Originally Posted by
Walter S
Let's say I I'm keeping my eyes open for a big well equipped grocery store to pickup supplies for an upcoming part of the tour where I expect to find little. I could decide to go ahead and stop and load up with 15 pounds of stuff. But if I do then I have to take on the burden of hauling that extra weight.
I also have the alternative of continuing on if I think the odds are good I'll find what I need further up the road. But if further up the road is nearly flat, and I know the 15 extra pounds will only take 0.1 mph off my average speed, then the cost of stopping while I'm at an ideal spot to stock up is very low.
On the other hand if 15 pounds would take 2.0 mph off my speed, that might influence me to accept the low risk that I won't find something this good further down the road. The numbers matter. My intuition or "gut" feel can appraise the real influence of the weight inaccurately.
I know what point you're trying to make, but ...
Unless you're planning to head off into wilderness for several days, chances are you wouldn't need to carry 15 lbs of food.
If our intuition (and map) tells us that there should be supplies quite regularly along the road, we'll carry dinner that night, breakfast the next morning, and maybe a few snacks.
If our intuition (and map) tells us that we might not find supplies for the next day or two, we'll carry a little bit more.
For example, we'll usually carry a few packets of ramen noodles tucked into one of our panniers. 4 of them is about 0.7 lbs. We might also have a couple packages of those flavoured rice meals ... 2 of them is about 0.5 lbs. And some margarine, coffee, sugar, powdered milk, and a few snacks will bring us to somewhere between 3 and 4 lbs between the two of us. That's the basic amount we carry.
At lunchtime, we'll pick up a bit more for dinner and breakfast, and we'll add a bit to it if we figure it could be difficult to find food for a couple days ... and of course as those things get used, they get lighter.
What I'm saying is that in my experience, it's rarely that dramatic a choice ... more like, "Should we pick up dinner for tonight ... or for tonight
and tomorrow?" And if, for some reason, we felt like the situation could require acquiring a lot food, then the decision is pretty clear ... get lots of food. I'd rather go slower and have food than to run out of food.