Light touring can mean a lot of different things, mainly to differentiate from touring with a bike loaded with panniers and lots of gear. It could encompass:
- Loaded touring with lighter weights, perhaps a couple of panniers or a large Carradice bag and less than 30 lbs of gear.
- Supported touring where an outfitter or oganizer carries your gear from town to town, and you just ride your bike with enough gear for the daily ride.
- Hub-and-spoke touring where you base yourself in a town or campsite and do loop rides, returning to the same point at end of every day.
- Credit-card tours where you carry clothes, tools and other necessities but no camping gear, and stay in hotels and inns, and eat out
- Short trips in which you don't have to carry much gear