Essential Equipment for longer rides.

A cheap cycle computer

I suppose you would describe my kind of cycling as more like touring than road biking. My bike is a modern style aluminium road bike, 25mm tyres, a frame with lugs for a rack and came supplied with some cheap and nasty Wellgo pedals.
As a serious road bike, it is limited but it will meet my needs for a couple of years until I either upgrade to a superbike or decide its enough for my needs.
I have been doing longer rides between 50 and 100 miles on some quite serious hills in the Dales close to where I live. Whilst I am never very far from home, some of the locations that I bike to are remote and you could get into quite a lot of trouble if you met a problem. An example is a route I recently took from Heptonstall to Colne. I had travelled "over the top" on my Brompton before and the conditions were terrible. I was riding through cloud, was very wet and very cold. It would be really easy to make a poor decision, influenced by the onset of hyperthermia, which could easily lead to you dying - a friend reminded me that this had been the outcome only a week or so before I did the ride. The point I am trying to make is that you have to be serious about your safety when cycling alone for distances that take you away from regular traffic.
So, the decision could be easy - you need a complete tool kit, spare clothes, possibly some portable shelter etc!? It would be easy to double the weight of your bike and this would seriously limit the enjoyment and range of your travels.
So what should you take?

Saddle bag with rear light

For Summer (warmer) journeys, I wear a polyester cycling top and bib style padded shorts. The material wicks away perspiration quickly and keeps you cool whilst still providing enough protection against cooler weather - as long as you keep pedalling and generating body heat. I also have a waterproof jacket which is small enough to fit inside one of the rear pockets. I rarely use it unless its raining heavily. The polyester material quickly dries out when you have been soaked but the jacket gives you a bit more warmth and the extra layer can make a big difference. What does happen though is that your "points of contact" get wet and soaked hands, feet and saddle area rub more quickly and you will rapidly get sores which could keep you off your bike for a long time.
I use my iPhone to track my journeys, and often use TomTom to direct me on my journeys, and I have a waterproof container that came with my Sennheiser headphones which has proved itself capable of keeping things dry. This gives me a single point of failure which could have serious consequences if the phone was to run out of charge or get damaged.  I often take a laminated printout of my journey but you have to include enough detail for your needs and this can mean you are carrying a wad of maps. I am looking for a good cycling atlas and will report back when I find one.
I also have a cycle computer and a heart rate monitor. These give me feedback so that I can monitor my speed, average speed, temperature, time and the heart rate monitor lets me judge how I am responding to a difficult section. When you are tired, its surprising how much harder your body has to work.

Contents of my saddle bag

Inevitably, you will have mechanical problems. In my saddle bag, I carry the following equipment:
A spare innertube, wrapped in a plastic bag
A pack of self adhesive patches (in fact I carry two sets in one case.
A CO2 inflater and cartridge.
A Topeak Micro rocket pump.
An good quality micro tool. This one (Topeak Alien 3) has tyre levers, a chain tool and a knife.
Lights, we can plan to be back at home before it gets dark, but on a long journey it is easy to get caught out. I have a light bracket on my bars and keep the front light in my saddle bag and the rear light fastened to the back of the bag.
I'd love to hear people's comments about this page, and also if you carry anything different. Please consider +1ing this post and maybe even subscribe to the RSS feed.