This is not exactly “equipment testing”, but more a “how to” in terms of packing for a long-ish trip on a bike. I’m fortunate that I’m riding the Spyder RT-S because it has a total of 155 litres of packing space. Although that sounds like a lot, the panniers are awkwardly shaped so packing becomes a bit of a challenge. Add to that a laptop with its charger and cables, a cell phone charger, camera, hairdryer, business documentation, extra protective clothing….
I cut my initial two month trip down to two weeks due to the inclement weather further down the coast. I’m in Durban right now and will be heading down the coast to St Francis Bay in a few days. After the open day there on the 16th, I will head back inland to Bloemfontein, spend a few days there and then back home to Joburg.
Due to the strange weather we’re experiencing right now, I had to figure out how to pack for two weeks for all four seasons. Fortunately I’ve built up quite a stock of thermal and moisture wicking garments because you can roll them up into small sausages, thereby saving a lot of space while packing a great number of items. When you start biking, you learn to wear layers of clothing and our modern fabrics are ideal for this. Biking shops seldom stock this type of clothing but you can find the ideal winter and summer garments at camping shops, such as Outdoor Warehouse and Cape Union Mart. Although they are pricey, they are well worth the financial outlay and all you need to do is figure out how many short vs. long sleeved tops you need.
There is a saying in Afrikaans “Een in die was, een in die kas, een aan die bas”, meaning one garment in the wash, one in the cupboard, one being worn. Seasoned travellers also recommend that you lay out all the stuff you think you might need, then take away half – that is what you really need and should pack. So, with these two rules in mind, I started packing. I got to a point where I actually had space left in three of the bags and wisely decided not to take more “stuff”. As it is, I needed that space later.
When I left on Thursday, the weather forecast was for cold and rain storms closer to Durban. I put the liner in my jacket, added my rain suit’s jacket, and wore my snowboarding pants (one of the best investments for biking!). When I got to Harrismith, I could see snow on all the mountains and the bike’s display registered 90 C – I was very happy with my choice of clothing at that point! There wasn’t any rain except for some spitting along the way. By the time I got to Durban city centre, it was 250 C and I had to undress very quickly!
This morning when I woke up, it was clearing after some rain during the night. Being Durban, it was already muggy at 7:00 so I had to take the liner out of my jacket. This is where the extra space in the bags came in handy – I needed to pack the liner, the pants and the rain jacket.
I’m quite comfortable with my choice of clothes for the trip as it looks like the range will suit all types of weather I might encounter. I think the only thing I might add to my biking clothing, is waterproof winter gloves – tight wet leather gloves are not the easiest things to get off your cold hands!
Because of the awkward shape of the panniers, the bags should be soft so that they can be squashed into the available space.
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