The Dumbest Thing You’ve Ever Brought With You On Tour
April 4, 2008 by Darren Alff
Over the years I’ve done a lot of experimenting on my bike trips. Every trip has been different and I’ve brought different items with me on each of my tours.
After nearly eight years of bicycle touring, I’ve learned what I need to bring with me and what I should leave at home. And even though I’ve learned a lot over the years about some of the unnecessary items you might be temped to take with you on a bike tour, I’ll likely bring some more stupid things with me in the future.
Here are some of the things I brought with me on tour, that I really did not need:
A soft-case ice chest.
Tupperware
A full size tripod for my camera
A full 3-piece cook-set
A solar panel in Europe (The sun hardly ever came out and there was
simply no need for a solar panel)
Aerobars
My cell phone when I went to Europe (It didn’t work at all and I had
to carry it around the whole time)
Pepper spray (I’ve carried it on numerous tours and never used it.
I won’t be carrying it anymore.)
There are likely a lot of other stupid things I’ve brought with me, but I can’t think of them at the moment. I’ll think of them as time goes by and update you on my stupidity by posting in the comments section below.
One of my favorite stupid things I ever saw someone carrying with them on a bike tour was a stuffed jackalope. (Picture below).
This rider was obviously carrying the stuffed animal as a joke, but this is quite possibly the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen strapped onto the back of a traveling cyclists bike.
Another favorite of mine is the Coconut Head that Ted Schredd carried with him on his tour around the United States. You can read more about Ted Schredd and his epic bike ride in his book, “The Cycling Adventures of Coconut Head
What is the dumbest thing you have ever brought with you on a bike trip? Or what is the stupidest thing you’ve ever seen someone else carrying with them on a bike trip?
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My husband makes fun of me because I insist on taking wine glasses with us. I just don’t enjoy drinking wine out of a water bottle.
On my 5th bike trip through Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia I brought my skateboard with me. A number of other bicycle tourists made fun of me for bringing it with me, but I had a lot of fun stopping at skateparks along the way. I’m a horrible skateboarder, but it gave me something fun to do besides ride my bike all day long.
You can see pictures of me and my skatebaord here: http://www.bicycletouringpro.com/articles/2005tour-WA2OR.htm
Something I brought that actually turned out to be quite useful was a machete. It was strapped, very visably, to the outside of my bicycle. I never really ended up using it (except to hack apart a fallen tree that had blocked the path to someone’s house), but it served as a great deterrant to theft and muggings. In central america (where my only real bike tour has taken place) muggings at machete point are common place in touristy areas. While on the side of the road replacing spokes in Costa Rica, a drunk had come up to me, and had started to get a little too close, until I used my machete to dish him up some pineapple. He left promtly after that.
Machete. Nice. I’m going to bring a machete and bear mace.