Originally Posted by
Niles H.
You also mentioned possibly carrying a small flashlight. If you haven't looked at the newer ultrabright (Cree XML) lights, they might be worth a look.
I had already bought a light by the time you posted this. I ended up with this:
http://ecom1.planetbike.com/3045.html
Maybe not as good as the lights you mentioned, but I only need it to see potholes and such in a tunnel, for this trip at least. It easily removes from the handlebar mount, and the handle bar mount has a cam-lock that can removed without tools. The downside of that is that I hit the cam-lock lever during a shift (stem shifters), and the mount cam loose, but stayed on the bike.
I got in a 19 miler with the Jandd rack a couple of days ago. Just with the rack, I could tell a difference with the handling of the bike. I will work into this slow, and the next trip will be with just the empty bags, then after getting comfortable with those, I will start adding weight. I have had a 2 week layoff from riding as when my bike was in the shop and other life chores got in the way, so I gotta start doing some major riding to get ready for this trip.