backpacking on a uni?

I recently read a long thread about this same subject. You ought to
look it up.

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look it up under what?

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Found it. Here you go:

http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56065

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thanks

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This is something I've gone a bit mental about, here are some hopefully
useful tips. I've been meaning to write this up anyway.

Note - I've gone a bit mad, this is a pretty lightweight and extreme
version of unsupported uni touring. I've got a bit of expensive gear,
and cut some corners in terms of sleeping comfort, hot food, and
cleanliness, in order to get the smallest amount of kit for riding. You
don't necessarily have to do this to do unsupported touring on a
unicycle. This way is much more fun riding than loading up lots of
gear, but even unsupported riding with lots of gear is super fun, I'd
recommend that too.

So yeah, I've recently done a bit of unsupported camping and touring on
my Schlumpf. A fair bit of the riding was proper muni, which makes
taking a heavy sack a bad thing. Over the years, I've tried various
things to get something that works for long distance unsupported
riding.

I've done some cokering with my proper 80 litre rucksack on, and that
is a pain, even just on the road. It's nice that you can take a full
tent, stove and all the junk, but nowadays I'd only do that if I was
just riding 3 or 4 miles from a station to a campsite, and leave the
tent there for the proper riding.

But assuming you want to ride proper distances, if there is only me,
and I have to cover any distance with my gear, I'd not take a tent, I'd
use a bivvi bag of some kind. If there are two people, a tent can make
more sense, because a lightweight 2 man tent is not much more weight
than 2 bivvi bags. Depends on how loud you/they snore though, I know
some riders I'd rather be on the other side of the hill in a bivvi bag
than share a tent with!

I've also got a 35 litre-ish day sack (I think it's a Vango one) that I
use for winter walking sometimes, and as a work bag. For road riding,
it's okay to fill this bag up with junk and ride with it. I can fit a
sleeping bag, a bivvi bag, a change of clothes, wash kit etc. in that
no problems. It still isn't as nice as a normal riding bag. With a bag
this kind of size, you fill it up and it is quite heavy, so you need to
remember to add a bit of pressure to the tyre, as it makes the weight
increase.

The last few times I've done multi-day rides though, I've taken a
different approach, as I've not wanted to compromise muni riding
ability, or speed on the road. So, what I've done is start with my
normal riding bag, and only pack stuff that will fit in that
(previously I'd got out what I needed, and bunged it into the smallest
bag it'd fit in).

My normal riding bag is a Camelbak Cloudwalker, sort of like this,
although mine is an older model, which has a few more straps and
things. I think mine has something like 18 litres of 'cargo space'.

http://tinyurl.com/2j78lb

I have a very small summer sleeping bag, which goes under the straps at
the side, which holds it securely. The rest goes inside the rucksack.
In colder weather, currently I attach my bigger sleeping bag (weighs
about 1.5kg) to the bottom of my seat, using a strap over the seat to
pull it up, and a strap around the seatpost to stop it wobbling around.
I found this much better for handling than using a rack on the
unicycle, really hated riding with the rack.

What I take with me -
1) Sleeping bag + bivvi bag (more about this below)
2) Change of clothes - I usually take a pair of UK army lightweight
combat trousers, a long sleeved cycling top, underwear, socks.
3) Warm fleece (two warm fleeces sometimes)
4) A buff (funny hat thing, very small, lives in the pocket of the
fleece)
5) Gloves - usually I just ride with kh gloves. Sometimes I take thin
thermal liner gloves to wear under them.
6) Toothbrush + toothpaste.
7) water (in the Camelbak bladder)
8) Food - lightweight, high energy stuff.
9) Spare tube (usually, unless the walk out in an emergency isn't
actually that far, tubes are a bit heavy)
10) Tools - this varies, but usually I take a crank tool, a spanner
that does pedals seat bolts and crank tool, set of allen keys, spoke
key and the special schlumpf tool.
11) Money + phone + credit card.
12) Waterproof. If it's cold in the day time, I wear a proper walking
waterproof, otherwise I'll just take a minimal wind/water resistant
top.
13)I usually take a tube of savlon antiseptic cream in case I get
chafing, or if I cut myself. I don't take much else in the way of first
aid kit, as things like bandages etc. can be improvised (if you have a
buff with you it'll do the job for a lot of things), and much of the
stuff in a typical kit is cosmetic / comfort stuff like plasters that
you can cope without.
14)Compass. I very rarely use a compass nowadays, I'll usually use the
sun plus ground features for navigation. But a compass is just so
useful in so many potentially bad situations, I have one that lives in
my riding bag all the time, no matter where I'm riding. It's got me
safely out of forests in the dark, off mountains in thick fog whilst
avoiding going down the cliffs, through unmarked country lanes on an
all-night road ride and even got me across various cities when I didn't
have a decent map. Really important, and weighs next to nothing.

