Zen and the Art of E-bike Touring

"Less is more" when it comes to packing for a bicycle trip, for two very important reasons. The first reason is the extra weight of unnecessary stuff. You will be pedaling every extra ounce that you take along up many, many hills. Even on a downhill section, the unnecessary extra weight can cause you to speed up much more than is safe, causing you to have an accident or cram on your brakes to avoid one.

The second reason is that total storage space in bicycle bags is very limited, and you will need all the spare space in your bicycle bags that you can possibly scavenge. This "spare" space is necessary both for storing gear to protect you from changes in the weather, such as sweaters, gloves, rain shells and the like, and also for storing food and drink. "A loaf of bread and a jug of wine" are remarkably bulky and heavy. Although we typically had breakfast at our B&B, each day we bought sliced bread or rolls and meat and cheese as well as assorted side dishes such as salad and various snacks for the other two meals.

Also, each morning we filled our water bottles with 1-2 liters of water for use during the day. You cannot count on finding drinkable water when you stop to eat, and public drinking fountains are unknown in much of the world, so you must take enough water for the whole day with you. Additionally, for our evening meals we often purchased wine or beer en route-->it would be suicidal to drink alcohol while riding a bicycle in a foreign country, but we felt a glass of beer or wine with dinner after a day's ride was completed was very pleasant.

One key to minimalist packing is the principle of layering. In general, layering means packing several thin layers of clothing, which are put on or off as conditions change. On top, the outermost layer would be a thin, unlined but water-proof rain shell that serves as either rain protection or as a windbreaker, depending on the weather conditions. The top layer should include a cap or ear muff and a pair of gloves for your hands that are thin enough that you can safely operate the controls of the bicycle. I used thin neoprene weight-lifting gloves with the fingertips cut off so that I could better operate the controls.

The middle layers should include a thin long-sleeve sweater and a long-sleeved athletic shirt. Optionally, a thin vest will help keep the torso of your body warm while still giving you good freedom of movement with your arms to maintain control of the bicycle. The lowest layers would typically be a short-sleeve shirt and an undershirt. ALL these layers should be made from a non-cotton fabric such as wool, polyester or acrylic fibers. These three fabrics will still insulate you to some extent when the fabric is wet and the temperatures are cold. Conversely, for hot, dry conditions, polyester and acrylic fabrics can be designed to allow moisture to be "wicked away" from your body, which helps in cooling once you have started sweating.

On the bottom, the outermost layer should be either long-leg exercise pants over exercise or bicycle shorts, or a single pair of "zip" pants where the lower legs zip off. I use zip pants and find that the thin polyester ones with extra zippers in the sides of the lower legs are the easiest to get on and off as conditions changed during the course of each day. For underclothes and socks, we used the same strategy of finding polyester or acrylic versions that would be light, compact, and breathe well.

For the warmest Summer weather, the appropriate gear would be the undershirt, zip pants without legs, underwear, and socks. For rainy weather, you would add the rain shell on top and possibly a rain-proof pants shell on the bottom. The cooler the weather becomes, the more layers you must add to keep an optimal body temperature. Becoming either too hot (hyperthermia) or too cold (hypothermia) is dangerous, so adjusting layers to keep an optimal body temperature is quite important.

Usually, you will have the most layers on when you start your ride in the cool of the morning and your body is not yet generating heat. Your body generates heat whilst riding and typically temperatures also increase from morning to mid-afternoon, so usually layers will be removed as the day gets warmer and your body starts to heat up. However, your bicycle bags should be packed so that you can both easily remove and store layers, AND easily pull layers back out and don them as conditions change during each day's ride.

One final layer has nothing to do with comfort but everything to do with safety! We chose some of our T-shirts in fluorescent orange or lime green to be as visible to passing cars as possible, but an alternative strategy would be to wear a fluorescent green safety vest (like highway maintenance workers use) as your outermost layer. Similarly, we used some ankle bands made with fluorescent lime green and a reflective stripe that were stretchable and closed with Velcro, so they could be used whether or not we were wearing long pants. In general, you must make sure that passing automobiles will be able to see you at a distance and then gracefully avoid you, so I also applied reflective tape at different points on the frames of our bicycles.

The non-clothing items required for a bicycle trip include the basic toiletries like a toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, and so forth, but will also include miscellaneous items that greatly depend on what you personally consider to be "essential". We are avid photographers, so we packed along two very small cameras, as well as two nife-fork-spoon sets, an emergency flashlight, sunscreen, a pocket knife, and a shopping bag. You will notice in the photo below that all these items had carabiners so that we could hook them onto loops sewn into our pants if necessary. It is particularly important to be able to quickly reach a camera when a picture presents itself, so my camera was always hanging from my belt.

We also packed a mini-iPad that we used for route planning, finding accommodations, answering email, and recreation such as reading books, playing games, and solving crossword puzzles! Finally, we had a phone that we attached to the handlebars for navigation, although we have used GPSs for guidance in the past and plan to use the iPads for that function in the future.

So how do you know if you have packed minimally or not? Remember, the goal is light weight and having space left over in the bicycle saddle bags for food, water, and any other necessities (we ended up buying souvenirs!). If you don't have saddlebags with you, one test is to try to pack it all in a small, carry-on type of luggage. If it can fit in a small carry-on and your ebike has reasonably-sized saddlebags, you ought to be able to successfully get it all in. This is not easy to do, of course, and you should note after each journey what you took "too much" of, and cut that down for the next trip. Conversely, if you really felt you lacked something important, try to find the space to accomodate it next time. For example, we ended up fighting over the use of the single IPad we had in Denmark, so afterwards we decided to each bring our own IPad on the next journey!