GearAdvent Day 3: Sleep

As I researched bikepacking the folks with a lot of miles and a lot of nights behind them would often say “you can economize in a lot of ways, but if you have a little money put it in your sleeping gear.” Whether backpacking or bikepacking, it rings true that in order to have a good adventure – fun – you can’t be suffering all night every night.

So I did a bunch of research and splurged on a mid-level/mid-cost sleep setup, the Zenbivy Quilt, with an inflatable Helix sleeping pad from REI, and a Nemo Fillo backpacking pillow.

What are the criteria?

• How much volume does the sleeping gear take? Unfortunately, the cheaper gear is huge, and the price goes up as the packed size goes down.
• What sort of sleeper are you? Flat on your back, arms folded? (Not me!)
• Sleeping pads make noise – how much?
• They also have a surface texture. Is it comfortable? Slippery?
• How do you inflate and deflate the pad?
• What is the pad’s insulation rating (R value)?
• Do you need a pillow to be comfortable?

I learned one of the great debates right now is the traditional sleeping bag vs quilt. A bag zips you in, blocking any drafts, and may be more effective in very cold weather, but it also restricts your movement and ability to control the heat on warmer nights. I sleep all over the place and in strange, contorted positions, so the quilt definitely seemed like the better fit. The Zenbivy can be loose on top of you, legs out, or buckled around you, to a hood and sheet, with a cinched up “footbox” at the bottom, for colder nights.

The other main criteria in choosing sleeping gear is that you lose a lot of heat to the ground, so having a sleeping pad with a real and tested insulation R value is vital. I tried a bunch of these at the store, after first learning about them online, and by far the most comfortable and best value I found was the REI Helix.

• It has a nice texture on the outside vs some of the other pads that were very slippery
• It has a very clever structure consisting of offset “dots” that are in one position on the top of the mattress and offset by half the distance in both directions on the bottom, so there are no cold spots.
• You can inflate it with an inflation bag, and it has a separate “dump” valve that empties the air out in a couple of seconds.

The last thing is a pillow, which I really need to be comfortable – I’m willing to carry the extra weight. The Nemo Fillo is super clever, inflatable on the back in order to pack small, but with a foam layer on the top for comfort, all enclosed in a removable washable pillowcase with a built-in stuff sack.

This stuff, I will readily admit, was expensive. I am grateful to have the income to be able to splurge on this, and I know some folks are likely to think I’m crazy to drop this much money. But the other reality is that I’m 54 and sleeping straight on the ground just isn’t in the cards for me :-D.

All of this fits in a single front pannier, making for a neat, consolidated, and small travel setup.