Originally Posted by
gauvins
Yep. Bryce (Zion->Bryce->Page->GCNP). ... And one leg will require us to carry a significant amount of water. I'd say 6 extra litres at least.
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Just an FYI - in USA there is a brand of bottled water sold in stores called Smart Water. As bottled water goes, it is on the expensive side, but the one liter sized disposable bottles fit perfectly in most bike water bottle cages. The bottles are thin plastic like most disposable bottles are, when I put one under the down tube I use a velcro strap to make sure it stays there. Again, I will refer to the photo I showed on page one of this thread, I have three of those bottles on my bike for a capacity of three liters. The photo was taken in Iceland, I brought three empty Smart Water bottles with me for that trip because of the capacity. The one liter size is the only bottle they sell that fits a cage well.
https://www.bikeforums.net/20167316-post13.html
Also shown in that photo, I have my rain gear strapped on top of my front panniers where it is readily accessible. But on my Pacific Coast trip where the chance of rain was nil, I often strapped a liter or more of water on top of each front pannier in half liter sized disposable water bottles.
Originally Posted by
gauvins
Yep. Bryce (Zion->Bryce->Page->GCNP). ....... Then again, I'll have to learn about weight distribution and bicycle handling on dust roads. (i.e. is there an argument for keeping the front wheel "light and nimble" or for relieving the rear wheel of as much weight as we can).
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If it is a road, not a narrow single track, I find no problem with my normal loading and weight distribution on gravelly and cobbley roads. Roads will give me the width I want to pick my line quite easily. But I do a pretty normal distribution of roughly 25 to 40 percent of the weight on the front of the bike, so I can't comment on your weight distribution.