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Old 03-26-19 | 07:21 AM
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mev
bicycle tourist
15 Anniversary
 
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 2,641
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From: Austin, Texas, USA

Bikes: Trek 520, Lightfoot Ranger, Trek 4500

I have developed packing lists for my longest trips and typically look at these for a subset for local trips. I've found the largest differences in the range of one-night to one-week and fewer in the longer than one week. Typically it is other constraints that make a bigger difference, e.g. predictable climate/weather or no-camping? than duration.

For example, from my equipment list for an 18-month trip: Equipment - A bicycle ride across the Americas

I might bring half of these things for a Memorial Day weekend in Central Texas. Some larger areas of change:
- Weather in Austin over Memorial Day is much more predictable, ditch all the mittens/gloves/coats from Prudhoe Bay, much lighter sleeping bag
- No need to carry seven days of food starting out; even for a seven day ride in Central Texas there are a lot more stores available than the North Slope
- No bears
- No ability to carry large amounts of water
- If my tires look fine, I'll not bother with a spare for just a weekend, also no spare chain, spare brake pads
- Fewer changes of clothes, though once I go over a week, that doesn't change as much as I wash/rewash
- No passport, yellow fever card, vaccination records or as many maps
- Lighter on electronic choices, perhaps only a tablet

However, it is easier to have an extended list and then delete some things as obviously not necessary. On almost every extended trip one gets an opportunity to pick up something you missed or to shuffle some clothing items due to season (e.g. on my Alaska to Argentina trip, I mailed myself a package to Fairbanks. This let me carry more food/clothes the first week - and wait to pick up some things like electronics and others until I was on paved roads). I also picked up spares along the way for things like tubes/tires/brake pads.
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