Touring - Why do so many tourists mail pounds of their gear home?

On journal after journal of tourists crossing the USA on crazyguyonabike, I am surprised at the number of tourists who mail back pounds of stuff mid-tour they decide they don't need. They never detail exactly what they are sending back, but just say "I sent home 7 pounds of gear I decided I didn't need." :eek:

I have not toured so am trying not to criticize before I walk a mile in their shoes (or is it ride a metric on their bike?), but I would think before embarking on the tour of a lifetime such as crossing the USA I would figure out exactly what I needed ahead of time and what I don't need. A few shakedown tours should sort this out. Am I just being naive? I don't want to be in a position to mail back pounds of stuff on my first tour!

Many reasons.

The most common is lack of sufficient knowlege about what is necessary or reasonable. Quite surprisingly (to me and you), many many people embark on a long tour without any shorter shakedown tours carrying exactly what they will take on the long tour. How often do you read that the first two blocks of the tour is the first time somebody every rode with all the gear on board? And already they can tell that this isn't working well.

On the other hand, because it is typically easy to send stuff home, why not? Why not just take everything you think you might need and then send home the stuff you never use? It saves a lot of planning.

Of course, there are other more practical reasons to send stuff home, such as you bought stuff along the way, or the weather ahead is different than the weather behind.

I try to go fully prepared with proven gear, but that's because I'm pretty anal. Not everybody is, and that's just fine. Some people are planners, and some not. The ones in the latter camp might say that we planners take all the fun and happenstance out of the trip.

I believe the most common thing people send home is clothes. You don't need as many clothes as you might think. People also send home some of the spare parts and tools that, over time, seem unlikely to ever be needed.

You can't always tell what you need until you set out. Making a list at home is really different than being on the road. Before you set out, it's pretty easy to envision all kinds of what-if-i-need-that situations, and it's also pretty normal to be a little anxious beforehand. That can easily add up to bringing some stuff that it turns out you're not using.

Once you are riding, you realize that the chance of needing some items is so low you're willing to take the risk, as a trade off to carrying less stuff.

I've sent stuff home. I sent stuff home from week 2 of my 3rd tour, after I already had about 5 months of touring experience. I've also bought extra stuff. I've seen others do the same.

Besides, unless you are touring overseas, what's the big deal? It only costs a few $ to mail stuff home. It seems like you are considering it a failure to not know exactly what you need beforehand, but it's not.

I would figure out exactly what I needed ahead of time and what I don't need.A similar situation is thru-hiking the Appalacian Trail. Go visit the start of the trail in March / April when most people get started. You would be SHOCKED at the things you see (person using a pull behind suitcase as their pack, guy with 120lbs of canned goods, etc., etc.). A large quantity of people quit before reaching the starting point (which is the peak of Springer mountain).

Chances are if you do a longer tour, especially without the requisite experience, you'll do the same thing. ;)

If you haven't toured much, the impulse is to assume you will need X Y and Z, and it will likely turn out that you don't need everything you thought you did.

Besides, it's a snap to ship something that you don't need back home. In comparison, it's much worse if you leave without something critical, and need it sent to you....

Of course, there are other more practical reasons to send stuff home, such as you bought stuff along the way, or the weather ahead is different than the weather behind.



This is one of the main reasons I send stuff home. Being from Colorado, I'm used to cool to cold mornings all year long (today it was 53F :eek:) so I end up carrying stuff for Colorado mornings. If you go to other parts of the nation...the lower bits:rolleyes:...mornings aren't as cool so the cold weather stuff goes home. I also send home letters, books, stuff I may have bought, etc.

There are a lot of reasons. The weather may be different than you expect. The terrain may be different. You may rethink what your minimum standards for comfort are. You may decide to cook less or just more simply than you thought you might.

