What to Bring and How to Carry it

Based on my experiences bike touring and back packing in my younger days, I am very aware of how much work it is to lug a lot of gear around.  Also, when I decided to do this tour I was about 15 pounds over my normal weight.  I quickly decided that to travel as light as possible.  This is one reason I considered “credit card” touring on my section of the tour.

Once we decided that we would do some camping, the next decision was how to carry the gear.  The two main options are bike panniers and a bike trailer.  A trailer seemed like overkill to me and the added logistics of getting it to San Francisco was also unappealing.  I decided to go with bike panniers.  Panniers can be mounted in the front and back depending on how much gear you need to take.  In my prior touring experience I used to be able to carry all my gear in a set of rear panniers.  Given that my trip is only 2 weeks, I decided that I would try to do that again.  Because his tour is a 2 months long and gets into some cooler weather, John decided to go with front and rear panniers.

We both got the Ortlieb Classic Panniers.  They are super sturdy and waterproof.  They weigh a little over 4 pounds.  Speaking of weight, much to the amusement of my family members and friends, one of the 1st things I bought was a scale so that I can track how much gear I am bringing.  I will be carrying about 30 pounds of gear not including water or food.

One thing nice about touring with John is that we can share a tent and cooking gear to keep the weight down.  I started with this list as a guide on what to bring and made adjustments.   We also plan to have just one set of some of the recommended bike parts and tools to save on weight.  We do plan to bring multiple spare tubes and both will have a pump in case of flats!

In addition to weight, I was also very concerned about volume since I only have  40 liters of space in the 2 panniers.  I have been pretty obsessive about weight and have put a lot of thought in what to bring.  My plans on what to bring have evolved with more time on the bike.  For example, I originally thought I would not bring rain pants, but after a few rides in cold pouring rain, I changed my mind!

I was very surprised when reading other folks blogs at the amount of electronics that some some would bring along on a tour.  Most people bring a cell phone obviously, but it was not uncommon to read about people bringing laptops, Ipads, mp3 players, and cameras!  I decided only to bring my Iphone.  I do have front and rear bike lights.  We only plan to ride during daylight hours but the lights improve visibility to cars.  The lights have rechargeable batteries.  Since we will be camping at times and have limited access to electricity I decided to bring a battery pack that can be used to charge my lights and battery.

Here is my final packing list –