Sick as a dog so, show me you Bivi / Bikepacking / Adventure racing gear…..

Nice job Mark :D

Futon, if you want to give it a whirl there’s no better introduction than the WRT :wink:. Drop me an email and I’ll send you over an entry form. £15 to enter which goes to charity and you’ll even get a very exclusive WRT T shirt.

stuart@forestfreeride.co.uk

What is the WRT?

http://welshridething.blogspot.com/

“The WRT is a 3 day and perhaps more importantly 2 night ride through and around mid Wales. You’ll be expected to be self sufficient, carrying everything you need and sleeping out in or under whatever you think best. It’s not elitist, entry is open to anyone who wants to try it. All the money raised by the WRT goes to the Wales Air Ambulance charity … an organisation I hope you’ll never need”

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-2011-welsh-ride-thing-is-go

What is the WRT?

Its a bit like HRT but involves sleeping with sheep :-)

The Welsh Ride Thing is the most fun I’ve had on a bike in ages.
linky[/url]

Good god man where have you been :wink: Welsh Ride Thing – A 3 day, 2 night self sufficient ride/event in sunny mid Wales at the end of May.

A month before the start you’ll be given a list of grid references, you then have a month to work out your own route that’ll pass through them. Around noon on May 28th you’ll set off into the hills and mountains. If we’re lucky you’ll return sometime in the afternoon of May 30th with tales of high adventure and wet feet or possibly pub lock ins and wendy houses.

You’ll have spent months looking at different types of sleeping bag, stoves, down jackets, dry bags and all manner of ultralight bikepacking tackle. Throughout May you spend every waking moment trying to figure out the best possible route to take, you’ll end up on here asking if anyone knows what the track between such and such and such and such is like. You’ll dream about contour lines and your eye sight will deminish as you squint at the little black dots through forests on your new collection of OS maps.

BUT you will have a fantastic time and want to do it every year. You can find more ramblings here http://welshridething.blogspot.com/

Well, between us I think we summed that up quite well :wink:

tales of high adventure and wet feet or possibly pub lock ins and wendy houses.

I’ve had to go back to the Teifi Inn since that episode, the landlord still talks about it.

Throughout May you spend every waking moment trying to figure out the best possible route to take, you’ll end up on here asking if anyone knows what the track between such and such and such and such is like.

And after all that still end up following me :D

Looks like this year I’ll be out of my comfort zone if you are going East :?

To preserve all the WRT stuff in one place, it might be an idea to post any further WRT stuff on it’s own thread: http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-2011-welsh-ride-thing-is-go

Good god man where have you been Welsh Ride Thing – A 3 day, 2 night self sufficient ride/event in sunny mid Wales at the end of May.

A month before the start you’ll be given a list of grid references, you then have a month to work out your own route that’ll pass through them. Around noon on May 28th you’ll set off into the hills and mountains. If we’re lucky you’ll return sometime in the afternoon of May 30th with tales of high adventure and wet feet or possibly pub lock ins and wendy houses.

You’ll have spent months looking at different types of sleeping bag, stoves, down jackets, dry bags and all manner of ultralight bikepacking tackle. Throughout May you spend every waking moment trying to figure out the best possible route to take, you’ll end up on here asking if anyone knows what the track between such and such and such and such is like. You’ll dream about contour lines and your eye sight will deminish as you squint at the little black dots through forests on your new collection of OS maps.

As a first timer to this year WRT, its already taking up loads of time. My wife is
A, Bored of hearing about it
B, Bored of going to ‘Go outdoors’ and other outdoor stores
C, Hacked off with Maps layed out in the office checking out last years route and ‘post its’ with list of things Ive seen online and think, I bet I need one of these..
Cant wait…..

WRT threads do bring a smile to my face.
I still panic about kit all year for the next WRT.
My Mrs hardly complains about the amount of gucci stuff the postman brings as she thinks it’s better than me having a midlife crisis affair.
@Bigface, i bet you don’t NEED half the stuff you think you do.

markenduro – Member
Might have a go at a seat pack for my next trick as not happy with the rear rack arrangement…

What problems are you having with it? I like this set up personally, it’s what I have done. More secure, lower c of g and more out of the way for getting off the back than a seat packs. I can see the advantage of a seat packs for bike which don’t take a rack and depending on the rack you use it might be marginally lighter, although some rack modification can easily get the two within comparable weights.

Good effort on the frame bag, I’ve got some plans in my head for one too just have not got round to it.

I love all the gear.. top tip, get it delivered to work, wife never need to know :P
I thought I would start with a massive load of stuff then really think about it closer to the time. I’ve got a southdowns way trip in april to try everything and see if I really need it… V exciting ))

£15 to enter which goes to charity and you’ll even get a very exclusive WRT T shirt.

I might be up for this if I can get the time off from the family.