About sleeping and bivvi bags - I have two bivvi bags, 1st is a 'rab
survival zone', which is good in combination with a sleeping bag, to
keep the sleeping bag dry, and add a bit of warmth and windproofing.
The other is a Blizzard Protection Systems survival bag, this is a
strong foil bag designed to be used on its own, it is warmer than a
space blanket, but not super warm. Personally, having tested it in a
blizzard in Snowdonia, I'd only use this in an emergency at any time
other than mid-summer. In summer, it's bearable, but has two slight
downsides, which is that it gets a bit condensationy, and that when you
roll over it makes a noise like tin foil. It is super-duper light
though.

Pics of both the bivvi bags here -

http://tinyurl.com/yuwwhk

I also have what is totally the bomb as far as lightweight sleeping
goes, a macpac lightweight waterproof sleeping bag. This is so magic,
you just unpack it, get into it, and sleep. Wherever you are. It weighs
like 540g, and packs down to a tiny little pack that sticks on the side
of my bag no problems. I currently have the summer one, which is just
the best thing ever, but is summer only, high up on a ridge with no
shelter in summer it was warm enough, but I wouldn't want to use it in
winter. The downside is that it is very very expensive. I'm kind of
saving up for the warmer version now darn it, the summer one is such a
good thing, that I really want the super duper duper expensive winter
one.
http://tinyurl.com/2q9mmj

It is totally unbelievable quite how silly light that sleeping bag is,
there is nothing more cool than being 80km from where you started the
day before, knowing you have a whole day worth of off road in front of
you before you next hit civilisation, yet still being able to ride
hard, because you're not burdened with heavy sleeping gear.

Here are a couple of pictures from a ride I did recently.

http://tinyurl.com/2c4rk3

http://tinyurl.com/37ehp2

Oh yeah, things I don't take
1) Stove. Any time I'm somewhere where I can get a cheap hot meal, I'll
buy one. Even lightweight stoves + pans take up a fair bit of space in
the bag.
2) Washing gear. Any washkit other than toothbrush is a waste of
weight, any time you're in civilisation, you can wash okay with the
soap provided most places. Any time you're not in civilisation, it
doesn't matter.
3) Cycling shorts. I wear combats or normal shorts for riding, and same
for spare clothes. That way you can have two lots of clothes in total,
both of which are okay town clothes to wear if you are somewhere where
you can wash the other change. Some people are hot on cycling shorts
though, I don't usually bother with them anyway.
4)Tent. The extra evening comfort isn't worth the riding discomfort.
5)Sleeping mat. I usually don't bother with one of these. If it's
looking a bit marginal for your sleeping bag I guess a cut down
karrimat might make sense (cut it down so it is only just wide enough
and not quite long enough).
6)First aid kit. Like I said, most things can be improvised.

Joe

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Joe's approach is great, and is typical of the trend towards
ultra-lightweight backpacking. Some differences:

1. A Ti pot, lexan spoon, and a beer-can alcohol stove are really,
really light and developing the use of that system can save you a lot
of food weight for multi-day trips.

2. A tarp made of silicon-impregnated ripstop can be much more
comfortable than a bivy, and even weigh less. It's much nicer to have
some freedom to cook or change or whatever when it's raining. In dry,
cold weather, wrapping up in the tarp will, like the bivy, increase
your bag warmth too. Ti tent stakes are great things, because for
basically the same weight as aluminum, they are much stronger and won't
do that annoying bend-in-half trick. There may be a way to use your
uni as a tent pole to get a nice internal shape; I haven't tried that
yet.

3. A pair of cheap nylon pants, like track suit pants, will give you
leg warmth when not riding and weigh a lot less than army stuff.
You're not crawling through brush on your stomach, you're just keeping
your legs warm.

4. A pair of nylon overmitts can make a big difference for hand warmth
and weigh practically nothing.

5. If you make your own sleeping bag (not that bad, really), you can
omit the bottom side of the bag, making a sort of contoured blanket
with a pocket for your feet. With this system, the sleeping mat
becomes the bottom half of your bag, which is good since that
insulation gets squashed anyway, and because the mat is waterproof. In
warm or hot weather, this system is more flexible than the typical
summer bag. It is also a very inexpensive system to make.

