First a bit of context for those that have asked. Although this ride is 1410km in total, and you have 116 hours to complete it, there are controls at regular intervals along the route. These serve two purposes. Firstly your attendance at them proves you have completed the course in the time allowed. Secondly, and more importantly, they provide food, beds and showers. Where and when you use these is up to you.
When “planning” LEL last year my thoughts were that I would use my winter bike with a rack and panniers to carry kit. That plan has moved on as we are allowed two kit drops on the route. What this means is that the organisers will take a (small) pre-packed bag to any two of the controls – so when we arrive there we can get a change of clothing and stock up on other important things, possibly like inner tubes or batteries for lights. That means I don’t need to carry much. I can travel light, use my summer bike which will in turn allow me to ride faster in return for less energy – win-win!
However, I will be carrying some light items in a handlebar bag. I’ve yet to choose that – more on it in a later post. But I have selected some items to take with me already.
Micro Towel
This is a travel towel that packs down to a fairly compact size and hopefully will prove effective enough on the ride.
Sleeping Bag Liner
Although beds are provided (and presumably blankets), having a small and light travel liner means I can effectively catch some sleep anywhere and have something to cover me. Again it is very light and packs down to a compact size.
Travel Charger
I’ll be navigating the route (and recording my ride stats) using my Garmin 800. The battery on this is good for 12-14 hours of use, so with no guarentee of access to a plug I need a travel charger. This one, whilst relatively small, is 12000mAh. I’m not sure what size the Garmin battery is but it’s unlikely to be much over 1000mA, so this in theory gives me 12 full charges – so it should be enough to keep both Garmin and iPhone charged for the duration.
Travel Toothbrush and Earplugs
Hopefully the earplugs will allow me to sleep in crowded halls full of snoring cyclists arriving and leaving at different times, and the toothbrush is a really neat solution in a small package.
