After many weeks of preparation and planning, finally on Monday, my long Pacific coast bicycle tour begins. I’m now making my way by vehicle to the starting point east of Los Angeles. From there, the bicycle route heads south east up into the mountains. See my previous post for a description of the overall tour.
To carry the supplies needed, I’m going with rear and front panniers and a small handlebar bag. The scales tip around 55 pounds for the gear and panniers. All combined including myself and the bike, I’ll be lugging around 290 to 300 pounds. This is a little on the heavy side for my liking. Included are many “nice to haves” like electronics to document the ride and contingency items such as tools and spare parts. I may quickly regret the heavy load as the climbing begins immediately.
The first six days have over 24,000 feet of climbing through 290 miles. At the highest pass, I will be peddling over a summit of 8300 foot elevation. This is similar in height to mount Saint Helens in Washington state. After the first week, I may have the opportunity to remove some weight but then again I expect this will be the most difficult climbing portion of the entire route. This segment will be physically challenging and I’m excited to take it on and see what happens. The good news, sun and medium temperatures are in the forecast.