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WHAT'S IN MY HANDLEBAR BAG

9:00·18 August 2020

Listen on

Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube

A question that baffles cycling fans around the world - what is inside my handlebar bag.

The contents will surprise, baffle & inspire you.

Support this podcast

www.patreon.com/anthony_walsh

Everything I recommend

www.roadmanresources.com

READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT

Searchable, deep-linkable, every word.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT3 SECTIONS

Roadman today, the very serious topic of what is in my saddlebag

Roadman today, the very serious topic of what is in my saddlebag. Let's cue that intro. The big question is this. How do we use cycling as a tool to improve our health, our happiness and our longevity? That is the question and this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Anthony Welch and welcome to the Roadman Podcast. I know it's one that just baffles passers-by of cafes and fellow cyclists what indeed is in my bag for anyone who hasn't been following me on social or indeed has been out on any of her a one or should I say roadman or I'm calling it roadman spins from there on. won't have noticed that I'm sporting quite a nice handlebar bag these days. Question I get all the time is what is in your handlebar bag and this applies equally to what's in your saddle bag. I don't really like things hanging off the back of my saddle and I never had a saddle bag but then I used a handlebar bag once when I was in Jourona. Honestly never looks back. That's what I want to talk about today. It's a mixture of things to make your life a a little bit easier, a little bit more comfortable and to style it a little bit. Before I jump in and reveal the grand reveal of what's in my handlebar bag, first let me encourage you good listeners to head on over to patreon.com forward slash Anthony underscore watch, make your little contribution, maybe I'll go buy myself something nice for the handlebar bag, unlikely because we're still not at break even on the podcast, so well most likely spend your good donations on really fun stuff like server space and microphones. So please if you want to support this glamorous and glitzy life head on over to patreon.com and put the link in the show notes down below. Okay the handlebar bag if you haven't got one it will change your life of all sorts of gadgets in there. Number one I have in the handlebar bag it's a cotton cap. So when you get to the cafe you take the helmet off you still want to look kind of cool. Your hair is all round from the helmet hair. Enter the cotton cap perfect for the coffee stop. Pull it out your handlebar bag and wear it. Also if it starts pissing rain pull out the cotton cap bang it on under your helmet. Now the water doesn't run into your eyes. Dual purpose number one item in my handlebar bag. The second But by no means in order item in my handlebar bag, it's cable toys. Now cable toys will fix basically anything. If you haven't got cable toys, you just don't even know the beauty of them. Cable toys will fix everything from a broken chain ring bolt to a broken bracket for your wahoo, broken bracket for a light clamp, you break your saddle clamp cable toys, they'll do it all. You need cable toys in there. The next one I have, it's tool releases. It's a power link for your chain. If you don't have a power link, just trust me. You'll thank me when you're up the side of the mountain in the piscence of rain and you don't have to worry about taking links out of your chain when you break a chain.

