Trip equipment, plan,etc.

Bike:
We were looking for s traditional touring frame design for predomantly paved road conditions, for riding predomantly in developed countries with good avaliabily of bike repairs and parts. For taravel in undeveloped counties or unpaved roads our bike selection would probably have been different. There is a limited seletion of off the shelf touring bikes, most seem to have moderate level components at best. A very high end classical touring bike requires going to a custom built bike. We felt the Canonadale Tour 1 offer the best off the shelf bike for the style of riding we planned. Major features:
Intergrated brake/shifting control as on modern road bikes.
three front sprockets.
Higher end components (Ultegra/105)
Strong but fairly light 32 spoke wheels
32 mm wide tour tires (being road riders we originally believed these too wide, but soon found they well handled the rougher road condition found in touring and with more safety)
Cantilever brakes which seemed adeaduate even on the steepest decents, disk brakes may have been an even better but are more complex and not availible on our model
Leather seat… We both found these more comfortable than padded seats
bike Included high quality rear rack
Lug connections very complete
Dropdown handle bars
The Al frame on this bike could be considered a disadvantage as steel frames are usualy believed to provide more comfort). However, we found the bikes very comfortable, maybe steel would have been even better, who knows? This bike is also lighter than other steel off the shelf models.
Gearing could have been lower; the lowest gear was commonly used, the highest almost never (this is a common issue with off the shelf touring bikes)
In general we loved the bikes and would buy the same again.
Moderate price tag ($1950).

Shoes and pedals: mountain bike clip-ons; stiff sole with shimano xt or xtr pedels. The mountain bike shoes are better for wslking in over road type shoes, yet provide a stiff platform for peddeling. We carried running shoes for off the bike activies.

Bike safety: bright cloths, lights, and mirrors. For head light we used lights that were easy to remove allowing use as camp lights. I wish I had one that was a head lamp type when off the bike. Mirrors; I now consider these essential; we tried the type mounted on the end of the handle bars, the panniers were in the way, we ended up using a type mounted on the top of the shifter that worked well, but was easy bumped out of adjustment. First aid kit, we tried to put stuff for a major bleding accident such as gaze and medical tape.

Luggage: Most books recommend rear and front paniers to distribute load, we wanted to travel light and simple so used rear panniers only, with a small handle bar bag for camera and vauables. Tent and sleeping mats were tied on top of rear rack in a plastic bag for water protection. This system worked well, our bikes seemed very stable even with the load only on the back. The front handle bar bag had a quick release and acted as a “purse” when we left the bikes at stores, etc. My panniers were top load only and waterproof. Helmut’s had comartments and were water resistant. They both seemed to work well. You would thik that the compartment model would make it easier to find things, but this did not seem to be the case. Eastablishing a consistant packing procedure seems more important. Although only water resistant Helmut had little trouble with items getting wet in his panniers. Having only rear panniers forced us to pack light, which made riding easier, and daily packing time less. You don’t need to take your house with you.

Bike computer; wireless with altitude and climbing function which we found nice. Make sure you pack an extra transmitter battery and use a high quality battery for initial instalation. Transmitters use a lot of batteries. Also make sure transmiiter is located as close as possible to computer.

Cloths: Two complete pairs of biking shorts, biking shirts, socks, sweater like top, bottom pull overs ( I used long johns) socks. For these items cotton should be avoided due to poor insolation properties when wet. Neoprene booties, bike gloves, cold weather wool gloves. For rain gear we both had waterproof breathable jacket and pants designed for cycling. Pants should have zippers to allow putting on quickly without removing shoes. Jacket should be bright color. I found my bike rain jacket very useful. The full front zipper, adjustible sleeve opening, and zipper underarm openings allowed me to control body temperture without stopping to add or takeoff clothing. For around camp, one long pants, one t-shirt, one underwear, one swim/short pants, hat.
In warm/dry weather you could back off on this clothing list.

Camp equipment: one light higher quality backpack tent (5 lbs), insolite pad, sleeping bag (we used compressable warm down bags which we stuffed into compression sacks, then packed into our panniers), pillows were cloths stuffed into a sack. Stove: very light butane backpack style; however we had trouble finding fuel, a small propane stove may have been better, a bit heavier but fuel would have been very easybto find. We did all of our cooking with one stainless steel pan, and each, had a cup, large plastic bowl, spoon and fork. One Swiss army knife.

Entertainment: one book, camera, and MP3 player.

Maps: paper are still the best for overall daily planing, we got state maps from AAA club prior to trip. The map aplications on my iPhone were great when detailed road info was need especially in cities.

Tools and parts: spare spokes, spare chain link, one tube each, one patch kit each. Mountain bike pump with hose connection, pliers, multitool, tape, wire, wire ties, cresent wrench, knife. With our tire size a road pump would haveneen a oor choice.

Biking Methods; draft and develop a consistant drafting and communication system. Avoid burning yourself out, snack a lot to keep sugar level up.

Training: Simply ride long; try to do one or two rides a week longer than your expected daily average on the tour. Ride with bike geared up a few times before departing. Ride in rain and poor weather to test clothing.

Planning: we had a very general route planned, some major points but no lines between. We planned our more exact route on a daily basis. This worked well for us, and allowed for adjustment for weather, how we felt, and sights to see.

That’s all….