What to carry on rides

13 April 2026
In my many years of cycling, I changed quite a few approaches to what and how I bring with me.

In this post I focus on what’s really important: never leave for a ride without this. Here I won’t look into nutrition on the bike, although that’s important too.

Also, I duly remind you of the non-cycling stuff one should carry in case of emergency:
• a charged-up phone with working internet
• some cash or at least a card
• a photo ID, and
• don’t forget your keys at home!
1. WHAT TO CARRY
MINIMAP | Pump — Tools — Spares — Tubes — Carrying |

If you’d have to choose only one thing to take with you, that’d be an inflating device:
• mini pump, or
• electric pump, or
• CO2 cartridge with an inflator head.

The mini pump is my choice any day of the week. The Airbone model I recommended before is still the best thing ever made inflation-wise — the new revision even shaved some weight and is now just 50 grams (I’m not a weight weenie, but I like my jersey pockets not sagging).
Why do I choose that instead of electric pumps or CO2? My testing shows that it takes me 4–5 minutes to fully pump either a road or gravel tyre. No matter how much faster other types of inflators are, a couple of minutes doesn’t really matter in the real world.

And yes, I do need to workout a bit to pump up manually, but so do I to ride my bike — that’s actually the purpose. The many upsides of the mini pump will become apparent in further comparison, but now — a couple of tips regarding mini pumps.
First, the screwed-on pump head is a good thing, but many people do not like them, because they may unscrew valve cores, which is frustrating after all the work. Well, just screw them in properly with a tool (more on that later), you’ll never have a problem.

Second, you need to firmly fixate the head/valve against the rim or spokes with the palm of your non-pumping head — otherwise, you risk bending the tiny valve core stem. Throughout the years I have never had a single issue here, so it’s a skill issue.
To make this post complete, there is a similar option to mini pumps that are frame pumps. I do not have personal experience with those, and in my opinion faster inflation doesn’t outweigh the need to clean up another thing attached to your bike after every little rain.

An electric pump inflates a tyre in 1–2 minutes and doesn’t require any work, but that comes with quite a few drawbacks.
First, battery anxiety — if I ride alone, I wouldn’t want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere because I had more than one puncture in a row, and my pump died. Also, keeping the battery charged between your rides is another thing in life to worry about. All that can be solved by e.g. your phone acting as a powerbank, but this means more cables to carry around.

Sidenote: I now found this power-bank light by Rockbros (the one on the top). It has a built-in cable, too short to reach the GPS unit, a 5000 mAh battery, and what I expect to be the worst light beam ever. Personally, I use iGPSport light that looks like the one on the bottom. It has the same 5000 mAh, USB-C reverse charging that I use to juice up my GPS on the go, and an okay beam.
Second downside is carrying the pump itself — even the smallest of them weigh significantly more and are way larger in size than the Airbone. In a saddle bag, that adds up. And you wouldn’t want to carry one in your jersey anyway, as these pumps are not waterproof by design (they have to suck in air trough an open vent).

Third, it’s consumerism at its worst: a device that costs several times more than the everlasting Airbone, but the battery will inevitably degrade (and likely end up in a field somewhere), by which time you would be eager to try a newer model — but first will need to waste some of your life on comparing the options… And for what? A couple of minutes saved once in a blue moon.

Anyway, if you still want it, know that if you use inner tubes with plastic valve stems, you should have a separate little hose to connect an electric pump — otherwise it may melt the stem (they get hot!).

Also, be warned that those things tend to be very loud, and some people can’t stand the noise. I don’t mind and gladly borrow an electric pump whenever I have a puncture at our group rides, to save everyone those couple minutes.

CO2 cartridges is a race day option, really. Even more so than electric pumps, CO2s can inflate only so much before they run out (practically speaking, one full inflation consumes a full cartridge). Obviously, they are a single-use thing and need to be replaced, adding to waste.
They’re a bit heavier than Airbones, and marginally bigger. They get too cold for bare hands when inflating, and you want to use a special sleeve or gloves. The CO2 gas is not compatible with some tubeless sealants (tbh, not the best ones anyway), and also it escapes easier than oxygen.

