ultra light weight touring

[Blue Hills]

Maz describes my touring/backpacking trips as a "Pub crawl with a tent"

After my own heart. Currently in the planning stages is a trip with one of my ridgebacks zig zagging between some nice interesting sounding norfolk and suffolk (and neighbouring) spoons.

 

[Blue Hills]

I must admit that although i am no way a minimalist, i don't understand the chair thing. One would have to be uber light and small packing to make me even dream of taking one.

 

[Crankarm]

"Some of the 1L PVC bottles are particulary resistent to wear. One particular bottle is lasting me 3 tours now - so long that it became my pet."

Weirdo. I bet he is a barrel of laughs at a party. Certainly give him a wide berth as he probably stinks as he wears the same cycling clothes for days/weeks on end and foregoes soap.

 

[Blue Hills]

Yes - the "pet" thing is weird - unless it's some nerdy joke on the plastic.

If not, maybe he uses it as a comfort blanket.

 

[cyberknight]

Like to see him ride in sub zero temps i that attire .

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

. Currently in the planning stages is a trip with one of my ridgebacks zig zagging between some nice interesting sounding norfolk and suffolk (and neighbouring) spoons.

Lowestoft 'spoons does good beer although the building is a bit modernist for my liking. The Bell right in Norwich city centre is a much more old-school one with the seating alcoves and glass partitions. If you like real beer also try the Fat Cat in West End Rd IIRC, not a 'spoons but you won't be disappointed by either the pub building or the beer.

 

[minininjarob]

While he has some good tips for reducing faff - we could all maybe avoid taking some stuff with us, it does seem like a particularly miserable way of touring. Each to his own but it is very extreme.
Bubble wrap (actually now a plastic sheet he says) for a sleeping map - err no thanks.
Not being able to make any hot food seems like a decent idea actually as it does save a lot of weight - when its warm/hot that could work ok but introduce a chill in the air and it'll be just be craving for it.
And the not washing?? He said something along the lines of "well if I smell and someone doesn't like it, whose problem is that, mine or theirs?". Well he means theirs but washing is just plain human decency, there is no way I'd want to ride on my 2nd day without even a basic cleansing of myself, so I think its his problem. Touring can bring you into contact with all sorts of people, I wouldn't want to look like a stinky tramp as people would run a mile! You could get all sorts of sores and infections by not cleaning yourself properly. He says "I can lick myself to replace the lost salts from my exercise" - I really really hope he's joking on that front!
Again, each to their own but it does seem beyond extreme.

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

Bubble wrap (actually now a plastic sheet he says) for a sleeping map - err no thanks.

Well quite. When he says "by the time the bubbles flatten you will be trained - in the manner of great Asian martial artists - to sleep on hard packed ground without anything beneath", I think my preferred training would be on my hill-climbing so I can carry an extra 500g of lovely comfortable airbed uphill...

(but yes, each to their own!)

 

[minininjarob]

Or “by the time the bubbles flatten your back will be well and truly ruined, the sores and bruises will have reached almost 100% around your body and your passions for touring will have waned so badly you take to eating cream cakes and watching Love Island box sets instead of even looking a a bike ever again”

 

[raleighnut]

Or “by the time the bubbles flatten your back will be well and truly ruined, the sores and bruises will have reached almost 100% around your body and your passions for touring will have waned so badly you take to eating cream cakes and watching Love Island box sets instead of even looking a a bike ever again”

What did we do before roll mats were invented.

 

[the stupid one]

What did we do before roll mats were invented.

We were young and dumb and flexible and didn’t need them.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I think if you just use it as a site to provoke a bit of thought around what you are taking, then it has done its job. Start with an extreme then wind it back to your level of comfortable touring.

 

[raleighnut]

We were young and dumb and flexible and didn’t need them.

Not to mention it would have been a single skin ridge-tent with no sewn-in groundsheet,



I can still hear the cries of "Don't touch the canvas" every time it rained.

Last time I slept in one was in 1988 at Glastonbury when 5 of us went in Tim's Escort van with a borrowed 10 man Scout/Army tent and groundsheet, unfortunately the groundsheet was for a 4 man version so only covered half the grass/mud inside the tent.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Not being able to make any hot food seems like a decent idea actually as it does save a lot of weight - when its warm/hot that could work ok but introduce a chill in the air and it'll be just be craving for it.

I'll even pack my Trangia for a day trip. I love to be able to brew a coffee at a nice location.
Last year, I cycled to the North of NL, zigzagging my way up over a couple of days in temps in the high 20's.
The one day trip back was into a nasty headwind.... and almost constant rain, varying between heavy and heavier. I was really glad to be able to pull in to a forest lay by and brew a pot of coffee and make some warm food. It really improved my mood.

I'm a comfort tourer, not an ultralight.

 

[reppans]

I lean more toward ultra-compact, than ultra-light, but they go hand-in-hand. My tools/tube/pump/lock are permenantly stored in the bike's frame tubes/nooks/crannies so I consider that bike weight (which is certainly heavier) but my single front pannier is ~6kg/20L before adding food/water, and maxes out at ~9kg/30L with water and a 1-2days food, except for when wild camping and I haul an extra 2L water bladder on the rear rack for the last bit of ride.

Need not sacrifice that much in comfort - double-wall tent with sit-upright room, daily shower (incl wild camping), proper air mattress/pillow, down quilt, half chair, stove, water purification, 2 extra 'outfits', and camp sandals...