When a day-ride gets too long...what's in your "SOL" kit?

[Danneaux]

Hi All,

Looking for input and suggestions here...

I've spent most of my cycling years riding alone through Oregon's wilder areas, often great distances from population and well beyond cell-phone range, deep into the Cascade, Coast, or Calapooya mountain ranges. Thanks to careful preparation of the bike and some occasional luck, I've always managed to ride home again on-schedule, but I sometimes have to push pretty hard to make it, especially after riding a lot of slow single-track or climbing in the forest or if the weather turns bad.

The trouble is, my family members no longer drive, and I really can't think of a single friend I could really count on to come get me, as they all have work schedules that would preclude a ready trip to get me, or lack vehicles that would hold/carry me and the bike, or are off adventuring on their own. There's also the lack of cell-phone service. A 400km day ride can still put me 200km from home, and in the middle of some really wild country. Bike breakages are rare for me, but when they happened, I was always able to get home again, albeit slower than usual. Folks at home always have an itinerary and know when I "should" return, so someone will know if I go missing.

I've come to think it would be wise to make up a little "SOL" kit in case I have to spend a night out in the woods. There's many meanings for the acronym, but to me SOL means "Short On Luck" -- when one's luck runs out. What I need is something to get me by overnight if it is above freezing, and that will allow me to get a bit of sleep and stay reasonably warm and dry. The way I figure it, I need to plan for an unplanned tour, which means taking things that will "work" for a night, but without the weight or bulk and luxury of dedicated touring gear. Maybe what I need is ultralight touring gear, or something like it.

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Here's what I've come up with so far:

1) The Pocket Kitchen ( http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=3850.msg16915#msg16915 ), my little meths stove, stand and windscreen with a lid and a couple hard-anodized alu bowls that double as pots. Fuel for 3-6 firings/meals.

2) Food/water: Several rolled-up freezer bags filled with dehydrated soup plus the usual stock of energy bars and water on the bike.

3) Homemade Reflectix cozy (aluminized mylar bubble-wrap formed into a foldover sack) to "cook" the soup in its freezer bag by steeping and keeping the heat in for 5 minutes after I boil water on the stove.

4) Several chemical heat packs/handwarmers ( http://www.rei.com/product/829214/grabber-hand-warmers-3-pairs ). A nice addition to "kick-start" some warmth when cold and tired.

All this fits in one side pocket of my rack-top pack, along with my usual day-ride first aid kit. Sans soup, the lot weighs 454g/16oz on my corrected digital scale. The soup weighs 90g/3oz/packet.

5) A Therm-A-Rest ProLite Regular sleeping pad ( http://cascadedesigns.com/en/therm-a-rest/mattresses/fast-and-light/prolite-2012/product ), 51cm x 183cm x 2.5cm/20in x 72in x 1in, weight 460g/1lb. This pad has enough cutouts to make it about half air and therefore unsuitable for my cold-weather touring, but it should be ideal as a thermal break against the cold ground for an unplanned overnighter, and at 26cm x 10cm/10.25in x 3.75in, it fits neatly in the main compartment of my rack-top pack, leaving plenty of room for spare clothing, the Kryptonite u-lock, etc.

6) An Adventure Medical Kits SOL Escape Bivy. It came on sale this weekend for USD$37 at REI's anniversary sale, so I ordered one. Basically, it is a refinement of the old reflectorized mylar "space blanket", but instead made from a “vacuum-metalized spun-bonded olefin” that forms a sack with a drawsting-closable hood and part-zippered closure like a sleeping bag. It is (supposedly) semi-breathable, minimizing the clammy feel and clothes-soaking condensation that forms in the usual mylar emergency bivy. We'll see. It was either this or the Blizzard Bag ( http://www.blizzardsurvival.com/product.php/100/blizzard-survival-bag ), but I chose this for now, as it is "user-field repackable" any number of times, and the Blizzard Bag really needs to be repacked with a vacuum cleaner to remove excess air, else it remains large (been there, done that when I found I could not repack my space-bag anywhere near what I needed to in order to carry it home. I wound up riding home with it knotted around my waist to avoid leaving it as trash in the woods).

