Inspired by a post Dave Cain made last month on his blog Yurtville, I thought I would give a rundown of what was in my handlebar bag for the Lake Champlain 300K brevet pre-ride. This serves as a future packing list for me and possibly information for others. The bag is a rather large Velo Orange Grand Cru and inside I found…..

Main Bag:

• My tool and repair kit – to be outlined in a future post
• 2 spare inner tubes – 650b tubes are not stocked at most shops
• Reflective sash
• Princeton Tech EOS Bike light
• First aid kit – Band Aids, some ibuprofen, duct tape, large bandages and gauze
• Ziplock bag with sunscreen, “emergency rations” (snacks), T.P. and spare batteries
• Large Ziplock bag for “to go food” – chicken nuggets, pizza or other greasy food
• Rain pants wrapped with a reflective leg strap
• Rain jacket
• Ibex Shak full zip long sleeve jersey
• Cue sheet and a map of the route – stored in the top flap map pouch

Front Pocket:

• Waterproof saddle cover – I try to take really good care of my Brooks saddle
• 2 plastic grocery bags – many uses from vapor barriers to rain covers

Side Pockets:

• Ziplock bag with drivers license, debit card, cash, pen (and brevet card if needed)
• 2 pairs of Nitrile gloves – for mechanical or medical repairs
• Snow Peak titanium spork – for digging into rock hard ice cream
• Leatherman Skeletool

Back Pockets:

• iPhone 4
• Chain lube – a quiet bike is a happy bike
• Halt dog repellant

The total weight for all of this is……..  I don’t want to know.