Not long ago I laid my camping gear out on the floor and eyeballed every item. It’s good stuff, all of it, well suited to the demands of mountaineering and canoeing. But it’s not so great for long-distance bike touring. My closed-cell foam pads and Therm-a-Rest self-inflating mattresses are bulky things, too big to stuff easily into a pannier. I could use the smallest Therm-a-Rest, but while it’s comfortable enough when I’m sleeping on the springy duff of a wild forest, it doesn’t do much to gentle the hard surface of the typical roadside camp. So I looked around to see if I could find something better. And I did. Big Agnes came to my rescue.

If you haven’t met her, Big Agnes is The Mother of Comfort. At least that’s the nickname given her by the company’s advertising guru, and—unusually, at least in my experience—it’s not much of a stretch. The night after I got my new “petite” Insulated Air Core sleeping pad, I laid it out on the living room floor and slept on it. It’s a pretty severe test. A floor is a pretty unforgiving mattress. But Big Agnes did her stuff. I slept soundly and wakened with no new aches and pains. Even my shoulders and hips were pain-free. Which shouldn’t have been a surprise. The Air Core is really just an air mattress, with a little fiberfill insulation blown into the tubes to reduce heat loss. And air mattresses have always set the standard for backcountry bedding. Farwell had an ancient rubber and canvas Li-lo that he swore by for warm-weather camping—until rot took its inevitable toll and his Li-lo was laid low for good. So the Big Agnes Insulated Air Core offers the best of both worlds: insulation and comfort, in a tidy, lightweight package. The downside? It’s not self-inflating. It has to be blown up. But 36 puffs do the trick, and deflating is easier still. Just open the valve while you’re still in bed and wait for the hissing to stop. Rolling up the pad gets rid of any remaining trapped air.

But will it work for cycle touring? It will. Once back in its bag, the Air Core isn’t much bigger than a cyclist’s water bottle, and at 21 ounces it’s no heavier than a full bottle, either. Better yet, Big Agnes doesn’t make you buy a separate repair kit. There’s one tucked away in a pocket in the stuff sack.

The bottom line? The Air Core and I are going places. And on the strength of my experience to date, I’m confident this is one decision I won’t lose any sleep over.

 
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