I know that in 2007 we started the Trans America with a lot of outdoor and camping experience, but none of it bike touring. We packed reasonably, if anything more lightly than most folks do. But still as we settled into the trip we adapted our style and decided to travel lighter. We sent stuff home at least three times, but some of it was because we didn't need the same stuff in Kansas as we did in the Rockies. Even after 9 or 10 weeks on the road I still lightened the load when we hit the Appalachians, since I found them much tougher than the Cascades or Rockies.

Even if you get everything on your packing list exactly right, on a long tour the conditions will change with the geography and season and it may make sense to even plan to send stuff to or from home as you approach or leave the mountains.

Then there are things that you might want sent to you from home. Maybe stuff that you already own or stuff that just isn't available where you are.

Also we mailed stuff ahead to ourselves. We were given 20 pounds of dried and freeze dried food in Wyoming. We certainly did not want to carry it all, so we mailed 4 boxes ahead to different post offices on our route. We had them forwarded as needed to keep from picking them up before we needed them or to keep from having the 30 days that they will hold them run out.

You might decide that in the plains you can splurge and carry something heavy in Kansas and have it sent to you only to send it back when you are in the mountains again.

The postal service is a great tool to use. There is no reason not to take advantage of it.

I mailed stuff home on my first longer tour. I'm an amateur photographer. I took a couple of heavy medium format cameras (and a few pounds of film and accessories) thinking that I'd enjoy the opportunity to shoot some of the great scenic vistas where I'd be riding. I found once I got settled into a daily riding routine, I didn't really want to keep stopping and spending the time it takes to unpack the cameras and set up the shot, especially when I was tired and sweaty. I was content to make a snapshot with a small digital camera and move on.

It was merely a case of thinking I'd want to do something and finding out that I really didn't when the time came. I've tuned my packing list to match my needs and interests through successive tours. Live and learn. Experience is the best teacher.

I always find that after a tour I know *exactly* what I need and what I don't need, but then over time I forget what's really necessary, and next trip end up taking too much again - this is even though I have a packing list from the previous trip! I think it's just that "little" things that seem to weigh next to nothing and look very useful (in theory) just end up being thrown in the box at the post office because touring brings you back down to earth really quickly. It's funny how lugging a bunch of stuff up a bunch of hills focuses your mind and clarifies your priorities...

Neil

I've tuned my packing list to match my needs and interests through successive tours. Live and learn. Experience is the best teacher.

So in other words, my first tour I might as well pack the stamps and packing material? :)

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I'm definitely more of a minimalist when it comes to packing on trips but am sure I have quite a few things to learn about cycle touring.

Over time I've developed and tuned my packing lists. However, I find if I get the bike fully packed a week or so before departure - I have a tendency to worry slightly and end up adding one or two things to the list. Once on the road, I learn again and send those same things not on the packing list back home.

The other reasons I've sent things home on longer tours has been: (a) send back maps I don't need anymore (b) send back books I haven't been able to give away (c) send back data backups on zip/CD/etc for my laptop of photos, web pages, etc (d) when transitioning countries/climates/areas send back things not needed e.g. Russia -> Thailand meant no camping gear, and similar with a New Zealand -> India transition where I also sent home my camping gear (e) send back souvenirs, though that is somewhat rare.

So in other words, my first tour I might as well pack the stamps and packing material?

No need to pack them, the post office has boxes, tape, and stamps. BTW flat rate boxes are often a good deal.

Yeah I forgot about books and maps. The full set of Trans America maps weighs enough to bother sending maps home as you finish with them.

I think it is a good idea to plan ahead and have someone at home who can receive packages or send you stuff from home. Still it is a bad idea to just take extra stuff because "I can always send it home". Better to try to take the minimum.

The most versatile and lightest item to carry on a tour: credit card.
We've done 3-day tour by the Grand Canyon with total of 22 lbs of gear.
Oh, that was for 2-of-us as we ride a tandem.
Do-able.

