First Time long distance Trip.
 

Hello all. This winter I decided I would get into biking and see more of my province. I decided I would bike the Kettle Valley Railroad from Grand Forks to Hope its about 600 km. The terrain is all old railroad bed. I shopped around for a bike and purchased a Rocky MT. Fanatik. I have purchased racks and sadlebages to stow all my gear. Howerver I have never done anything like this before and I am new to biking. I was wondering if anybody had any good tips on items I should bring along, gear, tools, things to make the trip more confortable or just some tips and advice on what to expect.

Are you planning to camp?
Do a weekend shakedown tour to test all your gear. You can return home and camp in your back garden at night if you like, but carry everything you use.
The important thing is what to leave behind.
There are any number of packing lists for bike touring which come up on a search engine.
Also have a look at some of the ultra-light camping websites for load-lightening strategies.

I always find plastic bags useful, for waterproofing pannier bags, separating dry and wet stuff, keeping socks dry on my feet.

Was reading through everything for info and thought the title of this thread sounded like it would be useful, without realising it only had two posts in it. Still, the other ones have lots of useful info on them.

I would recommend taking a small radio so you can use the weather forecasts, when planning the next days ride.

Gavin,

You can edit this list on your needs,

Camping
tent
burner
burner maintenance kit
pan, plate e.o.
little tube of dishwas
lighter/waterproof matches
food
little tube of olive oil
theabags (very important) :D
mini flask
sleeping bag
camping matras
headlight/camplight
First A.I.D kit
compass/GPS/altitude meter
maps
cellphone
waterpurifier

cycling
little tube of chain oil, PTFE, grease
chaintool
tubelifters
hexwrenches
pliers
cog removing tools
leatherman multitool
spoke tensioner
pump
patch kit
cycling shorts
thermo underwear
rain gear
waterproof booties
waterproof gloves
cyling gloves
waterproof roll bag
cyling shoes/mountain shoes
sunglasses
cap
bidons/camelback
sunblock

Spare
3 sparetubes
sparetire
sparespokes
new front cog (most used cog)
chainlinks
spare (fender)bolts
tie-wraps
seamseal
duc-tape
spare batteries
breaklights/signal flame
burnerfuel
innercables

This is just a basic list, i`m sure i forgot some gear and a few things depend on the area wich you travelling in.

If you don`t find much villages on your route, be sure you`ve packed enough food/water to survive a few days

Like Michael said, you can test your set up on a campweekend, after that you can ad or drop some gear on your experiences.

Good luck and tell us about your trip,

I forgot to ad my bottle of Glenmorangie to Camping, be sure you have some amount of this Scotish firewater :D

I've heard this thought, and used it last year when I went to Europe with the bike.
Pile it all on the floor in front of you, then make two piles, can live without, and can't. Drop the can live without, then be really hard on yourself, and that can't live without, cause there are things you can, like an extra pair of socks, underwear, shirt, jeans(which if you are planning on taking get rid of right now, they get wet and are hard to dry. Use poly blends, wool, or synthetics).
Of course it all depends on where and when you are going, how long you'll be on the road, etc. I use to have my inventory of what I took to France at my web site, but dumped it, sorry.