- I'm here in Vancouver.
I've just taken part in one day of the BC Bike Race.
I'll talk you through what tools I took with me
on that day and how I carried my gear.
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I've rode day five,
that was the Queen stage, the biggest stage of the race.
It was 58 kilometres, 1600 metres of elevation.
It took me four hours,
it took the top riders,
Geoff Kabush did it in two hours 50 I think.
But there were riders still rolling in after
sort of eight hours,
so a big day out.
There's actually two aid stations on this stage
so somewhere to fuel up,
get some more water,
some electrolyte juice,
some bars, some fruit,
so you don't have to be completely self-sufficient
but I did carry two water bottles with me.
So these are the smaller bottles,
the 620ml 21oz bottles,
and I had electrolyte in both of those
just so that I knew,
straight water for me probably wouldn't be enough,
it was pretty humid so I was definitely sweating.
Lucky with a Canyon Lux you can fit two water bottles,
I know not all bikes can do that.
Most cross country bikes can.
I use the Topeak bottle cages which are nice and compact,
see how close it is actually to hitting the down tube
on this bike.
Topeak actually do sell like an adaptor that means
you can move your bottle cage up and down
to get it into your frame
but nicely these two just fit in there.
As far as food goes,
I took plenty of bars and gels with me,
probably three of each actually.
But you probably could make it on that race
just by picking up stuff at the aid stations.
But I'd rather be over-prepared,
get a big breakfast inside me
and actually stick these in my pockets.
I rode in baggies,
so baggy shorts,
baggy jersey so easy to just stuff them in my pockets.
There are a lot of riders at BC Bike Race
riding in lycra so of course you've got the back pockets
or even gel, people sticking them on their shorts.
On a race like the BC Bike Race
you need to have that food somewhere easily accessible,
so in your pockets is probably best.
Of course if you're not racing,
stick it anywhere,
you can just stop and get out.
As far as tools and spares on the bike,
I took the bare minimum really for a big day out,
so a multi-tool with a chain tool,
a pump, a spare tube,
a mech hanger and a powerlink.
Now I'll show you where I kept all those things.
So I'm running the Topeak Ninja SK bottle cages,
super handy, they've got different options
for what you can mount to the bottom of them.
Basically on this one I've got that multi-tool stuck
under there so, super easy,
got everything you need on there including a chain tool.
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You can swap these out as well,
so if you just press the button the tool comes off
and you've got different things to mount on there.
What you will see is I've got my tube mounted up here
with one of those sort of all mounting straps
because I couldn't fit both tool and my tube down here.
But there is an option, that velcro strap,
if you've got a bike it'll fit,
a tool and a tube,
you can do that if you like.
You know somewhere else to stash your tools?
Well, in my bar end plug I've got tubeless tyre plug
that fortunately I didn't need.
Other options, Topeak again got some more ninja tools,
that's the Ninja C,
that is a chain tool plus allen keys,
obviously I didn't need that because I've got a chain tool
on my multi-tool down there.
I carried a spare tube and a pump because of course
punctures are the most common mechanical,
I saw quite a few out there on the day.
I chose quite a small pump,
that's the Topeak Race Rocket MT so,
mini pump,
it's one of those things,
the bigger you go the more volume they've got
so great for tubeless tyres,
but obviously they're just bigger,
weigh a little bit more.
So that was a great compromise.
It's mounted underneath my bottle cage as well
so nice and neat.
I've also got a valve tool just on the bottom of that pump
in case you need it.
I actually only chose to take one spare tube with me
which is a bit of a risk actually,
because it was rough, was gnarly,
I actually decided just to go up in my tyre pressures
and just carry one tube to try and get away
from any punctures so I ran sort of 26PSI in the front,
28 in the rear which was quite hard,
I actually did a bike check will be coming up
on GMBN Tech with Geoff Kabush,
I think he said he was down to 20-ish on his tyres
so much lower than I was going
and obviously worked for him.
So there's a good example,
if you see the different sizes,
that one is a bit chunkier but obviously that's gonna
give you pressure much faster if you need it,
that's the Topeak Mountain TTG, twin turbo.
Even got a pressure gauge on there.
Tucked underneath that strap as well
I've got a spare mech hanger because to me,
a day like that,
it's essential.
I did see somebody snap their mech hanger
halfway through the the 50 kilometre stage
and then you're pretty much screwed,
there's a lot of pushing,
a lot of free wheeling to go.
So that's the way I did it,
mounted virtually everything to my bike.
Of course there are other options,
if you've got longer days out you could start
thinking about having a saddle bag on there,
they're compatible with droppable posts as well.
So with a saddle bag I could have got rid of
that multi-tool,
used the bigger one,
so this is the Alien 3 with 32 functions on there.
Stick that in your saddle bag
could then put your tube down there if you wanted,
and carry another tube in your saddle bag
so fully prepared.
So that's all the various gear that I used at the
BC Bike Race and how I carried it on my bike.
If you want to see the original video to see
just how far cross country bikes have come,
click over there for that one.
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