What do you carry for a 100 mile gravel race

Equipment
1

Have a 100 mile gravel race coming up. Curious what you guys carry for this sort of event and what you use to carry it.

Should be going past 2 gas stations along the route.

Normally for my 0-50 mile rides I carry 1 or 2 water bottles and a saddle bag with tube, co2, multi tool with chain tool, chain link, and a couple tire levers.

Ideally for 100 miles I’d like to add at least one or 2 more tubes (also in case I need to hand one out to another rider with a flat) and another 1 or 2 co2s, and a bunch of gels, or maybe kind bar, a Ziploc with some of my carb/electrolyte powder for water etc.

My bike has a downtube boss also, so I’m curious about whether I should use that and put another bottle cage and a tool keg and fill that with my extra tools and supplies.

Or I could get a top tube bag which the advantage would be that I could retrieve gels from that easily, and carry a third water bottle in the downtube boss. But thats a lot of extra weight also if I can fill my 2 water bottles at the 2 gas stations.

Any ideas or what has worked for you guys? I’ve only done one pavement century and I just carried 2 water bottles and topped off at 2 gas stations, and had no flats or problems, but it was pavement.

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3rd set of DT bosses hold Keg w/ tubes / supplies. Top tube bento for gels.

Shouldn’t really need too many extras in terms of nutrition since you are passing 2 gas stations (unless you are at the pointy end, where every second counts).

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do you want to stop? sometimes we wear camelbak to eliminate the stopping to just once, especailly if its really hot.

i’ve done camelbak in 100 mile races so no stop is needed; have 100oz on the bike.

gravel worlds we did 2 bottles and a 60oz camel bak with one refill of the two bottles; but that was august at 150 miles

i wouldn’t go overboard on tools; have enough to change two flats, and bring enough carbs for 60-90 per hour, plus an extra hour JUST IN CASE. bonking in no man’s land would suck.

good luck!

the second blog here talks mostly about gravel racing.

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4

I opted for a small Camelbak (1.5L) with water and a bottle on the frame with electrolytes. If things get dirty or muddy, the bite valve on the Camelbak is much much easier to keep clean.

Food is so subjective that you need to get out and test to see what works best for you

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If you’re looking to carry three C02 canisters just forget them and get a GOOD frame pump. Unlimited air. If you get three+ flats you aren’t battling for high placings anyway.

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2 CO2, 1 hand pump, 2 tubes, 2 large bottles that refill once, 1 back bottle frozen with water if hot out, gummies for every 20-30, 2 rice crispy bars, multi-tool, 2 levers, tire patch kit, rear helmet and tail lights on flashing. Food in a feed bag on the top tube. Tire items in bag inside my down tube and tools in small pack in my back. Garmin 520. Cell phone. Wired earbuds. Large sunglasses with minimal tint. Microfiber cloth. Halo for sweat.

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Is that like a 38 lb setup? Seems like a lot to carry.

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I go with 1 CO2, and a mini pump

Can fix 1 flat fast, any more take some more time!

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I know, right? Actually most of it is very light. Husker Hundo I didn’t have to carry pump very long because I loaned it to a rider with a tubeless flat at mile 25. Saw that if you run tubeless you better have some tubes with you.

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Here’s my equipment list for longer (say 50+ miles) gravel rides:

  1. Cell phone (make sure it’s fully charged)
  2. Garmin (make sure fully charged)
  3. Battery pack to charge #1 and #2 if needed (This is new to my list. I did the MidSouth last weekend and my Garmin died 6 hours in)
  4. Ride with GPS app (with routes already downloaded just in case you find yourself without a signal) - This was a lifesaver after my Garmin died last weekend
  5. 2 tubes and 2 tire levers
  6. Frame pump (after too many epic fails with CO2 cartridges, I stopped carrying them)
  7. Multitool
  8. 2 water bottles with electrolyte powder of your choice - I use Heed (I’ll refill at designated water stops if needed and add more Heed)
  9. Extra Heed - I’ve started carrying 2 of the single serve pouches
  10. Camelbak with plain water
  11. Enough GU’s and Clif Blocks to get me through the distance

I like to be entirely self-sufficient and minimize stops as much as possible. I use a bar bag to hold all of my food. It’s one of those canister shaped ones. It does the job. I also have a saddle bag where I put my tools and 1 tube. Anything that doesn’t fit in there goes in a back pocket.

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