Bags to hold everything – 2391g

• Back dry bag: Ortlieb PS490 22L (on bike) – 345g
• Front dry bag: Ortlieb PS21R 22L (on bike) – 200g
• Sea to summit 5l big river drybags x 2 (on front forks) – 175g
• Pack: Exped lightening 60L (used for trekking and packing dry bags into on planes) – 1152g
• Silnylon stuff sacks x 4 for clothes and sorting – 75g

Bike tools, repair kit, lights, locks, helmet – 2623g

• Rear light: Blackburn USB charging ones – 63g
• Tools: Modified Lezyne bike multi tool–61g, Allen keys–63g, 8mm/10mm spanner–22g, trimmed 15mm spanner–49g, Leatherman Skeletool CX–14m2g – 337g
• Spares: spokes, brake pads X 6, brake cable, chain links, 2 tubes, some spare bolts, hoseclamp– 530g
• Punctures: pump, tyre leavers, puncture repair kit, patches – 189g
• Duct tape – 33g
• Grease, lube, locktite – 80g
• Bike locks: one short Abus chain 850g, one long skinny no brand cable 150g – 1000g
• Spare webbing and buckles – 48g
• Cable ties and fix it latex gloves – 47g
• Helmet: Giro something-a-rather – 297g

Total gear weight

• Clothes – 4037g
• Footwear – 1160g
• Sleeping – 1831g
• Cooking gear and bits and bobs – 926g
• Camera and electrical stuff – 2141g
• Bags to hold everything – 2391g
• Bike tools, repair kit, light, helmet – 2623g
• Total – 15.1kg
• Total less worn clothes on bike – 13.9kg

Everything Eileen has

Bike – 13.7kg

• Frame: Singular Swift (English steel 29er)
• Racks: Tubus vega on the rear
• Wheels: ZTR Archs with Hope pro hubs. 2.5″ Surly Extraterrestrial tyres.
• Other gear: XT 175mm cranks, Avid BB7 brakes, Ergon grips, Salsa Bend 2 handle bar, Brooks Professional saddle, 3 Lezyne power cages to carry water (forks and in frame) Blackburn outpost cage for large bottle on downtube, Thompson seatpost and Thompson 90mm stem.

Clothing – 4195g

• Outdoor Research pertex shield rain jacket – 360g
• Montbell light down jacket with hood – 330g
• Arcteryx Atom LT synthetic insulated jacket – 280g
• Patagonia Houdini wind jacket – 90g
• Uniqlo merino light jersey/long sleeved top – 170g
• Mons Royale long sleeve top 190 weight merino – 190g
• Icebreaker tshirts x 2 – 220g
• Thin cotton long sleeve shirt – 100g
• Rab Fuse rain overpants – 200g
• Marmot Lobo pants – 240g
• Rab Powerstretch fleece lined leggings – 220g
• Icebreaker Zoya merino pants – 220g
• Montbell down pants (to boost sleeping bag in colder temps) – 160g
• Outdoor Research shorts – 170g
• Icebreaker merino cycle shorts – 165g
• Underwear x 5 (2 merino, 3 synthetic) – 120g
• Icebreaker Sprite racerback bra – 62g
• Patagonia barely bra – 62g
• Warm, thick, possum/merino socks – 90g
• Icebreaker merino hiker light socks – 50g
• Icebreaker merino ultralight ankle socks – 30g
• Smartwool ultralight ankle socks – 35g
• Dexshell waterproof socks – 85g
• Beanie – 60g
• Fleece balaclava – 32g
• Fleece headband – 14g
• Sarong / scarf / all purpose bit of light cotton fabric – 90g
• Possum Merino fingerless gloves – 35g
• Fleece mitts – 35g
• Berghaus goretex shell mittens – 70g
• Montane synthetic fill gloves – 90g
• Fox fingerless riding gloves – 30g
• Nike drifit cap – 40g
• Sunglasses – 50g

