The other thing about all this is choosing the "right" footwear.

That includes ensure there is enough sole to keep the cleats from protruding, at least too far to make walking uncomfortable on steep inclines where there is a tendency to walk on the balls of the feet.

It's also why road cleats probably aren't such a good idea, either. The Achilles tendons are going to get more of a workout.

Another factor is the back. Leaning across the bike to push it uphill can put a fair bit of stress on the shoulders and lower back.

These things are a few reasons why I prefer to stop, recover, then continue on pedaling rather than walking when a hill gets too much.

And then it's a matter of perfecting the take-off routine, which in my case is staying seated in the saddle with toes of my right foot on the road, so I can push off cleanly with my left and have the right foot on its pedal immediately.

I remember last spring I rode out the Skookle River Trail (yeah I refuse to type that word when it's not for academic purposes) to French Creek. The headwinds were so fierce that, despite it being flat the whole way up to that point the climb up from the river into the park just about killed me. The downhills sure are fun though...

Yes, bombing down those hills was awesome!

Just got back form the bike shop and dialed in some fit issues. Still rolling with the brooks flyer for this trip with some slight modifications. Packing is going well, leaving a lot of stuff home.

Here is the packing list for a four day trip, cooking most of the meals and camping. Let me know your thoughts.

Handle Bar Bag:

Camera
Sun glasses
clear glasses
cell pone
GPS Garmin
Cliff bars (2)
sunscreen spray
misqutto headnet
dyno hub wires
moist towlets
cache battery for dyno hub
pen
small pad of paper
pills
antibacterial gell (small container)

Rear Left Pannier:

Sleeping pad
Sleeping bag
Air pillow
Tools (2 tubes, 2 fiberfix spokes, zip ties, disp. gloves, patch kit, duct tape, tire boot, chain breaker (small), multi tool, tire levers, brooks wrench, patch hit for sleeping pad)

Back Right:

Bibs x 2
Jersey x 2
wool socks x 2
White socks
off bike shorts: 1 pair
underwear: 1 pair
off bike short: 1 ea
Chair (helinox)
Bathroom stuff (big towel, small towel, small shampoo, deodarent, tooth brush, tooth paste, sink stopper, laundry clothes line)
First aid kit (the kit plus insect spray, sewing kit, toilet paper fodled, flint and striker, afterbite, toe clippers, water tablets, neosporin)

Duffle:

Off bike shoes (attached to outside)
Hat (attached to outside)
CPAP (machine, battery, plug in, mask, hose, ear plugs, eye mask)
Tent plus rain fly
poles for tent
stakes for tent
foot print for tent
pump for tires
rain cape
wind breaker
cabler and lock
botties
helmet cover

Front Right Pannier:

Food (cous cous (small 1 cup dry bags), splenda, oatmeal, spices, spices, cliff bars)
Cup, plate, bowl (all collapable)
Cookings tools (oil, spatula, cutting board, spoon/fork, 2 small dish towels, blue scrubby pad, peeler, tongs, can opener (old school one), scraper, lighter, dish soap, knife, fish spatula, whisk, serving spoon) *most all is plastic)

Front Left:

Cooking set

Stainless steel coffee mug
Fuel
Zip locks
Garbage bag
Kindle
Kitchen Sink (attached to outside of pannier)

Thinking of brining: ipad and multi charger for phone and such.

Hmmm...for short trips, I tend to decant consumables such as liquid soap (Dove Ultra dish soap serves for everything), sunscreen, and so on, into those small plastic travel bottles, rather than take a whole bottle of sunscreen. If I ever do run out, I'll just buy more.

How big is your large towel, and how much room in the pack will it take? I've found that a 50 cent 1 sq. ft microfiber towel works just fine after a shower, and has the advantage of drying very quickly. Plus I'm not all broke up when I lose one, as always seems to happen.

