a lot of good suggestions on sleeping / camping gear.

but, have you considered how you plan to carry not only your camping gear, but other gear (clothes, food, etc.), as well ? does your bike have racks ? do you have panniers or other methods to carry your stuff ?

How are you finding the durability of that Big Agnes? I've been a little scared to try them. I worry that the floor etc would be very fragile. Then again, I don't get much chance to camp these days, and I doubt I'd wear it out anytime soon.

I second salamandrine's question. It was on my list of tents I thought about buying two years ago, before deciding I really didn't use a tent enough to justify ditching the Kelty.

It's something I worry about because I tend to treat my stuff roughly. So far, so good, although I have only used it for a total of 7 nights so far. Each time I have used one of those generic, blue, plastic tarps underneath. I will be taking it with me for a twelve-night tour in Montana next month. I know a couple of the camping locations will have lush grass, but some will likely have rougher surfaces.

I have a BA Copper Spur UL1 and have used it for about 30 nights on all kinds of surfaces. I have always used the BA groundsheet with it. The tent shows almost very few signs of wear, and certainly no damage to the floor. One small hole has appeared in the mesh of the inner tent, and there are some patches of discoloration on the fly. No idea what that is or where it came from, but it doesn't appear to be spreading. I love this tent for short bike tours. It's light, packs up small, has space to keep your panniers dry, is roomy enough inside, and the pole sections are short enough to fit in Ortlieb front rollers easily.

Good choices! I have the Tungsten 2p and it's a fine tent. Goes up fast too. Have fun on your trip!

BTW, count your blessings you missed the era of a rolled up 3/8" thick piece of blue foam for your pad.

Late revival, but thanks again for all the suggestions. This forum has been a great resource.

I intentionally overpacked a bit, and ditched some items before setting off to ride. We did 250mi over 4 days, with a measly 36' gain (due to a bridge). Otherwise it was long, flat, and fast pacelines. Mileage was ~55/45/105/45. Last day was a solo recovery ride w/out gear. I went to the top of Corolla and back to complete the full OBX.

Gear list: NEMO pad, compressible pillow, Northface 35* bag, Marmot tungsten 1p. Bags are Fairweather Hbar+saddlebag, and Ortlieb back roller+ on a tubus disco. I have sport packers in the mail, still searching for a front rack.

I've included a few shots from the trip (PFA!)





Will be doing the full GAP+C&O this year, as well as the full Skyline Drive in Shenandoah, before moving west to CO. Looking forward to some longer tours!

Thanks for the update and the pics. Always nice to see pics. Glad you were able to get everything together. I trust you had fun.

And many newer down bags compare favorable to synthetics when it comes to performance. New water resistance treatments help alleviate the wet insulation problem. As for weight and size, compare this down bag and this synthetic bag. The down is still lighter and compresses smaller.

Just out of curiosity, why use a compression sack on the tent body? The tent poles don't compress and for every tent I've owned, the poles make for a larger package than the tent itself. I wrap my tent around the poles which makes for a much smaller package than what I see with your stuff sack.

Good question. My tent body fits nicely in my Hbar bag, but the poles are a tad too long. They fit perfect bungeed on top of my narrow rack top. I plan on getting a compression sack to make a little more room within my Hbar bag. Also, I debated the sleeping bag material too, but again, went for budget and still ended up w/ a very compressible bag that weighs 2lb5oz.

I'm still not getting why you would bungee the poles to your rack and carry the tent body separately. All of my tents have come as a nice neat package with the tent wrapped around the poles which is then all bungeed to the rack. I have other uses for handlebar bags than using that valuable space to carry a tent.

That may be true, and to each their own. It may be because I'm an amateur, but my two tent poles are long and skinny, the rest of the tent is formless and can be compacted to a much smaller size, not being burdened by the length of the poles. Ntm my rack top is somewhat useless and the poles fit quite nicely on there.

Whatever works for you , use it. You may be able to get compact loads wrapping a tent around your poles, but I've never been able to do that.

I've found from several decades of mountaineering , backpacking and bike touring that I can make almost anything that is compressible smaller by using a compression sack than if I roll or fold it. I'm talking about a true compression sack, not just a "stuff" sack. My gear gets stuffed into the compression sack, and then compressed. About the only things that get rolled are my clothes. I've had a lot of experience of trying to stuff 10 lb. of XXXX into a 5 lb. bag

My poles for our 2-person tent make a relatively small bundle that handle really well by themselves. I would think wrapping my tent around the poles would make for an awkward, rigid bundle that could only go on top the rear rack. I also do not like strapping a lot of loose gear on top of my rack.

My tent, compressible pillow, sleeping bag, Thermarest and silnylon tarp all fit neatly in a medium size Ortlieb Rack Pack. My poles can go anywhere. If I want a lighter, cleaner load, I can also stuff all of the above into one of my Ortlieb Backrollers, including the poles. It is also waterproof.


The length of my compressed 2-person tent, compressed 25F bag, and sleeping pad are not much longer in length than a medium sized water bottle. The items pictured here, including rack pack, are about 8 lb.


I like the convenience and protection that a rack pack provides for my "living quarters." It makes a nice clean, easy to handle load.