Interesting post!

Regarding eggs, a family I visit in a village about ten kms. from here occasionally gives me a dozen. They wrap each one individually in newspaper and then put them back into the cardboard carton and put a rubber band around the outside of it. The eggs arrive intact, even though I ride home over some rather bumpy roads.

Shaving oil works better than foam. A 20ml bottle will last longer than 200 ml of foam, and is 10 times smaller and lighter.

Me and my girlfriend had a cooking revelation on our last trip. We had been using a hay box oven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haybox) at home for cooking and thought we would apply the same principle for cooking on the road. The principle is simple - bring your food up to boiling temperature, or cook for a few minutes, take off the heat, insulate and wait. The food will continue cooking as the heat within cannot escape. This works especially well with a spanish style one pot rice dish but can also be applied to other foods such as pasta.

For the rice. Chop fresh veg if you have it (peppers, garlic, aubergine all work well), fry for few minutes (also works if you don't) with some oil, salt and spices. Add rice (so pan is 1/3 full if you want a full pan when cooked). Fry rice for 30 seconds - 1min. Add same volume of water as rice- I usually measure in a mug but you can do it by eye. Add dehydrated veg if you have it. Bring to the boil. Remove pot from stove (with lid on) and place onto ground or ideally bed of leaves or similar (for insulation) and cover with clothes, sleeping bag etc. Wait 30mins or so and it should be cooked and still piping hot!

This method saves an incredible amount of fuel when cooking food like rice or pasta that needs to simmer. Is also great if you decide to cook something more extravegant with 2 seperate dishes. For example, the pasta can be cooking in the 'haybox' while you are cooking a sauce on the stove. Worth saying that I carry a woolen waistcoat on cycling trips and this is the first layer to go over the pot, if you dress entirely in synthetics, you may have a problem with them melting if you use this technique.

Also i have read quite a few tips here on how to cook oatmeal... you don't need to. My standard delicious cycling breakfast is cold oats with cold water added, together with some dried fruit, a sprinkle of sugar and maybe some jam (jelly) if I have it. It works a treat. Oats create their own milk (you can buy it as a milk substitute, or make it just by soaking oats and straining off the liquid), and hot food is a luxury in the morning to me.

This next tip isn't for everyone but...: one advantage of being on a bike is that you move slower than are car and pick up on so much more thats around you. And there is so often a lot of food on offer. If you are cycling through agricultural areas after harvest time you can come across a wealth of rejected vegetables. Often we have found it difficult to resist carrying too much. But if it is towards the end of a days ride, before camping, there is little to loose by picking it up, cutting off the occasional bad bit and cooking up a feast. This also applies to fruit and nuts, where there's often fallen ones on offer. Also if you learn to recognise a few wild plants and herbs, you soon realise that you are surrounded by free food that you do not have to carry for the whole day/trip.

Use websites like 'couchsurfing' or 'warmshowers' if you are usually camping. We usually plan a stay with someone for every 3 or 4 days, as its great to relax in a house, with people who know the area, and are, in my experience, always friendly.

Now that someone else has ressurrected this thread, I've a thought to share:

The longer I've been on the road, the less specialized equipment I keep.

I left with a cyclist's wardrobe of Lycra. Most of it ended up in a gear exchange bin in Kansas. I only wear my smartwool brand socks when the army surplus shore wool socks are in the wash. I recently replaced my expensive ultralight titanium cookset for a dollar store nonstick saucepan with the handle removed. I've picked up a colorful bedsheet and a fleece blanket along the way. I wear a lot of cotton. I even gave away my trunk bag in favor of a milk crate.

So, to whom it may concern: don't get caught up in buying your way better. Use cheap gear until you feel the lack, then buy something better if it's worth it. Sometimes simple solutions are more comfortable. However much weigh you carry, you'll get used it to. In my case, I am so happy to carry three extra pounds if it means I don't have to try to saute green beans in a four inch titanium pan!

That's great advice and I started laughing out loud when reading your green bean comment.

Still reading all these posts, backwards, but I loved this one! Ready to eat while waiting for the coffee. This forum has some great tips!