Isaac,
I'd like to meet you sometime. My mom and brother live in Cherry Hill and I bring a bike each time I come up and visit for a few days. Two suggestions:

1) Lace the skirt of your Flyer. Just two holes and a waxed shoelace. It'll contain the flaring. EDIT: I see you had another post on the Flyer. Others suggested the same thing...

2) Be careful about your hand position. Think about your palms parallel and hands facing away from you as though you were showing how big the fish you just caught is. Then rest the meaty part of the edge of the palm onto the bars/hoods area. Roll/rotate your hands inward about 45 degrees and let the fingers rest naturally. The weight is on the meaty palm edges, not on the portions where the nerves pass. I hope that this discription helps. I read this many years ago in a bike book - never forgot it - and it's eliminated hand pain or numbness on road handlebars for 25 years (for me). Try to only "grip" the hoods when sprinting or climbing, and then only for brief periods.

Have fun!
Phil G.

You might benefit from careful management of calorie intake during the day along with making sure you get enough hydration. I have a much better ride when I am careful to eat about 200 to 250 calories every hour to hour and a half. Might be half a sandwich, energy bar or gel, ice cream at convenience store, granola bar, lots of options. Does not really matter what it is, but if I try to go too long without calories or if I try to have too many calories too infrequently, I bonk.

On really hot days, I might go thru a 26 ounce water bottle every hour, I have carried five bottles on some trips.

On extremely steep two lane roads that have almost no car traffic, I have made my own switchbacks by riding back and forth across the road to lessen an extreme grade.



A 14 percent grade is very humbling.

Priorities are always different. You're a chef so I get the food prep gear Me I'm a musician so I bring a guitar.

Camera, cell phone, Garmin, Kindle... and maybe an iPad? Why not just a smartphone and a paper map?

Oh and lose the big towel.. A quick wipe with a small towel and some air-drying does the trick!

Check you're taking on enough water throughout the ride. I've often found hills that I can do relatively easily if I'm adequately hydrated are very hard to impossible if I'm not. I can usually tell the difference, it's a particular sense of tiredness in my quads when they're struggling through lack of resources rather than through hauling my fat ass up a hill.

One of the things I struggle with most of all is taking on enough water. Partly because of the logistics of hauling enough water, and partly because I get into a roll and forget to drink, not realising just how much fluid and electrolytes I'm losing through sweat. If your sweat is salty you'll want to take on electrolytes as well as water.

Oh and chef, I'd love to meet you at a campsite, see you unpack your kitchen and do your magic (on the Trangia right?)

btw, apart from my comments above, your gear list looks very good IMO.

The large towel is the camping micro towel from REI. Folds up small and light weight.

Good call on he liquid soap.

Phil:

Thank you for the information. I am working on tweaking the fit before I go on the next tour tomorrow. Changed up the hoods and might raise the seat a little. We will see. Changing gloves to my weekend longer distance gloves. They have more padding.

Let me know when you are in town and we can have a visit.

Yes, I think I need to monitor that better especially with touring considering the bike is heavier and loaded. I seem to discount that.

Thanks Imi. The last two tours, people enjoy coming over to watch. Chopping the veg, roasting the peppers or onions over open fire, sauteing the other veg and making cous cous. Its fun. I could live on cous cous.

chef, I honestly can't see much that I would leave behind, other than the stuff you have embolded. steve's comment about the towel is valid and was one of the first things I thought of removing.

At some stage, you might consider ditching the rain cape and windbreaker and substitute them with a lighter rainproof jacket. I have toured and randonneured for years with just one jacket to do both duties.

Enjoy the tour! And be patient...

Buy a microfibre towel. They pack small and weigh little.

I have something like that from REI. Very impressed with it.

I would LOVE to do that. Its tough to find one my size. I am a big guy.

Let's assume that you are going to tour when the weather forecasts are going to be reasonably good. That means the jacket is likely to be used rather less than more. In which case you don't need a fully fledged cycling jacket made of the latest and greatest technical fabric, but rather one from, say, Walmart, that must be available in 3X or 4X large or whatever.

