This Lightweight Bike Rack and Bag Carried Everything I Needed for a 4-Day, 213-Mile Trip

A photo of a bike with a bag in the back on an illustrated background.

This past summer I cycled the 183-mile Albany–to–New York City leg of the Empire State Trail along with two friends. Thanks to one pivotal wrong turn and several detours for Dunkin’, we actually did it in 213 miles.

Our goal was never maximum efficiency or peak performance, though. It was to see where the open road might take us. To push ourselves, but mostly to goof off. To drink too much and regret it on the uphill the next day.

To keep the shenanigans high on our four-day trek, I would need to keep my pack weight low.

Your thighs feel every extra ounce as you brave the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, the wind whipping at your face, the mighty Hudson River flowing beneath your feet. So my goal was to keep my pack around 25 pounds, including my bike rack and pannier setup, four days’ worth of sweat-wicking tank tops, protein bars, deodorant, a spare tube, chain links, sunscreen, water bottles, bug spray, and a Bluetooth speaker.

With the help of the Topeak Explorer MTX 2.0, along with the compatible Topeak MTX TrunkBag EXP, I got my setup down to 22 pounds—and didn’t need to compromise on anything else.



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