Just stick a power link on and you're good to go to get home

Just stick a power link on and you're good to go to get home. I have a raincoat. I would have traditionally bundled a raincoat in my rear pocket no matter what the weather and no matter what the climate. The reason is if you stop for a coffee or if you stop because someone punctures, you want an extra layer to throw on, you're gonna get really cold. So the raincoat, it's not just for the rain. Those boiling the bag jackets are basically the greatest money you'll ever spend in cycling. I was only talking yesterday with a training partner about this, like forget your knee-print, your Castelli, your ass-us, your Velocia, all your high-end stuff. The boiling the bag raincoat is the number one thing you should have in your cycling wardrobe. If you don't have one, get yourself one now. Every descent when I'm away abroad, I chop it on at the top of the descent. Every time I stop for a coffee, I'm sitting outside I chop it on. After the cafe, I'm getting going, I chop it on again. Obviously, if it's raining, I chop it on. Someone punctures I chop it on. The most versatile piece of clothing in my entire wardrobe. Next, I have a little improvised lock. Now, this is actually like a keychain with a small little clamp on it. I use this to make the life of the wood-beat teeth uncomfortable at the coffee shop. So you can just hook two or three bikes together, hook to your bike to the fence if need be. It's absolutely tiny, it weighs, I don't know, 20 grams. It's almost no way to whatsoever. Downside you would easily hook it with a snips. That's not worth on it, avoid. We're not looking to bring around a big U-lock. We're looking to toy the opportunist teeth up in a bit of inconvenience. Great little thing. And next item I have, lost count of how many items this is. They're just randomly thrown in there. I have an Asaver Mudguard. Now, I'm not sure where you're listening to this podcast, but I'm recording this podcast, looking out a window in Drury Dublin. It's August here and it's Drury Dublin. It's overcast and it's pissing rain every five minutes. And that's basically my life as a cyclist. You head out the door and it's beautiful weather. You're 2K down the road and it starts pissing rain and there's nothing I like less than having a weather. So the air saver mudguard is in there as well. Pull it out, stick it in behind your saddle. It, you know, it can crumple it up in your saddle bag, sort of fold it back on itself. Takes up virtually no space. And I don't know, like a flavor, brilliant, brilliant. I obviously have all my tools, but I'm not gonna go into that out of, you know, the regular stuff all you guys bring out. I'll go on, I will go into it briefly. With a multi-tool, nothing really special about that. Just make sure it has a chain breaker and a spokey on it. I have a pump, I also have a CO2 canister, I have tubes and I have a patch kit just in case I have one of those disaster days where I puncture more than twice because I have only two tubes.

Have the patch kit there to save the day

I have the patch kit there to save the day. The last thing, what else do I have? Oh, I have a bit of insulating tape. I actually have the insulating tape wrapped around the CO2 cartridge. Insulating tape, you just never know, and you'll need it. I've used it before when I've broken a shoe. I've broken a bowl of fixture on a shoe. So I've been able to wrap the insulating tape around that. You can also use a cable toy, but I prefer insulating tape. When if you break a cable and the cable's hanging loose, insulating tape to cable to the frame, if your handlebar tape comes loose, bit of insulating tape, there's literally thousands of uses for a insulating tape, another great one. And the last one I have, I have spare batteries for my power meter. And that's just because I like to have that consistency data and it really really annoys me when I don't. So for that reason I throw in a little spares at a C or 2022 battery that goes with parameters and that's what is in my saddlebag. So I'd be interested to know what is in your handlebar or saddlebar bag. Definitely let me know on Instagram and I will share those around. Guys you know you gotta get creative, you've got to be prepared for the worst in your saddlebag. It's your little survival kit. I could leave the house. Obviously, obviously, I forgot one major one that will get you out of. 99% of sticky situations is your phone. Your phone with, if you're using Google Pay or Apple Pay, enabled on it, or if not a bank card, that's going to get you out of the vast majority of situations. Both this is your survival kit. If you're up the mountains, if you're out in the wilderness, you can fix almost anything and it'll bring you a noise bit of comfort. and that sort of, I don't know what I call it, like a survival kit itself to be militant like we're going out into the jungle for the night. But essentially that's what it is. And really quick, because this is a real man boy's podcast, I don't want to drag on, a really brief one as well. When I was in Canada and you're training there in the colds, you know, maybe you're up in December, January, and it's getting down to really like negative 15, negative 20. another sneaky one that I've heard people do is a candle and a match. So you can go into somewhere like a phone box and you can light the candle and it'll give you a bit of warmth to fix your puncture or whatever while you're getting the puncture fixed, you're not going to freeze the debt. So there you go. You got to adapt to your surroundings. So I would encourage you to adapt this little kit to your own surroundings and roadman, that's it for another roadman boy's podcast. a lot of this stuff I actually am going to start throwing into the roadman resources.com some of it is in there already so jump on over there and check it out and I will chat to you tomorrow. Thanks for listening roadman.

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Communitysolo

WHAT'S IN MY HANDLEBAR BAG

9:00·18 August 2020

Listen on

Spotify Apple Podcasts YouTube

A question that baffles cycling fans around the world - what is inside my handlebar bag.