Plenty of good answers, but I'll offer up another. People send stuff back because they put too much carrying volume on their bikes. They look at examples of touring bikes with 4x panniers and a handlebar bag and copy that set up. Now they have loads of volume to fill and end up taking stuff like chairs (just and example of what I consider unnecessary stuff). It takes experience and will power to leave those panniers half empty. On short tours extra weight isn't such an issue and any hardship is quickly forgotten once at hoem, but on a 2 month cross country tour the extra weight becomes an anchor.

People send stuff back because they put too much carrying volume on their bikes.
Maybe, but it hard to imagine that folks base their list on what fits in their panniers. I know that is not a factor for me. I plan the packing list and gather the gear before I pack it. I don't add stuff because my panniers are only half full, but maybe some do.

I think the problem is the mind set of taking "x" might be handy and "y" sounds like a good idea. A better mindset is "can I get along without any of the stuff I am carrying or can I replace anything with something lighter".

I find that as time goes on I carry less and less and my panniers get emptier. I strive to find a few items to leave home or replace with lighter items each trip. At some point I will hit the minimum I am comfortable with, but I am not there yet. I have a feeling that about 20 pounds including the panniers themselves might be a sweet spot for me, but I am not there yet, maybe next trip or the one after.

Nature abhors a vacuum and a bicycle tourist abhors a half empty pannier. I think folks will stuff an extra sweater in the space and also tend to take bulky cooking kits, books etc. Too many clothes is a classic cause of care packages. I agree that 20lbs is the sweat spot between comfort and just too spartan. I crept over than with the advent of the netbook. I've found that I'm now carrying almost 5lbs of electronics when you include all the power supplies and cords. But with the iPhone now having landscape keyboard in email and the ability to email multiple photos I'll be leaving the net book and camera at home next trip.

When I started touring the Scout's motto "be prepared" was ingrained in my mind. This mind set has one envisioning way too many scenarios solved by pulling something from a pannier. After lugging these “scenario solvers” for a few hundred miles you realize how improbable these situations are. Once you start shedding items you learn that riding with less is simpler and more enjoyable.

I can tell you that if you get home, unpack your panniers, and discover an unused item that you’ve carried for thousands of miles – you will kick yourself.

As we sit in our nice comfortable environments, consider the following:
- you can wear the same jersey unwashed for several days if you swish it in a creek now and then.
- deodorant is unnecessary.
- shaving cream is $2 and those cheapo, battery-operated razors pretty much suck.
- you can camp in snow in shorts, if you have a really good hat.
- if you have a pan a plate is unnecessary.

I list this handful of examples because they sound kind of crazy now, but make perfect sense out on the trail

No need to pack them, the post office has boxes, tape, and stamps. BTW flat rate boxes are often a good deal.

We used a couple of $10 flat rate boxes to send some items home from a tour we did last summer. We just stuffed them full.

The post office says you can put up to 70lbs in a flat rate box. A couple of years ago I shipped a bunch of granitic and igneous rock samples in a medium sized flat rate box. I had the box chock full and it only weighed 27lbs. I'm not sure what material in those dimensions would weigh 70lbs.:lol:

I mailed stuff twice. Here's what I sent, and why:

- spare pair of shorts - I found I didn't need three for a two week tour.
- spare t shirt - I'd purchased one on tour, and I didn't need it.
- lighting system - I don't ride at night, and I had the lights for tunnels I was riding through the first part of the tour. Once they were done, I didn't need them.
- books I wasn't reading. I had bad luck this trip with reading material. :(
- baseball cap I bought on tour.
- maps I didn't need.

Scenario 1 - Overpack panniers / realize you brought useless stuff / mail it home

Scenario 2 - Purchase trip memorabilia / mail it home / realize you bought useless stuff / pack in storage

Same situation, different order....

Shakedown tours ... plural ... are definitely beneficial, and I don't understand tourists who don't do them. Makes no sense at all.

But even so, you might still bring something you end up not using at all and decide to mail it home.

The bulk of what I've mailed home, however, has been things like: brochures, maps, photographs, souvenirs, etc. The weight of those things really adds up.