If condensation from sweat on the inside is an issue (inevitably with just about any jacket when climbing), get some pit zips put in. I sewed in a pair of zips in a jacket way back when and that increased the usefulness of the jacket. The tail might not come down around your butt, but at least it provides protection in the wind and rain when you need it.

>>>>There are just days where no matter how positive your attitude or how strong a rider you are, there's just nothing in the tank<<<<

I haven't yet figured out why I can ride the same route three days in a row and feel completely different each day. Sometimes it's just the quality of the air or the amount of stress I'm feeling. I know you've been riding a long time, Chef, so I'm not going to patronize you by assuring you it will get better with practice and experience. However, I WILL say that, if you're anywhere in your forties or near fifty, the frequency of seemingly-easy rides that knock you out for no apparent reason is probably going to increase!

For my touring bike I use a topeak modula adj. cage bottle holder, fits large nalgene or a 1.5 qt bottle. List looks good. I too enjoy cooking. I use paper plate instead of a cutting board. I mix my dish soap 1/2 and 1/2 with shampoo for both. I find a 2.5 gal zip lock great for washing clothes. Those 3 oz bottles work great for the small stuff. How big is your tent? Light weight ? I have 26 -36 -46 on a 26 " wheel burley runabout, 32 t rear. What is your gearing like?
I find a bar bag with lots of snacks like trail mix and beef jerky helpful. I found my self REALLY hungry pedaling all day.

Chefisaac, you haven't said a word about gearing. In my experience, unless you can knock more than 15lbs off your load without making compromises or getting spendy, losing weight (whether off you or off the bike) is harder, more expensive and less effective than just gearing down.

3 years ago, on tour, I walked the steep sections on mountain roads, and even turned back off a great, looming climb once in sheer frustration, nearly crying, exhausted and sore. Since then I gained 30lbs, the unladen bike gained another 24lbs (front and rear suspension plus many many mods) and the luggage remained about the same. Nonetheless, last year, with nearly 60lbs extra over the previous setup, I only dismounted and walked the bike once, when the road was so steep that the tires were constantly skidding on the hardpack surface when trying to pedal, and I was stopping to catch my breath every 50 yards when walking the bike. The difference? Going from a low gear of 28 front 28 rear to 22 front 34 rear. The training regimen was about the same before all of the trips, meaning I'm a lazy bastard .

And while I also try to trim as much of the total weight as possible before departure (and my setup has more in common with bikepacking rather than fully loaded touring), on tour I find that a few pounds over/under the planned total weight make no discernible difference. Sure, on some climbs I feel like tossing even empty bags and wrappings to lighten the load, but I resist the temptation, knowing it's useless, and get confirmation over the next hill, when I'm 5-10lbs heavier after topping off on water and getting a watermelon, yet my legs don't complain.

So, like others have done in this thread, I have to suggest lower gearing as a solution. Walking the bike up a hill is not only more exhausting (it feels like a full body workout with a loaded bike to me), but it's also downright disheartening. I also fully support lightening the load on principle, because the bike and wheels feel every pound of weight more than you do, and less stuff means a simpler pack, which is always better. But like I said, unless you can make a significant difference in weight, don't expect to ride hills you've previously walked just by shaving a couple of pounds.

Sounds like everything went OK to me....Had fun,sleeping outside,good food,riding bike...All Good!

No shame in walking.....Shame in not trying!

Good Job! Sounds like fun to me,aches,pains and all......Sucks getting old...

I live in a very flat area and always have trouble adjusting to hills the first couple of days that I'm riding in them. It seems like it doesn't really matter if I increase how much I ride on the flats; the only way to prepare for hills is ride them I think.

FWIW, the granny on my touring bike is 18"; I think it might actually be faster to push my loaded bike up the hills.

I didn't see where you mentioned what roads you took. French Creek Park seems to be a destination for the hills. You can go around the park on Harmonyville road, but it still has some heavy climbing. Park road is nasty and Shed road seems to be a destination for people to climb because it's tough.