roadie66

Did my first training / tour today
I just got a 1998 Klein navigator with full panniers. so i loaded it up with camping gear and clothes and boy was it heavy or so i thought actual weight about 45 pounds is that good? here is what I brought

1 Person tent about 5 Pounds ( will be getting somthing a little better)
therm-a-rest pad
mountain hardware sleeping bag (Awsome)
MSR wisper lite stove/matches lighter
medium sized pot / 1 fuel bottle 1 cup and plastic silverware from a resturant
2 bike shorts 2 bike shirts (short sleeve)
1 long bike pants 1 long bike shirt
3 pairs bike socks
1 pair nylon pants
1 pair nylon shorts
1 long sleeve shirt
1 pair lycra pants (underware)
vest (Vermont kinda cold)
leg and arm warmers
rain gear and bike cover
bike tools Alien II multi tool/ spare tubes (2) inflator/ pump/ chain links/lube and rag/various wrenches
camp towel/toothbrush/Paste/comb/deoterant/
book
coffee pot 2 cup

trip was awsome was fairly easy to ride 45 miles with the weight I will be doing lotas more trips

any suggestions for adding or losing gear

thanks

Jay H

I think you might be able to cut the long pants and or shorts, if you don't mind living in bike shorts. I don't mind and I buy baggy shorts that look normal when I'm touring or commuting. If it's summer time, you might even forgo any long pants and simply use your leg and arm warmers if it gets cold at night. Or you can double your rain gear as cool weather gear. It all depends on the weather and plus you mentioned short trips...

As far as tent, you should easily be able to get a solo tent in the 2lb range. If you go with a singlewall tent, bivy, or tarptent, or hammock, you should be able to get into the ounces... 5lbs is quite heavy for a solo 3-season tent.

Free tidbit: Castille Soap has multiple uses, I buy Dr. Bronner's castile soap and use that for washing my hair, soap, and laundry detergent.

I'm sure others will have other suggestions, but that is what I would do.

Jay

roadfix

how about some food...?.....

roadie66

LOL thanks for the tip on food I did not include it in my list because i bought food on the way. and ate the rest at camp.

supcom

Replace the MSR stove and fuel bottle with a homemade alcohol stove and 250 mL soda bottle/fuel bottle.

Toss the coffee pot. Heat water in your cooking pot and use a plastic filter cone that sits on top of your cup. Or just take some instant coffee.

For summer, leave the long sleeve bike shirt and long bike pants at home. Leave the leg warmers at home as well. Surely Vermont is not that cold in summer.

Bike cover is nt required. Bikes are made to get wet. Use a plastic grocery sack as a seat cover if your seat is leather.

Take good hard look at the tools you carry. Tool weight adds up fast. You don't have to be able to rebuild you entire bike on the side of the road anyway. For example, you are very unlikely to suddenly need a cone wrench on the road. Spare chain links aren't really neccessary. If your chain breaks, you can just remove the bad link and easily get by one link short until you can replace the whole chain. You don't need spare spokes for the front wheel since front wheels rarely break spokes. If you carry a fiber fix spoke, you can leave all other spare spokes behind and don't even need a lockring tool to remove the cassette.

Is the 45 pounds total weight, including the bike? If so, that's pretty good.