doing is putting on some super tight compression tights.
2 x pairs of woollen socks. One pair to ride in and one pair to put on at night. I could wear these for days without washing them, because they were wool.
1 x medium weight woollen long sleeved thermal. This was great for after rides, but could also be worn when riding in the cold.
1 x small, lightweight puffy with no hood. To keep it smaller & more compact.
1 x wool buff for those chilly days and also my beanie at night.
1 x orange hi-vis vest - Castelli- which I wore when riding on the road, but it also worked really well as a small windbreaker either over my shirt or under my rain jacket.
1 x proper rain jacket - no cutting corners here. I used an Acre jacket which was super lightweight and simple, but very waterproof, with pit zips to breathe. I also took the hood off this jacket as I was wearing my helmet, but took it with me just in case.
1 x pair of Endura rain shorts. I used these A LOT. In the end, your lycra would get wet, but it did give you a good few hours before you were soaked through.
1 x glove - I was wearing a cast on my right hand, so just took one of my Giro long fingered gloves, chopped off the fingers and had a short fingered glove for my left hand. I only wore this for sun protection.
1 x set of Leg Warmers which I bought on the South Island as I was freezing in the chilly mornings & evenings. I even wore them during the day at times (not shown in photo).
1 x Giro Montaro MTB helmet. Love this lid. Probably the only one on the Tour with a MTB helmet. Sven modified my helmet a bit to add a very dorky touch, but it was probably the thing that I LOVED most about my gear and so many people asked me where I got it from. He put three bits of velcro on the back of the helmet to attach a neck and ear fabric cover attachment thingy that I could take on and off, but left on for the most part of the ride.
1 x Oakley Radar sunglasses.
1 x Evoc CC Race 3L hydration pack for my water. Most people went with no pack to keep the weight off your bum, but I didn’t have room for bottles and I don’t mind carrying a pack. This one was great, it had a 2 litre bladder and enough room for a jacket and some snacks. It also had two small zip pockets on the waist band where I kept my lip block, chamois cream and snacks. I also attached my Spot tracker onto the back of the pack.
1 x pair of riding shoes. I started off with sneaker type, comfortable shoes, which I usually ride & race in, but due to them being too soft for the distances I was riding, and me almost having to withdraw from the ride due to strained achilles and those in turn causing major knee issues, I had to go to the nearest bike shop and invest in a super duper expensive pair of carbon soled xc shoes. They saved my ride. No shit. Lesson learnt. They were not so great on the off road bits where we had to hike a bike, but hey. I do however still have tingling numb toes from spending such long days in these hard shoes, so I would suggest an insert of some sort. I do still highly recommend my comfy sneaker type shoes for riding - just not when you're riding 12 - 15 hours a day!
1 x XS travel towel.
2 x super lightweight dry bags. A small one for my toiletries and a bigger one for my soft goods I wasn’t wearing.
1 x Big Agnes Pitchpine UL45 sleeping bag - AMAZING bag.
1 x Big Agnes Fly Creek 1 Platinum super duper lightweight tent.
1 x Therm-A-rest NeoAir Xlight Small with a repair kit.
1 x Inflatable Pillow - probably could have left this behind, but it was so small.
1 x SnowPeak LiteMax stove with a Trek 700 Ti cooker & a Snowpeak TI spork - the long one, as the short one would leave your entire hand covered in food when you’re trying to eat out of your dehydrated packet. I carried this on the North Island, and ditched it for the South Island. Should have done it the other way around, but I found buying food was easier than cooking when I was knackered and finding dehydrated meals.
1 x Water bottle
2 x Electrolyte tablet tubes. Restocking these whenever I could.
1 x Black Diamond ReVolt headlamp - I used this with normal batteries as it was one less thing to try and charge at night.
1 x Lezyne rechargeable front light - amazing. I ended up using all my lights A LOT and really fell in love with my sunrise and sunset riding hours.
1 x Lezyne Zecto drive rechargeable rear LED light. Sadly lost this guy on the last day, but I used this ALL the time.
1 x Anker PowerCore 20100 battery pack. It is quite a weighty charger, but it lasts for days and could charge my phone and both lights at the same time.
1 x iphone & charging cable.
1 x Spot Tracker - which was great for people to find you & it made me feel a bit more at ease when I was riding by myself at night, as it had an emergency button if you needed to use it for some or other reason.
1 x Garmin Etrex 20 - once I figured it out, it was amazing. Long battery life and I’d just replace batteries along the way. Helped me from getting lost many a times and staying on our designated route. It also held up in the pouring rain.
1 x Kiwi bungee/strap thingy for anything and everything.
Tools: 1 x set of brake pads, multi tool with long enough tool bits, stand alone chain breaker, electric tape, pump, duct tape, spare valve, valve remover, 2 x lightweight tubes, spare cable, tire boot, puncture kit, plug kit, chain link, derailleur hanger, zip ties, chain lube, rag, small Leatherman Squirt tool, small PacSafe bike lock (used a lot on grocery runs) and spare batteries for headlamp & spot tracker.
First Aid kit: Small packet of wet wipes for those days you don’t get to shower, plasters of all shapes and sizes, alcohol wipes, Compeed blister plasters - loads of these, as they are the only plasters that work on your bum. Yep, bleeding saddle sores, no problem with these guys. Just don’t try to peel them off, it is very painful! Strapping tape, Charcoal tablets & Immodium for upset tummies, lots of pain killers and Blistex for burnt lips.
Toiletries: small chopped off toothbrush, small toothpaste, talcum powder in small container, Paw Paw cream, small wash all soap for laundry and a small Dr Bronners peppermint body wash, lip sunblock and normal sunblock and sandfly repellant - a MUST have in NZ.
Food: I always had a can or packet of Tuna in my bag, a few nutty bars of some sort, a chocolate bar, a cookie, an apple or banana or two and then I would buy food and stock up whenever I had the opportunity to. Stores and towns were few and far between, so when I got to a cafe I would just buy whatever, chocolate milk, double thick milkshakes, iced coffee’s, chips, pies, avocado’s, nuts, chocolate, triangle sandwiches - which fits nicely into frame bags by the way. When I got to a place that made toasted sandwiches, I’d stock up, one to eat right away, and two to go please. I had cold toasties with a tuna packet many evenings for dinner. Lucky for me it was near Easter, so I ate A LOT of hot cross buns. When I got to a gourmet cafe, I’d really stock up on little quiches, pies, samosas and banana loaf. Yumm. I ate A LOT, but we needed it, riding between 12-15 hours a day. My fear was running out of food & my favourite was finding a cafe who served iced coffee’s with the ice cream and whipped cream - the works - those would give me an extra boost.
Things I started off with, but ditched along the way:
- Casual shoes. I just rocked bare feet or walked around like a penguin in my bike shoes.
- Short sleeved shirt - well I lost that one.
- My cooker - I would just end up buying food instead whenever I could and stash it for later. It was easier and quicker.
- Baggy shorts. I started off with these on day one, and even though they were super light, it was just not necessary to have with me.
I think I just about covered everything. It may bore most to death, but it was so helpful for me when I came across people’s packing lists when I was preparing for this trip. Remember, Less is BEST.
Get out there, go on an adventure & try something new!
peace out, Anka