Road Cycling - How much do you carry on a road ride ?

When on the road most of the roadies/ racers I see have very little on their person or bike. Just themselves, their wedgie, and their jersey pockets do not appear to be bulging. Sometimes, I think they must be freezing in the early AM chill.
When I take my best racing bike, I usually carry somewhat less stuff. And often the weather is perfect, when I take that bike. Most racers would think I am loaded for a long tour, I am sure.
On my older road bike, I have a front and rear bag. Probably reason I favor my oldest road bike; so I can take my stuff. On my fastest race bike, I hate to adorn it with rear and front bags, racks, etc.
The usual stuff I take, early in the AM I probably need a jacket and or arm warmers, maybe leg warmers. I take an extra tube, basic tools like a hex wrench, spoke wrench, small compact tool kit, a spoke repair kit, and on longer day rides, even a foldable tire; and of course, personal stuff like wallet, keys, power bar, etc.
So what all do you take on a road ride and where do you put it? Cerainly can't fit a full jacket into your jersey pockets. It would feel great to ride unencumbered. Nice to be compact, but with changing weather, etc.; don't we need our stuff?

well since I don't do any racing, I take a patch kit, an extra tube, a pump, and waterbottle... not much else, and that is all on my bike anyhow. That is pretty much when I do just normal riding, when I commute (same bike) I also wear a backpack to carry a change of clothes. :rolleyes:

It depend on the weather, of course, but I travel pretty light. I have a wedgie containing a spare tube, an allen key set, two tire levers, a CO2 inflator and two cartridges and a roll of electrical tape. I usually have two bottles in cages for any ride longer than 90 minutes [which is most rides].

On a warm day, I'll fill my jersey pockets with [from left pocket to right] a small bottle of eyedrops [I wear contact lenses] and my keys, a small business-card folder that I use as a mini-wallet with my bank and credit cards and a $10 or $20 bill, an energy bar and/or a baggie with fig newtons. And that's all.

Depending on the weather, and the length of the ride, I'll wear tights/knickers/leg warmers, arm warmers, a vest... On really cold days, I'll wear a jacket. Tights don't come off, and I usually have pocket space for arm or leg warmers, as necessary. If I'm wearing both, I'll just roll down the arm warmers and stuff the leggings in a pocket.

I can't really imagine what ELSE I'd need on a ride.

For one thing, drop the wallet. Xerox your driver's license and write emergency information on the sheet. Fold that into a small change purse with a few bucks and some change. If you have any other odds and ends like a small packet of sunblock (you know, the little promotional freebies), a phone card and a key or two , put them all in a ziploc bag and fold it up tight. That little bag, some fig bars, and a couple of gel packs will fit in one jersey pocket. You still have a couple of pockets for all kinds of layers you can pull off. A tightly folded and rolled wind jacket will fit in a jersey pocket.

Anyway, you live in Fallbrook. How many layers do you need? (Sorry, just jealous, remembering those balmy days in SoCal).

Rich

Rich

Stinger9oh, I love the one sheet wallet idea!

I, too, travel light, w/repair equipment similar to velocipedio. Beyond that, food, beverage, and a little emergency money are the most important. I haven't had occasion to start a ride completely bundled up, and needed to remove it. At the worst, I'll start w/arm & leg warmers. When they come off, they'll fit in the jersey pockets.

In ~16 years of riding, there's only been three times that having more equipment would have been of benefit. Once, back in twelve-speed days, I pretzeled my rear derailleur on a botched shift. It also bent the hanger. At best, if I'd had a chain tool I could have cobbled up a fixed gear. Instead, I walked .25 miles to a house and phoned my wife. Another time, chain broke, and I had to walk farther for rescue call. The only other time, I was riding on some tires that required a hook bead, that my rims didn't have. Tire blew off, creating a tube with an unpatchable 3" gash. No prob...got a spare. In the process of pumping it up, I broke the stem off the tube (is there a thread about proper use of a frame pump?). A passing jogger pointed me to his house and, again, wife to the rescue.

Wait, there was another time. Last year, about 65 miles into a century, my saddle came loose at the top of the seatpost (not the collar). To tighten it required a smaller allen wrench than I was carrying. I tightened it as much as I could by hand and rode the wobbly saddle 10 more miles 'til I caught up with someone that had a small enough allen. Now I also carry that size allen.

In a small saddle bag: spare tube, glueless patches, CO2 inflator, 2 CO2 cartridges, Crank Brothers Speed Lever, and a mini-tool.

In my jersey pockets: Energy Bar, wallet (in a zip-lock plastic bag), bandanna.

On the bike: a bottle of water and one of Gatorade.

If the weather is iffy, I sometimes strap an extra garment to my handlebars with small bungee cords.

For day touring I carry a frame pump, of course, and in my seatpack; spare change, spare tube, multi-tool and tire levers and house key. In the handlebar bag I carry granola bars, sunblock, and a camera. If I am cruising yard sales I will carry panniers and a bungee cord.

On all (3) bikes I've got a wedge pack, with the usual tube, patches, allen/screw driver tool, change, tire levers, frame/mini pump.

On my commuter, which usually has a pack on the rack, I have a light windproof jacket, vest, and arm warmers if I'm not already wearing them. The weather can change considerably here over a few hours, depending on time of day.

