Originally Posted by naisme
Wow, a lot of cool ideas. I forgot to mention that the t-shirts weren't cotton, all the clothing is going to be synthetic with the exception of the wool sweater. I was looking at the spread today, I could get by with two Panniers, I have four. I keep rereading this book that says leave room for the stuff you'll purchase on the road. So I think of using the front panniers for such items, but this morning I was like thinking this is daft.
What about carrying extra water? I have an MSR water bag it's the 2 liter, and I have several Nalgene bottles. I stumbled on an idea this morning about frozen OJ with a little salt mixed up as a "sports drink." The thought of not having to cook is a cool idea. Maybe it is this romantic notion of setting up a tent and getting to cooking a pot of noodles for a meal at the end of a ride, it just sounds cool. Of course after a hot long afternoon of riding who'd want to eat a hot meal?
My other concerns are just keeping the cost down.
There are times when you may need to carry extra water. Cycling across West Texas it's a must. It's also good to take if you expect to be stealth camping awayt from a water source. But wait until you go through the last town before where you plan to camp before filling up unless you don't mind the extra weight. An MSR water bag is probably a great way to be prepared as it should take up little volume when empty. I would avoid the nalgene bottles. They usually don't fit in a bottle cages and unless you store something in them when not used for water, they occupy a lot of pannier volume for nothing.
BTW, empty 1L soda (not water) bottles are very strong and light weight.