I just recently went on my first bike camping trip w/my partner in crime K.
We road up to Token Creek, WI and stayed for two days.
It's about 12 miles from downtown Madison which is where we both live the student life.
Pictured above are some of the products we used.
Light My Fire Spork/ Sporf- awesome find at Fontana Sports. The knife edge works really well
Wenzel Pinon Tent- K found this on sale for $40 @ either Cabelas or Gander Mountain. It's a pretty good 2 person tent that fit all of our gear in nicely. If you use your panniers to kind of stretch the tent walls out it really helps keep the condensation away from you. I just used a poncho to cover the panniers so they wouldn't get wet and it worked like a charm.
We used seam sealer on the outside seams after we set it up at camp because we didn't have time to do it before we left and we weren't about to fume our tent up doing it on the inside. It worked well. We also put some spray on scotchguard which helped keep it nice & dry when it rained.
Detours B-49 Panniers- We each bought a set of these in different colorways. K's are kind of a burnt orange and mine are grey. We only used back panniers and these fit everything really well in them. They are a nice size and have nice mounts on the newer models. I think we each spent $50-60 per set. K had last years model which had different mounts than mine. They have a nice large compartment and as you can see a top zippered pocket which holds a lot.
The panniers aren't really waterproof themselves, but they do have a nice coating inside of them. Double that up with scotchguard and you're pretty set if you don't have rain covers for them.
The North Face Aleutian sleeping bag- We both ended up buying this bag. I got the pictured mens verion and K got the ladies version. I was too tall for the regular ladies size (i'm only 5' 4") and was surprised I didn't fit. The mens is nice though because I tend to be a stomach sleeper and enjoy the extra room. Fontana sports on State St. had these on sale for $65 which is a steal.
They kept us dry & warm even when it started getting dewy/rainy out. The bags are rated at 20 degrees. I can't wait to test them this fall to see if that stands true or not.
Planet Bike Eco Rack- This rack wasn't even on either of our lists as far as racks were concerned because we wanted to each find a 3 legged model and were leaning towards the Topeak non spring loaded rack. Once we got to our LBS we saw these and figured they could work since the two legs are spread out far enough. We also found out they were rated for 55 pounds. They were also only $30 which compared to the $45-50 we were going to drop on the Topeaks was quite the find. They have been holding up great.
I know I had about 30 pounds on my rack during our trip and the rack could have easily handled more. As you can see I have no eyelets for mounting on my old frame so we used clamps & took a trip to the hardware store. The set up worked out very well & it's very sturdy. We made sure to each buy extra nuts, bolts & washers just incase.
Although the trip was only 12 miles to the site and we only stayed 2 days we brought quite a bit with us to train for much longer trips in the future.
It's about 12 miles from downtown Madison which is where we both live the student life.
Pictured above are some of the products we used.
Light My Fire Spork/ Sporf- awesome find at Fontana Sports. The knife edge works really well
Wenzel Pinon Tent- K found this on sale for $40 @ either Cabelas or Gander Mountain. It's a pretty good 2 person tent that fit all of our gear in nicely. If you use your panniers to kind of stretch the tent walls out it really helps keep the condensation away from you. I just used a poncho to cover the panniers so they wouldn't get wet and it worked like a charm.
We used seam sealer on the outside seams after we set it up at camp because we didn't have time to do it before we left and we weren't about to fume our tent up doing it on the inside. It worked well. We also put some spray on scotchguard which helped keep it nice & dry when it rained.
Detours B-49 Panniers- We each bought a set of these in different colorways. K's are kind of a burnt orange and mine are grey. We only used back panniers and these fit everything really well in them. They are a nice size and have nice mounts on the newer models. I think we each spent $50-60 per set. K had last years model which had different mounts than mine. They have a nice large compartment and as you can see a top zippered pocket which holds a lot.
The panniers aren't really waterproof themselves, but they do have a nice coating inside of them. Double that up with scotchguard and you're pretty set if you don't have rain covers for them.
The North Face Aleutian sleeping bag- We both ended up buying this bag. I got the pictured mens verion and K got the ladies version. I was too tall for the regular ladies size (i'm only 5' 4") and was surprised I didn't fit. The mens is nice though because I tend to be a stomach sleeper and enjoy the extra room. Fontana sports on State St. had these on sale for $65 which is a steal.
They kept us dry & warm even when it started getting dewy/rainy out. The bags are rated at 20 degrees. I can't wait to test them this fall to see if that stands true or not.
Planet Bike Eco Rack- This rack wasn't even on either of our lists as far as racks were concerned because we wanted to each find a 3 legged model and were leaning towards the Topeak non spring loaded rack. Once we got to our LBS we saw these and figured they could work since the two legs are spread out far enough. We also found out they were rated for 55 pounds. They were also only $30 which compared to the $45-50 we were going to drop on the Topeaks was quite the find. They have been holding up great.
I know I had about 30 pounds on my rack during our trip and the rack could have easily handled more. As you can see I have no eyelets for mounting on my old frame so we used clamps & took a trip to the hardware store. The set up worked out very well & it's very sturdy. We made sure to each buy extra nuts, bolts & washers just incase.
Although the trip was only 12 miles to the site and we only stayed 2 days we brought quite a bit with us to train for much longer trips in the future.
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