The contents will surprise, baffle & inspire you.

Support this podcast

www.patreon.com/anthony_walsh

Everything I recommend

www.roadmanresources.com

READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT

Searchable, deep-linkable, every word.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT3 SECTIONS

Roadman today, the very serious topic of what is in my saddlebag

Just stick a power link on and you're good to go to get home

Have the patch kit there to save the day

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

Weekly insights from the podcast. The stuff that actually makes you faster.

USE THESE TOOLS

RELATED EPISODES

More episodes you might enjoy

Episode

Community33:23

ROAD RACING IS DEAD (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

Is road racing dead? This week, Anthony dives into the decline of traditional road racing—not just in Ireland, but across the UK and US too.

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Community14:26

WHY I'M NEVER GOING BACK TO MALLORCA (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

Anthony opens up about why he's reluctant to go back to Mallorca cycling and instead talks about some alternative travel destinations you should consider for 2025.

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WHY IS EVERYONE LEAVING GIRONA (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

LIKED THIS EPISODE?

Join the Clubhouse to discuss this episode, ask Anthony your questions, and connect with serious cyclists.

Join the Clubhouse — Free More Episodes

WHAT'S IN MY HANDLEBAR BAG

Roadman today, the very serious topic of what is in my saddlebag

Just stick a power link on and you're good to go to get home

Have the patch kit there to save the day

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

RELATED EPISODES

ROAD RACING IS DEAD (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

WHY I'M NEVER GOING BACK TO MALLORCA (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

WHY IS EVERYONE LEAVING GIRONA (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

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LIKED THIS EPISODE?

WHAT'S IN MY HANDLEBAR BAG

Roadman today, the very serious topic of what is in my saddlebag

Just stick a power link on and you're good to go to get home

Have the patch kit there to save the day

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

RELATED EPISODES

ROAD RACING IS DEAD (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

WHY I'M NEVER GOING BACK TO MALLORCA (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

WHY IS EVERYONE LEAVING GIRONA (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

RELATED CONTENT

NUMB HANDS WHILE CYCLING: THE FIVE FIXES BEFORE YOU PAY FOR A BIKE FIT

MTB BIKE FIT: SADDLE HEIGHT, REACH & STACK EXPLAINED

UNBOUND GRAVEL 2026: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO GRAVEL'S BIGGEST DAY

LIKED THIS EPISODE?

WHAT'S IN MY HANDLEBAR BAG

1.Roadman today, the very serious topic of what is in my saddlebag

2.Just stick a power link on and you're good to go to get home

3.Have the patch kit there to save the day

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

RELATED EPISODES

ROAD RACING IS DEAD (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

WHY I'M NEVER GOING BACK TO MALLORCA (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

WHY IS EVERYONE LEAVING GIRONA (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

RELATED CONTENT

NUMB HANDS WHILE CYCLING: THE FIVE FIXES BEFORE YOU PAY FOR A BIKE FIT

MTB BIKE FIT: SADDLE HEIGHT, REACH & STACK EXPLAINED

UNBOUND GRAVEL 2026: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO GRAVEL'S BIGGEST DAY

LIKED THIS EPISODE?

WHAT'S IN MY HANDLEBAR BAG

1.Roadman today, the very serious topic of what is in my saddlebag

2.Just stick a power link on and you're good to go to get home

3.Have the patch kit there to save the day

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

RELATED EPISODES

ROAD RACING IS DEAD (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

WHY I'M NEVER GOING BACK TO MALLORCA (WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?)

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NUMB HANDS WHILE CYCLING: THE FIVE FIXES BEFORE YOU PAY FOR A BIKE FIT

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LIKED THIS EPISODE?

Roadman today, the very serious topic of what is in my saddlebag

Just stick a power link on and you're good to go to get home

Have the patch kit there to save the day

Roadman today, the very serious topic of what is in my saddlebag

Just stick a power link on and you're good to go to get home

Have the patch kit there to save the day