Thanks for the guidance RHM! Great to hear from the leather experts here.... I will give it a try.

nlerner: yes, I saw Ted King's youtube film of his crazy long day..... pretty amazing. That route looks HARD---I was thinking I might try it but take 3 or 4 days, just bivvy camping at night. Ted is a pretty amazing rider--- I chase him on Strava and Komoot. (and by "chase" I mean I try to do about half the mileage he does, at half the speed). ;-)

Thanks all....

N