Footwear – 900g

• North Face Ultra Fastpack ll shoes – 720g
• Native Verona slip on shoes – 180g

Camping and sleeping – 3625g

• Tent: Hilleberg Anjan 3 – 1850g
• Thermarest Xtherm Neoair sleeping mat, regular size – 430g
• Mountain Hardwear Phantom 15 women’s Sleeping bag + stuff sack (800 loft, rated to -9c) – 1150g
• Silk sleeping bag liner – 130g
• Montbell inflatable pillow – 65g

Camera and electrical stuff – 1290g

• Fuji XT10 Camera + 18–55mm lens – 750g
• iPhone 6 – 130g
• Kindle paperwhite + case – 260g
• Spare camera battery, battery charger, SD cards, lens cloth – 50g
• Headphones – 30g
• Black Diamond Spot headtorch with batteries – 70g

Toiletries and first aid – 1050g

• Contact lenses, lens solution, glasses, sun cream, insect repellant, moisturiser, foldy hairbrush with mirror, lip balm (Burt’s bees is my saviour at altitude), sun lip balm, hairties and bobby pins, nailclippers, nail file, floss, hand sanitiser, toothpaste, toothbrush, earplugs, sewing kit (depressingly frequently used already), tweezers, razor, shampoo, deodorant, eye liner, concealer (I’ve mostly given up on these last four but continue to carry them as a sort of comfort blanket for my city slickin’ ways) – ~800g
• First aid kit: Ibuprofen and Paracetamol, various pills for diarrhoea and stomach issues (Ciprofloxacin, Loperamide, Hyoscine butylbromide, Ornidazole, Azithromycin), Acetozolamide for altitude sickness prevention/treatment, Loratadine antihistamine, plasters, blister stuff, dressings, gauzes, betadine, disposable gloves, bandage, first aid/health booklet – 250g

Bits and bobs – 605g

• Passport, ID, credit cards, wallet, passport photos, vaccination booklet  – 90g
• Wenger tenton pocket knife – 70g
• Small, foam, foldable sit mat – 25g
• Notebook and pen – 50g
• Helmet – 300g
• Rear bike light – 70g

Bags to hold everything – 3180g

• Ortlieb bikepacking gravel pack panniers (modified) – 920g
• Ortlieb bikepacking handlebar roll – 420g
• Ortlieb bikepacking accessory pack– 200g
• Exped Lightning 60l women’s pack – 1100g
• Alpkit 13l drybags/stuff sacks x 2 (mainly useful for packing when hiking) – 70g
• Alpkit 35l drybag (holds pack and food on top of pannier rack) – 230g
• Straps, attachments and fixin’s for attaching stuff to bikes – 160g
• Macpac handbag/satchel thing – 80g

Total gear weight

• Clothing – 4195g
• Footwear – 900g
• Camping and sleeping – 3625g
• Camera and electrical stuff – 1290g
• Toiletries and first aid – 1050g
• Bits and bobs – 605g
• Bags to hold everything – 3180g
• Total – 14.85 kg
• Total less worn clothes on bike ~13.8kg

Walking / trekking gear

We take a stripped down version of this gear for trekking. There’s no bike stuff, fewer clothes and less electrical stuff. Our base pack weight (for cold climates) ends up about 8kg.

Updates: What we changed this time around

Tent
Replaced the Big Agnes Copperspur UL2 with a Hilleberg Anjan 3 – Copperspur is still functioning but getting tired. The Hilleberg has more space (it’s positively palatial), stronger and is hopefully more durable.

Tyres
Replaced 2″ Schwalbe Marathon Mondials with 2.5″ Surly Extraterrestrials – we initially chose the Mondials as a good compromise between dirt and road riding, but as it turned out, we just wanted to ride dirt. They got us through everything we wanted to ride, but the fatter tyres certainly make for a more comfortable ride.

Sleeping bag
Replaced -18c + -15c Mountain Hardware bags with -9c Mountain Hardware Phantom bags – With many months planned at high altitude we brought super snug bags last time, and it was glorious. This time, however, we knew they would get limited use before being overkill for further south.

Bike luggage
Changed up all of our bags from a homemade setup to mostly Ortlieb bikepacking stuff and Ortlieb drybags, with some custom racks and modifications.

Gloves
Replaced our sad excuses for winter cycling gloves with Montane synthetic loft thingees – we had cold hands a lot last time. Really cold hands. These are a great improvement.