Originally Posted by
alaskadude
I am going on my first bike tour.
Before you head over there, go on some shorter tours. Start with an overnight out-and-back, then try another one in the 4-10 day range. In my experience, a tour of 4 or 5 days requires about the same amount of gear as a multi-month tour. Experience will probably show that there are at least a few things on your packing list that you don't need; that was definitely the case for me. On my last tour (3 weeks in the Rockies, including a good deal of hiking), my gear weighed slightly less than what I used on my first tour (8 days around the Olympic Peninsula), even with carrying hiking boots, a small backpack, and some other hiking-specific gear.
If you do want good "off-bike" clothes, I've used REI travel shirts and zip-off pants. Depending on how much you like padded bike shorts, they also work pretty well as on-bike clothes. They're not cheap, but they are comfortable, durable, synthetic (i.e. they keep you warm even when they're wet and dry quickly), and they look normal-ish.