The SOL Escape bivy ( http://www.adventuremedicalkits.com/product.php?product=263&catname=Shelter&prodname=Escape%20Bivvy%20-%20Shipping%20January%202012!# ) is supposed to weigh 227g/8.1oz and measure out to 213cm x 91cm/84in x 36in, so it should a) hold me at 180cm, b) rest on the pad, or c) allow me to slip the pad inside, ensuring I don't slip off it and adding a bit more warmth. Packed, it measures 16cm x 22cm/6.25in x 8.5in, which will also fit in the rack-top bag with the pad, spare jacket and tights, and the lock.

Together, the sleep system weighs 687g/24oz, not counting whatever clothing I take with me and wear inside it. It provides a measure of rain protection ("water resistant" is not "waterproof", but it is supposed to breathe to a degree. If past experience counts for anything, a really wet surface will prevent the escape of water vapor, but it should stay pretty dry inside in heavy dew and dry conditions. I did manage to grab 3 hours' sleep once in the dark stretch of a long 400km/24-hour August ride through the Cascades. I managed by lying in a space-bag in my clothes atop a couple hay bales until the 2.7C/37F temps awakened me at 1143m/3750ft. I was wearing shorts, jersey, and socks, then added a nylon-faced light wool jersey and wind jacket and lycra tights. Overall, it was pretty typical for what I might find on an unexpected overnighter. I usually tuck in a lightweight fleece balaclava or fleece hat with reflective dots inside ( http://www.columbia.com/Fast-Trek%E2%84%A2-Fleece-Hat-Omni-Heat%C2%AE/CU9931,default,pd.html ). Keeping one's head insulated helps a lot when trying to sleep warm on colder nights.

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The whole SOL kit weighs in the neighborhood of 1.2kg/2.5lb excluding chemical handwarmers, food and clothing, which I'd probably take anyway. It all fits in my rack-top pack, leaving room for clothing and food. I usually take my Ortlieb HB bag as well, so there's storage there also, and I carry my LED headlight for fixing nighttime flats so it would be handy if needed. the usual small tissue packets would work fine as toilet paper. The phone and GPS are always with me and charged or with spare batteries.

Who knows? This might work ideally for planned overnight or multi-night tours on warm summer days/nights.

I figure my SOL kit will allow for several hot meals, and the chance to grab some sleep as temps drop. I should stay warmer than I would upright or sitting in the ground in just my clothes, and reasonably dry.

Have I missed anything? Any further suggestions for lightweight, low-bulk "must-haves" I might have overlooked? Any ideas for things that might work better?  If you have one, what's in your "SOL Kit" for long day rides?

Best,

Dan.

[jags]

Stands back in amazement that kit took some very clever thinking.
now what would i add to that kit emm ,
small kettle
wollie hat
radio

thermal underware
marino long sleeve base layer.
mind you i'm only guessing here i'm no expert but your in bear and snake country
so how would you keep safe from those critters

[StuntPilot]

Here is my 'SOL' kit, developed from walking in the Scottish mountains and the Alps (if a thunder storm moves in and you cannot move!). Looks good for a cycle SOL situation too:

1: Optimus Weekend Cookset. Small and compact. Gas canister fits inside the kit too with a Spork and lighter/waterproof matches.
http://www.optimusstoves.com/en/optimus-products/products/katadynshopconnect/optimus-outdoor-kocher/optimus-crux-weekend-he-kochsystem/

2: Several freeze-dried meals and energy bars. A few sachets too of dried 'Chicken Noodle for the Soul' type soups! Whatever is your favourite. Water stocks always maintained in bottles or Ortlieb water bags. I have enjoyed the Travellunch meals. May only be available in Europe - don't know.
http://www.travellunch.de/en

3: Good gloves which are waterproof and warm for the bad weather SOL situation. Never tried the hand warmer approach Dan!

