Packing List


There is a new packing list on my website.

When I got home, I looked at all the stuff I'd been carrying for a week on my bicycle and managed to eliminate 5.5 lbs (2,450 grams) of superfluous baggage that I never used. I eliminated my bike club jacket, 2 spare jerseys, my cable lock, a waterproof bag in which I was carrying my raincoat, an extra metal hex wrench tool, several compression straps, some plastic bags, extra sunscreen, extra parachute cord, extra socks, extra headbands and some extra snacks.

Then, using my wife's kitchen scale, I carefully weighed each item that I would take with me on the bike on a future trip and photographed all the items. I have prepared a spreadsheet listing out all my gear, which I plan to upload to tailwinds.org later today or tomorrow.

Altogether, I carried about 48.5 lbs (plus 2 bottles of Gatorade) with me every day from Toronto to Montreal. In the future, I'd get my load down to 43 lbs (plus Gatorade).

If I didn't take all my high tech gear with me, I could get my load down to around 36 lbs. And, I could reduce the weight another 2-3 lbs by using fewer containers and smaller panniers.

As bad as my load was on this trip, it was only about half of what I carried on my Alaska to Florida trip. I was carrying about 100 lbs through Alberta.

Posted: Wed - July 2, 2003 at 02:35 PM      

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