Hi.

I'm finishing my studies in 10 weeks and want to get the hell out of this place. I've done a lot of road racing and enduro MTB racing (24 solos) before. But not much touring other than putting slicks onto my single speed MTB and riding a few hundred kms to races. I'm pretty comfortable riding 200km+ in a day, so the engine is not a problem, what I need is a vehicle for proper touring.

I don't do things by half. I want to ride from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego starting in may/june 2011.

This is a tentative build list for my bike. I have underlined the things that I am unsure about.

Frameset: Surly LHT
Headset: King
Wheels: xt/com/mavic open pro CD 36h/36h
Tyres: Marathon plus 1.5in w/ a 28c folding spare.
Stem: 3t ARX
Bars: 3t ergosum pro
Brakes: No idea. Cantis of some sort. What are good and cheap?
Saddle: selle san marco concor light (not negotiable for me)
Pedals: shimano single sided spd (forget what they're called)
Seatpin: thomson elite
cages: king stainless or ti
racks: tubus or surly
Panniers: ortlieb (mostly because they come in blue, which is pretty and inspiring)
Bartape: lizard skins
shifters: DA 9-speed bar end or down tube don't want sti's, what's better?
Cranks/bb: deore w/ middleburn slickshift/hardcoat chainrings I notice a tendancy towards square taper. Is there any benefit to this, or is it just a retro touring thing? I prefer external bbs as they're more easily serviced, and more common.
cassette: slx 11-34
rd: xt long cage
fd: ultegra triple


Also, i'm from Australia. We have plenty of stuff that can kill you, but bears freak me out. Can anyone recommend a book about not getting eaten by bears? Should I learn how to use a gun?