6. Change of clothes -- mostly optional. If you're out in the
wilderness, modesty is an expensive luxury, so you can usually wash
your body and stuff without having to cover up that much. Since you're
not bringing cotton ("Cotton kills"😉, then your clothes will dry
fastest on your body.

Just a few comments from the backpacking side of things.

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These comments are very very useful. They add a lot of motivation to an
idea I have to ride across Slovakia. It will probably take a month and
I was thinking about how it would be possible to take the necessary
equipment with me, unassisted. I would be running into a lot of little
villages and towns where I could stay overnight, but it would get
expensive so sleeping outdoors is preferable. I don't think I'll be in
shape to do this by this summer, but perhaps in the early fall, if I
can take the time. I like the idea of having of tent to keep a barrier
between me and the evening critters, but I suppose my snoring will do
that alone. Slovakia is known for its bears and I figure I'll hang any
food I have in a tree fairly far away from where I sleep. That is one
encounter I don't want to have. But really, all of this advice for
light-weight packing is motivating. I think I can do this and perhaps
I'd be the first person in the world to cross Slovakia on a unicycle.

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Another option for camping if there's trees wherever you're going is a
hammock. These things are the most comfortable shelter ever, even
better than tents - the wind will rock you to sleep at night. I've got
a hammock made of parachute nylon(??) which weighs about nothing. I
then use a (cheaper than down) lightweight summer sleeping bag, and I'm
trying to find some free tyvek homewrap to use as a tarp to cover the
whole thing so I don't get wet when it rains.

You can also get hammocks which have that built in for 880 grams total
weight, super light stuff and you'll sleep about a million times better
than on the ground.

I think also that you can mitigate a certain amount of weight by
carrying it on your unicycle. It's easy to go to extremes here and kill
the handling, but for pure road riding (my preferred distance travel
option), something like a T7 or even a small rack bag is great for
holding bulky lightweight things like your sleeping bag or sleep system
or cooking system while you travel, especially if you can balance out
the weight front-to-back.

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Damn guys you're giving me ideas haha, who wants to go backpacking on
36ers in 2008 😄

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oooh me! I do! Sounds like it'd be a blast as a group :p

There's something pretty awesome about solo riding too though..

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There's some sort of unicycling convention in Norway or somewhere up
there in summer 2008...a few friends and I are going, and we were
thinking of doing a backpacking trip on our unis afterwards.

Remember the food and water bits...if you're going backpacking for more
than just a day or so, you'll need to bring either a) a TON of water or
b) a handheld filter if there's fresh water nearby. And food is VERY
important. Bring lots of food.

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I can't edit my post for some reason...but it's in Denmark, not Norway.
Sorry for the confusion.

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Unicon 14? It's in Denmark lol, sounds cool I will have my 36" then, let
me hear something if the plan gets more real!

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flyer said:

Another option for camping if there's trees wherever you're going is a
hammock. These things are the most comfortable shelter ever, even
better than tents - the wind will rock you to sleep at night. I've got
a hammock made of parachute nylon(??) which weighs about nothing. I
then use a (cheaper than down) lightweight summer sleeping bag, and I'm
trying to find some free tyvek homewrap to use as a tarp to cover the
whole thing so I don't get wet when it rains.

I've got a hammock. It's very comfy.

The problem I've had with it, is that it can get very cold, with the
air going all round you. Okay if you're somewhere where you can predict
the weather and know it'll be 15C all night, but not so good for people
in places like UK and New Zealand, where even in summer you can't
predict whether the temperature is going to be 20C or 5C, or whether it
will randomly start snowing on you or whatever.

Joe

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U-Turn said:

3. A pair of cheap nylon pants, like track suit pants, will give you
leg warmth when not riding and weigh a lot less than army stuff.
You're not crawling through brush on your stomach, you're just keeping
your legs warm.

Oh yeah, it occurs to me, that I did take tracksuit bottoms last time
rather than combats. I don't think it makes much difference in weight
(lightweight combats are pretty lightweight), but they pack smaller.

U-Turn said:

6. Change of clothes -- mostly optional. If you're out in the
wilderness, modesty is an expensive luxury, so you can usually wash
your body and stuff without having to cover up that much. Since you're
not bringing cotton ("Cotton kills"😉, then your clothes will dry
fastest on your body.

