One of the most important considerations when planning a cycle tour is deciding what clothes to bring – and as with any kind of traveling, the temptation is to over pack. On my first tour I brought way too much of the wrong gear too, but now, after having completed 4 cycle tours (as of February 2023), I have learned from my mistakes and refined my system to the point where I have found something which I think will work on any length cycle tour in warm weather. I’m sharing it with you here so that you might learn from my mistakes and do it right the first time, or if you’re a long-time tourer maybe you’ll pick up a few ideas you haven’t thought about before here. I’m not going to make you read an entire article if all you want is a packing list, so I’ll give you my list up front… along with links & prices to the exact items I have where possible (or the closest similar alternative) – prices are current as of Feb 2023). Keep reading down below if you want to know the logic behind my choices:
Underwear: 3 Pairs Nylon or other quick-dry underwear (Costco, $26 for 6)
Socks: 3 Pairs Nylon Hiking/Cycling Socks (Decathlon, $5 for 2) + 1 Pair Thick Hiking Socks (Costco, $23 for 6)
Base Layers: 1 Pair Syntetic/Merino Long-Sleeve Base Layer
Shoes: 1 Pair Sneakers/Street Shoes/Hiking Shoes
T-Shirts: 2 Pairs Merino or Synthetic Quick-Dry T-Shirts (Decathlon, $35)
Pants: 2 Pairs Zip-Off Hiking Trousers (Decathlon, $35)
Pyjamas/Camp Trousers: 1 Pair Linen Trousers, Jogging Shorts, Pyjamas or Sweatpants (H&M, $35)
Insulating Layer: 1 Down/Synthetic Puffer Jacket (Decathlon, $90)
Rain Jacket: 1 Cycle-Specific or General-Purpose Hardshell Rain Jacket (Decathlon, $90)
Buff: 1 Merino Buff
On my first few cycle tours I wore bike-specific clothing while riding, and street clothes while at camp or off the bike. In my opinion this is a huge mistake because it means that you need to carry twice as many clothes as somebody who wears the same things off and on the bike. It also immediately labels you as a ‘cyclist’ and makes it much more difficult to participate in any sort of cultural activities – are you really going to visit that church or climb that mountain wearing SPD shoes and lycra? So my number one rule is to keep clothing as universal as possible – if it doesn’t have at least two uses, it should probably stay home.
The other important thing is to prioritize quick-drying or easy-to-wash clothing, because unless your tour is only a few days long or you are exclusively going to stay in accommodation with a washing machine and dryer, you really will need to have a system in place which allows you to essentially wear one set of clothing while you wash and dry the second set. There are various types of quick-drying fabric, but in terms of raw performance it is difficult to beat Merino wool. Merino is great because it is amazingly resistant to odor, so you can normally wear your Merino shirts, socks and base layers for several days in a row, even after sweating in them for days on end because you’ve been cycle touring in Morocco in July. The downsides to Merino are that it is expensive and I personally find it to be an odd-feeling fabric because it is a little scratchy and very thin, but it is normally mixed with some sort of synthetic to improve its durability (although the environmental impact of this is arguably worse), and the performance benefits of the material make it well worth the cost in most situations. This is my material of choice for shirts and is also an excellent choice for socks and base layers.
The main synthetic fabrics used in clothing are polyester and nylon, which is sometimes called polyamide. I have an aversion to polyester because to me it is a slick, cheap feeling fabric which tends to fray and pill in my experience, but some people really like it and it is definitely affordable and quick-drying. Polyester is the main fabric used in non-merino base layers and my current base layer is made of it because it is affordable and something I don’t wear very often, but once it wears out I will try to replace it with something made of Merino wool instead.
Unlike polyester, for whatever reason I find Nylon to be a very pleasant material. It is definitely much more durable than polyester, I think that it has a very nice skin feel, and it also seems to resist hanging onto odors much better too for some reason. Nylon is therefore my material of choice for trousers in particular but also socks and underwear as an excellent less expensive, more durable, and more comfortable alternative to Merino.
Okay so maybe my theories make sense to you, but what should you actually pack? In theory you only need two sets of everything-one set to wear, and one set to change into while you’re washing and drying your first set. This definitely works in terms of simply being on the bike – at the end of each day, simply change over to your second set of clothes, wash your first set using some Dr. Bronner’s or another bio-degradable universal soap, but there are two situations that make this system less than clear-cut: the fact that you need to consider what you’ll wear at camp/while you’re sleeping, and the fact that it isn’t going to be sunny every day.
