Tour Divide gear: bags

To carry the food, clothing, water, and bivy gear I’ll need on the Tour Divide, I’ve outfitted my bike with a set of lightweight bags. The seat bag was made by Jeff Boatman at Carousel Design Works, but the rest I’ve made from Dimension Polyant VX-04 fabric left over from the backpacks I made for our 2004 PCT hike. Yep, it will stand out a tad when I’m parked outside Podunk Mercantile.

Bike complete with seat bag, frame bag, lunch box, and bar bag.

Carousel Design Works Escape Pod seat bag. It holds my tarp, bug bivy, and clothing.

My previous frame bag was flat and had modest capacity. This one (4.0 ounces) is tapered to 4" wide in the front and has additional velcro tab stitching reinforcement. It holds tools, water, arm and leg warmers, and raingear.

The cockpit: lunch box, Garmin Vista HCx gps stem mounted, VDO C3 computer, Ay-up lights, Ergon grips, Profile Design Carbon Stryke aeros.

Lunch box opened for a feeding.

Bar bag (3.3 ounces) with special velcro attachment for Ay-up Epic battery pack. It holds my Marmot Hydrogen sleeping bag, Thermarest Neoair medium, and Patagonia silkweight long underwear.

To round out the set, I’ll be carrying an Osprey Talon 22 pack, with a 3L Camelbak, and all the valuable stuff, like money, camera, passport, and chargers for the camera and lights.  There will be plenty of spare room in the pack so that I can carry additional water on the dry stretches, and additional food on the isolated sections.

That’s it.  No panniers or racks.  I’ve got just enough volume to carry what I think I need.  Stay tuned to see how much gets send home along the way.  With any luck I won’t be giving too many items a chauffeured bicycle trip.

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