The ULTIMATE Bikepacking Gear and Packing Guide - What you need & How to pack for the Great Divide!

i almost forgot on my front bag i have my little llama so this is my ecuadoriano llama he's from ecuador i used to have one from peru and he fell off so this guy has some safety gear to hold him on but yeah i like having my little llama riding up front always with me and he just bounces along here and yeah he likes bike packing too [Music] all right hey guys carl here and i'm going to walk you through my setup which i recently used to ride the great divide mountain bike route here is the pony my 2015 salsa el mariachi and i'll walk you through my setup what i use and how i use the gear how i pack it what makes sense for me and what i've learned through my bike packing experience my setup is definitely not an ultralight setup i would say it's more of a world touring setup or long term touring setup because i do have cooking gear and some other other kind of comfort gear that's nice for long term but if you wanted to go ultra light you could use the same setup and just remove those items i have my rear bag which is a backpack it's a waterproof backpack it's 20 liters and i just strap it on top of a rack using bungee cords and that works really nicely inside this bag i keep my gear which i only use once per day i take the all these items out in the evening and i put them back in the next morning and then i don't touch this bag for the entire day then on top here i have a smaller bag a 10 liter waterproof bag and this is just for food my triangle bag is a six liter ortly bag i keep mostly electronics inside of here then i have revlate design sweet roll it's a large holds 15 liters you can open it on both sides which is really nice and i keep all my clothes inside of here up front i have this old-school cycling pro bag it's probably somewhere between 20 and 30 years old i keep electronics inside of here this bag is not waterproof but i have ways to make it waterproof so i'll tell you about that when we get there okay so now i'll go through these small little bags so this bag in front of my post holds my leatherman a multi-tool uh i just think it's so important to have these two items easily accessible so you're not digging in the bottom of your triangle bag or somewhere else because you know what these things are heavy and they'll always sink to the bottom my plate tool is just a crank brothers m18 pretty basic but i can fix almost anything on my bike with this tool then i have my leatherman it's a little bit heavy for people who are just trying to go ultra light but i really like that it has a scissors scissors is so valuable and just being able to actually grab something and torque on it is very very nice as well so i'm somebody who can't live without a leatherman uh this is also my only knife so i use it for cooking and everything those two things live right here little rear bag on my seat post here my repair kit so this just has some tire levers in it patches some some spare brake pads a little bit of dental floss for sewing small little sewing kit and some spoke nipples uh extra valve a little bit of duct tape i don't know some pretty basic stuff not that much here's a tubeless patch kit these patches aren't for the tubeless kit but that's an extra bearing but yeah so this is tubeless patch kit some quick links [Applause] right here and i also have this little valve here this adapts from schrader to presta so i can go to a gas station and use their schrader compressor to set up my tires tubeless i also have a little razor blade in here just nice for being able to cut something then just some grease i don't need to grease my bike very often but it's just nice to have and my lock uh it's just a simple simple lock pretty small and this allows me to lock my rear tire through my triangle and with this long cable is really nice to have and this can go from the lock to my tent or anything when you're running into a shop for five minutes or if you are camping and you're nervous that you might not be in the best area uh more i would do the great divide without any sort of lock i think that i would feel fine with that i would bike in a lot of the world without any luck but if you're going into cities occasionally it's just a nice thing to have for peace of mind and final small bag we have this little top tube bag it's about one liter one inner tube and there's a second so two inner tubes because you don't want to be in the middle of nowhere losing tubeless and not have tubes i there's a lot of weight to carry but good to have this is something new i've never carried but it's fiberfix i thought that if i broke something big i would try this out and it's carbon fiber tape so this should allow you to make some pretty large repairs to a rear rack or something else that fails on this last trip i did break my train stays and my plan was to attempt to fix it with this if i wouldn't have been in a populated area luckily i was in a populated area and i was able to get a ride and i did actually get my bike repaired in phoenix from the bicycle fabrication supply which is a great place so thank you to andrew so i do have new chain stays here now to my water setup i have big nalgene mounted to my down tube it's uh one and a half liters i have a boil strap this is a black diamond boil strap boil's just a brand but keeps it secure here so that's one and a half liters then on my fork i just mounted with electrical tape i have two water bottles so one water bottle on each side of my fork uh so one and a half liters up front my down tube another one and a half liters so three liters then on the outside of these bags here i have this little platypus water bag so this is two liters so now i'm up to five liters of water as you can see i have this connected with in case it falls normally it's strapped there i'm up to five liters and if i really need to i can fill up my water filter with three more liters of water and i'm up to eight liters of water like i said on top i have my bag for food i keep it attached with a small little to my seat and that way i don't lose this bag if it falls off because of these straps coming loose so right now i don't