There are two ways to handle what to wear at camp. One is to simply change into what you’re going to wear on the bike the next day, which will be clean in theory, sleep in that, and then get up the next morning without changing, start cycling, change into the clothes you should have washed the night before once you get to your next camp that evening, and repeat. The problems with this are that you might miss a day of washing clothes so you might not always have something clean to change into, you might get cold at night and not want to just sleep in your underwear or normal trousers, and you might get rained on, which will also prevent you from being able to wash and therefore have clean clothes.
The other way is to have a completely separate camp/sleep system such as a pair of pyjamas or an extra shirt and a pair of pyjama bottoms. This is quite a lot of single-purpose clothing, though, so I personally hybridize the two extremes and carry a set of trousers which I wear both generally at camp as well as while sleeping. I found that a pair of linen trousers from H&M works well for me, but this could be almost anything – a pair of sweat pants, jogging shorts, or similar, depending on what you’re comfortable with. Quick-dry is nice as always, but less important here because this item shouldn’t be getting as sweaty and shouldn’t really be getting wet either. I haven’t yet figured out of it is best to pair this with a third sleep-only t-shirt or to make do with the two I’m already carrying for general wear, but I am leaning towards just having two shirts because they really won’t feel very dirty if they are made of Merino. And finally, in terms of being comfortable at night I also carry a pair of thick hiking socks, which is good for keeping my feet warm at night, and if I get really cold I can always pull on my base layer.
As I already mentioned, the other thing that can really throw a spanner into the works is the weather, specifically rain. Rain will almost surely keep you from washing clothes, and if your clothes are wet and it rains for several days in a row you will quickly run out of clean and dry clothes to change into. Luckily humans are adaptable and this isn’t as big of a deal as you might think at first. The solution in this situation is to wear your wet clothes again the next day, while keeping your dry set of clothing for sleeping in. This is obviously uncomfortable, but if it is still raining your clothes will get wet again anyways so there is no point in getting your second set of clothes wet, and if the sun does end up coming out your quick-dry clothing will actually dry on your body.
There might be other reasons why you can’t wash your clothes every day, perhaps you don’t have access to water or perhaps you got to camp really late for some reason, but this is also where adaptability and the right sort of clothing will save you. As I already mentioned, both nylon and Merino are pretty good at resisting odors, so you can actually wear the same set of clothes for several days in a row without issue even if you’ve been cycling. It’s always best to wash at least your socks and underwear, of course, but don’t sweat it too much if you miss a day or two here and there. I also like to carry three pairs of socks and underwear to deal with this eventuality-unlike shirts and trousers, they don’t take up much space, and add a little bit to your overall flexibility.
Finally, let’s talk about outerwear and insulation, which are very important considerations for dealing with the weather, temperature drops at night, or simply if you’re cycling in a cooler season/climate. I resisted puffer jackets for years and years because I thought they were ugly and giving in to what everyone else was doing, but there is a very good reason why everyone else uses them – there is nothing else that gives you as much insulating value for the weight and compressed size of a puffer. This really is the only way to go, and yes they can be expensive, but there are affordable options from places like Decathlon or Sierra Trading Post, and if there is one place where it is worth splurging on clothing it is here. You’ll thank me later when you discover how much extra room you have in your panniers after removing the hoodie, sweater, or fleece you were trying to cycle tour with before – and discover just how comfortable puffers actually are for cycling in cooler conditions.
The main downside to puffer jackets is that they are not waterproof, but this is not as big of a deal as it might seem at first. The absolute key is to pair your puffer with some type of rain jacket, ideally a cycle-specific one which will have longer sleeves and a longer back to maintain coverage while on the bike, because it is absolutely essential to keep your insulating layer dry as best as possible. But if a little water does end up getting the sleeves or collar wet, don’t worry about it too much – sure, you’ll lose a little insulating value there, especially if your jacket is down insulated, but even down will easily dry once the sun comes out, and if you are religious about wearing your rain jacket, you will never end up with a completely soaked through insulating layer.
Hard-shell rain jackets have a reputation for being hot and sweaty, and believe me they are when the sun is out, but they really are the best option for a wind/water proof layer. Soft-shell jackets might be more comfortable, but they are far heavier and much less resistant to rain than hard-shell jackets are. And hard-shell jackets, despite being uncomfortable in the sun, can work on their own without an insulating layer in certain conditions, such as extreme wind or warm rain.
The system I have described here is what I finally settled on after making mistakes in my packing on several occasions, and so far this is the most perfect system I have found for any length cycle tour in warm weather. Of course there is some flexibility here and your situation might be different, but this should give you a solid starting point – and if you do end up in an unpredictable situation, there should be enough flexibility here to allow you to adapt and remain comfortable. And remember that you can also always buy more clothing along your way if you end up wishing you had brought something that you left at home. If you want to hear me talk about my clothing choices while on an actual cycle tour, click my video link above, and if you have comments contact me through Instagram @crazycyclingchannel or leave a comment on my video.