On journal after journal of tourists crossing the USA on crazyguyonabike, I am surprised at the number of tourists who mail back pounds of stuff mid-tour they decide they don't need. They never detail exactly what they are sending back, but just say "I sent home 7 pounds of gear I decided I didn't need." :eek:

I have not toured so am trying not to criticize before I walk a mile in their shoes (or is it ride a metric on their bike?), but I would think before embarking on the tour of a lifetime such as crossing the USA I would figure out exactly what I needed ahead of time and what I don't need. A few shakedown tours should sort this out. Am I just being naive? I don't want to be in a position to mail back pounds of stuff on my first tour!

the only things I would sent home: guide books, souvenirs, information I got from the tourist offices, warm cloths when the winter is over
I carry a lot, once I made a statistic what I didn't used (spare parts and tools), what I rarely used (was it worth? - yes it was) and what I used quite often.

Thoma

Shakedown tours ... plural ... are definitely beneficial, and I don't understand tourists who don't do them. Makes no sense at all.

We did the TA with no shakedown tours and had no regrets. Bike touring isn't that much different than other forms of self supported camping like canoe, kayak, or backpack camping. So yeah shake down tours may be a good idea, but skipping them isn't really that bad of a move if you are used to packing fairly light for one of those other disciplines. Bike touring is more forgiving that the other forms of travel i mentioned in that you can easily buy stuff, send stuff home, or have stuff sent to you from home. When canoing, kayaking, or backpacking there is much less ability to adjust as you go and therefore more need to get it right the first time.

It may seen strange, but quite a few of the folks we met on the TA were doing it as their first tour and none of them seemed to regret the decision.

I understand completely. When I was in college, I hiked the entire Long Trail in Vermont one summer. I had been backpacking for years, so I thought I knew what I was doing while packing for the trip. After the first week of hiking, I quickly realized that I had packed way too much gear for hiking day-in-and-day-out. The first town stop we made for supplies, I mailed home a big box of gear including my down sleeping bag, fishing gear, and other stuff I don't recall right now. It made a huge difference, and I lowered my back weight from about 60 to 40 lbs. However, I later regretted sending back my down bag after a cold front came through (it was July).

Yeah I forgot about books and maps. The full set of Trans America maps weighs enough to bother sending maps home as you finish with them.

I think it is a good idea to plan ahead and have someone at home who can receive packages or send you stuff from home. Still it is a bad idea to just take extra stuff because "I can always send it home". Better to try to take the minimum.

I carry AAA state maps to plot my route (I don't want to carry a bunch of battery eating, expensive electronic gear:rolleyes:) and I send those home when I'm done with them.

I also subscribe, within reason;), to the 'it's better to have it and not need than need it and not have it' philosophy.

I also subscribe, within reason;), to the 'it's better to have it and not need than need it and not have it' philosophy.
True, but on a long tour it isn't so bad to 'want it and not have it' since you can always buy it or have it shipped from home. This assumes it is something you can live without for a few days. If is something that is an immediate life safety concern, you need it, but if it is something you might be more comfortable having you just want it.

I've only sent stuff home on one tour. That was in India. My friend, who had been living there for six months, said to bring my camping equipment. It quickly became apparent that there was no place to camp in India, so I mailed home my front panniers, tent, therma-rest, pots, stove, and utentsils.

True, but on a long tour it isn't so bad to 'want it and not have it' since you can always buy it or have it shipped from home. This assumes it is something you can live without for a few days. If is something that is an immediate life safety concern, you need it, but if it is something you might be more comfortable having you just want it.

When I say 'need', it's not a comfort issue;)

Needs and wants at home are often quite different from those on tour. Confusing nice to have with need to have further complicates the situation.

I need to be dry,warm, fed and hydrated. Once those are covered most other things are extras often not worth their weight except as psychological crutches depending on your own comfort zone. Touring is not an episode of a TV survival soap opera. It is a way to comfortably travel self-contained carrying what you need to enjoy the new experiences passing in front of you. Less is still more in my experience.