I've just started touring, but have been mountain biking a long time. I love my camel bak, and would've never thought of doing this, but seems like a great idea!

Also, one tip I've found while mountain biking, I always carry electrical tape as it's smaller than duct/gorilla tape, and is stretchy. I had a flat tire, actually was punctured throught the side of the tube. Since I had forgotton by tube repair kit, I used some pine tar from a tree, then wrapped the tube with the tape, and the outside of the tire as well. Worked great!

Ok, one more tip for fires we came across while mountain biking and got caught in a 3 hour "monsoon" downpour and seeked shelter under some rock outcrops.

We always carried some cardboard soaked/dipped in some parafin wax. We lay those down under your kindling, and once they get started, there's no stopping them.

Wow, just finished reading this entire thread! I am planning on my first 2 week trip in May. Many of these awesome tips will be very useful when my time comes around!

When camp cooking I pre mix the cornbread recipe from the Quaker Oats cornmeal box. I pack it in doubled baggies and add extra sugar to it. We mix it up for breakfast and fry it like pancakes. The sugar eliminates the need for syrup and it fries way better than pancake mix because it stays together better and does not stick to the pan. Uneaten pan cakes become bread for a pbj lunch.

Slightly lower tire pressure on rail trails helps keep tires from sinking in gravel to effectively lower rolling resistance.

Gel pads under bar tape helps prevent hand numbness.

Carry duct tape and electrical tape wound on a Formica sample card. Duct tape can repair a tire casing temporarily.

Carry a nitrile glove in tool kit to keep hand clean when doing chain repairs. We use the heck out of that glove on most trips.

On a group tour we coordinate cooking, repair, first aid, etc supplies so we have no redundancy. Before we did that we would have three tool kits, three cook kits, three stoves, etc.

The Esbit solid fuel stoves work great if you adapt cooking to need smaller amounts of hot water.

Home made litter pails are far better than Ortliebs. I have retired a set of Ortliebs now that I discovered litter pail panniers.

If you tour alone you meet a lot more people enroute!

In most conditions you can do an extensive tour with less than 25 pounds of gear per person.

I do not carry more than two meals of food at a time, and plan to shop daily near the end of the day.

I plan tours with gradual ramping up mileage so I get in shape enroute. Why pedal 50 miles with a simulated load and wind up back at home when you can be 50 miles on your way?

I plan a layover day early on the trip and generally do not use it. That way I am always a day ahead of schedule instead of behind and trying to make up time. This single thing makes every tour relaxing because we are always ahead of schedule and can relax if something does happen. It stinks to feel like you are pushed because you are behind schedule.

Something is going to go wrong on every tour. That's part of the joy of touring. It may be a single flat tire, a mechanical failure which develops far from any services, rough weather, fatigue, illness, getting lost or any other mishap. Preparation is important, but there is no way to prepare for every possible problem. That's where attitude comes in. Embrace the entire experience.

Please elaborate. I would like to take my Esbit stove on my next trip and would like to cook something other than the freeze dried meals that we took backpacking. I would like to cook something I bought at the grocery store the day before.

Well, I suggest some trial and error tests before you go to see what works for what you want to cook. We found that while it is easy to boil a half gallon of water on our MSR, it was about impossible with the Esbit. We started figuring out ways to cook with 1 - 3 cups of water at a time instead. We make oatmeal and coffee one cup at a time for example. We make pasta with so little water that there is almost none left when it is cooked. If you want corn on the cob, try steaming it in an eight inch of water instead of submerging it in a half gallon of boiling water. Generally we adapted cooking methods to either cook in small batches or use minimal amounts of water for bigger batches. If you try to use an Esbit as a direct replacement for a powerful stove you are bound to be disappointed, but if you adapt to a Lower BTU need they can work great. One problem with a low power Esbit is that if you try to boil a gallon the heat loss around the sides nearly wipes out the heat gain from the fuel tabs so it nev seems to boil. When you adapt cooking to use a lower power stove it can work great, but you cannot expect to swap it out for a regular stove with no adaption. If you do this the Esbit can be a really light alternative that we have come to love. One last thing with the Esbit is to have a foil or other windscreen too, otherwise the lower heat output mostly heats the wind instead of the pot. Also with freeze dried, maybe if it requires two cups of boiling water, boil the first and add it, then boil the second and add it a few minutes later.