4: Therm-a-rest Prolite A defacto standard I think!
http://cascadedesigns.com/en/therm-a-rest/mattresses/fast-and-light/prolite-2012/product

5: MSR eWing for the wet SOLs. Prop bike on Click-Stand and attach tarp to bike and ground.
http://cascadedesigns.com/en/msr/tents/essential-series/e-wing/product

6: Rab Survival Zone bivi. Light, compact and I have found it quite waterproof. Spent many nights warm and dry in this one, even in rain. Good value.
http://rab.uk.com/products/equipment/bivis/survival-zone.html

7: Good sleeping bag - any make with warm socks - I find that socks can combat some damp cold nights very well.

8: Thermal base layer for colder nights. I have a set of Skins. Good quality stuff. jags - am considering some Icebreaker merino ones instead.
http://www.skins.net/en-GB/index.aspx

9: First Aid kit.
http://www.lifesystems.co.uk/psec/first_aid_kits/trek_first_aid_kit.htm

10: Head Torch.
http://www.petzl.com/us/outdoor/headlamp/universal/tikka-xp-core

Thats it! Eat, drink, sleep, warmth, rain protection, and something if you damage yourself. And a light to find it all!

[Danneaux]

Jags, Richard!

This is really neat, and I appreciate your feedback, suggestions, and list of what you would or do carry in your own SOL kits.

A bit later in the season (after I return from my June tour), I'll be taking mine out for a deliberate field trial, but there's nothing to prevent a preliminary effort in the wild of my own backyard at Danneaux's Tent-Testing Research Facility. Provided the little family of skunks that come up from the river to visit the neighbor's fish pond don't find me, it would be fun to see just how low I can go temperature-wise, and there is a tremendous temptation to just deliberately go bike-camping with such a lightweight kit to see if it is workable. I've gone ultralight before, but with dedicated gear. This would be a repurposing of my emergency kit to see how viable it is.

your in bear and snake country...so how would you keep safe from those critters

Well, so long as I don't have food in with me, I should be fine. Standard procedure would be to take the line I have wrapped around the little stuff sack for the bivy and toss it over a high branch and winch it up out of Mr. and Mrs. Bears' reach. As for the snakes...well, a number were out sunning themselves on the Mt. June ride, but they generally aren't a problem. Unless you accidentally run over them with the bike, the rattlesnakes will almost always shake out plenty of warning. Yes, there have been stories of snakes crawling into warm sleeping bags (happened to some acquaintances of mine some years ago; hysterics and dismay followed, but no bites). Snakes here are generally pretty shy and don't cause harm if you're bigger than their usual prey. The new bivy has a drawcord hood, so with that closed, I'd be fine in any case.

Never tried the hand warmer approach Dan!

I like the idea of gloves, Richard, but last winter's experiments really got me onto the handwarmer idea. They're a quick boost o'heat that is captured right inside the bag. My father bought a Marmot Never Summer winter sleeping bag that has a handwarmer pocket in the foot section. Once he got inside and started one of the warmers, I thought he'd never leave the bag!

Thats it! Eat, drink, sleep, warmth, rain protection, and something if you damage yourself. And a light to find it all!

Sounds just about spot-on perfect to me, Richard; well done! Even better...this really could cross the line into ultralight cycle-camping and not simply survival/SOL stuff. A really nice kit, I'd say!

Hmm. Your posts got me thinking...I could add my expedition silk bag liner ( http://www.basegear.com/cocoon-expedition-mummyliner.html ) At 130g/4.6oz, and my little Cocoon Hyperlite air pillow ( http://www.rei.com/product/799192/cocoon-hyperlite-pillow ) at another 68g/2.4oz, and I would still be at about three pounds, less food, water, and clothing. Not bad, and lot more luxurious as these would move me toward the ultralight camping end of things and not just getting through the (unexpected or...maybe!...planned) night .