We did the TA with no shakedown tours and had no regrets. Bike touring isn't that much different than other forms of self supported camping like canoe, kayak, or backpack camping. So yeah shake down tours may be a good idea, but skipping them isn't really that bad of a move if you are used to packing fairly light for one of those other disciplines. Bike touring is more forgiving that the other forms of travel i mentioned in that you can easily buy stuff, send stuff home, or have stuff sent to you from home. When canoing, kayaking, or backpacking there is much less ability to adjust as you go and therefore more need to get it right the first time.

It may seen strange, but quite a few of the folks we met on the TA were doing it as their first tour and none of them seemed to regret the decision.
I would imagine that many people skip the shakedown tour because they don't have time, or they don't get their act together until the last minute. So although it's possible to do a major tour without a shakedown, it's still an extremely good idea if you can swing it.

I would imagine that many people skip the shakedown tour because they don't have time, or they don't get their act together until the last minute. So although it's possible to do a major tour without a shakedown, it's still an extremely good idea if you can swing it.

I don't buy the "don't have time" excuse. If you're going to do a lengthy tour, you're going to be out riding your bicycle 5-6 days a week as a very important part of the preparation, and you're going to be doing longer rides a couple of those days each week (on the weekends or days off) to get used to the bicycle fit, handling, setup, and the nutritional factors of riding longer distances. So why not just do a longer ride out to a camping place some distance away with the bicycle fully loaded, and a longer ride back home again the next day.

Sure it's possible to do a long tour without a shakedown tour, or several, but why? Why would you want to put yourself through that sort of discomfort?

It may seen strange, but quite a few of the folks we met on the TA were doing it as their first tour and none of them seemed to regret the decision.

Well, I've seen plenty of tour journals that contained the phrase "I will never do this sort of thing again", and I'd be inclined to suggest that the majority of these came from the "no shakedown tours" bunch. One of the main benefits of a shakedown tour (apart from sorting out the what you do/don't need and the "how do I get the tent up" issues) is finding out whether or not the experience suits you at all. Now that may not be relevant if you've done some overnight hiking or whatever, but I think a lot of first time cycle tourists haven't.

Besides, shakedown tours can be rewarding in and of themselves. I've discovered several places that I never would have even considered visiting otherwise on various shakedown tours, and even as a seasoned cycle tourer, I still like those shorter tours for that very reason.

I think the reason a lot of cycle tourists don't do these sort of trips is because they're totally focussed on the "big trip", as if it's their one big adventure in life. The shakedown tour, much like a lot of other forms of preparation, becomes nothing more than an annoyance for these people.

Well, I've seen plenty of tour journals that contained the phrase "I will never do this sort of thing again", and I'd be inclined to suggest that the majority of these came from the "no shakedown tours" bunch.

Really? I don't recall meeting a single rider who did a big tour saying that. I also don't recall reading that in journals. I don't doubt that folks have said that I just doubt that it is all that common.

On the other hand I guess if I had done a bunch of overnight tours first I might have lost interest quickly. They just don't appeal to me much at all. I'd rather ride an unloaded road bike and do day rides if the ride isn't going to be a week or more. I might not have discovered that if I had done the short tours first and lost interest.

An exception would be if I had the opportunity to ride with someone I really wanted to ride with and a couple days were all we had. I would probably jump at the change for a overnight tour with my two TA companions. That would be kind of a reunion though.


One of the main benefits of a shakedown tour (apart from sorting out the what you do/don't need and the "how do I get the tent up" issues) is finding out whether or not the experience suits you at all. Now that may not be relevant if you've done some overnight hiking or whatever, but I think a lot of first time cycle tourists haven't.

Besides, shakedown tours can be rewarding in and of themselves. I've discovered several places that I never would have even considered visiting otherwise on various shakedown tours, and even as a seasoned cycle tourer, I still like those shorter tours for that very reason.