I am also considering a biolite stove when they become available this spring as an alternative to the Esbit. It is heavier but you do not need to carry any fuel for it which is big savings for a long trip. And it has pretty high heat output. Www.biolitestove.com.

Thanks, dwmckee. I borrowed the aluminum windscreen from my MSR Whisperlite stove for use with my Esbit stove. It was fine for boiling water.

As for menu items, I expect I could buy pound of macaroni at the grocery store and a small jar of sauce, then add a can of kidney beans or a can of tuna. I would be throwing away the leftover sauce and have part of a box of macaroni to haul around. Macaroni and cheese would be the same, but I would have to bring some powdered milk and some kind of butter or oil just for the moment when I buy a box of macaroni and cheese.

Supposedly, attraction of bicycle touring is that one does not have to haul a whole week's worth of food when starting out. That makes it easier than backpacking. But with backpacking, I can select every ingredient down to the last teaspoon of Mrs. Dash.

We would pack Vigo "Black Beans and Rice" mixes. I imagine adding tiny quarter ounce chunks of Esbit fuel to the stove so that I had continuous heat without getting too darn hot. Esbit fuel burns hot. I don't know how available bean and rice mixes are at remote grocery stores.

Do you have any recipes?

The recipe I mentioned above for cornbread pancakes is great. I have to admit though that since we switched to the esbit stove we have fallen back to very basic cooking for some reason. Things like pasta with sauce and tuna. You are making me realize maybe we should get a little mode inspired for cooking a agin. We do eat out a lot I guess and mostly cook just breakfasts and an occasional dinner.

We picked this up from a young couple on a tour who brought it back from Spain. Instead of cooking the oatmeal, we mix it with some yogurt and add some fruit or nuts if we have it. It looks a bit gross, but tastes great and stays with you for hours.

Picked up a nice few tips from this thread, adding one didn't see but often recommended elsewhere:

Might I suggest to thread starter to compile these in the first post, maybe one line per item? Condensed version will be a nice clean 100+ line list.

- a drop or two of superglue smeared onto the end of a cable will keep it from fraying, also better than the little aluminum nipple because you can pass the cable easily back out of holes and the cable housing.

- full lengths of cable housing are much more contamination resistant, especially below bottom bracket runs, than raw cables. Doing top routing with cables is much better for touring for avoiding mud/water/etc. You dont need new brazeons for these. Just use velcro strips to hold them in place or gently snug cable ties. Think of gravity's role in water collecting when routing cable housing when fully lengthed.

- debranding / uglifying your expensive, well known bike-brands may make you less likely than your neighbor to be nicked. Electrical tape especially on a black frame both does this, preserves frame decals, and adds a bit more abrasion resistance for you. Black is an ideal frame color if your considering for this reason.

- aquarium / misc. clear tubing over rack tubing can help take up that extra gap on your ortlieb or vaude big hooks, also reduces noise. Slit in half to get over the tubing. There are a ton of different diameters for this. This can help you have a common rack outter diameter among all your fleet's racks.

- for those that have front racks with the side link member (eg, tubus tara), you have considered what will happen the day when you go over bars? Will the rack survive? Nice argument both for racks that are independent and have little forward footprint, also for considering forks that allow same.

- solder a proper pair of wires to your front dynamo spade connectors, then link a disconnect (rcm dean's connector)to this ~5cm up the fork. The tiny and irritating spade connectors from Shimano/Sturmey/SON aren't a necessity.

- have read a temporary frame lock with someone undoing chain quick disconnect and rerouting it through frame.

- dab a bit of grease in your exposed allen bolt head to help with rust prevention, especially those facing up. Put allen key in to spread to all internal surfaces of allen bolt head.

