Original Reddit preparation post

I completed my first UK bikepacking trip in a record breaking heat wave. 60km out over a deadly 11% hill called "Walbury Hill", a pub lunch, staying in a wild camping campsite (toilets and fresh water only) and 55km back over the Wessex Downs (they go up a lot too).

I'd never ridden 60km in a single day, I'd never ridden two long days back to back and never bikepacked before.

I had to change my original plan because my original campsite ghosted me. I found another campsite on Hipcamp and used Strava to find me a route with judicious use of Google Maps to check it. My route out was too hard, so I used Strava on my phone to plan a new one and sync'd it to my Garmin Edge. It was difficult to plot the route but it did largely send me back a sensible way.

I had a blast and the loneliness of a solo trip was offset by not being relied upon by anyone.

Things I learnt

• Pace yourself – especially if you know the roads, I found I went faster on them than perhaps I should have
• Sun cream on the backs of your calves
• You can stop longer and more often if you're not rushing to get home to do chores
• Pack more nuts and flapjacks
• Big bread pretzels are really good to break up and go in the stem bag
• Avoid fizzy drinks at lunch pub stops
• Lots of medium hills (3-6% incline) suit me more than one vast climb (10-12%)
• Wobbling a big seat back when stationary might feel worrying but even standing in the pedals I couldn't feel it
• Pack your bike standing up leaning against something, it's difficult to get the straps tight when gravity is in the wrong direction.
• Touring pedals (flat on one side, clippy on the other) are really useful for hill starts because you can clip in on your favourite side and then just slam down on the other side and it doesn't matter if you clip in or not
• I could do with a bike fit
• I drank 4.5 litres of water on the road each day, that's 3 fill-ups of my 2x750ml bottles, which worked well

Moan: Garmin Edge 540 UX is terrible

If you "stop" a ride to pop into a shop and forget to set it on again then the only thing to show you it's paused is a thin red line around the edge. It should flash in your face that it's stopped. If the sun is on the screen and you're wearing sunglasses, it's very hard to see. I lost a load of progress because of it *twice*, which is really annoying.

Gear List

In my original post, there was some great feedback that I didn't need to carry two sets of cycling gear, so I didn't. I washed my cycling clothes under a water tap and they smelt fine the next day.

Also back then I was planning for standard UK May weather but instead we got a heat wave (~32C daytime, ~18C at night), so I removed all the cold weather clothes (Down jackets, arm+leg warmers, woolly hat, rain jacket, full winter gloves).

That said, the list is still long but as you can see, I did use most of it. If I had decided to head to a pub for dinner then I would have used the trousers.

🚫 stuff I didn't use
⚠️ stuff I didn't use but would take regardless

Things I wish I had

Nothing here that would ruin a trip but comforts I would have appreciated.

• More flapjacks/nut bars
• Earplugs
• Sleeping eye mask
• Some kind of lightweight chair, recommendations welcome
• Bike kick-stand
• Full frame bag (has since arrived, I can turn my bike into a sail)

Bike

• Pretty stock Boardman 8.9 ADV 2025
• SKS Bluemels mudguards
• Shimano PD-EH500 Touring pedals (SPD one side, flat on other)
• FoldyLock Compact folding bike lock
• Garmin Edge 540
• Generic Amazon front light (I won't be riding at night) ⚠️
• Lezyne Strip Drive 300+ rear light ⚠️
• Elite Fly Tex water bottle 750ml x 2.

Bags

• Restrap saddle bag (18 Litres)
• Restrap holster bar bag plus (18 litres)
• Pinnacle framebag (2 litres) – I didn't order the Restrap custom one in time, my bad. Picture included for fun.
• Restrap bolt-on top tube bag (0.8 Litres)
• Restrap stem bag

Camping

• Tent: Mongar UL 2-Person Ultralight backpacking tent + Footprint
• Bag: CWM400 Down Ultralight Sleeping Bag 43°F / 6°C
• Pad: TuYe R5.8 Ultralight
• Pilow: YuGu™ Hybrid Foam-Inflatable

Tech

• Anker 20,000 mAh power bank
• Very short USB cable
• Blukar head torch
• Shokz Open Run Pro 2 bone conduction sports headphones
• Crank Brothers Multi 19 bike tool
• Spare inner tube (tubeless is cool but I'm not ready for that, my rims/tires are) ⚠️
• Bicycle pump ⚠️
• Quick links for 10 speed ⚠️
• Weldtite airtite puncture repair kit (glue/pads) ⚠️
• Tyremonkey tire irons ⚠️

Cooking

• MSR Pocket Rocket 2 – isobutane
• Primas Camping Gas isobutane + propane
• Stcrerag gas tank bracket
• Toaks Titanium 750ml pot
• Light My Fire spork
• Bic Maxi ⚠️
• Tiny pack of matches
• Sachet of washing up liquid
• Herbal tea bags
• Tiny sponge
• Cloth square (big handkerchief) x 2

Clothes

• Specialized MIPS helmet
• Padded bib shorts (from Evans cycles, unsure of brand)
• Decathlon string vest
• Rotto cycling jersey – short sleeve (orange)
• Marks and Spencer standard socks
• Decathlon fingerless cycling gloves
• Danish Endurance snood 🚫
• Mountain warehouse merino wool base layer
• Decathlon trousers MT500 🚫
• Underpants for the evening at camp
• Carter USM T-shirt for campsite
• MTB Cycling shorts I bought years ago
• Decathlon SPD mountain bike shoes
• Nomad sunglasses
• Cheap Decathlon cycling glasses ⚠️
• Black Flexfit baseball cap

Food

• TREK protein flapjacks x2
• Noodles, cooked chicken, flavour sachet
• Mixed Nuts
• Bananas
• Cadburys Chocolate
• 330ml beer

Medical

• Lifesystems Pocket first aid kit ⚠️
• Paracetamol, ibuprofen, anti-histamine ⚠️
• Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss picks,
• Suncream
• Loo roll

Other

• Phone, wallet
• Moleskine notebook
• Staedtler Triplus fineliner pen, 0.3mm
• Victorinox Cadet Swiss army knife (on my keys)
• Maglite Solitaire torch (on my keys)
• Reading glasses
• Zip ties ⚠️
• Restrap fast straps (rubberised straps) ⚠️
• 4m paracord ⚠️
• Rubbery gloves ⚠️