...update. Just taken delivery of my new tent, so I decided to try a fully-loaded test ride, packing all the gear on my kit list for forthcoming touring plans. Quite impressed with the spare capacity in the Ortlieb panniers, even after getting all my camping gear and cooking gear in. I took this pic at the top of a 17% gradient hill, to test whether I think my compact double gearing (34/50 up front, 11-32 on the back) is up to the task, and I'm pretty confident it will be. Also the bluebells were looking nice.

On an overnight to Monadnock October 2015.

re going down the west coast of the States--your bike has a low of 28.4 gear inches, when I did that trip many moons ago, I had two lower gears than you, 24.7 and 21.4 and was certainly glad of them many times. There is a lot of short steep ups and downs at times, and just take into account that although you found a 17% fine with trying out a ride with all your stuff, there will be times when you aren't as fresh as on this test ride, and you will wish you had lower gearing.

I realize that because you have a road compact crank on your bike, its not an easy change to get lower gearing, short of changing out your rear derailleur and getting a larger rear cassette, so you don't have a lot of easy inexpensive options.
How much does all your stuff weigh? I suspect your total load is less than what mine was (mine probably 40lb) so just be aware of keeping your load at a minimum. I was in my 20s at the time, and was still glad of the lower gearing on that trip, and recall that the west coast trip was harder climbing than biking along most of the Pyrenees the summer previous (longer climbs, but not as steep gradients).

have a good trip, hope it goes well, its a very pretty ride. Bikes with triples have a big advantage for touring and making it easier on your knees, so I guess just take this trip as a learning experience and adjust afterwards for how you see it goes with X gearing and Y bike weight for the types of hills you'll be on. If need be, walking isnt the end of the world and its easier than mashing too slowly which is hard on your knees and not good for long or short term knee stuff.
cheers

^ Thanks, very useful comments. I've done some research on the route so I've got some idea what to expect, but it's good to hear some first-hand experience. I've not weighed the gear, but without going ultra-lightweight I've been careful with a few key elements, e.g. sub-2kg tent, and I think the clothing is just about down to a bare minimum.

We've got a mini-tour planned in a few weeks, ~200 miles over 3.5 days of riding which will include a fair amount of undulating roads in S England, so this will be a chance to see how the legs are after heavier mileage over consecutive days, sleeping in a tent, etc. It'll also tell me if I can make any adjustments to my kit list - hopefully discarding items rather than adding things I wish I'd taken. I'm a pretty strong cyclist, but new to touring so don't want to take anything for granted. I'm also a keen runner so I want to look after my knees!

thats a great idea to do a mini tour for all the reasons you say. I bring up the gearing thing because on my very first fully loaded tour, way back in 90 or 91, I had too much weight (probably 45-50lbs) and my gearing was not low enough for the very hilly terrain where I went (had 25 gear inches) and I really hadnt ridden enough and none with all the stuff on the bike. Throw in having a slight dodgey knee from ski falls in the past, that got shown up due to all the hard work, and I had a knee issue, plus it just wasnt fun, all the slow cadence up long steep hills and a sore knee and no choice but to keep on at it,making it worse for the knee.
I was, and still am a skinny fellow, so probably that didnt help, but do at least be wary, for you and your partner, and take care of your knees.
Have fun with the mini tour. I have family over there, in Worthing and in mid Wales, so I know that you will be meeting "undulating" thats a given.

as you mention having done research for that trip, thats one thing with that route, there is a ton of good info out there for the route, where to camp, stores etc etc, heck even when I did it long ago pre-internet, there was good info about it that made it logistically straightforward to do and to know what to expect when and where.

For both your mini tour and the big trip, I would recommend setting lower mileages the first few days, it helps get the legs into the whole "riding a heavy bike" thing, a bit more enjoyable Ive found. Also, getting out in the morning at a good time to give yourselves more hours to cover a given distance (to a set State Park for example) is a big help in not having to push it just that little too much for too long-again, for both the fun factor and the physical.
In the end, after not too many days you two will find the rythmn and distances that work well for you, thats the important thing, ride your own ride that works for you.
cheers

We've booked accommodation in advance for the mini-tour since camping choices aren't quite as extensive, but it works out quite well as the first couple of days are around 60 miles (depending on detours), with the third day being the longest. I've bargained for 65-70 miles per day, not including rest days, for the Pacific Coast tour; Plan A is Astoria or Tillamook to San Francisco, around 800 miles, 11/12 days of cycling with 2 rest days in between. One extra day to play with in case we need it. How does that sound?

Phil, I'll send you a private message later today sometime, cheers

Sierra de Cazorla, Spain

I posted a few months back. At the time I think I had a trailer with my bike. I've gotten rid of enough stuff that the trailer wont be coming with anymore. This, with the addition of one smaller bag on top of the two Sea to Summit bags, is what will be going with me on my Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine ride. Also missing is one water bottle. I leave on May 1.

Cheers

62cm Bianchi Randonneur. 64cm is more my size but oh well. Previous owner rattle canned it black, bummer. Rigged up an old Suntour MTB crank that was in a parts bin at the bike shop. 42/32/22, with 13-32 on the back. SUPER easy gearing, so sweet when carrying weight up big climbs. Fork was one of the recalled ones, so put a generic chrome unicrown one on there. Nitto Technomic/Noodle cockpit. Old Shimano 600 levers. New-ish Shimano shifters. Brooks B17. Front rack is Old Man Mountain, rear is Jandd (the extra long one). Wheels are old 36h Campy hi flange > open pros that a friend built for me, they've stayed so solid for many years now. 700x28 gatorskins. SKS fenders. Crane brass bell, love that thing. Ugly black thing on the seat post is a mount for a surfboard trailer, looks like crap on there but its really hard to install/remove so there it will stay. It is the Camping Bike. Photo from a 200mi tour thru big sur last week, cambria>monterey and then back, 3 days up 3 days back. Northbound was super rough with the headwinds, but southbound mission (tailwind!!) was unreal...

Nice looking bike. 7 speed?

Thanks, nah 6 in the back

stefan, los gemeldos otro vez ;-)

(are you Spanish, German, French? no need to answer if you don't want to, I've just wondered at times)

having toured with 6 and 7 speeds, having 9 or 10 is nice just cuz the jumps between gears is much easier for those specific headwind/inclines where one gear is a bit high, the other a bit low , sort of thing.
Don't know if you have other bikes but for other than an expeditiony type trip, I would absolutely go 10 speed next time (8,9 is what I ride now).

Iam Italian/German, live on Ibiza/Spain since 1988;)

de acuerdo ;-)
like I said, have wondered. Being multilingual is a real gift isn't it? English, French and (sort of) Spanish for me, makes it easier when traveling and meeting people. I consider myself very lucky to have been exposed to French and Spanish when I was younger.
chus.

!yes! 4 languages is not bad ;)
our children are fluid in german, english, spanish, catalan, and portuguese (mother is from brasil).

Most people carry their luggage on the rear wheel. You seem to load everything on the front,. Why?

gaudiness, front load is the way to go, a touring bike with front load behaves nearly like a normal road bike out of the saddle, and climbing, really great. while back load makes your frame wobble like a pudding out of the saddle.... and you have enormous pressure on the back wheel spokes, what at times make your spokes say "good bye".

Gaudiness--Gaudi, ha, now that's a real Spanish perspective!

haha autocorrection keyboard stuff.

2014 Romania

Bikepacking in New England! The two-speed setup works awesome! Simple, reliable, no brain power needed!