I did nothing special to prepare for my first, major, multi-day tour, other than loading up my panniers and riding around for a few hours. And I did not even pack everything on this so-called "shakedown" ride.

I have always been a Spartan traveler – as a hitchhiker in the 1970s and 1980s, the total weight of all of my stuff was less than 8 kg when I crossed Europe and Asia. So the transition to bicycle touring was easy, at least the part about not hauling too much stuff.