Yeah. When I ride, the change of clothes is also the warm clothes for
evening + sleeping in. I think it depends a lot on climate & time of
year whether you need that (UK all year round you do).

Joe

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I was doing a bit of this last month, with the added limitation that my
MUni has to fit into my (35l) bag, minus the wheel. So I'll add a
couple of things that I found:

I get cold quite easily, (especially when lying on the ground in
winter), so I've never enjoyed myself when I've tried the cheaper bivi
bags (although my sister just bought a decent Goretex one, so hopefully
I can give that a go soon), however the £15 Argos tent weighs not much
more (see uk.rec.walking for rave reviews).

Sleeping bags often come up cheap on Ebay. I got a new 3-season Snugpak
for about a third of the price everywhere else. Just did a quick search
for Macpac and nothing came up, I don't know if they're better, but I'm
quite happy with my Snugpak, it goes pretty small.

Also, 661s and an empty backpack make a fairly effective sleeping mat.
Better than nothing anyway. As I said I'm not that good with the cold,
but with my Argos tent, Snugpak sleeping bag and assorted bodyarmour
arranged as a mat and a jar or two of Nutella to snack on I wasn't too
cold camping even in snow.

I do take plasters, and I had some other 'luxury' items too, including
spare clothes and shampoo and the like, but that's because it had to be
two months supply of stuff, I was only long-distance MUniing at the
start of my trip. I want to try a lighter-weight version though when I
get back to England.

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When I was doing a trail with my coker in NZ I packed a backpack with
too much. It was quite heavy and annoying to ride with. Even with a
tent and lightweight sleeping bag, I was freezing at night because I
didn't have a sleeping mat.

In hindsight I should have brought a cheap lightweight foam pad so I
didn't lose heat through my back. I also shouldn't have brought food
or a stove because there was one store that I could have got a meal
from (I wasn't sure of their hours or if they would even be there). I
also am sure that there are a lot better light weight tents out there
that are like a bivvy but a bit larger that would have been better.

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fuolornis said:

There's some sort of unicycling convention in Norway or somewhere up
there in summer 2008...a few friends and I are going, and we were
thinking of doing a backpacking trip on our unis afterwards.

Remember the food and water bits...if you're going backpacking for more
than just a day or so, you'll need to bring either a) a TON of water or
b) a handheld filter if there's fresh water nearby. And food is VERY
important. Bring lots of food.

Old thread, but good subject!

Have you thought more about the backpacking after Unicon?

I will hopefully be with my sailboat somewhere in North, Central, or
South America in the spring and early summer. Then the plan is to fly
to Unicon taking only my Coker and a minimum of stuff. After Unicon I
want to cycle to my home on the finnish west coast, going through
Sweden and Åland. The islands of Åland are really beautiful and great
for cycling.

I´m not sure if I will cycle through all of Sweden, since I want to
keep it unsupported, and want to have enough time to spend at home in
Finland once I´m there. Might take a bus for parts of it. It will still
amount to many, many hundred kilometers.

I´m a guest on the Mediterranean Unicycle Tour this summer. It is
really super organized and a great way to do touring.

This trip next summer will be the complete opposite, though.
Self supported, and with the possibility to be impulsive. No set day
distances or goals, since you have your camping equipment with you and
can just stop wherever.

Anyone interested?

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This is a great thread. I have done a lot of motorcycle outback camping.
In the USA south, in summer, or Florida anytime but the coldest of
winter, only the insane drunks can sleep on the ground. I had a tent,
and would read at night for a while. The biggest spiders I have ever
seen would crawl over the outside. I don't want to talk about fire
ants. Rattle snakes move about like they own the place. I can skip the
sleeping bag, but the tent must be large enough not to be insufferably
hot, and of course, bug proof.:eek:
The combination of a gortex rain suit over leathers was impressive.
At times I would be tired and not have found a camp spot at 2 am in the
rain. I would sleep on top of a roadside picnic table, raining, wearing
my helmet. All I had to do was spray Off under my chin and I was
impervious to everything. The mosquitoes can't bite through leather.
This is to heavy for a uni camper, but I still wonder about the
"super suit" concept for warm area uni camping. Just scrape up a pile
of leaves, and sleep in the rain with the bugs !🙂 No need for a tent,
bag, rain suit, just one piece of gear.😄

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