All the best,

Dan.

[Danneaux]

Hi All!

Well, the Adventure Medical Kits SOL Escape bivy just did not do the job for me last night.  The Executive Summary is I gave it a manful try in ideal conditions here at Danneaux Estates and Research Labs' Tent Testing Facility (aka "my backyard") and it didn't work very well this first go'-round.

Here's the details...

I figured for a first-use, I'd give it every possible advantage. I started by wearing every stitch of clothing I would typically bring on a very long day-ride in moderate but changeable dry weather:
- cycling jersey
- padded cycling shorts
- quarter-socks
- wool tights
- lycra tights over them
- long-sleeved wool jersey with nylon-faced wind panels
- microfleece balaclava
- microfleece beanie with reflective lining

I added my Cocoon Expedition silk liner and laid the lot out on my tent footprint and my heavier Nemo Tuo dual-chamber cross-cored self-inflating pad and my Cocoon Hyperlite air pillow. In the past I've slept in similar clothing with no hat in 37F/2.7C weather under just a mylar "space" blanket atop a couple hay-bales, so I figured this setup should take me at least that far. I even did a few calisthenics and ate an energy bar immediately before retiring and I was well hydrated. The neighbors have given up on me long ago and figure I am not a clear or present danger so their curtains no longer wiggle unless the homemade camp stove experiments get loud/bright (accumulated gas is a problem when it lights-off). A few even still wave back using all fingers, so I was good to go.

Last night was warm by any reasonable standard. At the coldest, it dropped to 47F/8.3C, was mostly clear, wind SSE@3mph/4.8kph, 30.19in of barometric pressure, and I got 89% relative humidity by wet-bulb measurement (wet-muslin-wrapped bulb, twirled at the end of a string). By the time I got in and settled just after midnight, it was at dew-point and the grass and everything around me was pretty wet. I had digital thermometers outside the bag at two places, a data-logging one on my wrist with body-temp compensation, and another I could move around inside the SOL Escape bivy.

If you're gonna do this, y'gotta do it right.

At first, everything inside the SOL Escape bivy was good. I was still warm from exertion, and I was getting ambient temp readings inside the bag next to but not on me that were really good -- 77F/25C. I was too warm, if anything. I fell asleep soundly, but kept awakening cold over the course of the next few hours.

The problem is in the design and shared by others of its type -- without lofting insulation to trap dead air, the only thing I have going for me in the SOL Escape bivy is the reflective lining, the breathable fabric (it did stay nicely dry inside), and whatever pockets of air can be trapped within. The problem came wherever the outer surface of the bivy came in direct contact with me. I was toasty-warm below, thanks to the Nemo Tuo pad. Lying on my back things went pretty well at the sides so long as I kept my hands in my armpits or placed them fig-leaf fashion ('pits and groin are both warm areas on the body, with pretty good blood flow). However, everywhere the bivy surface touched me, I "colded" out -- there was simply not enough warm, trapped air or reflected heat to overcome the cold-contact areas on my chest and trunk. I suspicion the breathable vapor-deposited reflective coating is nowhere as efficient as the impermeable aluminized mylar of a conventional "space" blanket or bag. The old trick of sleeping on one's side to minimize contact area helped, according to the instrumented and logged readings (and perceived warmth). Still, when lying on my right side, I kept "colding-out" on my left shoulder and bicep, as well as my left hip and flank where they pressed against the bivy's inner surface. The unshielded zipper pull on one side of the hood and the plastic cord-lock on the other sure felt unpleasantly cold against my face.

After 4.5 hours, I gave up and called it a night, moving indoors to try and salvage some REM sleep.

To be honest, this is kinda what I thought would happen but hope springs eternal, and I am...a dopeless hope fiend (say it fast to get the pun).

