RAGBRAI Day Minus Three

All about the packing...
Camping gear all stacked up - sleeping bags, a silk travel sheet (because in record setting heat and humidity, soggy cotton sheets aren't what you want to be sleeping under), cots, pillows, a tent fan, camp towels, a mini whisk broom and dustpan to sweep out the tent, extra batteries, and so forth. 

This is a new tent fan as last year's was both insufficient for our needs, and not durable enough for the trip.  We'll see how this one does. 

At some point in the last few years I realized that I have gotten too old to sleep comfortably on the ground, and even with my old closed cell Ridge Rest, I was too sore to get quality sleep.  So now, on trips where weight is not the key limiting factor, I pack both a stuffable camp pillow and this really awesome cot thing.  The cot lets me sleep on my stomach or my side or whatever without pain, and it flexes so that I don't wind up with sore hips or shoulders in the morning.  The only downside is that in a crowded campground like at RAGBRAI, taking them apart in the early morning is a little distracting to my neighbors.  But that's a minor complaint.


Tools for the bike - these go in the panniers.  Pump, monkey wrench, patches, tire levers, a multi-tool, lube, and extra tubes.










The rest of the gear that will go in the panniers:
Chamois butter, toilet paper and antibacterial hand gel, wet wipes, two kinds of sunscreen (the regular stuff and the spray for touch ups), gels, rain jackets, and powder for drinks.

A quick plug for the Timbuk2 panniers - most people are content with a small under the seat bag, or their jersey pockets, but given that I like a real first aid kit and more tools than most people carry, we need something a little bigger.  The panniers snap on and off the rack without any trouble and they let us carry our rain jackets, extra sunscreen, toilet paper, and so on, as well as giving us space to buy a t-shirt or whatever without stressing over how we'll carry it.  Plus, they make a nice place to snap the solar panel.  These aren't really what we'd want if we were using the panniers for a camping trip, but for long day trips, they're absolutely perfect and we love them.  We easily have more than a thousand miles on ours and we have zero complaints.

Starting to stage the clothes.  Pork Belly Ventures, the charter we're using, does laundry on Tuesday night, so we only need four days of clothes.  Each day's riding clothes goes in its own ziplock and the camp clothes go in their own ziplocks.  This keeps everything sorted out in the duffels, and it provides a way to keep the disgusting riding clothes bagged until laundry day.  Our duffels - Gregory Long Hauls - are mostly waterproof, but bagging everything is another layer of insurance in case of downpours as well.


Finally, everything in the duffels and stacked in the garage so we're ready to go tomorrow.  I feel like I could use another day to get ready, but time and RAGBRAI wait for no one.