The huge pro of the CO2 is their inflation speed — it’s almost instantaneous, which is valuable in a competition. Other than that, you cannot easily travel with with them and have to constantly buy replacements for the thrown-away cartridges, so if you don’t race, I wouldn’t bother.
MINIMAP | Pump — Tools — Spares — Tubes — Carrying |

Unless you have quick-release axles, you’ll absolutely need an Allen key to change the tyre in case of a flat — usually it’s a 5 mm one. But you’ll most likely have that in a multitool, which should include all the bits you may need for your bike, and a chain breaker. A quick-link storage is nice.

As far as punctures, I would check both a valve core tool, and a valve extender tool if you have deep rims (both are in that ubiquotous black little thingy). I interchangeably use Pro Performance 13F and Topeak Ninja 16+ — each is just 80–90 grams and all I need, including spoke wrenches.
Next are tyre levers. Most of the tyres can be removed with just one, or even without them at all if you use an advanced technique (and some finger strength). But the easiest method is with two levers. Most of them are banal plastic things that work more or less the same.
MINIMAP | Pump — Tools — Spares — Tubes — Carrying |

At last, the consumables. Before digging into tubes, I’ll quickly address what can be used along with them — or even instead.
I always carry a patch kit when riding alone in case I puncture the spare tube. Self-adhesive patches take almost no space, but in my experience are a flimsy temporary solution. The ones that come with a small tube of rubber glue, make your butyl tube as good as new. Your mileage may vary with other tube types and particular patch sets — there are so many on the market.

If you’re running tubeless, tyre plugs can occasionally save you the need to put in a tube, which may turn out a messy endeavor. Again, there are countless options on the market, but in our group’s experience Dynaplug is what just works every single time regardless of how skillful or lucky you are. If that didn’t work, you needed a tube anyway.
MINIMAP | Pump — Tools — Spares — Tubes — Carrying |

In my opinion, the tube is another thing you should always carry — even if you run tubeless. Here I’m only focusing on tubes as a spare, disregarding anything related to their regular use.

There are three types:
• TPU tubes (one on the left & top row on the pictures)
• latex tubes (green, pink, and yellow on the pictures)
• butyl tubes (always black)
TPU tubes can be very compact and lightweight which, in theory, makes them a perfect choice as a spare. However, I do not recommend them for that purpose.

First of all, they tend to be too fragile. A TPU is easily destroyed by just rubbing against other stuff in a bag, or even in a pocket (and reserving the whole pocket for just a tube kinda defeats the purpose of having a small one). There exist thicker, more durable TPU tubes (blue on the picture), but then they are similar in size and performance to butyl ones, only harder to buy.

Many TPU tubes have plastic valves, which often crack and leak air, and those usually have glued-in cores that cannot be unscrewed, which is not optimal in some scenarios. More and more TPUs now have metal valves, but still they tend to have problems around the stem, where it is attached to the tube itself — it’s not rare that they come with a leak in that region right from the factory.
Even if you store your TPU tubes with utmost care, sometimes even the new ones have tiny little holes (slow leaks). If by the time you need your TPU, it’s still intact, you can so easily puncture it between the tyre bead and rim during installation. To repair a TPU tube so it wouldn’t leak again, often as soon as on the same day, you need some luck or really-really know what you’re doing.

Also, TPU tubes are very limited in what size of tyres they can be used in — which makes them way less versatile: it may be not you but your companion who’d need a spare. All in all, speaking from experience here — TPU tubes, no matter how good they look on paper for that, are just an ever-problematic choice to carry with you as a spare.
Latex tubes are expensive and leak air so fast that you sometimes need to pump them up closer to the end of a long ride. They are traditionally used for their performance qualities (low rolling resistance), but today they’re not better than good TPUs or tubeless in that regard. I never carried one as a spare, but even on paper they look no better than a regular butyl tube for that purpose.

