For the first twenty years of my life, biking was just a mechanism for getting from point a to point b. I became a proud cyclist when I started a job during a university summer which required me to bike 12km, work outside for 8 hours, then bike home 12km (I only crashed once that summer, too). Then I got my first nice bike, a Milwaukee Cycle single speed. At that point, I now had a light, trim, fast bike where I didn't have to worry about how gears worked. It was incredible.
After a few years passed I started getting interested in touring and doing longer rides. I was probably 25 or 26 when I first started thinking about it. I admired people who had done bike tours for much longer, but I started researching it more actively.
Inventory
On anything > 20km the below is stashed into a 4 litre waterproof handlebar bag (which doubles as a shoulder bag):
- Emergency Patch kit:
- Co2 canisters (I don't know how to use these yet)
- Tire levers
- Patch kit
- Multi-allen key
- pump
- Leatherman
- Phone/Keys/etc
- Snack
- Sunscreen/advil
- Sketchbook/paints if there is room.
On Long Rides
I have only done two overnight rides, and am still hoping to find a mentor to accompany me on a multi day trip. My attempts at doing anything longer have been unsuccessful. Regardless, I've learned the following from doing a few intercity rides.
- take your time
- the last bit is the hard part
- get directions right, while getting lost can be fun, you'll be annoyed at wasting energy backtracking
- put your phone on airplane mode while you ride and know where you are going. It saves battery.
- I find waving to other bikers makes it feel more communal if you are riding alone.
- if you fear sunburns like me...wear gloves or put sunscreen on your hands... Or... Rip holes in the extra pair of socks you brought and use those.
- bring more water.
- bring good snacks.
- know how your panniers are organized
- bring lipchap, moisturizer, sanitizer.