That's way too hardcore for me. I'm a wuss and I go touring between towns on main roads mostly. I like the cycling and climbing hills, but as I've said before I like to finish the day early and visit art galleries, museums etc and I'll default to a motel if one is available. Still, whatever style of touring you enjoy it's good to lighten the load.

The all supplies weight is dynamic though. So is the gear weight, to a lesser extent, depending on season. Cold weather I pack more clothing, and will soon have an option for a lighter sleeping pad for summer.

But food / water fluctuates. Soon as a leave the house it starts dropping, then is adjusted by resupply / water options on route.

I like knowing my base gear weight, as I'm still working at this.

My bike + gear (dry) weight is somewhere between 45-50#s depending on what I'm packing.
I'd like to get that closer to 40#s.

Before my trip I select the items I need. Generally the supplies I calculate for are: full fuel, 2 liters water, 2 days of food. If I know my trip will have long days without resupply I plug in the max. I generally want to know the heaviest I'll be, not the lightest. The totals are then calculated and a packlist is generated.

Does that mean food, water, and fuel included? If so I really don't see how any number I could come up with would be all that meaningful since it will vary hour by hour and day by day by as much as several hundred percent. How do you manage that? Go with the likely maximum? The likely average? The likely minimum?

Generally I would have no idea what that might be at any point in the trip at least not in advance. I guess I figure out what what I start with, but that is almost always with no fuel and almost no food. I do include a few consumables in my count like soap and sunscreen, but they are usually only two ounces or so each.

Edit:
I see that you already answered.

so if you are shooting for 3 days of food, (say about 8,000calories), and 100oz of water, my typical set up is around 40lbs.
and thats a steel double top tube 29er.

oh i love that kind of stuff.

when I was 21 I went thru Jungle School at Fort Sherman Panama, and a variety of other "schools".

heck... honestly, voluntarily ride a custom handmade bike, and doing something that I love... its a no brainer.
that kind of easy.

one of my personal issues, that I have to be wary of is hygiene.
seems that these days, the mind is willing but the body breaks down in a variety of subtle ways.

for years I've been using Pearl Izumi, but recently have started mixing it up with Castelli and Canari
going back and forth from A&D Ointment and Triple Antibiotic Ointment, maybe some Tolnaftate 1% powder when I'm just relaxing... maybe TMI

these are the things are of course are preventable, but its always amazing to me when it becomes an issue.
riding in the wet, and grime (like TDR) is crazy hard on your body. the grime can be so fine... ah... forget it. I'll spare the details.

but ya... I can pretty much just push. this last little jaunt, I lost 15lbs.

the dynamic load:

no doubt that is almost as if a live partner that you have to constantly check in with.

I've had great runs when I was down to less than 8 scoops of Perpetuem on standby and 2 Snickers bars.
when I'm down to about 6hrs of total fuel on board, the rolling is fast. could be an 80 mile effort without a stop.

while on tour, one year I rode Humbug Mtn State Park in Oregon to Elk Prairie Campgrounds, Ca... about 117 miles in under 7hrs, without a stop.
that effort was nothing but fueling from on board logistics.

A criticism of reducing the number and size of bags that you use when touring is the lack of volume you have to carry unexpected loads like extra food or water. It's always good to leave some spare room in your bags and I leave half my Ortlieb free for extra food and cans of soda etc. But that's just 3 or 4L. Using large dry bags gets around the spare capacity issue to some extent. I have used a 20L eVent compression sack to carry my gear, but actually only used half of it's capacity, leaving 10L of extra carrying capacity if needed. Old fashioned Carradice type saddlebags also have the ability to expand by using the long flap to carry stuff on top of the regular load and there are also D-rings on the top where items can be strapped. Obviously there is a limit to the capacity, but they are options for carrying things like extra food and a couple of 2L soda bottles. But what if you need still more carrying capacity. The next thing to do might be to stuff things in your jersey, but you could also bring along one of those 2oz nylon back packs that compresses to nothing and would allow you to carry another 10L on your back. But even if you don't have one of those it's easy to tie up the bottom of a rain jacket tie the arms together and make something that can be worn like a messenger bag. It would make riding a bit uncomfortable, but for a few miles it would be ok and if you needed to go longer you could take relatively light items out of the saddlebag, put them in the messenger bag and load up the saddlebag with fluids.

Of course if you were actually planning to ride somewhere you knew that you'd need to carry multiple days of food and water you should make specific plans rather than going all McGyver.

the handlebar and seatpost bag(s) are both compressible.

I know a lot of people do not like carrying a backpack. but I'm going there anyway.

