mcavana

Helpful hints that i just learned:

ORGANIZE YOUR PANNIERS!!!! On my first trip it was a total disaster going through the days ride having no idea what I put in what pannier. Everytime I needed anything (tylenol, gum, wallet, camera, rain gear, power bar, phone, lip balm, ect.) I had to look through all the bags to find them!!! It was SOOOO frustrating!

At first I packed my sleeping pad and tent inside of my panniers... causing a lack of room for other things.. as a result I had things crammed in the bags making it extremely difficult to find / get to anything without making a huge mess. after that first night I put the bag and pad on my back rack instead, making the panniers much less crouded. The bike did not handle any differently (I thought it would handle differently and that is why I put everything in the bags to start off with)

Even if in a warm client, in my opinion, you must pack rain gear. I used a bike specific poncho and a shower cap over my helmet. The cap made a HUGE difference!!! Even though it was not cold, these items were absolutely needed. I drove 97 miles that day... about 80 of them in the rain. It would have been absolutely miserable without these items... it is not so much the rain falling, it is the wind normally associated with rain, and the horrible road spray you will constantly be nailed with by passing cars and trucks.

I used a bike specific (incredibly loud) airhorn mounted to my handle bars... I installed this as a joke, or a toy... It ended up being EXTREMLY useful during the trip. There were several times I used it (especially in the bad weather) to make drivers aware of my presence.. there were also 3 different times that while driving through farm lands large dogs (unleashed) started chasing me. In all three instances a loud long toot of the horn stoped them dead in their tracks (Apparently it scared them... and I am not suggesting this would work for all dogs)

BUY YOUR WATER. At first I was just getting the resturants to fill them when I stopped. THIS WAS A MISTAKE. 3/4 of the way through the first day I started to experience serious discomfort from the chlorine in the local waters. This cleared up immediately once I consumed my first purchased gallon of water, and did not come back because I continued to drink only the bottled water.

I had 4 full size water bottles with me on the tour. I should have brought 5. I kept buying my water by the gallon at the various stores... it takes a few gulps and about 5 bottles to hold a gallon of water. because I only had 4 bottles, I ended up wasting water from every gallon I purchased.

I spent a good bit of time wondering if I should bring my good head light. It is pretty big, and has a heavy battery. I was very glad that I brought it along because it was very useful when riding around town at night, and it also made the day of rain MUCH safer.

If bringing a stove, you have to practice making things on it before you go. I did not and that was a mistake. I made some camping store noodles, rice, and grits. They were all horrible to eat because I had no way to mesure water, and there were no flavorful ingredients anyway. The store bought camping food was crap at best. I never even considered the idea of bringing pancake mix until it was too late... it would have been a fantastic breakfast every morning, but I did not have a frying pan. all i had was a little tiny pot to boil water in. I would have saved a lot of money if I had properly prepared here by doing a few practice meals.

Do NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE EFFECTS OF THE WIND ON A FULLY LOADED BIKE ON A LONG RIDE. This is self-explanitory.

WHEN SETTING UP CAMP, AVOID SETTING UP NEAR ANYTHING THAT LOOKS OUT OF THE ORDINARY. There are some sick people out there, and if I had followed this simple rule (that is not always that obvious) I would have avoided a realy scary situation.

That is all I can think of for now.... I will chime back in as soon as I remember anything else.

Mike