have any food in here but what i do have is the essentials i have my spork right here this is just an outsmart pork i like it it has a little knife on it fork and spoon i have a bowl it's nice to be able to cook make your oatmeal afterwards cook a pot of coffee so it's really nice to have a bowl then i just have a folding cup as everyone needs a cup right so there are my essentials and this is empty normally inside of here you know it's oatmeal for breakfast pasta or rice for dinner and then tortillas either with peanut butter and jelly or tuna for for lunch i like to keep it simple with the food and now into the 20 liter backpack uh like i said before i only take this off once per day everything in here items which i only have to get at once per day first thing item we're removing out of here is my stove this is just a whisper light stove multi-fuel which is essential for traveling around the world you don't have to rely on canisters stove sits in the bag inside these two pots so the pots do not take up very much room this is about one liter uh here's a stove i have it in here with the windscreen pump stove then my lighter i always pack my lighter with the stove that prevents you from searching later on for your stove and going crazy pump goes into a fuel bottle this fuel bottle holds gasoline the reason i use gasoline is because you can find gasoline anywhere in the world and this amount of gasoline will last me about one week of cooking every day i connect the bottle to my front fork using a little zip tie which is removable but this just ensures that my fuel bottle does not fly off as i'm descending a big hill so fuel bottle stays nicely on the front fork and no worry of losing it in the middle of nowhere and not being able to get a new bottle all right next item is my tent this is a big angus copper spur ultra light and it's the bike packing version which means the tent poles are actually shorter which is really nice for being able to pack it wherever you want then i have my stakes packed separately so here's my tent i have my water filter in here this is just a three liter gravity filter system it's really nice i like it a lot more than a pump system it's just quicker easier and also i can use this three liter bag for water storage if i really need to get extra water here's my sleeping bag it's a lightweight sleeping bag a little bit less than what you typically want i think it's rated to probably 50 degrees fahrenheit or something like that it's it's pretty lightweight normally inside of my sleeping bag i keep my sleeping pad packed and this is just a sea to summit ultralight sleeping pad i don't remember what the model name is but it's comfortable enough not super comfortable but it works i can sleep on it okay also in here i keep what have i got i have a little thing in bug spree repel 100 98 percent deet so this is powerful stuff i did not use it on the great divide just an extra tent pole replacement section in case i break a tent pole and then i have one of those little emergency sleeping blankets and this is just in case it gets really cold i get stuck in a blizzard or anything like that i know i have this as a extra layer of security in case the situation gets rough uh if i'm traveling internationally i keep my passport inside this bag as well also on the back i keep this platypus two liter water bag this is just an option to carry more water and i strap it to the the bags on the outside keep it attached with a carabiner again so it's not going to fall off and sit on the side of the road i actually did find this on the side of the road just before the great basin on the great divide so i was hoping to get some extra water storage right before the great basin and this magically appeared so somebody else lost it don't be the person to lose it use an extra carabiner this string which i have here is actually part of my bear line which for the great divide you need to store your food away from your tent hopefully up in a tree you can use a canister or bear bags but i just like using my food bag a little beer line and throwing my food up in a tree and i sleep soundly knowing that it's away from me so don't sleep on your food don't invite a bear to your camp next up we have the triangle bag inside here like i said i carry lots of electronics if i wasn't filming videos i could carry half as much stuff in here as i currently do and i could probably actually get rid of at least one of my big bags so i'll just go through it here i have my charging system for electronics uh i need one adapter for my drone and the other one is just for usb so i have two adapters it seems like a lot it is a lot but because i carry a drone i need to carry two so two adapters a bunch of usb cables and i can charge maybe six items at once here i have two little containers these carry batteries for my cameras i just have two because one is for charge batteries the other one is for dead batteries that just keeps me sane and yeah it might take up a little bit more space but it works for me i also have my bike pump in here this is a design and it's the high volume floor pump it's a wonderful pump i keep it inside my frame bag because pumps which are mounted to the outside of your bike they often fall off people lose pumps and this keeping it inside of here also keeps it clean because everything which is on the outside of my bike gets dusty have a selfie stick because everybody loves selfies headlamp this is a black diamond i believe icon and it's overkill as far as a headlamp goes but it has a really bright red light red lights are awesome in the evening they don't hurt your night vision and this light has about as bright of a red light as you can get here's my front light it's a 700 lumens and i believe the name of the company is knight bright and it's very bright this gets mounted right here on the front on my fork so nice little mount don't even have to think about it i don't have to wear it so it also has a flashing mode and that's really nice for when you're in a city and if it if the traffic's really bad so i really really like this light and it's also written nice if you ever have to ride at night i have another big it's just