Originally Posted by
ncscott
Thank you for all the wonderful reply's. I was worried that people would read this and say its too general and skip it. I kinda figured out that I packed too much food and keeping a one day "emergency" meal was the way to go. I come from a backpacking background (AT 2002 NOBO) so my tendency was to pack for the trip, but quickly discovered the fault in this. I recently did a bikepacking trip off the mt bike and am now considering just how small I can go with.
Thanks,
Scott
Carrying everything you might possibly need was an older style of touring. Cycletourists were
completely self-contained.
When I first started entertaining ideas of cycletouring in the late 1980s or so, some cycletourists were still doing it that way, and I thought that's how I would do it too. And in some cases, it would be appropriate if you're heading into areas where you'll spend several days with no or very limited services.
However, many places that we tour have towns and shops and all sorts of stuff that we would encounter at least once a day if not more frequently.
Even when it comes to clothing ... I've set off on tours with very limited clothing and have picked up stuff along the way. Rowan and I also started a tour with no tent ... just staying in hostels ... and then bought a tent a few days into the tour. We planned to do it that way. And a friend of mine, cycling ultralight across Canada, discovered that even in August nights could get quite cool so he stopped in at a Walmart and picked up a small, cheap sleeping bag which I think he ditched later when he didn't need it anymore.