Originally Posted by
GadgetGirlIL
Apparently I'm not typical. I did a tour in Wisconsin and Minnesota last month with 8 days of riding and 7 nights in motels. My bike plus gear (including the waistpack) came in at 56 pounds. I would not have wanted to pedal more weight up any hills than this. I spent a lot of time looking over my packing list and trimmed off what I felt was unnecessary. Worked out fine as the only things I didn't use were my fleece headband and silk glove liners. Temperatures stayed between 59 degrees and 82 degrees (2 days of some rain) but I knew from past experiences that colder weather is possible in August. I own a fleece that I had to purchase during a trip to southern Wisconsin in mid-August due to weather shifts.
Looks and sounds like a nice functional setup. That said, It sounds like it more or less illustrates my point that while it is possible to credit card camp with a lot less folks mostly don't. Your load is more than many ultralight camping setups that might be used in similar or worse weather conditions. I've generally not found it hard to get my bike and all my gear in a soft case that weighed under 50# total and be fine for a multiweek camping and cooking trip with chilly nights (frequent frost at night and maybe a colder night here or there) and cool days.
FWIW, when I used an older 1990 vintage road bike on the Southern Tier the total bike and gear was 38 pounds dry weight. I have had my gear and my mountain bike all in a soft case and checked it as a checked bag at under 50# and that was with some heavier gear than I use these days. I think that I later had the same mountain bike and full camping gear at 33# for a subsequent trip.
I have also toured with as much as 60# of gear early in my touring career. I'd estimate the total loaded bike probably hit 90#. I quickly decided that I preferred to carry less though and gradually trimmed from there.
I have not credit card toured and do not know what I'd wind up carrying. I'd probably carry more clothing and toiletries and likely another pair of shoes. So I might wind up carrying as much as I camp with, not sure. On the other hand, if the plan was just to ride all day every day, I might just take the clothes on my back, a wind shirt and wind pants, and one poly sweater and/or a puffy sweater.