re those chairs, ...
when you say "leaving shortly", I do really recommend...
re the convenience factor of the dry lites, Ive toured for about 30 years, and would never leave my panniers on the bike overnight, I wouldnt sleep well, so using them one has to accept mucking about with putting the velcro back on properly in the morning, and or they'd be perfect for a credit card motel trip where y...
re gearing. What is the gearing of your bike? Number of chainrings at front, number of teeth on the small ring , and size of rear cassette.
700 wheels?
Just curious because having low gearing makes all the difference, especially for gradually getting stronger and taking care of your knees. Too slow a cadence working hard to get up a hill (cadence is the revolutions per min of your feet) is a lot harder on your knees and your leg muscles.
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also, i hope you arent starting out hitting mountains right away.
how long to leave, where to (if you want to share details that is) ?
You made me smile about the hitting the mtns first part. I did the Southern Tier route fully supported, including hotels. I was so ill prepared for hitting those passes so early on. CA was hit with an unseasonal heat wave that followed us for several states! Would have been so much much easier starting in FL and building up the legs and lungs. There were several self supported fellows we leapfrogged with in the beginning. The solo rider dropped out before we hit Jacumba Hot Springs and another was amicably dropped by his riding partners because he couldn't keep up. I know I would not have been successful doing it self supported at the time. At least now, I do have a respectful sense of what is involved.
I listed my gearing earlier, you see it above and I have 700s. I leave next month, going over 2000 miles north to south. I doubt it'll be possible to bring the panniers inside my tent since I chose an ul 1 person. Not too worried about that. More cognizant about the riding conditions and preoccupied drivers.