Hey Richard, Niel here (realised it comes up as my company name), looks like a much more reasonable kit list now :-) You mentioned the glasses I use. They are actually prescription glasses with a genuine Oakley lens bonded on the front, so if you don't need the prescription bit then the Oakley part is their lightest shade of photo chromatic lens. I wear them permanently and find them excellent both day and night. If I didn't have to have the prescription part then I'd use the Oakley EV Zero photo chromatic option. Light weight and very good. A couple of other suggestions. Tubeless. I'll be honest for something like TCR I don't know why people still use tubes. Tubeless really is a game changer. I had one cut in the tyre that I'm aware of. Sealed up in about a minute, pumped it up, and hit held for another 3000km. More importantly it allowed me to ride the CP4 parcours fairly hard without fear of pinch flatting every five minutes. I do carry two spare inner tubes (Tubolitos - super light weight and no space taken up). In 19 races I've had to use inner tubes on just 3 occasions. And they stayed in my bag on TCRno8. Final benefit is you can run lower pressures which are faster and more comfortable, especially as the roads get worse the further east you go. Final suggestion, USB C for everything you can. A modern USB C power bank can charge at 30 - 45 watts. A phone can fast charge at 20-30 watts. You had an old 4 port USB A charger which I'm guessing was either 10 or 12 watts output max per socket. I used a Minix 66W charger with 2 x USB C and 1 x USB A socket. Both Garmin and Phone used USB C. Light uses USB A. I did then have two USB C power banks that supported pass through charging. A couple of advantages, firstly you can plug everything into a single plug and it's charged from fully flat in 3-4 hours. Secondly the fast charging of the phone and Garmin means that in a 30 minute McD's stop you can put about 40% into both. To be honest once I'd fixed the Di2 issues I didn't use the power banks at all.
Thanks Niel, it's cool I recognise Turn Cycling. It did cross my mind late own to invest in tubolitos and go tubeless, but decided at the time to "stick with what I know". But I think I should try that combination moving forward in the off-season to see how I feel about it all. As for power, yeah I never really shopped around extensively for a wall USB charger, I just looked for anything USB and counted the ports. During the journey I did pick up a 1xUSB A and 1xUSB C wall socket from a forecourt, for phone and light. Those lights sure do suck a lot of battery power out of power bank. The power bank I had with me was 16,500mAh and lasted 4-5 days, I only used my dynamo once during the race, I filled it back to half capacity during a less lumpy section of the race within a few hours. After that I feel into a habit of checking into bnbs and have huge sleeps. I don't know whether or not you have a means to charge a powerbank on your setup, but I even questioned the need for one given the capacity of powerbanks these days and the bnb options available.
Well done on completing the TCR. Little surprised you took the tyre, I saw in the what you are taking video. I just carry a tyre boot, just a section of old tyre with the bead cut off.
If you using a half frame bag, maybe the cranktank is something for you. It can carry 3 or 4 liters of water in the lower part of the triangle of the bike frame, quite expensive though...
If you're getting a Tailfin rack and also want an extra bottle cage then the cheaper aluminium version does have bottle mount points. And if you want a lightweight packable backpack for carrying food to camp then have a look for 20L ultralight packs, they can be as light as 85 grams and pack as small as an apple.
Richard, didn't you have a pedal cell with you? I seem to remember you mentioning its useless on hilly rides but I was curious what your thoughts are in general. Useful bit of kit? Thanks o/
I got the Revolut card card on your recommendation and have found it really handy to use instead of my normal bank card which I don't want to lose , the utility of it is great. , so thanks for that 👍🙂 Did u get many punctures ? And if so did u have a method for finding hard to see puncture holes ? For long weekend mtb bikepacking I been carrying 2 to 3 inner tubes though infuture will prob carry repair kit on top and try to repair punch in the field 😃
Great to hear! Yes, the Revolut card is really useful and people I meet out during the race had heard of it so a good reputable brand. Punctures? One early on before reaching CP1, can't remember where. A couple during parcour CP4. Puncture holes? I usually just pump some air and listen hard that usually works 9 times of 10. I have worked out though that I really suck at patching up inner tubes. Yeah I usually carry 3 as I did on the TCR and repair kits as a last resort. Ran out of patches at one point, went to a auto garage and they patched them back up again - didn't last long but got me out of TransAlpina.
I noticed the chain link pliers and have seen videos of shoelaces or wire used to do the same thing. Sacrifice USB cable in an emergency? Bailing wire and a stick?
Hey Richard, Niel here (realised it comes up as my company name), looks like a much more reasonable kit list now :-) You mentioned the glasses I use. They are actually prescription glasses with a genuine Oakley lens bonded on the front, so if you don't need the prescription bit then the Oakley part is their lightest shade of photo chromatic lens. I wear them permanently and find them excellent both day and night. If I didn't have to have the prescription part then I'd use the Oakley EV Zero photo chromatic option. Light weight and very good.
