How Much Clothes Should You Pack for a Bicycle Tour

09 Dec How Much Clothes Should You Pack for a Bicycle Tour

Longtail touring bicycle.

I remember when I took my first bicycle tour on my Xtracycle back in 2009. You would have thought I was traveling for an entire month, but it was just a 4-day trip from Los Angeles to Cachuma Lake & back.

I had an entire duffle bag full of clothes. Looking back, I don’t know what I was thinking. I had with me the following things:

• 1 pair of jeans
• 1 pair of convertible hiking pants / shorts
• 1 set of pajama shirt and pants
• 1 fleece sweater
• 1 scarf
• 1 pair of closed finger gloves
• 3 bicycle kits
• 1 long sleeve running shirt
• 3 pairs of padded bicycle shorts
• 1 pair of tennis shoes
• 1 pair of riding shoes
• 1 beanie
• 2 pairs of wool socks
• 4 pairs of riding socks
• 1 hi-visibility riding jacket
• 1 Gore rain jacket
• 1 waterproof riding pants
• 1 Neoprene helmet cover
• 4 pairs of boxers

What I eventually learned was that I used about half of the things in that duffle bag. With more riding experience, I was able to cut down on my packing list. Here are few questions and things to consider when you pack for a bicycle tour.

Type of Clothes

The kind of clothes you bring with you on a bike tour will determine how much you can or cannot pack. If you noticed above, I brought heavy articles of clothing, like jeans and a fleece sweater. Those types of clothing are bulky, nor are they lightweight. Therefore, you’ll be carrying a heavier load of clothes, AND they will take up valuable space for you to carry other necessary items. Both are big concerns when you’re traveling on your bike.

I have since upgraded my bicycle touring clothing line to lightweight and easily packable clothes. Shirts made out of merino wool or technical fabric that fits loosely are my clothing of choice. I still have riding kits, but limit those as much as possible as I don’t like the tight fit. For pants, I have stopped wearing padded bike shorts and prefer lightweight hiking pants. Even better, if the pant legs zip off to double as shorts. Having dual purpose clothing is definitely better than single purpose clothes.

I’ve also stopped biking with clipless pedals and shoes. I wear a pair of Keen sandals on platform pedals. This gives me the versatility of biking in all types of weather. The sandals can be used for hiking or wandering into water. When it’s cold, you just throw on a pair of wool socks and you’re set. Of course, many of my female bicycle tourist friends really don’t like how they look, but I’ll take functionality over fashion any day.

Chris & Johnny made to the primitive campsite.

Time Away

The very first question I ask myself is – how long will this trip take? Is it a quick overnighter / S24O? Is it a week-long excursion or a month-long expedition?

In actuality, there are only 2 ways to pack: for an overnighter and everything else. For me, there isn’t much of a difference between packing for a 4-day trip versus packing for a few months. More on this later.

For an overnighter, I don’t bring very much as I know I will be back the next day. I may just wear what I wore the previous day with the exception of the underwear. I will also have an extra wool shirt and long lightweight hiking pants for when I get to camp.

How’s The Weather?

Weather is a huge part of bicycle touring. That is probably the main factor in determining what you will pack for your tours. If you’re going to be riding in the Pacific Northwest during Fall or early Spring, be prepared to see a few downpours on your week.

If I know that a certain location sees more rainfall during particular times of the year, I make sure I bring my rain gear, which consists of a Gore jacket along with a pair of waterproof snowboarding pants. I also have closed finger gloves, waterproof socks, and chances are, a wool riding cap underneath my helmet, and wool socks.

For all other conditions, I leave the rain gear at home. Especially if it’s an overnighter. If the rain gear is part of the trip, I would not bring any other riding jacket as that would be redundant. All other times, I would bring 1 jacket for riding and another for in camp use. Both are lightweight options and can pack down real small.

I use to bring arm warmers and leg warmers, but I have since abandoned those as I noticed that once I get moving, I warm up real quick. Plus, these things don’t match with my casual riding clothes.

Shower Options

Packing also depends on if you will be able to shower on the trip. As I mentioned before, packing for a 4-day trip is no different than packing for a month-long or longer trip. The reason is that you’re bound to find shower facilities. This means you are able to wash your clothes while you’re showering. If you have a good rotation of about 3 to 4 sets of riding clothes, that will be plenty as you can wash every day or every other day, and let it air dry the following day when you’re on the road.

This leads me to my next consideration.

Laundry Services

Another thing to consider on longer trips is that you’ll have days off. Usually on days off, you would take care of chores, like laundry. I used to look forward to these days as I know by the end of the day, I’ll have a fresh new set of clothes to wear that isn’t damp or smelly.

When you’re on the road, you look forward to the little things in life and laundry was such a bright spot.

With that in mind, I bring enough clothes necessary for an entire week, which is again, 3 or 4 sets of riding clothes. I will always wear them multiple days if I know laundry will be an option soon. Worst case scenario, see section on “Shower Options” for an alternative solution.

Sand dunes in the forest?

Final Thoughts

You will find that my clothing options may vary greatly with others who have gone on bicycle tours. Many people prefer to wear full sets bicycling kits and riding shoes with cleats. That’s all okay as long as you’re comfortable. Most people who do ride in full bicycle kits are usually on fully supported bicycle tours, where they have people hauling their equipment for them.

Just remember what you bring to wear, you will have to carry with you, so be wise about your packing options. As mentioned above, it’s best to have clothes that can be used for multiple purposes. For example, don’t bring a riding jacket AND a rain jacket. Just bring a rain jacket and leave the riding jacket at home. One other thing that can be helpful for multiple usage is a wool Buff. You can use that as a neck scarf, a balaclava, a hat, and other useful things. If you haven’t caught on yet, I’m a big fan of things that have multiple uses.

To close out, here is my updated list of things I typically bring.

Overnighter List

• 2 riding shirts
• 1 lightweight riding short
• 1 wool Buff
• 1 pair of wool socks
• 1 change of underwear
• 1 pair of Keen sandals
• 1 Northface Thermoball lightweight puffy jacket
• 1 pair of riding gloves

Longer Tours – All of the items above plus the following articles of clothing.

• 1 more riding shirt
• 2 wool shirts: 1 short sleeve and 1 long sleeve
• 1 more lightweight hiking pants with zip-off legs.
• 2 more pairs of wool socks
• 3 more changes of underwear
• 1 Gore jacket
• 1 pair of waterproof snowboarding pants
• 1 pair of waterproof neoprene socks
• 1 pair of closed finger gloves

What are your clothing options? Please make comments below and let us know how you travel. I would love to learn new ideas and why you bring what you bring.

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