Ok advice and insights.

[boonebikeguy]

So as many of you know I am riding in august across america. probablly alone. SO now I have to set up my road bike to fit some sort of panner system, and carry my belongings.
Here is what I will take:

Change of clothes, maybe two pair.

Pair of Crocs

Two sets of cycling jersies and shorts.

Cellphone.

Ultralite tent.

Ultrlite sleepeing bag.

Mess kit.

Maps (of course)

Two water bottles.

rain/wind gear.

extra socks!

candy bars and cliff bars.

my bank card.

Yesd I want to know what others carried and how they got their travel kit set. I also need advice on mapping. What to expect as far as anything others experienced that isn't normally something you'd consider. Things that hlped you on your ride that perhaps I have not considered etc..
I'm pretty excited actually. The reason for this is that there is another reason for my ride. I want to creat an NGO. One aimed at starting a montesorri style school/community center in Bishkek Kyrgyzstan. So each day of my ride I will have to stop in some city to be able to speak to a business or other organization to join me in starting the NGO...I'll map this out myself, and contact everyone prior to leaving. The second reason is I simply want to do this for myself. If it is succssseful, I'll ride coast to coast to coast next year, and then Ride across Russia after that. Again any advice or critique is welcome.

Paul.

"Love is a river where crazy people drown"--Kyrgyz proverb

[bigringer]

don't forget a laptop, gps unit and some sort of portable weather radar.  

[boonebikeguy]

OK! Thanks I was already contrmplating the lap top, but You COULD give me som eheads up on GPS systems that are afforradable and mountables...any suggestions?

"Love is a river where crazy people drown"--Kyrgyz proverb

[ptaylor]

Boon. If you are serious about the GPS, go to the GPS section and post a question. Lots of bikers (myself included) love them.

Also, two water bottles will not be enough. You can take two, but recycle a Gatorade bottle by filling it with water on hot long stretches.

Paul

[boonebikeguy]

Yes Paul obviously I will re-think stratagems according to terrain and avalilability of water..I am oprobably going to carry a camelback for the long hot stretchhes and pack it away for the less brutal stages of the ride.Bear in mind that two additonal is not counting the mounted bottles ...I have already decided to take your advice about the GPS and have one chosen and am reading about using it now as well as reading your blog about them

"Love is a river where crazy people drown"--Kyrgyz proverb

[MTK]

I'm starting my trip in three weeks and getting together a checklist also.

Besides things like spare parts (spokes, tubes, tire, etc) that are somewhat obvious, the other things you're going to want to take are lotions, meaning sunblock, insect repellent, and some sort of moisturizer or balm.

[boonebikeguy]

MTK Yea I already plan on that as well, but probably not goingm to really need it unltil I hit the bad lands. I ride constantly and I have very dark complexion (geneS!)thx for the input sir

"Love is a river where crazy people drown"--Kyrgyz proverb

[mikej2]

New to the site here and haven't bicycle toured much, but have camped, hike, backpacked, motorcycled, and whatnot a bunch.  One key advice I got many years ago was to start off with short trips to work the bugs out, figure out what you need, more importantly to figure out what you don't need, what works, what doesn't.  When I was younger the backpack always seemed to weigh 50 pounds for the first hike of the season, and was well below 20 by the end of the season once I figured out I didn't really need so much stuff.  But you probably have already thought of this already, and probably already have some shakedown rides and overnighters planned out between now and August.

Have you given any thought to the prevailing winds?  I've driven cross country several times and motorcycled across as well, and it always seemed like the wind mostly blew west to east.  Which means you'll be bucking a headwind a large part of the way.  Just throwing that out there.

Have a good ride, hope to read your trip report when you get done.  I'm starting to plan something for next year, getting a bike sorted out this year, playing with a GPS and geocaching to learn the system some.

Sometimes I type too much so I'll stop here, and being that this is my first post I probably should have stopped typing a while ago.

ps: (figures, first post and I edit it right away) here's a link to a good packing list, a decent list to start editing from:
http://www.trentobike.org/General/Packing_List.html


This message was edited by mikej2 on 5-30-07 @ 1:24 PM

[ptaylor]

MikeJ2:

Thanks for the link. But here is one I think may be more helpful.  And it's right here on this very rich website. What to take, how to pack.

Paul

[mikej2]

Excellent, thank you.  I'm still new to the site here so I hadn't found that yet.

Sounds like you have an interesting ride planned, should be interesting.

Side note relative to the other reason for your ride beyond just the ride, the local REI store here in Brookfield Wisconsin is having a guest speaker of two guys riding around the country and stopping at various places giving talks about their cause.  You might be able to blend in talking about the tour/ride and your cause at places like REI.  Lots of community minded folks are members are REI and would probably be interested in what you have to say.  I have no idea though on what it takes to get a time slot in their events schedule, just something to consider.

Have a great ride.

[DaveB]

One item I noticed missing from your list is a sleeping pad of some sort for padding and insulation.  Either a foam pad or one of the self-inflating pads such as a Therma-A-Rest is a must unless you KNOW you can sleep on the cold, hard, rock and root infested ground without one.

These are available in a variety of sizes and thicknesses and the smaller, thinner versions are very light and pack into a small roll.

Second, a flashlight.  There are very small single AA cell LED lights that are bright, the battery lasts a long time and the bulb lasts nearly forever. An LED headlight can be substituted if you want to read at night.  

One other omission: a towel.  Get one of the quick drying microfiber synthetic types made for back packers as they are also small and light but quite effective.

This message was edited by DaveB on 6-3-07 @ 5:55 PM

[John Nettles]

Don't forget simple stuff like addresses (street & email) for postcards & such.  Also, if you are having a maildrop, you will need to have a rough idea where to have it sent.  I usually have a "collection box" at home and have someone forward the box to me c/o General Delivery at some small town PO.  Have it arrive a few days before you do.

If you are taking medications that are capsules (little plastic coatings), they will start to melt above 90 degrees.

Wishing you a great ride!


Happy trails and may the wind be at your back!

TulsaJohn

[mikej2]

Curious how the trip went or is going, hopefully all went well.