Thread: Local Test Tour
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Old 04-10-21 | 04:36 AM
  #4  
Tourist in MSN
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From: Madison, WI

Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.

My first tour was four days with a co-worker. We drove almost a thousand miles to the starting point, it would have made so much more sense to do what you are doing, stay close to home for the first time.

You likely will get a lot of people telling you that you have way too much weight for a week, but others will say that is just fine. I am in the just fine camp.

I find that the difference between packing for a week and packing for over a month is that I bring more soap, toothpaste and shampoo on the longer trips, otherwise pretty much the same amount of stuff for a week as I pack for multi-month.

I carry two tubes on bike tours, plus a patch kit with self adhesive patches. Most do not carry spare cables, but I carry a spare brake and gear cable. A few extra nuts and bolts, etc. But I used to work as a bike mechanic, so I am more hardware oriented than most.

After a while you will figure out the little things that make a bike tour go smoother. For example I think it was my fourth or fifth tour I started to carry my chain lube in my handlebar bag where it is handy instead of buried in the bottom of a pannier, when my drive train is noisy I add lube but I only think of that while riding and not in the campsite.

Eventually when you look at the weather forecast, you will look for the wind forecast before you check the precip forecast.

Have a great time.
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