Originally Posted by
Andrew R Stewart
Sturdy/studly/stupid not sure which you're calling me
It turned I didn't live with the load, although the heat was the real issue. Having about a gallon of water does you no good when your stomach shuts down. It was in central MT that I had to stop and rent a van for a few days.
This shot was with a couple days worth of food (the usual stash) and my daily starting with near 1 1/2 gallons of water. The weighing in Missoula was at the end of a few days of riding so my food and water load was actually fairly light weight. I figure I had nearly 120 lbs total when geared up fully. My water filter and a few other items got UPSed home when I got to WI. Andy
Dear Mr SSS (you take your pick ;-)
I know what you mean about the heat, Ive ridden a lot in really hot weather over the last few years, and am almost as old as you are you old geezer ;-)
When I did Central America two winters ago, I found that I handle heat pretty well. Ive always known that but it certainly helps with very frequent small sips, for the stomach I mean and avoiding that "shutting down" feeling--I say avoid, but I guess to be realistic I mean, "minimizing" it.
This summer in France I rode in 40c temps and missed the regular "corner stores" of Latin America where one could always find a cold drink of some sort or another, not to mention the gas stations that would be air conditioned and made a real diff of having a cold drink and some cooler air to cool your body down for a short break.
back to the weight. I made the mistake of taking too much weight on my first longer trip back in 90 or something, and so remember that lesson always, so cant imagine carrying the amount you had.
Remember that rough estimate of load weight adage, your bike+load should be about half your body weight. Given Im usually 140 tops tops, 70 is generally a more enjoyable total bike weight for me, although the latin american trips were more, but I have really low gearing on the bike I used for these trips, which makes a huge difference.
I think the most water Ive carried is about 4 litres, a bit over an american gallon (3.78 i think) and less than an imperial gallon 4.55 l. ) but then there were generally access to small family run stores along the day often.
cheers again
oh, and thanks for all the mechanical help you've chimed in over the years in the mechanics section, appreciated.