Weight Management

I have, over the years made many, quite often expensive decisions related to cycling on the basis that the lighter the load, the easier it is for me. The lighter the bike, the quicker I will cover the required distance and the less exhausted I will be at the end of each ride. A simple and attractive formula.

For our Across America challenge we have no support. We have to carry everything we need on our bikes. The heavier these are, the harder it will be. Before packing any kit, my new Ribble Titanium gravel bike weighs in at a sturdy 10.3kg. My lightest bike, a Cannondale Supersix Evo, designed for speed, just tips the scales at 7kg. The Ribble is clearly designed for comfort not speed. It is also designed to carry an assortment of baggage which the Cannondale is not.

By the time I add pedals (I can’t seem to manage without these), a lovely Brooks saddle (nor this), pannier racks, bags, mudguards, lights, a Garmin and essential spares and tools, my Ribble now weighs in at a somewhat heftier 15.5kg. As one of the heaviest saddles on the market, the Brooks saddle is clearly designed for comfort and not speed. It, however, does the comfort bit so well that I am willing to accept its weight without question.

Load up my panniers with, what we deem at this stage, to be essential kit and my fully loaded bike weighs in at a very considerable 30kg. Add my weight into the equation, an additional 70kg (I too, am clearly designed for comfort and not speed) and the combined weight tops the scales at exactly 100kg. This includes an allowance for food and water which we with often have to carry with us, sometimes sufficient to last for two days.

I cannot begin to comprehend how hard it will be to pedal a 100kg load for 4,500 miles, whilst climbing the equivalent height of Everest four and a half times. So, I am weighing everything and I am literally weighing up the pros and cons of every conceivable way to losing a few kilograms before we set off. As I watched myself weighing my Garmin on the kitchen scales, I began to wonder if I was taking things a step too far.

Anyone with bike packing experience will be wondering how on earth our essential kit could possibly weigh so much, I feel the need to clarify that the essential kit is just that – essential! Two sets of cycle kit – one to wear and one to wash. A couple of pieces to layer in the hope that we can keep sufficiently warm and a waterproof layer to keep dry throughout the challenge. For the limited time that I will not actually be riding my bike, then a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and a pair of sliders. My entire wardrobe for 3-4 months!

A significant element of my weight problem is due to drugs. I have tried and tested it and four month’s supply of my medications fills four shoe boxes and weighs in at a hefty 8kg. There are no luxury items here, these are the drugs that I will be relying on to keep me functioning during our challenge. Without these, then I will simply be unable to move.

As one might expect, there are many rules and regulations associated with transporting drugs into America. It is a requirement that I carry the drugs in their original packaging. I expect to lose 2kg and two shoe boxes in packaging alone once I reach the states and can decant the contents. I am exploring options to see if it is possible to ship some ahead or ask friends who are joining us along the route to bring some out for me. At this point, I cannot help but recall the trauma that watching Midnight Express decades ago brought me and I immediately start catastrophising but I digress. I will continue to explore legitimate, reliable options to avoid having to carry all my medication for the entire challenge from the outset.

I aim to get my bike and kit down to 20kg by the time we leave. I should lose around 5kg by then, simply from training, thus reducing my total load to 85kg.

I was curious to know exactly how much time or energy this weight reduction might save me. Hours? Days? There are many such calculations and some variations but in essence, it appears that for every kilogram I lose from the bike, kit or myself, I will be one minute faster overall over 100km. I calculate therefore that if I am carrying 85kg instead of 100kg, over a distance of 4,500 miles (7,242km), I can expect to arrive 18 hours earlier than I might otherwise have done over the entire journey. Over the 100 days we expect to be cycling for, that is on average 10 minutes per day faster than I would otherwise have been which, let’s be honest, is still never going to be fast!

I can’t help feeling somewhat disappointed that all this effort to reduce the load I am carrying leads to a mere mean ten minute time saving each day. However, I anticipate that this reduction in kit will make it easier to pack, unpack and to find things as and when I need them. Given that I will be doing this every day, I think this will bring significant time benefits too. Of course, the psychological benefits of feeling lighter and less laden down may not gain me any time but if I take the extra ten minutes I save each day to stop, catch my breath and simply enjoy my surrounding and the experience, then the effort will be worth it.