I think the reason a lot of cycle tourists don't do these sort of trips is because they're totally focussed on the "big trip", as if it's their one big adventure in life. The shakedown tour, much like a lot of other forms of preparation, becomes nothing more than an annoyance for these people.

I agree that some kind of shakedown is important for someone who has no lightweight camping experience. There are lots of skills that come with that experience whose absense would make the trip pretty challenging. On the other hand it is certainly possible to do it the hard way and learn as you go.

Everyone is different, but to me really short tours are not my cup of tea at all. For me, Rivendell's notion of the S24O is about as desirable as "camping" in the back yard. I am not saying others shouldn't do them if they enjoy them, they just aren't for everyone. I like riding and I like the feeling of life on the road, but If the ride is shorter than a week I'd just as soon not bother with making it into a tour.

I agree that some kind of shakedown is important for someone who has no lightweight camping experience. There are lots of skills that come with that experience whose absense would make the trip pretty challenging.


And there are a lot of people who lack any sort of camping or outdoor experience at all who get this urge to do cycling tours. There are also a surprising number of people who have either not set butt on a saddle in years or ride occasionally, who suddenly want to start knocking off 80-100 km a day.



I like riding and I like the feeling of life on the road, but If the ride is shorter than a week I'd just as soon not bother with making it into a tour.

Seems to me you've got some other odd ideas about what a "real tour" is and is not. You're the one who discounts hub-and-spoke tours, for example, if I'm not mistaken.

Short tours ... like a long weekend or a week, can be a great way to explore your local area. When I lived in Alberta, Rowan and I did a 5-day tour from Red Deer into the Rocky Mountains around to Banff. It was a lovely tour and a wonderful way to see and experience the mountains. I came over to Australia in 2008 and Rowan and I did an 8-day tour down to Wilson's Prom (one of my many favorite areas of Australia) and back. In both cases, we didn't have much time to spend on an extended tour, but we did want to see the area by bicycle. Both tours were well worth it.

Even if a person has some camping and cycling experience (and especially if they don't), I strongly encourage people to go out and explore their local areas on short tours. So often we set our sights on touring other countries and places (which is great too, and I encourage everyone to do that too), but we forget about our own backyards.

Seems to me you've got some other odd ideas about what a "real tour" is and is not.
What I said was "I like riding and I like the feeling of life on the road, but If the ride is shorter than a week I'd just as soon not bother with making it into a tour." That has nothing to do with what is or is not a "real tour", but merely what my preference is. To me packing and hauling stuff is a bother if it is only for a weekend. I'd rather ride a sportier and unladen bike for that and go home at night. That is just how I feel and I never said others should share that preference. It may be an "odd idea" but as I said it has nothing to do with what is or is not a "real tour".


You're the one who discounts hub-and-spoke tours, for example, if I'm not mistaken.
Actually I think they are a great idea and don't think I discounted them. I thought of them as a great alternative to touring, but I am fine with including them under term "touring" since the community here seems to prefer to.

People can define touring as tightly or loosely as they choose. Touring can be defined as "Travel, as on a bicycle or on skis, for pleasure rather than competition." So by at least one definition pretty much any riding that isn't racing or purely utilitarian is touring. I have always thought of touring in a bit more narrow terms. Perhaps too narrow, but anytime I go for a spin on a bike I don't consider it touring.

I don't buy the "don't have time" excuse. If you're going to do a lengthy tour, you're going to be out riding your bicycle 5-6 days a week as a very important part of the preparation, and you're going to be doing longer rides a couple of those days each week (on the weekends or days off) to get used to the bicycle fit, handling, setup, and the nutritional factors of riding longer distances. So why not just do a longer ride out to a camping place some distance away with the bicycle fully loaded, and a longer ride back home again the next day.

Sure it's possible to do a long tour without a shakedown tour, or several, but why? Why would you want to put yourself through that sort of discomfort?

