Originally Posted by
TheDazed
You guys pack extremely light. I suppose I should mention that I don't mind carrying a little extra weigh for convenience and comfort, I'm a person who can appreciate having clean clothes on. Also I'm planning on staying in Vancouver when I get there so having some extra "Normal" clothes saves me on having to buy too many things when I get there.
We pack light because we know what it feels like to climb hills carrying too much.
Tell you what ...
-- load your bicycle up with what you think you'd like to take
-- next weekend go cycle your estimated daily distance, including the biggest hills you can find, on both days of the weekend
-- decide if you really want that much stuff.
Oh, and you should also be able to lift your loaded bicycle and carry it several paces. Every so often on a tour it becomes necessary to carry everything ... such as if you're catching trains, planes, or busses. Or sometimes if you're hauling it all to the 4th floor of a hostel.
"
a little extra weight ...
for convenience and comfort" are contradictory phrases. Climb a few hills and all of a sudden "
a little extra weight" is anything but "
convenient and comfortable". And at the end of the day all you'll want to do is to drop into your sleeping bag exhausted ... not browse through your selection of 8 T-shirts for something to wear that evening.
You will be OK if you wear the same clothes 2 or 3 or more days in a row. And there are laundromats along the way. I have lived and travelled all over western Canada, and I have seen them, and used them.
How long do you plan to stay in Vancouver? If it will be for a few months, it would probably be simpler to ship a box of clothing to Vancouver rather than trying to carry them all on the bicycle.
Originally Posted by
TheDazed
Seems nobody approves of the cargo shorts, but I definitely want those, i ditched the jeans though. I've cut back the other things to 4 tshirts, 3 socks, 3 boxers
And as for the cargo shorts, we have dropped them from the list because the zip-off convertable pants kill two birds with one stone ... they are either long pants or shorts. So you don't need to bring any other off-the-bicycle long pants and you don't need to bring any other off-the-bicycle shorts. Cargo shorts are fairly heavy cotton, aren't they? If you must carry an extra pair of shorts to pull on at the end of a ride, go with beach shorts or basketball shorts or something light.
Try this guideline: Each piece you bring should be able to serve at least 2 functions.
If you bring a wicking T-shirt, you should be able to wear it off the bicycle, in the evenings, for a day or two, and then wear it for a day or two on the bicycle before it goes into the laundry bag. Same with the long-sleeved merino wool top. Same with the sweater (polar fleece?).
The zip-off pants are great off the bicycle for a couple days, and serve 2 purposes - shorts if it is warm, longs if it is cold. But they can also be used over your cycling shorts for cycling on cooler days. If you bring a pair of beach shorts of basketball shorts, you can wear them for sleeping or swimming or sitting around the campsite at the end of the day, and you can put them on over your cycling shorts if you feel more comfortable dressed that way going into a large grocery store.
The thing is ... if you get to Winnipeg, and decide you're really missing cargo shorts, you can pick them up in one of many Walmarts there.
You still haven't mentioned when you're going ... this year? Next year?