Nice bikes, long trips, and carrying capacity

[dmaze]

I have come up with a reasonably nice bike. It makes me happy. I can go on longish trips with it, and perhaps the Climb to the Clouds people's assertion two years ago that a mountain bike outright takes 20% more energy to go the same distance is correct. (We were trying to account yesterday for it apparently being easier to climb on this bike, in spite of not having super-low gears for it...but that's not my point here.)

My actual question is this: how do you go on a long unsupported ride on a nice bike, and still have all of the stuff you need? With a seat bag you can carry a spare tube, tire levers, and a CO2 inflation kit; you can put two water bottles inside your frame for 2L, give or take, which goes pretty far. But for this I have no food, no lock, no maps, and only minimal tools. Right now I carry this all in a backpack, and while having 3L of instantly-accessible water is nice, my shoulders complain some about the load.

How do people go on long trips deal with this sort of problem? Credit cards and energy bars in their jersey, and hope to not get lost? Is putting a rack on my bike sacrilege, assuming it's possible?

Comments

[narya.livejournal.com]

The list I've seen other places:

-your underseat bag has spare tubes, tire levers, a $20 bill, credit card, insurance card, cell phone, and very small disgusting emergency snack (like gu). Possibly also your map, but you have cleverly xeroxed only the parts of the map that you might actually need.
- your bike frame has two water bottles and your pump.
- lock? you're not stopping, you don't need to stinkin lock ;-)
- the back of your bike jersey contains less evil snacks.
- your cue sheet is somehow affixed to your handlebars.

[gigglefest.livejournal.com]

I've looked at new shiny bikes at a couple of different bike shops, and I always ask about racks (partly because at the time I was unsure if I wanted a new bike to do everything, commutes and grocery runs, or just be for long fun rides). Anyway, I've been told you can definitely put a rack on an entry-level road bike (Trek 1000, for instance). I don't know how quickly that falls off as you move up, though. :)

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Ooh, it occurs to me that this would be a good way to handicap the better riders in a large social ride -- make them carry the gear.

(2 Liters of water goes far?)

[nuclearpolymer.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have always been a bit confused how people who go long-distance touring will need front and back panniers or actually some kind of towed cart...but will also have road bikes. I mean, by the time you're carrying around a tent and sleeping bag, why not just go with a bike with tougher tires as well.

My other unrelated confusion is whether losing 5 pounds off your bike, assuming same tires, is the same as losing 5 pounds off your butt, as far as biking effort.

[narya.livejournal.com]

Also, if you don't want to have something permanently affixed to your bike, you might see if something like this http://penncycle.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=39&id=12781 would take care of a significant fraction of the stuff.