Small bar bags left me cold until, when kitting up for a tour of northern Spain and Mallorca in the summer of 2023, it dawned on me that I needed somewhere accessible to carry my passport, phone, multitool and a rain jacket both on and off the bike.
Yes, I could have gone down the traditional route of stuffing my rear pockets, but frankly, I’d rather have my eyeballs extracted without anaesthetic. What is it about cycling? No other pastime I can think of requires participants to tuck away the stuff they’re likely to need fast and frequently in a spot that’s both unreachable and unseeable. Yep, I’m no fan of largely inaccessible, small, sweaty rear jersey pockets, particularly on long rides.
