I see this a lot on the UL backpacking forums. It's an old debate for sure because on the AT they run into the same hikers day after day. I don't much expect to run into other tourers out there on the road unless I'm touring with them which is rare though I may share a campsite or run into someone going my way and ride them for a day or so.

It's hard to avoid the hyperbole really. An issue like how light is to light is a deply personal issue. These issues are at the forefront of everyone's mind and no matter how experienced we are a lot of our gear decisions are based on a gut or at best a somewhat rationalized play of odds where we're not going to have perfect data.

A good example is how the weather affects gear decisions.

We could carry for example a perfectly free standing four season tent at all times and there are many who do. However for shorter trips in summer months it might seem like overkill. Likewise it might seem silly to carry a double wall tent with complete bug net for winter camping.

My gear changes pretty drastically for the seasons. I don't pack a tent based on the worst case scenario either. For example on a recent tour of the great divide taking the entire month of september I only took a 6x9 tarp. I theorized and have praciticed for eventualities where if the weather goes to hell in a hand bag I can improvise a shelter with downed wood and extra insulation against snow with pine bows.

I can even double up some of my day kit, like a down jacket to add extra warmth at night. I was riding fast and hard aiming for 100 miles a day and in hindsight I can see how pushing for time and gear definitely were causing me to compromise comfort. I'll probably pad my decisions a little better next time I'm in the rockies in the fall by bringing a full winter tent for just a few ounces and a little bulk more. Especially since I'm not really happy until I seek our and find some adverse weather that seems to take my trips off the map and into new and adventurous scenarios that challenge me.

Same thing with an insulated sleeping matt / down air matt. I can see that having the confidence in my gear against snow and cold weather would have allowed me to enjoy riding longer hours into the night over mountain passes without fear of getting stuck camping in foul weather on them. This little extra confidence could have made a huge difference in both my enjoyment and my mileage. More gear meaning more miles and more comfort. That's exactly the sort of win win I'm looking for. I know therefore I went too light.

Indeed, I think it is the BULK we pay for more then the few extra ounces. In off road touring especially, but in on road touring as well. Gear must not only be light but must pack down smaller to better handling.


Mechanical skills and tools are another example where it's hard to decide how far to take it. I'm a bike mechanic so I can and have done amazing things with surprisingly few tools. I'm very, very aquainted with what my kit can and can't do. I can rebuild a hub trailside and cary a spare cone for my wheels, but that's more because the newer XT cones are not necessarily in stock at every bike shop, otherwise I would rely on outside help. I can and have replaced cables trailside, respoked, trued and retensioned wheels, singlespeeded bikes after breaking derailleurs, rebuilt pedals by the side of the trail, most of these things multiple times. oh... the things I have done and all quite happily because I consider breaking stuff and thus fixing it to be a fundamental part of touring.

For everything I've been able to fix though there are always a few that I can't fix trailside no matter what kit I carry. For example I have broken pedal axles twice. While I switched brands to the legendary Time ATAC and have since had no problems in the realm of possibility this can happen again and is a perfect example where I can't carry the tools or parts to fix it. Obviously I'm not going to carry a spare set of pedals for this rare an eventuality. Instead I rely on experience and improvisation to find the quickest solution. Lucky for me in one pedal break I was immediately seen by a couple with a pickup who saw it happen, stopped immediately and offered me a lift into town only five miles away where luck would have it there was an open bike shop. The other I found I was again within 10 miles of a shop and somehow mirraculously it was all down hill.

Luck/ no luck / bad luck. You just can't account for every eventuality in your kit. You should not though chronically be needing to borrow gear or improvise workarounds. For example I never want to rely on or expect to catch a ride with strangers nice as they are on very rare occasions. Nor do I want to be hacking and slashing my way down the divide tearing pine boughs off trees every night to add to depth of my sleep / shelter kit. That's an emergency only option.

At some point no matter how much I carry I'm going to hit that point where I need something outside of what I'm carrying. Wheels will be broken where a spoke or two won't fix it. Frames will crack.

Speaking of frames cracking. I hate to say it, but I might have pushed my luck to far riding titanium on my divide ride this last september. I cracked the frame and had to have another mailed in. If it would have been steel it might have been easily weldable saving a few days time. Still. Nothing I could have carried would have fixed the problem. It definitely overshadowed the trip costing me five total down days and a lot of money.

The point is odds cannot be calculated based on one piece of statistical data. Chances are I will never crack the titanium frame again. Indeed I've never broken another frame while touring. And who's to say if a steel frame would have broken that it would have been so catasrophic it wouldn't have been weldable anyway? I'm just lucky I wasn't injured. Which when I think about it was far more statistically likely then debating the odds on weather I should be riding steel or titanium. I just want something that's not going to get me badly hurt when it does fail.

This is why hyperbole is so hard to avoid. In the end even the most experienced among us weigh our decisions based on our gut. This does not mean we should strive to quantify our decisions, nor that we should give in to dogma / hyperbole. We should remain gentlemanlike as we pursue it though. And this debate has and I've learned from it. Thankyou.