In one of the factory videos, the spokesperson (an adventure racer) shows how a down or primaloft-filled jacket and other heat-trapping clothing can take the bivy down to freezing. This seems entirely reasonable, as the jacket would trap warm air in the same manner as a sleeping bag. AMK suggest the Escape SOL bivy as a breathable overbag (a not-quite-true bivy) for a sleeping bag. This also seems a reasonable use and would help prevent convective heat loss in wind and would help keep an insulated 'bag dry in damp or wet weather. It is possible I was overinsulated to the point where the reflective qualities of the bivy couldn't keep up with heat lost at the contact points, but I don't think so. The instruments showed plenty of warmth in the air pocket formed by my chest as I lay on my side.  At contact with the inner surface, the temperature inside the bivy was within a degree or two F of the outside air temperature. Trapped, warm air makes a reasonable insulator and where it is not, it does not. The warm comfort of my Nemo Tuo pad was proof of that.

I've used lots of VBL (vapor-barrier liners) in cold weather and they work great by trapping moisture inside, where it can't wet-out and de-loft the sleeping bag insulation. The downside is you sometimes/often wake up wetly warm so it pays to sleep nekkid or nearly so with a VBL. The SOL Escape bivy wouldn't work well as a VBL because it is breathable. Overbag/bivy yes, VBL no.

So, a worthy experiment (spearmint is always good), even if it left me "Short On Luck", chewing my cheeks and a little loopy with fatigue after a week of short sleep. I'm aiming to do some bicycle snow-camping in the Cascades as the weekend approaches if I can get the work-load down to a reasonable level so I can go.

I may try this sack another couple times while wearing some lofted insulation to see how far I can comfortably push it here at home, but the original question re-emerges -- what to choose for a carryable sleep system when I don't want to take panniers on an unexpectedly too-long day ride? The Blizzard Bag would seem to do (multiple layers of heat-trapping reflectorized mylar), but repacking it after use really requires a vacuum cleaner, and I can't carry a long-enough extension cord.

Best,

Dan. (still awaiting a lightweight, fully-shielded fusion pile so my dream of a cyclist's microwave oven, electric blanket, and unlimited gadget-charging will come true)

[JimK]

the Adventure Medical Kits SOL Escape bivy just did not do the job for me last night.

Thanks for the report, Dan! This really helps the community!

[Danneaux]

Hi All!

A few of you have contacted me to ask "What's next, Danneaux?" wrt my SOL (Short On Luck) kit now I have abandoned space-type bags/blankets.

I've decided to take another direction toward my SOL kit, for those times when I either bite off more than I can chew for a day-long round trip, have a failure or injury of some sort, or just wish to spend the night wild-camping if the fancy strikes me. An unplanned, spur-of-the-moment overnighter can be a lot of fun if you've prepared in advance.

After a lot of thought and less then stellar success with the emergency bivy-bag arrangements, I have decided what I need is an sorta-ultralight camping kit. With care, I believe I can fit the needed components on my rear rack and in the rack-top bag on my Nomad.

Here are my refined requirements:

= I want to be able to sleep warm down to freezing (32°F/0°C).
= I want to be able to sleep dry if it rains and out of the wind as well.
= I want to be able to cook hot meals (at least three of them) and be able to eat them inside my tent if needed (cooking outside; I just will.not.cook inside a tent in any way, shape, or form. I used to do clinical supervisions, and I have seen enough people who were severely burned in tent fires to put me off the idea of cooking inside one).
= I wanted to put something together for a "reasonable" amount of money, using as much as possible gear I already have.

My dad kindly offered his 32 year-old Early Winters Pocket Hotel Gore-Tex bivy/tent to replace mine, which finally failed on my 2010 Great Basin tour after many years of use. It works fine, smells a little like the old urethane coating on the floor, and needs testing to prove its waterproofness, but is warm and tight and should work great if it proves to still be watertight. It weighs exactly 1kg/2.2lb complete with stuff sack, footprint, and stakes. So, assuming it still works, that's shelter sorted.

