what do you all carry with you when you ride?

my list:

1) a tool kit with: tire levers, adjustable wrench, cone wrench, 15mm crescent, a non-ratcheting socket wrench with 15mm and 14mm sockets, allen wrenches, metric and standard, spoke wrench, park glueless patch kit, headset/pedal wrench, maybe a chain tool, definitely a gerber super tool (a recent addition), spare tubes, a pump, and spare brake cables.

2) my journal.

3) water bottle.

4) whatever else happens to be living in my bag (cans/bottles of beer, a hip flask— usually containing scotch—, newspaper/magazine, left over chinese food...sand...a compass, the book i'm currently reading (right now it's the martian chronicles).

all of this is in my Pac 2600cu. in. messenger bag. it used to be a lot worse, believe me...i used to carry a crank puller and multiple sets of pliers and wire cutters...i can't go out on a ride without any of this stuff. i feel like if i leave my bag behind, i'll end up needing something in it. i've used pretty much every tool that i carry with me at least once.

the only time i go sans tools is on a bmx or trials excursion. i used to ride with a kid who carried every tool i have listed and then some in a hipsack on every ride. he'd even carry spare chain links for every possible chain someone could have on their BMX...and headset spacers, and spare axle nuts, and spare crank hardware, and brake hardware, and damn near everything.

so what the hell do you have in your bag!?