Originally Posted by
MrBearSir
I am planning on riding from PA to CO (paved road only) in May on a very limited budget. That being said, I'll be doing a lot of free camping and choosing my diet carefully. That being said I have 3 things I need advice on:
2) Can anyone speak to their experience with using camping hammocks rather than tents? I'm leaning in the direction of hammocks because of their simplicity, light weight, and little packed volume.
Thanks guys!
I have done 2 self-supported tours in Australia of 2100 km and 1500km. On both I used a Bob Ibex and 2 panniers. I also used a Hennessy hammock. I cooked food and ate occasionally at a restaurant in the evening.
On my next trip I will be using a different style: The bike will be a smaller wheeled one 20" vs 26") and I will use 4 panniers. The Ibex is a PITA when transporting by aircraft with the bicycle. I will use a Nallo 2 GT tent because it is VERY strong - good for the storms I expect to experience on the west side of Ireland (maybe) and on the ring road of Iceland. I won't use the Hennesy on my next trip (Australia) because a fair bit of the distance between Perth-Adelaide had few/no trees, just shrubs. The last 2 Aussie trips had trees.
I will use oatmeal more than in the past, and will use rice and lentils and soaked beans and... more so on this trip. Milk powder works fine. Stores ate over 100 km apart..
My trips are unsupported and I do as much bush camping as possible when there are no campsites, etc within 40 km. Otherwise I take the easy way out to shower and do laundry in the sink.