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  • Two extremes there ^

    I'm trying to get a set of gear together for lightweight 'fast' touring. Two rear panniers and a rack top back. Maybe a saddlebag. The bike will be an audax road bike rather than a dedicated tourer. Essentially a racer with mudguards and a rack. This is largely a practical decision; I need a versatile bike as money and space is limited. I also think that I'll want to enjoy the cycling and don't want be lugging loads of kit around. I'll be running 25mm tyres. However, I think it would be foolish not to take sleeping gear in case one gets caught short.

    I anticipate a mixture of camping and hostels, not full-on wilderness survival. I'm interested in seeing architecture and cities, and in having a fun holiday. I don't imagine I'll be too inclined to go away in shitty Winter weather, so I've been looking at two and three season stuff. Early Spring to mid Autumn. The trouble with going as lightweight as possible is that it can get expensive, as you'll see over on the 'Sleeping bags' thread. I've been planning things for a while now to allow me to spread out the cost and also so that I have time to do my obsessive/compulsive product research to avoid making bad purchases. Now that I have the bike taken care of, the bare essential camping gear I'm trying to gather is:

    • Lightweight solo tent (<1.5kg)
    • Lightweight down sleeping bag (<1kg)
    • Lightweight self-inflating mattress (.5kg)
    • cup, pan, burner etc. (bare minimum)

    One interesting thing that I've noticed is that most gear is rated primary by weight (after function of course), whereas on the bike the packed size is also key. I envisage fitting most of the above-mentioned kit in an Ortlieb rack pack, allowing me to use my Ortlieb (back roller plus) panniers exclusively for clothes and the usual backpacking stuff.

    I'll be arranging a month-long (or thereabouts) trip for late Spring, but I also plan to do a long weekend somewhere in the UK a few weeks beforehand to check that I'm taking the right sort of stuff. I'm not skimping too much on money because the idea is that I'll then be kitted out with good quality equipment for many years' worth of cheap holidays and excursions (I know I sound really middle-aged BTW).

    I'm really excited about it.

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