What’s the best way to test gear? Take it on a mammoth trip, since there’s absolutely no hiding when you’re relying on something day in and day out.
I’m a third of the way into my ride from London to Tunisia, so what better time to assess the current state of affairs? Overall, I’d say my kit is pretty bang on, and I haven’t had any huge issues yet (touch wood).
MVPs
The Lifesystems suncream is without a doubt an MVP. It has been absolutely roasting and I’ve been spending 7-10 hours on my bike a day, so it’s really been put through the ringer.
The brand says the suncream lasts eight hours even under constant sun and sweat, and I can attest to this. I plaster it on early in the morning (5:30/6am on average) and it lasts up until around 3pm when I top it up with a different 30 SPF sports suncream.
The Lifesystem suncream (Amazon, £10.99) isn’t oily and so far I think it’s doing a great job protecting me from the sun. I absolutely love it.
A second MVP has to be my 750ml water bottles attached to my fork (look away now, Sam Challis). Given the weather, these have been a lifesaver and having them on the fork makes for super-easy access.
However, I should add, that as of today (Saturday) I have, in fact, lost one. I think it flung out somewhere near Thann in France but I am not going back to look. I will replace it tomorrow.
A third MVP goes to the Shokz OpenRun Pro headphones which are giving my afternoons a real booster in the right direction. I use them when I need a little of bit of fun, cheering up and an all-round reminder of how great life is.
Alpkit Soloist tent
My tent is too small. This is, of course, no fault of Alpkit’s, it is simply my own for not reading the measurements in enough detail.
I am too tall for my tent, so much so that I sleep diagonally but even then my feet and head still touch the sides.
Should I have got a bigger tent? Well, that’s the thing, a bigger tent would mean more to carry and I’ve already been tempted to chuck out a ton of stuff already and I haven’t reached the real hills yet.
The Soloist tent is light, small, easy to pack and unpack and it dries really quickly. But when considering comfort and sleep, yes I should have read the dimensions and got a bigger tent.
If we ignore the fact that I’m a giant, the tent is pretty good.
There is just one genuine niggle: I would like a bigger porch so I can put more of my stuff in it securely.
At the minute I layer my panniers up and zip the porch door over them.
Every morning the porch door (I feel this a total exaggeration of the word ‘porch’ but there we go) is soaking wet and I have to duck and run to get out unaffected by the sogginesss.
Restrap bags
I have two large panniers, within which I use two tote bags to compartmentalise my clothes within them.
So far the panniers are definitely waterproof, a great size, and easy to fasten.
However, the panniers have a small clip which attaches to the lower part of the pannier frame to stop the bags from jiggling around so much.
On my second day one of these broke, cue pannier thrown into the road and a lopsided cyclist.
It’s not the end of the world, for I brought my trusty bungee cords which I now wrap around the pannier, but I will report back on how this continues over the course of the trip.
I really like the Restrap frame bag. It has lots of pockets which are easily accessible when riding and it is full of my snacks and essentials for on the go.
However zipping up the big pocket can be quite tricky as the zip doesn’t always fully close. I think it’s because of the tension on the other straps, and thus it requires adjusting a few things within the bag to make it close. Just a small note to bear in mind.
The bar bag is a good size for my sleeping kit and the tool pouch which sits on top makes life very easy. The dry bag has ripped a small amount but I’m hoping a puncture repair patch will do the job.
Stayed tuned for more updates.
Read our guide to the best gravel bike upgrades.