- those with SS couplers, use an innertube sleeve over them both for rust prevention and making frame less identifiable. Dont let water accumulate in the sleeve if possible!

- spokes/other long items in your seat tube (bagged), or if SS couplers, you may have two more exposed tubes. Also have read others stashing valuables there, eg, rolled bills for emergency cash.

- much easier to replace a spoke if you've used a plastic rim strip instead of the sticky tape, schwalbe/continental have high pressure plastic rim strips that are simple to temporarily uninstall.

- those needing the 2-3 mm longer non-drive side spokes can just use drive-side spokes plus a nipple whose threads start 2-3mm earlier (several do this). So only one size spoke needed per wheel. Although really like the z-bend idea posted earlier to avoid cassette removal in that case ! You've all seen the kevlar fiber-fix spoke I'm sure too.

the Truth. I am amazed at why cars stick together for even when I am driving on the highway (no lights) . Doesn't everyone say keep your distance....

Thanks JimBeans83, that is a darned good list of ideas you've posted there.

I have to say that I'm more than a bit verklempt that my humble thread is still going strong after nearly seven years.

Unfortunately I've been caught in the vortex that is P&R, and I had sadly forgotten how nice it was to just talk Bikepacking*

* My version of touring, based upon the wisdom of the late, great Ken Kifer - with a bit of Ed Abbey thrown in for spice.

Hmmm...

;)

OK, some perhaps unknown to some, tips.
More general camping, then bike specific:

Pine needles make for a great dirty dish scrubber. Just grab a big ol' handful and start going to town on that half burnt oatmeal.

The Lentil is the perfect legume for touring. You can mostly "cook it" just by soaking during your day of bike-touring/backpacking/canoeing/et al.

I bring an empty plastic peanut butter jar. Fill her 1/3 with the magic beans, the rest with river water.
Let those babies swell all day.

Then empty the water.
Then empty the swollen nuggets into my pot - add fresh river water, then bring that to a roiling boil for 10 mins.
Strain and season.

* never season while it's boiling. Salt makes them tough.

I like to add a little butter fried onion and garlic - and maybe a chopped tomato.

Legumes are an important part of my diet. At home I almost always make them from scratch, but when I'm on the road I buy them already cooked. In this country they come in glass jars; elsewhere in cans. There are white, red and pinto beans, garbanzos and lentils. I always carry garlic and some spices: pepper, paprika and cumin, which I add along with a little olive oil and tomato and onion if I have it.

This makes for a fine meal, especially if accompanied by a good loaf of bread and a bottle of red wine.

Zen Master, what is the name of that mirror. The link didn't work. "If you don't already have one, spend the $15.00 on one of these mirrors (A Must Have) if you don't already have one."

Yes ,I always thought that it would be the following car that would get me .Heres a very important tip -Hold your breath when a tour bus passes ,a bored driver may dump the chemical toilet for a laugh as he's passing the cyclist

- Using webbing as a emergency cassette chain whip, see link below to build it. 15grams, and webbing can be used for something else. Great idea, I made and tested this after reading it. I might add to put the webbing under slight tension as you mark the spacing for the teeth holes.

- using some innertube sections to help seal headset top/bottom (he's also shown below)

source : http://frankrevelo.com/hiking/sewing_bikemisc.htm

If you're one who camps and cooks often on tour, think about this.

Instead of using up a lot of stove fuel(I suppose people using gas or propane stoves don't mind so much, but the ultralight alcohol stoves really go through fuel fast), try cooking with a pit fire. Just dig a shallow hole, slightly wider then the container you need to heat up(Leave a spot for air to get in, and for you to push more fuel in!). Start a small fire with twigs, pinecones, ripped up paper bag, whatever is handy. Put a grate or tent stakes over it to hold up your pan.

I dig in my alcohol stove in places where it's not practical to burn anything. It protects it from the wind, cooks very efficiently, and it's barely noticeable as a fire. I've cooked pasta in 25mph winds without much trouble. If you use a grate, you can cover up the gaps between the pan and pit-edge with rocks to make it even more efficient. When you're done, fill the hole back in and either make use of a hot spot of ground(Comfy to sit or sleep over it on a cold night) or pour water over it to make sure it's completely out under there.