some usb cables a couple of little charging items double a batteries another big this is just memory cards like i said i'm recording i go through lots of memory cards then here's an external power pack it's ravpower this is somewhere over 20 000 milliamp hours and i carry two of these ones in my front bag but this is ravpower the other one's ankur they're both pretty good all right also in here i have three spokes i keep them inside my triangle big don't even really know they're there it's a nice place and not going to lose them all right now i'm going to walk you through my front bag on the outside here i hold oil just because i oil my chain every day next to my front bag you can see i have my bear spray this is just to keep away any mean bears when you encounter them on the trail so this is just nice and easy to get at i can be riding my bike and cruising along see a bear and i'm ready to go so you need bear spray for the great divide mountain bike route absolutely essential all right now to my front pack i have a little pouch in here are my cosmetics you got to look good on the trail and i do not have very many cosmetics in here toothbrush toothpaste some hand sanitizer and a little bit of face lotion for those days when you really get burned ah also in here not too much you know some ear plugs that's about it some ibuprofen i only take ibuprofen after biking never during okay like i said before this bag is not waterproof but i can make it waterproof and one way is this little bag which goes over it just a waterproof cover like for a backpack that does a pretty good job i also have a waterproof bag five liters inside which i can pack the electronics which i keep up here so if i need to i pack my electronics inside this five liter bag and it doesn't matter if the ba my front bag gets wet so here i have my drone remote my drone and extra battery i have two extra batteries for the drone so mavic air uh it's treated me really well for at least two years since i've had it i have a tripod just a little mini tripod and with this tripod plus that selfie stick i showed you earlier i can make a slightly taller tripod which is really lightweight and i have just an extra battery pack so that's everything from the main compartment of the front bag on up top here i have some miscellaneous items have my sunscreen very essential and some postcards to send to patreon members here i have some from new mexico which still need to get sent out so sorry patreon supporters those will get sent out soon have my headphones uh just sometimes you want to listen to music podcasts audiobooks also up here i have an extra phone this is for navigation in case one phone dies i can use a second phone this wouldn't be necessary for the great divide because you could always buy a another phone if you destroyed one but some places of the world that's not quite possible so i always carry a backup phone i have a compass and some electrical tape because as you noticed may have noticed i like mounting stuff with electrical tape also very good for repairing have a pen water purification tablets i also have my rear light this is just a red light it's the same company as my front light nice and bright and i can mount it onto my helmet which i just have a little velcro strap on my helmet and it's nice and easy to mount works well and i can take it on or off nicely beam mounted on my helmet this is nice and tall and that makes me visible to large trucks so up front here's my cockpit have two nice big bull horns can grip them any way i want really comfortable i don't ride with gloves so this just gives me extra comfort other things i have here up front just my phone for navigation and i just use a gpx track in an application called osmond this works really well and i have my sunglasses stored up here in front i keep a carabiner through the nose and this just keeps them from falling off and disappearing because i've lost many pairs of sunglasses the components i use on my bicycle so for the most part this bike is fairly stock although everything has been replaced at least once but i starting with the saddle this is just a brooks it's the b17 saddle is part of the reason why i don't wear padded shorts because it's broken in and i can ride on it all day long without issues but that does take time just crank brothers uh pedals an older mallet version and they allow me to clip in or ride unclip nicely which is good for downhill i think any mountain bike pedal which gives you the option to ride clipped or unclipped comfortably is great for touring off-road my rack is just a surly rack pretty durable i have cracked it but been able to get it re-welded it's aluminum so it's a little bit harder to get it re-welded but that works everything else is pretty basic i mean hydraulic brakes uh i'm running a 3 by 10 and running tubeless in both of my tires this one's caught the front has been constantly wet but that's okay i just put more fluid inside of it i have a suspension fork i think running a suspension fork or rigid are the best options and i guess they're the only two options but i like a suspension fork it's a little bit more comfortable and i lock it out on the climbs i don't know it's not too not too much out there just use whatever bike you have and go ride you can upgrade little things here and there as you wish front bag is empty and the only thing to still go through is my sweet roll which holds all my clothes on the left side i have it marked with red electrical tape and on the right side i have it marked with blue electrical tape blue side is for cold and waterproof gear the red side is for warm warm weather gear so this just makes it so when i go to grab some item of clothing i only have to open one side and i'm in and out quickly i learned this trick from always going crazy when i had a paneer set up because you can open one paneer look for something item is always going to be in the opposite side so it's nice to mark one of your paneers and then you know what items are in each paneer first things first i think it's really important that all your clothes can work together so basically i can wear every item of clothing which i have in my sweet roll so that