A couple of other suggestions. Tubeless. I'll be honest for something like TCR I don't know why people still use tubes. Tubeless really is a game changer. I had one cut in the tyre that I'm aware of. Sealed up in about a minute, pumped it up, and hit held for another 3000km. More importantly it allowed me to ride the CP4 parcours fairly hard without fear of pinch flatting every five minutes. I do carry two spare inner tubes (Tubolitos - super light weight and no space taken up). In 19 races I've had to use inner tubes on just 3 occasions. And they stayed in my bag on TCRno8. Final benefit is you can run lower pressures which are faster and more comfortable, especially as the roads get worse the further east you go.
Final suggestion, USB C for everything you can. A modern USB C power bank can charge at 30 - 45 watts. A phone can fast charge at 20-30 watts. You had an old 4 port USB A charger which I'm guessing was either 10 or 12 watts output max per socket. I used a Minix 66W charger with 2 x USB C and 1 x USB A socket. Both Garmin and Phone used USB C. Light uses USB A. I did then have two USB C power banks that supported pass through charging. A couple of advantages, firstly you can plug everything into a single plug and it's charged from fully flat in 3-4 hours. Secondly the fast charging of the phone and Garmin means that in a 30 minute McD's stop you can put about 40% into both. To be honest once I'd fixed the Di2 issues I didn't use the power banks at all.
Thanks Niel, it's cool I recognise Turn Cycling. It did cross my mind late own to invest in tubolitos and go tubeless, but decided at the time to "stick with what I know". But I think I should try that combination moving forward in the off-season to see how I feel about it all.
As for power, yeah I never really shopped around extensively for a wall USB charger, I just looked for anything USB and counted the ports. During the journey I did pick up a 1xUSB A and 1xUSB C wall socket from a forecourt, for phone and light. Those lights sure do suck a lot of battery power out of power bank.
The power bank I had with me was 16,500mAh and lasted 4-5 days, I only used my dynamo once during the race, I filled it back to half capacity during a less lumpy section of the race within a few hours. After that I feel into a habit of checking into bnbs and have huge sleeps.
I don't know whether or not you have a means to charge a powerbank on your setup, but I even questioned the need for one given the capacity of powerbanks these days and the bnb options available.
Well done on completing the TCR. Little surprised you took the tyre, I saw in the what you are taking video. I just carry a tyre boot, just a section of old tyre with the bead cut off.
Can thoroughly recommend the Tailfin. The aluminium one has extra mounts on the rear stays as well
I shall probably start looking in the new year, extra mounting points are always welcome =)
If you using a half frame bag, maybe the cranktank is something for you. It can carry 3 or 4 liters of water in the lower part of the triangle of the bike frame, quite expensive though...
If you're getting a Tailfin rack and also want an extra bottle cage then the cheaper aluminium version does have bottle mount points.
And if you want a lightweight packable backpack for carrying food to camp then have a look for 20L ultralight packs, they can be as light as 85 grams and pack as small as an apple.
Got a brand name to look for those 20l ultralight packs? I have been watching Josh Reid's channel and he has something quite suitable.
I spent whole day looking for a tyre after sidewall blew up in the middle of some forest 😂 but I think the brand I used wasn’t good at all.
I'd like to hear how you budgeted for the event. I've no idea what it would cost to compete in the TCR other than travel costs.
Richard, didn't you have a pedal cell with you? I seem to remember you mentioning its useless on hilly rides but I was curious what your thoughts are in general. Useful bit of kit? Thanks o/
Hi Richard, well done completing TCR. What makes up your sleep system?
Klymat sleeping matt, silk liner (seatosummit top of head guess), alpkit large bivy bag. Arm/leg warmers, wooly hat when need it.
I got the Revolut card card on your recommendation and have found it really handy to use instead of my normal bank card which I don't want to lose , the utility of it is great. , so thanks for that 👍🙂
Did u get many punctures ? And if so did u have a method for finding hard to see puncture holes ? For long weekend mtb bikepacking I been carrying 2 to 3 inner tubes though infuture will prob carry repair kit on top and try to repair punch in the field 😃
Great to hear! Yes, the Revolut card is really useful and people I meet out during the race had heard of it so a good reputable brand.
Punctures? One early on before reaching CP1, can't remember where. A couple during parcour CP4. Puncture holes? I usually just pump some air and listen hard that usually works 9 times of 10. I have worked out though that I really suck at patching up inner tubes. Yeah I usually carry 3 as I did on the TCR and repair kits as a last resort. Ran out of patches at one point, went to a auto garage and they patched them back up again - didn't last long but got me out of TransAlpina.
I noticed the chain link pliers and have seen videos of shoelaces or wire used to do the same thing. Sacrifice USB cable in an emergency? Bailing wire and a stick?
Thanks, shoe laces interesting, nice and lightweight.
Wolftooth do excellent, small compact chain pilers that also hold 2x spare chain links.
Time to cave in and get a carradice Richard!
Never!
"Don't take" so long next time.😁.Slimmed that kit down nicely 👌
You got that right! Haha cheeky
That's lot stuff