Jsosborn

I"m training for a longer 12 day ride from Maine to Philly starting Memorial Day. Staying in hotels and eating at restaurants makes the gear carrying simpler. I really like the kit that all snaps on and of the rack system from Ibera. I put the same rack on all of our bikes, so we can move around the different sized packs by the mission I've got 27 lbs of bags and contents, 35 lbs of bike and bottles, and 230 ibs of me. All 300 lbs of us are happy about how it's going. I bought the Specialized Vado 5.0 SL EQ on March 29, and have managed to put 829 miles on it in the 7 weeks since. I really love this bike. EDIT: I realize now how rear loaded this looks, but it handled fine in everything from pavement to some pretty rough gravel. I don't like weight on the handlebars or front fork, and with the panniers so far back, I never hit them with my heels.