No shakedown, no weekend tour—just a gradual loading up on day rides. Much like some others, I backpack and have a fair idea of what's nessesary, but it still didn't keep me from packing some stuff I didn't need (but thought I wanted). It's not a big deal.

"I don't have the time" is not so much the excuse as "I don't have the inclination." It all works out fine. No problems. No discomfort. Just some stuff that you figure if you're not using it, you may well send it away.

This time last year:
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee215/Savaje/Trans%20Am%20Midwest%202/P1010851.jpg
I miss the road.

Really? I don't recall meeting a single rider who did a big tour saying that.
<snip>



I would be one of those riders who swore he would never go on a long tour again after doing my one and only long tour (WI to CA) back in 1989, but here I am so many years later attempting to give it another go.

In my experience back then, it seemed like the tour was 80% work and 20% fun. But my case very well could have been the exception rather than the rule. There were 3 of us ... 25 or so in age. None of us were athlete types or knew the first thing about touring (or even bicycling for that matter). We just got this thought in our heads of "Wouldn't it be neat to pedal across the country". Simple as that. We quit our jobs, bought our bikes and gear all from the same bike shop based on their recommendations. FWIW, we all rode the same style bike. I forget exactly the model, but they were Treks. So anyway we had zero experience going into this, which most likely was a huge reason I felt it was all work and little play. (We also didn't have the luxury of the World Wide Web in those days, so we really were on our own).

I think another HUGE contributing factor (maybe moreso than the lack of experience) is that the 3 of us quibbled quite a bit during the entire tour. As an example, one person may have wanted to see something along the way that the 2 others weren't interested in, so it ended up that nobody saw it. I guess it's safe to say the personal chemistry wasn't right.

So now this past summer (29 years later), I got it in my head to try touring again, except this time solo. Unfortunately I don't have the time to be able to go long distance anymore this year as I'm still in the process of buying gear (the tent being the biggest stumbling block so far ... but that's another story). I do still have hopes of doing a few shorter local tours though ... before this summer so quickly ends, as Wisconsin summers tend to do. I would prefer to go on a long tour, but time and personal situations may not allow that.

Boy did I drift OT. Sorry. When the topic enjoying/not enjoying a long tour came up, it just hit me in a way that I needed to respond.

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee215/Savaje/Trans%20Am%20Midwest%202/P1010851.jpg
I miss the road.
I can understand that sentiment 100%.

Great picture, where is that? It reminds me of the area of Togwotee Pass.

I can understand that sentiment 100%.

Great picture, where is that? It reminds me of the area of Togwotee Pass.

Yep. It was a (one of many) great day to be riding. I think I was very fortunate.

I've sent home stuff twice. Once was on the third day of my first "big" tour - the west coast from Seattle to Santa Cruz. Previously my longest tour was three days, and I hadn't toured for many years. I spent a lot of time planning and was very well-prepared. It turned out I was too well-prepared and was carrying a ridiculous amount of weight. After sending home a box of stuff I was still carrying too much weight, but some of it was a too-heavy tent and a too-heavy sleeping pad.

The second time I sent stuff home was on a tour where I was experimenting with pulling a Bob trailer, and climbing several mountain passes. After struggling and suffering up the first two passes I needed to lighten my load. Unfortunately, this time it didn't work out so well. I sent home some items that I needed for comfort, and was unhappy when they were gone.

I went back to panniers after that and on my next tour I had my packing list pretty dialed in. I didn't have to send anything home, and felt like there weren't too many changes to the list I'd make for next time.

Live and learn.

A similar situation is thru-hiking the Appalacian Trail. Go visit the start of the trail in March / April when most people get started. You would be SHOCKED at the things you see (person using a pull behind suitcase as their pack, guy with 120lbs of canned goods, etc., etc.). A large quantity of people quit before reaching the starting point (which is the peak of Springer mountain).

Totally agree, one writer stated (I forget who, might have been Bruce "Wingfoot") that you could conceivably start hiking the AT with an empty pack and pick up everything you needed to finish from abandoned gear.

