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Old 07-28-08, 11:46 AM
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staehpj1
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Originally Posted by nun
Sure, I can see your point, it just bugs me sometimes to see folks laboring with heavy loads and sometimes I think its because the term "fully loaded" actually encourages overpacking.
I understand your point and generally agree. That is why I prefer "self supported" to "fully loaded".

Originally Posted by nun
My bike comes in at 25lbs with lights, racks etc and my bags and gear hover between 18 and 20lbs. Then I add 1 to 2lbs of food and 2L of water. When I roll out of the door I try to keep the total weight of everything (bike, bags, gear, food, water) below 50lbs. I don't actually consider this ultralight as I carry a single walled tent and not a tarp, a sleeping pad and not bubble wrap, and my bike could be lighter, I'd say its lightweight....., but now I'm being even more semantic about weight categories which I agree are rather arbitrary. I just want people to be aware that it's possible to be comfortable on an unsupported tour without 4 panniers of stuff. Here is some inspiration.

http://milly.org/rambouillet/
I carry a bit more and use panniers, but I consider your setup elegant. Unless in the flatlands would definitely find your setup more comfortable than the kitchen sink approach. To me taking 50 pounds of gear would be a trip killer and lugging all of that over the mountains would have me looking for a post office to send stuff home.
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