What did you forget to pack that you needed?

[Nyimbo]

I've read many posts and paragraphs in journals etc that discuss the items folks take on their tours and end up sending - shipping home or giving away.  I have sorted out everything on my list and tried to reduce as much as seemed possible or prudent. 

I was also curious about the opposite and wondered what you forgot that you wish you would have taken or didn't know you needed and tried to buy along the way?

[John Nelson]

I propose we exclude things that we intended to take and accidentally left behind.

Bicycle Route 66 involves quite a bit of riding on the interstates. Interstate shoulders have quite a few exploded truck tires. Exploded truck tires have a lot of tiny wires that get embedded in your tires. Some of these wires are very hard to pull out. I failed to appreciate this problem and did not bring tweezers. Easily solved as almost ever drug store and many grocery stores sell tweezers.

Other than that, nothing really.

[Pat Lamb]

The nice thing about bike touring is that it doesn't require all that much in the way of equipment or clothing.  I can't remember forgetting anything I really needed; the closest thing was a charger for my camera battery on a short tour, but since I charged it before leaving, I didn't miss any shots.

There were a number of things I used up on my long tour, wore out, or clothes I shrank out of.  (That's a nice problem to have if you're carrying as much extra weight as I do!)  Most of those were replenished or replaced on the road, with the remaining few things resupplied by mail from home; food, salt pills, fuel, rear tires, chain.  Oh, and money; thank goodness for ATMs!  I carried spare brake pads that went on the bike after 3,000 miles.  I only had to order one extra part, a cable for my bar bag mount.  When you're traveling a few hundred miles a week, I tend to notice things are getting low or worn out and have a chance to replace them within a week or two.

[indyfabz]

The nice thing about bike touring is that it doesn't require all that much in the way of equipment or clothing.

+1.

Before my first tour, which was a cross country tour, I asked a friend with touring experience to suggest a few items that I might miss if I didn't have them. She told me: (1) a warm hat (I was doing the Northern Tier starting in May) and (2) a good flashlight. She was correct. Other than that, I figured the rest out by looking at the suggested items on ACA's web site and on my own.

[canalligators]

Tweezers are must-take.  They have three purposes: first aid, grooming and those damned truck tire wires.  But you need good ones, the tweezers on your Swiss Army Knife lack sufficient grip.  Get some good stainless tweezers and tweak them up by sliding a piece of sandpaper through them while you hold them closed.  Flip the paper and do it again.