I can't remember where I picked these up, but they're good tips. Sorry for any repeats:

1. Bring individual allen wrenches instead of a multitool to save weight.

2. Sprinkling your tire tube with regular baby powder before you put the tire back on after a flat will make it easier to lever the tire onto the rim, and it'll reduce the chance of pinching your tube.

3. Bring basic, all-purpose items. Safety pins, duct tape, fishing twine, nylon swatches, vaseline, and plastic bags can be used for improvising thousands of solutions for common problems.

4. Invest in a good headlamp rather than a bike lamp, unless you need a high-powered one for bikepacking. Headlamps point where you're looking, provide greater visibility to cars since they're higher up, and they can be used around camp.

5. A Nalgene Cantene™ rolls up when you're not using it. Pack it instead of a third water bottle to save weight, or to repurpose a bottle holder with a tennis ball container for storage (great tip from this thread).

6. Lumbar or Fanny Packs let you store items on your person that you use often, can be accessed while riding, don't make your back sweat, and are safer balance-wise than backpacks. Simple ones are great, but the Inov-8 Race Pro 4 is lightweight and weather-sealed, and extremely stable, with tons of space. 5/5 stars.

7. Libraries are safe and quiet places to rest in on a tour. Stop by and read for a few hours when it starts pouring.

8. Gorilla Tape is stronger than duct tape. Use a strip on the underside of your frame to protect the metal from the dings of rocks and debris. When riding in dangerous countries, wrap over logos to make your bike less desirable. Use Gorilla Tape or Duct Tape to make "channels" along your fork or frame to store things like spokes, pumps, plastic bags, and tent poles.

9. Sleeping Bag Liners add warmth and comfort, and they keep your sleeping bag from smelling or deteriorating. Wash them like clothes regularly. Keep a dryer sheet in the bottom of your sleeping bag to keep it smelling fresh.

10. Put Silica gel packets or aluminum tins in the bottom of Ortliebs and other dry bag panniers to keep out mildew from dampness.

11. If you're careful, you can boil water in a classic Nalgene bottle by turning it near a fire. Too close, and you'll melt it. Put it in the bottom of your sleeping bag to stay toasty all night.

12. They make Paracord that supports up to 400 lbs. Use it instead of rope to save weight and space when hanging things in bear country. Also makes a great way to secure a bike onto a vehicle in an emergency (so long as it's not bearing the full weight of the bike, eg. hanging).

I'll edit it if I think of more.

I want to add my GLOWING support to Henessey Hammocks. The sleeping position is so comfortable it feels like sleeping at home, and it keeps leg soreness to a minimum, you don't rock all over, you can't fall out, get wet, get bitten, and it sets up in minutes. I see people making huge sacrifices to get a tent under 1,000 grams while mine is a mere 800 with perfect comfort.

Camping with a hammock, do you use a sleeping pad? what if the trees are too few or too far apart to hang it up?

The hammock has a really good range, it's like 8 feet to 22 feet or something. I have NEVER been unable to find trees, and neither have my friends. All 3 of us are using hammocks.

A good analogy is to think about how hard it is to find level ground, with no rocks, and no water drainage when pitching a tent. The difficulty is about the same. When touring, I think the odds of being unable to find trees are astronomically low. If I find myself in a desert with no trees, I can pitch my rain fly between my bike handlebars and my front wheel with no problems.

Take a tree with a 6 inch diameter and try to push it over- it's damn-near impossible. I trust anything thicker than my leg.

Yes, I do use a sleeping pad. I use a Thermarest NeoAir, and it's sized to reach my head to my ankles. It keeps me toasty.

The hammock has a 1-3 night learning curve where you learn how to put it up, then it's the best way to travel. You're never wet, you never see any bugs, your legs are elevated so the soreness fades out, and every time you see someone bragging about tent weight, you're either beating them in grams or they've sacrificed comfort/money far beyond you. Abandoning poles and 30 square feet of rain tarp to cover 3-4 walls is VERY significant.