Originally Posted by
scottfl
Re: century ride in 3 days vs 1 = newbie mistake. Understood about the weight/hills. It'll just make the ride down the hill that much better. 113 pounds though--let's not make it worse than it is.
Yes, a century is 100 miles in one day.
And as for hills ... you'll be walking up hills with that load, and let me tell you ... pushing a loaded bicycle up hills is a long and painful experience!! Have you tried riding hills with that load yet?
And no, all that weight won't make riding down hill that much better ... it can be hard to control. How are your brakes?
On my first tour of any length, I flew to Europe with 90-100 lbs of gear, including my 27 lb bicycle. But that weight also included everything I needed for the Paris-Brest-Paris. I struggled getting around with that much stuff ... I couldn't lift my bicycle, and lifting the bicycle is something that comes in handy while touring Europe. Halfway through the time there, I left about 10 lbs of stuff at a friends place, and then toured Wales with about 80-90 lbs of gear, including the bicycle. And I walked a lot. I was in the best shape I've ever been in ... in preparation for the PBP, and that was a good thing because I would have walked a lot more if I'd been anything less.
Then I headed for Australia in 2004, for three months, with about 70 lbs of gear, including the bicycle. I thought I was doing well cutting my load down that much, but still struggled badly for the first few days ... and I left over 10 lbs of stuff with a friend in Sydney before continuing on.
From my experience, I've found that if the load (including the bicycle) I've got is less than half my body weight, I can manage it fairly well. But once it gets up over that mark, I struggle. And the more I struggle, the less enjoyable the trip is.
I'd strongly recommend taking another look at your collection and determining if you really need it, or if you can either leave it behind or find a lighter object. On this 3 day tour you've just done ... were there things in your collection you didn't touch? If so, why not? You don't have to answer that here ... but it's something to think about before you commit to taking all that weight on an extended trip. Remember too ... you can buy things along the way.