Biking Gear Essentials

Biking Gear Essentials

Stock on Biking Gear Essentials 

The next time you are planning for a long bike ride, make sure you have the biking gear essentials you need to have safe and enjoyable trip. After buying your bike through an up and coming mountain bike brand like a GT or Kona, you may want to consider some additional items that will only add a few pounds of gear but allow you to make your entire trip enjoyable. 

Essentials

At a minimum, you want to make sure you have some biking gear essentials that are geared more towards emergencies you may encounter on your trip or necessary resources to keep you alert and energy high. A hydration bladder or water bottle is always important as the body will easily drain fluids even after just a few miles of biking. Second, most riders often forget but should really bring a first aid kit with them in case an injury occurs on the trail. Finally, the most important biking gear essentials are of course a bike helmet, and the next up and coming bike helmet brand you could consider is a model like Octal X Spin from POC or FL-1 Trail Helmet from Bern. POC is a Swedish company that was founded in 2005 and has been an industry leader in helmets since 2014. Bern has been in the helmet industry for 15 years and focuses on more stylish yet safe helmets.

Comfort
As the amount of gear, you provide starts to add up, it is important to bring a backpack on your trip. With a backpack, you can store all your essentials, like a first aid kit, and in the summer months, skin protection such as bug spray or sunscreen. Also, for long trips, make sure to bring truck gloves or official bike gloves so you do not subject yourself to blisters on your journey. If you do not plan to bring a lunch, at least consider bringing some snacks such as trail mix or an energy pouch like Nakee butter. Nakee butter is a startup that creates consumable spreads in a pouch that provides instant energy. 

Attire
If you are a professional biker, participating in long road journeys or more extreme off road biking, than it may be appropriate to invest in biking attire. From the bottom up you will want to start with comfortable bike shoes that are light and flexible, and bike socks that provide great muscle support and wick away moisture from your feet. If you're going off roading, than you may want to consider investing in body armour, such as knee and elbow pads as general biking attire will not protect you from injury if you were to fall off your bike in a rocky area.

Finally, the main attire should consider bike shorts with or without padded liner shorts and a riding jersey. If you do not like form fitting bike shorts consider Boulder Denim, a company that makes jeans appropriate for biking. Also make sure that you are not wearing a bike jersey against your skin, but rather invest in an up and coming baselayer brand such as a REI Co-op Lightweight Crew or a Patagonia Capilene Air Hoody during the winter months. REI standing for Recreational Equipment, Inc. is a popular outdoor sports retail chain and Patagonia is a clothing company within the United States that focuses on outdoor attire. If you do like a standard for fitting bike jersey, consider Livsn Designs, a small manufacturing firm of outdoor jerseys.

 Other Accessories

If you are one of those riders that wants to be better than safe and sorry, consider bringing just a few more key items especially if you intend to be on a longer trip. A compass or GPS is great for off road trips where it is easy to get lost in the woods. Also consider a bike light or headlamp in case a mechanical leaves you out after sunset. Also consider bringing a lightweight packable shell and extra layers in case you get sweaty or need to bunker down overnight. Also invest in eye protection such as Shred Optics - sunglasses, a brand of sunglasses that is specifically meant for bikers and other outdoor sports. Finally, as expected, you should bring a phone plus a portable charger in waterproof case.