REI is currently running a Deal of the Week on sleeping bags at their outlet website: http://www.rei.com/outlet/feature/Deal+Of+The+Week  Looking through their offerings, I selected a Women's Long Sub-Kilo +15 bag filled with 750+ down. My sister has one in a Regular size; I generally go for a women's long bag as they have a smidge more fill in the head and feet where I get also get cold, and are warmer than the men's versions. This one fits to 6ft like the men's regular, but has 3 more ounces of down. It arrived today and looks good. There's no way in this world it is going to be a 15°F bag for me...wasn't for Sis, either. I think -- and her experience proved -- outside a tent in the open on a good pad it is good to freezing and that's about it, unless you start taking extra measures like adding fleece liners and such. That's just about the temperature range I'm aiming for, and tonight is expected to hit 32°F/0°C exactly, so I'll be in the backyard with the usual wildlife and Iduhnno how many of the neighbor lady's 23 cats (she keeps adding them...) to see if it does the job.  If so, that's the bag checked off the list for USDD$160, and useful/usable as a 3-season bag for regular touring also. It weighs in right at 900g/2lb. With a compression sack, I think I can get it down to the size of 1.5 grapefruits. Not bad.

I'm trying the bag on my usual 1kg double-chamber cross-cored/solid Nemo Tuo pad tonight, since I know it is warm and if the bag doesn't work on it, it won't work with anything. If I have success, then I will substitute a Thermarest ProLite Regular pad at about half the weight (455g/1lb) tomorrow night, which is also supposed to be cold.

I will probably toss in my Coccoon Expedition silk liner at 120g/4.2oz and my Coccoon HyperLite pillow at another 68g/2.4oz.

For eating hot meals, I have my little Pocket Kitchen that weighs in right at 458g/1lb with the Heineken beer can penny-stove, simmer ring, priming pan, pot stand, folding sectional windscreen in nylon case, lighter, enough methanol in a bottle for three meals, a folding polycarbonate foon, a dish towel, Swiss Army Knife Classic, P-38 can opener, two Evernew anodized alu bowls and a lid/dish/pot insulator, a pot lifter, and a stuff sack. See: http://www.thorncycles.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=3850.msg16915#msg16915 If I wish, I can substitute my Chinese made "orange-box" propane-butane stove and a 110g cartridge of fuel for a total of 330g/11.8oz in the stove alone; heavier than the meths outfit but enough fuel for about 45 minutes' burn time.

The total adds up like this...
1.00kg = bivy/tent
0.90kg = sleeping bag
0.46kg = pad
0.19kg = silk liner & insulated air pillow
0.46kg = Pocket Kitchen
------
3.01kg Total

Hmm...3.01kg/6.63lb...not too bad to accomplish all my goals. Add the weight of a couple straps and my rack-top bag (which I carry anyway) and a few little packets of dehydrated soup and hot cocoa or apple cider mix or tea and the water I usually carry on my bike, and I've met all my goals. With any luck, I'll be warm, dry, and comfortable and not just "surviving" as in a Space-type sack or blanket. Not bad! I recruited my father to stand by the bivy/tent for scale in the attached photos below.

I plan to test tonight wearing most of the clothing I'd likely have with me --
- jersey
- riding shorts
- quarter-socks
- lightweight fleece balaclava
- nylon-faced wool long-sleeve jersey
- wool tights
- lycra tights

Depending on weather, I might also have my rain gear with me -- waterproof jacket, DWR pants, shoe covers, Gore-Tex overmitts, and a helmet cover. Those could be added to the clothing above if desired.

I'm well-hydrated, nicely fed from supper, and sleepy as I approach midnight, so things should go pretty well. It is 12.8°C/55°F at the moment, and will hit 0°C/32°F about 4:30AM. My wet-bulb hygrometer shows 35% humidity, and there' sa 14mph north wind. I've got an hourly temperature data-logger outside the tent, another inside, another inside the top of the bag, and another at the foot, also inside; can't do these things halfway. Report t'morrow; g'night, All.

