Gearing Up

I spent a ridiculous amount of time planning out my gear and organizing it all. Waterproofing proved to be very important.

Here’s the bike fully loaded. It’s a Kona Honky Tonk with Schwalbe Marathon Tires, 28c. I have a set of Ortlieb Back Roller Classics on the rear rack, and a Topeak Tourguide Handle Bar Bag on the front. The Kona might not be the ideal touring bike, since I wasn’t able to fit it with fenders or a front rack, but it did great on the trails and it is very comfortable.

This being my first tour, I was pretty thorough when it came to planning out my gear. Google Sheets was a big help (gear list here). In the end, there are a few things I wish I had brought and a few things I could have left behind, but overall it worked out pretty well.