Patrick Zasada: An Athlete in Focus & Why He No Longer Trusts Any Bikepacking Packing List
There are people who say a sentence, look at you briefly, and it takes you a moment to realize what was really in it. Patrick Zasada is exactly that kind of person.
He seems rather reserved. When asked who he is, he essentially says: I enjoy cycling and I earn my money with YouTube. That's one of those sentences that sounds harmless until you talk to people who know him. Eventually, the word "crazy" comes up. Not condescendingly, but more like a "beware, it's about to get wild."
This warning is not without reason. With Patrick, sometimes a single detail is enough to understand why his normal is not your normal. Through a casual remark in conversation, you suddenly realize: Some of his shortcuts don't lead along bike paths, but over terrain that sounds more like high mountains than a gravel ride. For Patrick, this has become normal over time. Precisely this shift in perspective is one of the most exciting aspects of his journey. Optimize regularly features athletes. This format is particularly suitable for Patrick because he not only rides but translates his experiences into systems. Into tools, into setups, into decisions. In the end, many turn to him when they need help with bikepacking.
Patrick openly talks about how much his body and mind have changed in recent years. Not long ago, 50 km meant muscle soreness and the feeling that you weren't one of the "tough" people. Today, that almost sounds like a memory from another life.
The driving force behind this is a mix of curiosity, freedom, and adventure. But above all, the desire to explore one's own limits and find out what is possible if the will is strong enough. This development is visibly documented on his YouTube channel.
Why I trust him when it comes to bikepacking gear
Would I believe this person if they told me what really matters on a long tour? With Patrick, the answer is clear. He has real outdoor and ultracycling experience, and at the same time, he has this eye for efficiency, weight, and practical setup.
He didn't start as an exceptional talent. "Just 6 years ago, I was overweight," he says. But he always asked himself what happens if you persevere and constantly push your own limits.
Since then, he has covered over 100,000 km on a gravel bike, ridden from home to Portugal, then to the North Cape, and finally finished Badlands. Last year, he even jogged from Frankfurt to Morocco, where he ended up in the drug cartel's hands - a long story... BILD also reported on it. Whether you love such stories or shake your head almost doesn't matter. They show that this is someone who doesn't just talk about adventures but truly lives them.
This experience also forms the basis for his demands on equipment. Everything must work outdoors when you are "unsupported." No excuses count! You learn that setup is not a side issue. You learn that bikepacking gear doesn't mean taking as much as possible, but as correctly as possible. And you learn that a good bikepacking packing list is a tool that keeps your mind clear.
"Most people could save 4 kg immediately without spending a cent."
That's a statement that sounds almost self-evident in his world. He sees the most common mistakes in bikepacking gear not in the wrong high-end choice, but in small items that add up. When he talks about his setup, it sounds like a clear principle: "It must not fail due to the equipment." He tinkers for a long time, optimizes down to the last gram, and looks for solutions that really pay off outdoors.
Most bikepacking beginners look for a checklist or similar because they are afraid of forgetting something. This concern often leads to the exact opposite. You pack more instead of better. You pack for every scenario instead of for reality. Ultimately, the planned bikepacking adventure becomes a battle against every meter of elevation.
Patrick has a very pragmatic view on this. He doesn't recommend expensive bikepacking gear. He rather tells you to look at what you habitually pack, even though you don't really need it on tour. That's the core of his philosophy. Don't buy more, but make better decisions.
A classic example is the wallet. Okay for everyday life. Often useless weight for bikepacking. Debit card, ID, some cash, maybe an emergency card, all in a small zip bag, and you're done. No heavy leather and no unnecessary ballast. Sounds trivial, but it's effective.
And it continues like that with oversized toiletry bags, double spare parts, or anything for all eventualities, which in the end only makes you feel slower and more cumbersome.
A bikepacking packing list is good when it unburdens you. When you don't have to ponder every evening. When you don't rummage through your bike bags because everything is somewhere. And when at the end of the day you still feel like continuing the next morning.
Why does Patrick no longer trust any bikepacking packing list?
Because standard lists pretend that all tours are the same. But they are not.
A bikepacking packing list for 3 days is not the same as a packing list for 14 days, where weather and provisions suddenly become real variables. A bikepacking packing list without a tent is different from a setup with a sleep system. A bikepacking packing list for summer has different priorities than a packing list for spring. And as soon as the Alps come into play, the topic becomes very specific: temperature, wind, rain, altitude. Suddenly, what looks good on the data sheet doesn't count, but what works! For example, a carbon pump initially sounds like an ultralight upgrade – but the parts don't last long. Many people look for PDF packing lists for bikepacking to check off. The only problem is, a PDF is rigid... Your scenario isn't.
Patrick has drawn a conclusion from this and built a system that adapts. This turns a bikepacking packing list into a tool that makes you faster, more relaxed, and often even more comfortable.
Creating a bikepacking packing list that suits your tour
His packing list generator is the answer to a real problem. Patrick uses it himself because his tours are so diverse that it makes no sense to save a hundred lists somewhere in his notes and hope each time that one of them fits.
The generator brings structure. You get an individual bikepacking packing list instead of a generic PDF. You can use it to create bikepacking packing lists that match your duration, your style, and your conditions.
You can find the packing list here: Bikepacking Packing List
You will notice that you not only pack faster but also more clearly. You can be sure not to forget anything important.
Why this improves your bikepacking bag setup
As soon as your packing list has been well-structured and reduced, your bikepacking setup automatically improves, because you no longer pack chaotically and also optimize weight. Suddenly, the bike feels more stable because you're not haphazardly throwing things in everywhere out of uncertainty.
Ultralight, but not dogmatic
Patrick is clearly the ultralight type. He likes to optimize, he refines details, he seeks these "marginal gains" because they add up outdoors. He doesn't pack ultralight to be ultralight. He packs appropriately.
He talks about tours where he traveled extremely light, even in cool mountain temperatures and rain. In Slovenia, he traveled for 8 days with only 1.4 kg of luggage. But he also describes situations where he deliberately opts for more robust gear because otherwise, it would cost him dearly later. This flexibility is precisely what makes a good gravel bikepacking packing list. Not maximal, but sensible. Not standardized, but adapted. Sounds trivial, but it's precisely the gap that many standard lists don't close.
From desert dust to code – How experience becomes a system
If you only see Patrick as an adventurer, you're missing an important half. He builds systems. He tests. He translates experience into tools so that others can make good decisions faster.
An example that perfectly illustrates his thinking: He and a partner tested over 400 tire models and built a system that doesn't simply look for "the fastest tire" for a route, but the best compromise of several real factors. Sorting individual parameters is not the best option in practice. Because low rolling resistance doesn't help you if you have no grip on loose ground and therefore have to ride slower. And a theoretically fast tire is also useless if you're constantly patching flats. An overview of his tools can be found here: https://www.zasada.cc/tools
What you should take for your next tour
Patrick is the kind of person who does things that sound extreme to others, with an almost too sober tone. This mix is precisely why his content works. Because it is both inspiring and practical.
When Optimize was still in its infancy, Patrick was already using our chain wax. For him, wax is the logical choice for long, unsupported tours in remote regions. A clean, quiet drivetrain means less friction, less dirt, and longer durability on the go. This demand for efficiency is what connects us. Today, we officially support him as a sponsor. Optimize stands for systems that work outdoors. Patrick stands for adventures where exactly that matters.
You can find the packing list generator here:
https://www.zasada.cc/packlisten-generator
More from Patrick Zasada
On zasada.cc you will find a whole collection of tools for gravel and bikepacking.