I use a WingNut Enduro. it can carry a lot. much more than I care to leave on my back for too long. it can also handle a 3L bladder which for the most part is crazy huge.
when it comes to expandable, at the end of the day, grocery shopping carrying capacity, I use the Enduro. it will easily accommodate 1/2 Gal of OJ, a crazy huge hoagie sandwich, a pair of crocs, a towel, candy, blah blah blah. plus it has criss cross bungee which allows you add yet more junk to it.

so the deal here, is that obviously it encourages a person to limit what you are cramming in it, being that you have to put it on your back. for end of the day grocery shopping, its more than adequate to handle dinner and breakfast.

both handlebar and seat bags that I use, when in final configuration are not fully crammed. both are rolled down quite a bit. there is enough room in each to accommodate enough for dinner and breakfast.

check out this day, Newport to Florence

[TABLE="class: summaryTable overall"]
[TR]
[TD="class: summaryTableLabel"]Distance:[/TD]
[TD]78.76 mi[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: summaryTableLabel"]Time:[/TD]
[TD]6:52:44[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: summaryTableLabel"]Avg Speed:[/TD]
[TD]11.4 mph[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: summaryTableLabel"]Elevation Gain:[/TD]
[TD]7,300 ft[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: summaryTableLabel"]Calories:[/TD]
[TD]4,668 C[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: summaryTableLabel"]Avg Temperature:[/TD]
[TD]61.6 °F[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


https://connect.garmin.com/activity/215812249

some dirt and plenty of pavement.

UL helps you cover ground.
or
conversely, UL makes your daily rides that much easier

Or just pack one of these.

https://www.seatosummit.com/products/display/86

"That much easier" takes pride of place for me, but I also know I can do a long day's ride if required.

Two words, Asana. Gold Bond. Try it.

It's pretty ultralight, and that cooling sensation.... must be experienced...

Green...not yellow.

thats a pretty good start for a pack.

the deal here is you want to avoid picking a pack that digs into your body, especially places like your armpits/shoulders.

even CamelBak https://www.camelbak.com/Sports-Recre...Octane-LR.aspx has started to shift their weight more into the hips, where arguably WingNut Gear https://www.wingnutgear.com/index.cfm has already focused.
which in my experience, over 2 years with the Enduro pack.



CamelBak's Octane LR is definitely a move in the right direction, but 335 cu inches
vs
WingNut Design's Enduro pack at 1,100 CU IN

my pick still remains the Enduro.

lol

ya, I know it all too well.

I'm a Hospital Rx Tech, I have a decent scope of anti fungals. TMI

here's another one.


distance 68.9
time 5:50
av spd 12.0mph
elevation gain 5038ft
calories 4200
av temp 60F


Cape Lookout to South Beach



this was with a bunch of rambling around Newport, meandering around Beverly Beach, etc...

this is on a 29er with Nano Raptors, by all means not a slick, but a very capable knobby.

I remember this day, I was not at all pushing it, or even laying down a whole lot of effort but sitting up and just spinning the pedals.

Anybody tour on a unicycle wearing nothing but a g-string?

Seriously, while I am not an avowed UL bicycle tourist, I think there are some good ideas in this thread for all tourists to consider. I bring a lots what I learned from backpacking, e.g., not bringing an entire package of something, but just an adequate amount.

I think maybe I will check out these bivvy sacks I keep seeing mentioned.

Big fan of the wingnut packs. I use the hyper 3.


Mike B by Eight Zero Two Cycles, on Flickr

For the nether regions my randonneuring buddies turned me on to Lantiseptic. Hospital grade, awesome stuff.

I can see it for adventure racing, but 17 ounces + water on your back doesn't seem ultralight or practical for bike touring.

I could see that being an issue with some packing strategies, but have found it easy to manage.

I too have a much bigger than necessary dry bag rolled down to much less than it's capacity. Between that and my little 18 liter backpack I have more extra space than I am ever likely to need. Also depending on whether I am on the road or mountain bike there is also space in either the handlebar bag or handlebar roll.

That is more than adequate unless I was planning something way out of the norm, like being away from all services for a lengthy period (more than a few days). As you mentioned, in that case I'd make allowances up front, but I really do not have a great desire to carry much more than 24 hours worth of water anyway and try hard to plan routes where I can get water at least one a day or in the very worst case on the second day.

Primarily used for cameling up as required. And a quick place to stash stuff.

And if ever I feel the need to buy that ukulele or concrete statue of the flying spaghetti monster that I might find at a roadside stand.



It's also nice to have phone, wallet, SPOT, knife right where I can get at them.
But I agree somewhat. If I were riding pavement all day with 2-3 potential resupy points, it's not really needed.

The way I tour I usually have multiple resupply options each day and I eat in restaurants or buy from markets along the way. Iceland was the most remote area I've ridden, but even there it was possible to get food an fluids at the beginning and end of the day as I stuck to RT 1. Its also ok to flag down buses if required. I would ot ride with my set up in the interior. In Iceland's weather I found 2L of water good for the day, but I did carry an extra big bottle of bright orange soda on one day when I was unsure of the road ahead. Of course with the amount of rain I experienced I could refill my bottles just by taking the top off, putting them on the ground, and waiting a few mins.

I'll probably never carry a SPOT because I'm sure I'll be too stubborn to use it. They'd find me dead with the unused SPOT in my pocket and I think I was a MAJOR idiot instead of just a regular idiot.

BTW: How much does that statue weigh?