means that i can dress from weather from 100 degrees fahrenheit uh i don't know 35 40 degrees celsius to uh below freezing so uh it is i don't know that means you don't have to carry as many clothes as you would otherwise so give me a quick second and i will change into the clothes i typically wear at the beginning of my day and just go from there so uh one quick second and i'll be back all right all right so this is how i would typically start my day ah thank you guys really that's so nice okay i'm gonna come say hi all right so this is how i would typically start my day just starting from the bottom i have my cycling shoes these are perla zoomies they're the x-alp divides they're really nice i think any mountain bike shoe has a little bit of flex in it it's going to be a good shoe i have just a mid-weight pair of socks they're a mix of wool and synthetic i have my knee warmers which have seen better days but i really like starting the day with knee warmers it just warms up my knees and i don't know i don't get achy knees early in the morning then i have my shorts pretty typical shorts but what i really like about these shorts is they have zipper pockets so i can zip them and actually keep what i have in my shorts inside my shorts whether it be going walking into a little store or doing something else so zippered pockets are super nice to have uh i don't wear uh any padding uh like a chamois shorts or anything like that uh but that's up to you if starting out i would definitely wear some padded shorts just to save your butt a little bit of pain uh then i have my base layer for my upper which is just a long sleeve uh thermal this isn't wool this is synthetic but water synthetic and then my banana shirt a banana shirt is really nice to have uh i like buttons and uh you know i can unbutton this fully and it allows me to get the benefits of not wearing a shirt but all the but the sun protection of wearing a shirt so i really like banana shirts i believe that the bananas probably scare away the bears and one benefit of a banana shirt is that it's yellow and i think it helps my visibility a little bit when i'm riding on paved roads with cars so banana shirt is absolutely essential and right now i have this hat but i actually don't have a hat with me i just have my helmet so here's my helmet and i mean this is a pretty typical way to start a day on a on a nice day all right all right so now i'm wearing a lightweight layer of pants and one more hawaiian shirt which is also a button-up shirt so this is actually my shirt i like to wear for going out in the city it's kind of a dressier shirt and it also works for biking as well now with two layers i'm a little bit warmer i have lightweight pants these are very breathable and uh when i reach into my bag these are the first two things i grab so alright changing into even warmer clothes all right okay now i have my jacket this is just a pretty lightweight puff but with all my layers on this is really warm has a hood and uh yeah now i'm ready for pretty cool weather i'm going down a big pass early morning i'll definitely throw this on right away uh i mean the reverse is opposite if i have a big climb early morning i'll typically dress a little bit lighter because i'm going to be working harder so uh this would be a pretty warm these this would be pretty warm clothes clothing to wear early morning but all right on to the next all right now i'm probably dressed about as warm as i would ever be dressed while biking i have my raincoat on this works as a windbreak uh i have flaps underneath my arms which is really nice for cooling off a tiny bit and then i have my rain pants on which also work as wind pants so uh my outer shell is on uh and i can bike in pretty pretty cold weather wearing this gear uh my one other item of shell are let's see if i can grab them quickly these gloves here so they're large waterproof mitts i actually just carried the liners if i was in really cold weather i would carry the inners but just these liners keep my hands pretty warm keeps them dry which is really important in the rain or snow so just these two liners do a lot for my hands so now i can be almost fully waterproof ah well i'm missing my hat but yeah this is i'm dressed for pretty cold weather now uh yeah and what else do i have in my clothing bag not a whole lot but let's see one fresh clean pair of boxers so that's important two really thick wool socks for cold weather or for sleeping some long underwear typically for sleeping could also wear them riding but i prefer to use the just the knee warmers which i'm currently wearing uh buff so i can wear this underneath my helmet or i can wear it as a scarf as well just for warmth and then bandana another thing protect the face [Applause] two lightweight socks so i'm carrying a total of three pairs of socks and that also gives me an option to almost always have one pair of dry socks and then my little my little skull cap so i like wearing this under my helmet i don't believe and i have no more clothing so i'm wearing almost all my clothing i could put these on if i wanted to these the hat and the buff those could go on easily and i mean these are just extra pair of socks and boxers so yeah almost wearing all my clothing right now thank you everyone for watching the video i hope you enjoyed it please click subscribe to watch more bike packing videos as i release them and if you have any suggestions for future videos uh please let me know write in the comments let me know what you think all right see you later

Channel: Karl Kroll

Views: 276,385

Keywords: Bikepacking, rowery, bicicleta, ciclot, cicloturismo, ركوب الدراجات, wielersport, катание на велосипеде, велосипеде, kolesarjenje, cycling, ride the divide, great divide mountain bike route, GDMBR, Bikepacking USA, great divide, bikepacking the cdt, mountian biking, mtb, ciclism, bikepacking gear, bikepaking gear, bikpack, pack rafting, pack raft, bici, tour en bici, carretera austral, around the world gear, biking around the world, cycling around the world, sycling, cykling, cykle touring, GD

Id: j4axmSqU_lQ

Length: 33min 8sec (1988 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 03 2020