I can't remember smiling that bright and that long as I did last Sunday. I just finished my first real mid-range ride with at least most of the baggage I will carry with me when I go cycgo. I feel quite comfortable with the packing concept now.
Obviously, the crucial part is the set of golf clubs. When I first started to think about that trip I figured that it could be the best idea to directly fix single clubs to the frame in parallel to the top tube. I played around a bit with this approach but I found, that this would interfere with both, my legs and the rear bags. The second thought - and this is the one I am currently successfully trying out - was this: Take one of those dry bags which you have to roll two, three times at the top to close them to a nearly waterproof stadium. I knew that those bag are available in quite impressive sizes, considering that they are meant to accompany you at your outdoor adventures. So I made a rough guess and ordered one with a volume of 80 litres.
When it arrived I was happy with my guess on first sight. This bag was huge and without measuring it, I was quite confident that this would be a fit. And then again I was not convinced that I would be able to fix that bag on the back carrier in a stable manner. But actually, it was not even close to be long enough to insert my very small golf bag and the set of clubs (another story, coming soon) I chose. That evening I was a bit discouraged: Was my idea possible at all? Or would I have to add a bike trailer to my concept - which I want to avoid by all means?
In the product line of the manufacturer of my choice there was a last size option of that dry bag: It can take up to 110l. Without really being full of enthusiasm with that enormous size of baggage I ordered it. Well, this bag should be big enough to carry myself around Scotland...
Yes, that would be another possibility to use that bag. It really is very, very large. But after some minor adjustments this is the way to go: This bag is long enough so that I can push my golf bag into it and still close the bag in a way that it will be more or less fully water protected. I will only include the irons, wedges, and the putter in the bag. The heads of the clubs will be near the saddle to avoid much weight far away from the wheel hub. Then I will tie the bag very tight at about the half of the length. Thereby, I keep the rest of the luggage I want to put into that bag, the tent, the sleeping sack and pad, from moving to much in the bag and again from having to much weight at the lower end of the bag. The shape of that bundle is slightly reminiscent of a mummy, but the oily black colour of the bag should keep away most of the grave robbers.
The woods I am going to carry with me will be treated somewhat different: The series of woods I use comes with the handy feature of screw-fastened club heads. So I will remove the heads to store them I one of the bags and just tighten the very light-weight shafts to the stuff on the back carrier.
The last challenge then is the fixing of the tube on the carrier. That took me two attempts, again. But with the first try I just did not have the right size of tie-down straps. After getting the right size of those straps, it took me only a couple of minutes to fix it in a very stable manner. By the way I got those straps as a gift by my wonderful girl friend who is simply the master of tie-down straps. This is, I have to add gently, not meant sexually at all, but simply refers to the fact, that she needs to fix her great sculptures for transportation purposes all the time :-)
So, eventually I made it. Here it is... drum roll...
I drove with that to my home club and played 10 holes there, even with an okay-ish score, and some 30 kilometres down the road I can say, that this concept can and will hold up the trip ahead. I am excited more than ever. Next week I will test the whole approach by testing an overnighter.