Most bike packing kit lists are written by people who've watched too many YouTube videos and end up packing for a week in the Alps when they're doing two days in Wicklow. Anthony recorded this one live on the Wicklow Way, mid-trip, so the list is what actually fits on a bike and gets used.
Key Takeaways
The bags-first logic is what the gram-counting crowd gets backwards. They obsess over tent weight and ignore that a saddle bag swinging around behind you because you didn't strap it down properly will wreck your handling faster than carrying an extra 200 grams. Handlebar bag takes the bulky stuff, tent, mat, sleeping bag. Frame bag takes dead weight, food, spares, towels, close to the frame where it doesn't pull the bike around. Saddle bag gets everything else. That order matters.
For a two-day trip the Wicklow Way huts aren't a reliable option. They're spaced for a five to seven day hiking route, so on a bike packing pace they fall at the wrong distances. Bring the tent. Big Agnes lightweight tents run around 400 euro delivered and the MSR camp stove boils a litre of water in five minutes. Dehydrated camp food needs about ten minutes to rehydrate. It's a weird dinner but it weighs nothing and it works. The people who skip the tent because they saw someone do it on Instagram and then spend a night getting rained on in the Wicklow Mountains in July know exactly how that goes.
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Go listen to the Sami Sorry episode if you want something with more adventure energy and a better sense of what bike packing is actually for. The handlebar bag episode covers the day-ride version of the same setup.