I thought it cost £150, which I just can’t afford at present, but I must of been getting mixed up with the blackmountain event thingy that paul78’s just started a new thread about.

I knocked off a quick 200km raid into Cornwall and back yesterday so I’m sure I’ve still got a bit of the old endurance cycling magic left in me ;-)

I’ll check the domestic diary and, hopefully, e-mail you Stuart.

(EDIT: It wasn’t actually that quick a 200k. Took me about 12 hours)

I have no gear, an inappropriate bike, have never done a bivvi or an overnight on a bike (not counting 24hr races) so why, oh why, do I have a strange hankering to have a go at the WRT??

I’ve done bivvy’ing with cheap gear, a bit of damp proof course for a tarp, old fleece for a insulation. Crappy carry mat. All put in a 35ltr rucksack and cheap drybag on a beamrack.

I think you need to do it with with cheap gear first so you know what you really want.

I reckon you could put a half decent kit list together for sub £100

Mr Sparkle, thats the attitude!!

I reckon you’re right Tiger … sub £100 kit is certainly possible. I’ll continue the theme on the blog in the next week or so, at present I recall we’d taken care of a tarp and bivvy bag and still had £50 something left to spend. So, still left to buy … sleeping bag, sleeping mat, something to cook on and something to cook with, if there’s any change we’ll buy some dry bags :wink:

Sleeping mat=bubble wrap, not comfy but it’ll keep you warm, free from a skip.
Bin bags=dry bags, free from the cleaners cupboard at work.
Sleeping bag in camo for stealth £10 from tesco

£40 left

flatfish = tramp :)

300

something to cook with

– baco cook in bags, you only need something to boil water.

£23 Bivi Bag
£37 Downy small packing sleeping bag
£8 Thermarest Neoair (sort of, ish)
£free DPC tarp
£free Coke Can Stove
£free Alu foil wind-shield
£3 Super light weight pot[/url]
£8 Tesco Pretzel Head-torch (I use one of these anyway)

All in a Drybag come rucksack in one £23

So that’s £102 and you’ve a breathable bivi bag, down sleeping bag, comfy airbed, all okay, not too heavy kit :)

under £100 easy

we’re going past these places right??

http://www.travelodge.co.uk/

only £19.99 a night sorted

:wink:

I would just like to say … if anyone wants to try their hand at this bikepacking/bivvy lark then, please, please for the love of little baby Jesus do not use the article in this months MBUK as inspiration. Golden opportunity well and truly missed. :roll:

Thank you.

I was going to email you after my tea to see if you’d read it yet.
It made me laugh. 8O

wow that’s a reason to buy MBUK tomorrow for a giggle then!! :wink:

It made me weep :D

Seeing as we were talking about not spending vast sums of money, this might be of interest.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/myog_3mm_plastic_tarps.html

It made me weep

Can you sum it up or provide an excerpt or something, to save me a trip to WH Smith’s in the morning?

You can have my copy gladly Ian. I’ll fetch it Saturday.

I have no gear, an inappropriate bike, have never done a bivvi or an overnight on a bike (not counting 24hr races) so why, oh why, do I have a strange hankering to have a go at the WRT??

I can lend you some kit (today’s random act of kindness)

Ok, we’ll hide loads of stuff in the woods (cider, a leg of lamb, a massive cooking pot, etc, etc). Then we’ll swan off for a bit of a ride carrying ‘all’ our gear :?: in 25l packs. This gear includes 4 season bags, inflating mats, spares, tools, clothes, tarp (in a 25l pack yea right).

Then we’ll come back to camp, rig our tarp up, cook a curry, bake bread and drink cider … because we’re proper adventerous we are.

That kind of sums it up really, £4.25 saved :wink:

So if thats what you get for under £100, what would you buy if you had a bottomless pot?

What flatfish has :D

I wish 8)

Have we had a ‘Flatfish’ kit list yet?

I’ve got one somewhere from a trip last March I think.

I suppose for me (and this might just be me) the most important areas are bags, bivvy, sleeping and carrying. That’s where I’d spend the decent money, oh and tea bags!

Give me half hour and I’ll put my old list up

Coolio, My balloon bed arrived today, they’re great just been laying on it watching tv….God I’m sad

Tarp
Bivvy bag
Neoair
Sleeping bag

Stove/fuel
Titan kettle
Titan cup
Lahoon
Matches

Down jacket
hat

Water filter
Tick twister
Bog roll
Toothbrush/paste
Head torch
Spot
Phone

food and water to go in there and some alcohol

will we get grid refs for where the cider is? Material for the bag is cordura so reasonably waterproof apart from the zip. This is the mk2 version as made one previously for another bike which is quite a bit heavier and not as good. Stu, any tips on making the can stove as i keep splitting the cans as i push them together.