Originally Posted by
John Nelson
Looking at your equipment list, it looks way, way too much. Figure out now what you're going to send home after the first week, and leave it behind at the start.
For example ...
Everything should serve multiple purposes. You don't need both tights and long underwear. If you need long underwear, use the tights.
Don't take both sneakers and sandles. Pick one.
Forget the gorilla glue. You most likely won't need to fix your panniers. If you do, use the duct tape or buy the gorilla glue somewhere along the way. Remeber that you're not in the jungle. There will be stores along the way.
Forget the cone wrenches. Adjust your hubs before you start. Even if you do need the cone wrenches, do you really need four sizes?
Forget the cable cutters. The leatherman has some wire cutters which can do a crude job. Stop at the next bike shop for a cleaner cut.
Forget spare AA batteries. You can buy these anywhere.
Two knives plus the Leatherman? Isn't that way overkill?
You're packing too much food. Buy as you go.
A Thermos?
Be ruthless now with your list to save trouble later.
Yeah, I'm skipping the thermos since I can boil water at any time. LOL, yeah the knives, he he he
I have small knife and small LED light fetish
But I agree, the list is preliminary and it'll get shorter. I heard from some people that in the Adirondack park, where I'm going bike shops are rare and I may go a day without finding a grocery store. But I agree that cone wrenches are probably not needed. The hubs are brand new XT, shouldn't have any problems.
However, I just received detailed maps of the park and I will save locations of towns that have bike shops as well as grocery shopping. So I agree with your points.
Great advice, thanks a lot!
BTW, re: knives, the Leatherman is useful for all it's little tools but as a knife it's no very comfortable, so I'll most likely still carry the Swiss Army Knife for peeling fruit, etc. It's the light, simple model with only two blades and can/bottle openers without the usual gazillion gadgets associated with Swiss Army Knives