On the road bike I stuff my jersey with wallet, keys, energy bars, cell phone and might have a fanny pack for clothes I'll take off if it's going to be a longer ride and starts off cool. In the warmer weather I have my Camelback to supplement the bottles, and sometimes stuff a folding tire in it.

That's a great idea to just photo copy ID, and emergency info because really that's all I take my wallet along for, I'm going to start doing that.

Pump w/gauge,Halt on handlebars!,small wedge with;tube,glueless patches,small first-aid kit,tire levers,Performance E-tool for most rides-Topeak Alien for events,surgeons gloves for nasty jobs like chains or were you need clean for first-aid.On me,my food,small plastic bottle w/gatoraide powder,money,State ID (so I don't have to take my license) emergency info laminated on back.Optional;rain jacket,monocular,camera.Covers most things and not really that heavy...KC

Maybe one difference in SoCal., we ride in winter. Further North, if you ride in winter; you do not think the option of removing jackets ? Taking off for an early AM winter ride it can be 40 Degrees at 7:30 and 67 at 11. I know about layering, but a descent at 40 degrees is chilly!
So 3 hours later, we need far less stuff. Many of the ideas here, will be space saving and I will do better. I probably over do it with the tools. A good multi tool is a real space saver. When I commute to work, on my commuter; I take two tubes. no time for wasted time.
One story influenced me about foldable tires. Riding with a friend out in the desert. His rear tire popped big time. It was just the two of us.
The pressure was on me. Alex got to sit on a rock the 3 hours it took me to get back to the car and return. It was March, so I did not abandon him to the rattlesnakes. He appreciated his Camelbak. It was even then pushing the high 80's that day.

I'm a pretty light packer. I have a wedgie w/ a spare tube, tire lever, and some money. A frame pump on the frame. In my jersey pockets I have a cell phone, and if the ride is long enough, food. One or two water bottles in the cages depending on the length of the ride. That's all.

I go with as few things as possible, and NOTHING on my bike besides water bottle cages. If I'm going to bring it, it's going in my jersey pockets. I used to have my mini pump on the frame but after it fell of a couples times I screwed that idea. I usually pack the heavy stuff in the middle (mini pump, tube, tire levers) and then my ID and some money on one side, and energy food on the other and that's it. It doesn't get to cold here, so I've never had to bring a jacket. I'll wear leg warmers, arm warmers, and an ear-warmer, but that's it, everything else just has to go numb if it wants to be warm. Of course, it doesn't get that cold here, if it did I'd bring a jacket and probably something for my face.

On longer rides I have two gels, one power bar, two water bottles, in my wedge bag I have a tube, patch kit, multi tool, tape, zip ties, 1 inch by two inch piece of thin plastic,(for side wall blow out).psycho fred's sports tablets. In a small fanny pack I have my, Leatherman, money clip w/ photo copy of important info, credit card and the most important but seldom needed, my cel phone, I have been known to go too far out and run out of light, and where I live you have to be very careful all the time at night it is like dancing with dr. death.

my wedgie contains: a spare, 3 tire levers, 2 co2 cartridges, and a SPOKE WRENCH (this has helped me more times than i'd like) and a small ointment jar of baby powder (for the new spare so it won't be sticky) -
arm and/or leg warmers. i carry a cell phone (mine is the smallest nokia they make and the size of a credit card) which is on, but i usually travel outside the cell area. this is because my family needs me. my 'bike phone' is rarely used. i don't bring house keys -i use the garage code to get in/out. my i.d. is copied and laminated. some fig's or power bar. that's it/

a waterbottle, spare in a can (not sure how well this stuff works...) my cell phone (i think its the thinest phone you can buy) credit card, and keys.

AA,
Where do you carry your stuff? :beer:

http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/Litesp.jpg
This is everything I take.
Frame pump
Water

In the seat pack I have:
3 tire levers
patch kit
spare tube
money (paper money and coins) in zip lock bag
folding reading glasses (so I can see the really small things)
Topeak Alien tool kit
house key
dirt and grime :D

Clothing depends on the weather.

Food (banana, Powerbar/Balance bar, etc.) and other small items in rear pockets.

I'm not sure I can really add too much to this discussion as we all have very similar set-ups.

I fill my saddle bag (wedge) with tyre levers, alien tool, Co2 pump with two cartridges, puncture kit, house key, money, mobile phone (turned off). I carry handkerchief, power bars, and mini-pump, in jersey pockets. I still carry the mini-pump just in case I get more than 2 flats, hasn't happened yet.

For rides of 100km/62miles I will take a camelback to put more food and water in if I know it will be difficult to buy items in the country.

CHEERS.

Mark

I saved my expired driver's license and recycled it for ID use on my bike (current info, decent picture :p ). My "wallet" consists of that laminated card and one credit card rubber-banded around a couple folded bills and coins. I also wrote emergency contact numbers in indelible ink on the blank backside of the old license. One could write medical info as well.

As for the rest, small pump, dual bottles, cellphone, wedgie with minmal tools and patch kit, and I wear, not carry my clothing, for short rides under two hours.

Originally posted by Spire
AA,
Where do you carry your stuff? :beer:

Seat bag, actually i think i have the same one in RonH's picture... it looks like mine anywho.