Best,

Dan. (For Physics! And, um, "Adventure" even if only in the backyard tonight...)

[Danneaux]

Hi All!

Well, the cats didn't eat me and I slept pretty well, but the results of last night's sleeping bag trial were disappointing. That's the executive summary. Those of a more scientific bent may wish to read on for details.

I went to sleep about quarter-past Midnight last night. It was 55°F/13°C at bedtime and really too warm to close the hood and top of the bag; I did have it fully zipped, and went to bed wearing the clothes described above.

Except for awakening a couple times to shoo cats ("No kitty! Don't claw the tent!" Should have put up the portable construction fencing at the Tent Test Facility), I slept pretty well. I do remember snugging the hood and top shut about 2AM.

I awakened at 6AM feeling cool in my lap area, from just below my navel to about mid-thigh. As I lay there, it spread upward toward my chest and I cashed it in and got up so I could make an early appointment. I checked the digital thermometers/temperature data loggers and here's what I got:

30.0°F/-1/1°C = Outside the tent door

45.0°F/7.2°C = Just inside the tent door with the top of the door unzipped and rolled down 25%. This is really outstanding. I already knew the 3-layer Gore-Tex bivy was warmer than my mesh tent with fly (which is usually about 5°F warmer than outdoors), but it was nice to quantify the difference with a real measure.

73°F/22.7°C = right atop my chest near the top of the bag...this is "cool" compared to my usual comfort level at about 86°F/30C. This has proven to be the best indicator of how "warm" I am because it reads the trapped warm air in the boundary layer immediately above my core at the boundary of the bag lining. 86°F is about 12-13° cooler than my actual core temp, but is a good proxy for a reasonable amount of heat loss at that point for me to still feel "warm". 73°F felt about 13°F cooler than what I would have preferred in this spot.

64°F/17.7C = In the footbox...about spot-on for what I generally feel is "comfortable" without feeling cold feet in a bag.

I wish I'd had a temp logger on my lap, as that was what felt cool when I awakened. It is a bit hard to tell if I awakened because I was cool or just was cool enough to catch my attention once I was awake. I may move the logger on tonight's trial. In either case, I was not as warm as I would have wished, and this in what amounted to 45°F/7.2°C temps (in the tent).

I weighed the bag this morning after allowing it to thorughly air so I wouldn't be counting any mositure absorption. It came in at 32.2oz/0.91kg, so spot-on for the 2lbs. it was advertised at, and each baffle got appears to have received a full fill. The women's bag has 3 ounces more down -- 10% -- than the same-size men's bag. Like my REI Halo +12 bag (-1F EN rating for men), this one has corner blocks, so the baffles are distinct and separate for top, bottom, and each side to prevent any shifting of the down. This is as good as I'm likely to get for the money, which is a big consideration. Still, I caught a 3-hour nap midway on a 400km ride and that was just lying on a couple of hay bales under a reflective mylar "space" blanket. I was awakened by the cold when the temperature dropped to 37°F/2.7°C, but slept soundly till then.

I'll give this another go tonight when temps are expected to be equally cold with cmparably clear skies and relative humidity and try various cloting combos inside and see what happens. For now...I'm a bit disappointed in the bag, though the rest of my SOL kit seems to be working fine.

Best,

Dan.

[jags]

Now doesn't  that man Jack look fantastic and 95 years young what a guy  still a cool dude.

Dan thanks for that report great help i'm holding on until you get this down bag sorted ,sure is great to have someone field test it before you go spending any money.

[Danneaux]

Hi jags,

Mystery of the Cold Lap solved: Looking at the sleeping bag in the bright sunshine (head inside, looking out through the bag with the side zipped...now you know why the neighbors converse about me but not with me...) the baffle right over that area has only about 1/3 the down fill of its neighbors, which all got a full-fill.

I've sent for another while it is still on sale; it will arrive by Tuesday. This one gets returned.

Best,

Dan. (...I'm calibrated pretty well myself!)