Butyl tubes are the never-aging classic. They are so robust you can pinch them quite hard between the tyre and the rim or even ride on a flat tyre & tube without consequences. A butyl tube can be stored in your saddle or bar bag for ages, and will be as good as new when you need it. They just work and that what counts when you have a flat somewhere in the woods.
What to consider when choosing a spare tube.

First, make sure the valve stem is long enough for your rims. Personally, I prefer a combination of a regular short stem with a screwed-on valve extender — that way not only I don’t have to think twice if I’m riding deep wheels or not, but also if I need to borrow a tube, even a short-stemmed one will work for my wheels with the extender (provided the tube has an unscrewable core).

Obviously, your tube size better be matching your tyre, but if you use a butyl tube, you can get away with a lot. Not only it can stretch significantly wider than what it says on the tin (or squeeze inside a smaller tyre), but there’s even a lifehack where if you don’t have a patch and punctured twice, you can tie a knot around the hole to isolate it, and the tube will still be usable!
Butyl tubes come in lighter weights, and I can’t recommend those enough. They are practically as robust as the thicker ones, but are significantly lighter and smaller. Maxxis Ultralight are best for road tyres (officially up to 32 mm), weighing just 75 grams, and Continental Tour Light is an uber-versatile choice — at 100 grams it fits anything from 28 mm road tyres up to 2+ inch MTB rubber.

To make this section complete, I couldn’t care less about all the click-type, fill-more, quick-fill, big-bore, high-flow and other proprietary valves — they do not solve any real problem, but only increase the number of incompatible standards for pumps. Presta works just fine, but if you really want to have higher air flow, it means you must have wide enough rims to drill them for Schrader.
2. HOW TO CARRY
MINIMAP | Pump — Tools — Spares — Tubes — Carrying |

So, you have to carry a pump & tube, likely a multitool, plus maybe various small items (listed above or whatever else turns your crank). Style is important for me, so I only consider the following options of where to keep all that — anything else is a faux-pas on a coffee ride :)

If you don’t care about the cycling esthetics, you could probably skip this section — although I do have some pragmatic considerations here as well.

Jersey pockets are a purist choice, but they get too heavy too fast. If your jersey is not race-tight, sagging pockets are not only ill-looking, but also uncomfortable. For me, around 200 grams feels like the maximum a pocket can hold, which is just enough for an Airbone, light tube & multitool.
A saddle bag is a popular choice among pro riders in training, as it doesn’t affect the ride. Thus, it looks acceptable even on a road race bike — provided it’s compact enough to fit under the saddle, not behind it. I’d ridden a lot with various saddle bags, but not anymore, as I hate how nasty they get in the wet, due to the rear wheel spraying right across them. They’re a bit of a pain to clean.

Bar bags have been the fashionable accessory that adds that nonchalant vibe to any bike. Yes, they are not aerodynamically optimal, and depending on the size, a bar bag may slow you down quite more than just marginally. But that’s exactly the message — I’m fast enough to not care about those couple dozen watts. And practicality is unbeatable: lots of space, easy to access.
One thing: if you run a headlight under your GPS mount, a small bar bag is still doable, but you should pay attention to how everything is interspaced to avoid geometrical incompatibility.

Frame bags. These are the trickiest of the four to pull off, style-wise. A fueltank-style bag on the toptube or an in-frame bag underneath it may look good on a gravel bike — but most often don’t. Never ever did frame bags of any sort look well on a sporty road bike. But from the practicality standpoint they’re good, so I see a lot of people with them. Again, whatever blows your hair back.
Finally, several bags at once may look even better than a single one — provided they match. Two or more non-matching bags on the same bike never look right to me.

And that’s it for today. Like, subscribe, or buy me a coffee.
16.10.2023
A couple of suggestions regarding pumps
21.12.2023
📌 Road & gravel hookless rims: truth twisted by manufacturers