I’ve spent the last 10 years despising backpacks of any sort after commuting by bike with one for a few years in the city.
They make my back sweat, they can hurt your shoulders, and they keep all of the weight exactly where you don’t want it.
This past weekend, though, I participated in a race (ride) that took about 4 hours and had two very minimal aid stations. The organizers recommended bringing enough water and food, so I brought a modern cycling pack. I had two 750ml bottles and 1.5L in my pack, all with the same drink mix (~110g carbs & 800mg sodium per 750ml water).
I have to say, it worked wonderfully. I wasn’t overly hot/sweaty (I think wearing cycling kit helps this, which I hadn’t experienced with a pack before), I really didn’t notice the weight whatsoever, drinking was very easy, and I knew for the entire ride that I had enough fuel and water to make it to the end.
Overall, I can’t say that there were really any downsides. Would I have been more comfortable without the pack? Maybe, but it’s hard to say. Once you’re out there riding, you kind of forget it’s there if you have a good-fitting/good-quality pack.
Where I live, it’s not common to have resources for resupply on the really scenic routes, and I think I’ll use this pack quite a bit moving forward so that I don’t have to worry about water/calories, and can venture out even further with confidence.
This! Especially if it’s hot and you have been drinking carbs and salt all day. I don’t get flavor fatigue but I get the heck out of some cottonmouth in the summer. I’m probably fueled and salted (or over salted?) but the parched mouth just does bad things to me mentally and it’s nice to have plain water to shut down the desert mouth and negative talk.
Echoing what others have said about practicing longer rides with the full weight on your back. As a positive, I have seen an edge when wearing a pack if the course is a grueling marathon-length MTB race such as Little Sugar. Many folks running 1-3 bottles to save weight but due to the course being fast yet technical the pack allowed me to stay on drinking all day and not worry if I dropped or lost a bottle. Really started to see riders fade and me pass folks that had passed me earlier in the day just shelled out on the ground at aid stations.
It’s the day after the event and I went for the pack. It was a good idea in the end as it meant I could remove my jacket but still have it. Hardest thing I’ve ever done on a bike it reckon, so many bruises!
Water and fueling worked but a block from St Just over the moors was a horror show of mud, pedal strikes, cramp and gorse bushes. I totally cracked and the last 27 from the aid stop was slow and brutal.
Definitely need more strength as I feel my arms still this morning!
