Originally Posted by
vesteroid
I strongly suggest you try your tent, pad, and quilt in your back yard a few times with a few different overnight temps, prior to striking off. Setting up that tent, and finding out how you sleep on the pad/quilt combo will be valuable...trust me on this.
Ditto that! Also, as I've suggested before, an overnight trip would help you get a feel for what works and doesn't work. For example, I tend to carry more clothing than many bike tourists do. That's because I've discovered I'd rather spend less time washing bike shorts in the sink and suffer the extra few ounces of towing weight.