My first tour was a fairly long one. Before the tour I got a book on how to do bicycle touring (this was in the days before the Internet). I actually followed the books advice, and so I didn't have to send anything home. It probably helped that there wasn't the Internet, because I could follow one recommendation, instead of posting a message and getting all sorts of conflicting advice, and getting more confused, and end up carrying everything that everyone thought one needed.

I did no shakedown tour. All I did was load up the bike and ride it once around the block before boxing everything up for the plane. I had a very successful tour.

If you don't cycle and/or don't camp, then a shakedown tour is a good idea. If you do lots of cycling, and have done plenty of camping, then a shakedown tour isn't necessary, because cycle touring is pretty simple. But it can't hurt.

This time last year:
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee215/Savaje/Trans%20Am%20Midwest%202/P1010851.jpg
I miss the road.

This is a great picture.

Like going on vacation, we sometimes tend to overpack. Pannier space is really at a premium.

On touring:
Lots of people see themselves on tour when they read things like crazy guy. Fantasizng can be fun but the the reality of touring can be very difficult. Personally I enjoy a week or two, either supported or unsupported. But cycling is a means of transportation and not the reason for touring. For me, it's seeing the places.

Before the tour I got a book on how to do bicycle touring (this was in the days before the Internet). I actually followed the books advice, and so I didn't have to send anything home.
I've looked at a number of different books on bicycle touring. They all have a pack list in the back. In my opinion, these pack lists all have way too much stuff on them. If I packed according to those lists, I'd be sending a lot of stuff home.

To all of you who have said that you have sent stuff home, I (and I think many others too) would be interested in exactly what you sent home.

On journal after journal of tourists crossing the USA on crazyguyonabike, I am surprised at the number of tourists who mail back pounds of stuff mid-tour they decide they don't need. They never detail exactly what they are sending back, but just say "I sent home 7 pounds of gear I decided I didn't need." :.....

....!


On my two year world tour http://www.cyclingscholar.com I carried all the stuff I needed, and only replaced it when it wore out.

Part of what you are seeing goes back to the Bikecentennial days, which used to tell Eastbound riders to 'send home their mountain/winter woolies from the Pueblo [colorado] post office.' In particular, if part of your trip is in the mountains, and then ya hit the dry, hot plains, it may be a prudent move. Similarly, if it had been possible and convenient, I would have foregone raingear in the dry desert regions of southwest asia, and sent it ahead to pick it up when I was southeast asia during the rainy season.

http://www.cyclingscholar.com/otisshade1.jpg

roughstuff

I have sent boxes home several times, It's a family joke, gets some laughs at home and the post office. I get a kick out of the looks on peoples fasces (the non exertion croud) when you explain what you are doing, after all there SUV has two pedals just like the bike. I did wright myself a note as i packed the last box, hoping to rember how i felt at the time.

To all of you who have said that you have sent stuff home, I (and I think many others too) would be interested in exactly what you sent home.
I don't remember everything and this list is far from complete, but between the three of us we sent home the following on our first tour (TA):
PocketMail device (decided that since it didn't work with our cell phones and pay phones were scarce it was more trouble than it was worth)
GPS
Deck of cards
Maps we were done with
Extra items of clothing we decided we didn't need or were finished with once out of the Rockies
Our second pot (we decided we could get along with one)
Pedal wrench (needed to assemble bikes at the start)
Books we were finished with
Stuff we bought along the way
Water filter
Outer bag when out of the mountains (one of us was using an inner and outer sleeping bag)

Hi, A few years ago I read the intro to this book Apartment Therapy and found it useful because I tend to plan a lot. I'll paraphrase: The author was touring in Italy with all his gear. He meets another European cycle tourist with maybe 3kg of gear. They discuss this and the European answers I bring my money and credit card along with essentials. Anything else I need I can buy on the way. It forces me to interact with the locals.