Guess I'm stating the obvious but:
Dove or Joy dishwashing liquid for soap (does everything)
and Avon Skin So Soft. Keeps the little biters away.

Little can compare to wool. Good wool is worth EVERY penny.

I spend a LOT of time in remote areas hunting and fishing.
I use one of my bikes specifically for the backwoods.

When I first started I didn't bring a tent. My rides were usually weekenders and I wouldn't go unless the weather report said no rain. However, even for weekends, I'd bring a tent now - to get away from bugs and for some privacy.

I don't bring a warm coat. I bring two poly-pro long underwear tops - one very lightweight and one medium weight. That gives me choices - one or the other or both. I bring a fleece vest - why bring sleeves if you don't need them. When it gets really cold I put them all one with a t-shirt underneath, and put my rain jacket on top. I'm warm enough under almost any conditions. If I'm still too cold I go to bed.

If you're a minimalist a small, one-man tent might be what you want. I bought a Eureka Backcountry 1 that was very light and excellent protection against rain and bugs. However, it was too confining and I instead went with a 2-person tent in which I can stretch out and have a little room around me for my stuff.

In those early days I didn't bring a stove (I didn't have one and was too poor to buy one.) I ate tuna fish out of the can, fruit, beef jerkey, and cooked canned food over a campfire - in the can. Now I carry a backpacking stove, a couple of pots, a plate, knife, fork, and spoon, and I'm much happier.

It's kind of like that - you deprive yourself to save weight, but you make choices to bring certain things to enhance your "quality of life."

Big Blue Toe make's a very good point. I've done the same thing. While I only do weekend tours currently, I started out light and slowly added stuff for that "quality of life" feeling while camping. That's why I now take a 3 cup Moka pot, I decided I wanted hot strong espresso coffee while camping. You adjust as you go, some things you'll decide aren't worth taking and other things you'll add because you wish you had it on a previous trip.

I started out cheap to find out if I was going to like it enough to keep doing it and eventually do the across America dream of mine. Now that I decided I'm good to go with all that camping stuff I've invested in some better mostly mid level stuff as needed because camping does trash stuff. Tents take a lot of abuse, I've talked to many campers that backpack or bike in and they all said their high end tents last 5 years best, so I buy cheaper tents; and a tent expert I once read said the same thing, buy cheaper tents, not the ones under $100 though because they can leak in hard rain. There was a camper I ran into that had a cheap $60 tent and he threw a tarp over it! Cheap and water proof.

But basically you all need to know that a $400 tent is not even close to being twice as good as a $150 tent, and neither is a $300 tent. And real expensive 4 season tents weigh to much to haul around on a bike. But since most of us are not riding are bikes into the frozen tundra of Northern Canada we don't need anything close to that kind of durability.

Again, a question about tarp tents for those tarp experts. I don't pitch a tent close to a tree, because lightening can strike a tree, travel down into the roots of the tree where you have a tent pitched and suddenly you have problems. Sure if your camped in a grove of trees the odds of getting struck are less then next to a solo tree out in the open, but the odds are still there. So what precautions do you take since it sounds like you need a tree or two to rig up the tarp?

It's simple, don't use a tree. I've carried poles (Shafts for golf clubs are remarkably light and do a great job, or you can just use a few segments of tent pole), or when I feel daring, I rely on the site to provide, either sticks lying around or other natural features. I've used trees (only when there was no chance of lighting, and I did an inspection for dead limbs; you're right, trees can be dangerous), rocky outcroppings, and my bike itself on more than one occasion.

I'm going to have to disagree about the lifespan of the tent though, my tent (or one of them) is going on thirty years old, and it's just starting to show it's age. It did cost an arm and a leg when it was purchase, but it's decades of great service have been more than worth it. It's still lighter than most of the tents on the market right now. The only reason I'm still not using it is because I loaned it out, (big mistake) and the borrower let the fly mildew, so the waterproof coating has begun to wear off. I've done some work to renew it, but there is only so much can be done.

I put off buying a new tent because I had a hard time justifying a new tent that weighed more than a 30 year old one, and one that was practically guaranteed to be less durable.

A heavy tent will probably last longer like you experienced, but the tents I was talking about were backpacking and ultralight bicycle touring tents; and these people were either hiking or touring a lot, not once or twice a year or even a month, but all summer each and every day. I guess if someone wanted the ultimate in durability for a tent they should look into a Springbar made of canvas that weighs 20 pounds for a 2 person tent; at least with a tent of that heft you would be getting a great workout hauling it around. I also know that tents built 30 years ago are not the same as the ones built today...today's tents are not up to par. I had a family tent that was 30 years old too when I replaced it due to discoloration and like yours the waterproof coating was coming off, and the one I replaced it with cost more, of course with inflation, but is no where near the quality.

Thanks for the tarp info, interesting stuff.