What I Took

I managed to dig out my old packing list from the trip.  What I actually took diverged somewhat from the list, and I've tried to re-create the reality from memory as well as I could.  You'll see that I travelled fairly heavy.  For a shorter trip, I'd certainly take less, but with the prospect of spending 3 1/2 months solo, living on a bike, I remember feeling that I needed a few comforts.  You'll also note that some of the items I took have become kind of obsolete.  Not many people will be using a freewheel remover these days, for example.  I'm sure you can adjust for that, however.

Before I get into the list, I thought I'd give a couple of high points:

• the award for most useless item has to go to the small axe.  I probably used it twice for actually chopping wood.  I never felt like making a fire to cook at the end of a 10-hour day of riding.  It was much easier to just light the stove. I did use it to pound in tent pegs, but there are always rocks around for that.  It weighs too much--leave it out.
• most miraculous packing choice would be the decision to bring four (not three and not five) spare rear hub bearings. On Day 93 I had to dismantle my rear hub to deal with the horrendous noise it was making, and found that exactly four (not three and not five) of the bearings had crumbled.
• most used luxury item that most people wouldn't take:  my short-wave radio.  I had one of those tiny ones, and I stuffed it in my handlebar bag and listened to it on one earphone (so I could hear traffic with my other ear) most of the way across the country.  I used AM or FM most of the time and listened to CBC, but there are some places in Canada where you need SW to get anything.
• luxury item most surprising to others:  my little plastic film containers full of dried herbs and spices.  A little oregano can really improve the flavour of a camp meal, and it sure doesn't weigh much.  I enjoyed the reaction, when I would be staying with a friend or relative, to my statement that I was "out of basil and wondered if I could get a refill."
• something I might take if I were doing the trip now:  a cellular phone.  It would have been a great reassurance to know that if I got terribly sick or injured, or if I was stranded with a broken bike, I could have called for help. Of course you'd have to figure out how to deal with battery life, and there would be some places where it wouldn't work, but I think it would be interesting to consider.

The List:

Bike Accessories:

• handlebar bag and panniers (I might update this choice nowadays--you can probably come up with a better choice. This gives you a sense of how much space I used, however.  I had my sleeping bag and pad and my food sack strapped on to the rack over top of the panniers.)
• light and spare bulbs
• lock
• water jugs
• odometer
• toe clips (with the modern shoe systems, you should update this)
• fenders
• safety flag and lots of reflectors.  I also put reflective tape on some of my clothing.

Tools:

• pump and tire gauge
• tire irons and tube repair kit
• 6" adjustable wrench (or shifting spanner for those of you across the Atlantic)
• combination screwdriver
• allen wrenches
• chain tool
• spoke wrench
• all-purpose tool (dog-bone shaped thing)
• pliers with wire cutter
• Swiss army knife
• crank extractor
• the dreaded vise grips (they weigh a lot, but actually I used them a lot)
• freewheel remover (as I said above, this is nearly obsolete--for the modern rear hubs you need totally different stuff. The reason I carried a freewheel remover originally was because I couldn't replace a spoke on the right side of the rear wheel without getting the freewheel off.  I never broke any spokes, but I still had to use it once for those bearings I mentioned.)
• other special gizmos for your bike.  The general rule is to have a frank talk with yourself about what you're really prepared to fix by the side of the road.  If you really would fix problem A, then take the tools to do that job.  If you figure problem B would cause you to flag down a truck and hitch a ride to the nearest bike shop, don't take the tools for that.

Spare Parts:

• 1 set brake pads
• 1 brake cable (long enough for rear brake) and 1 derailleur cable (long enough for rear derailleur)
• 1 spare tube
• 4 spare spokes and nipples (make sure you include all the spoke lengths your bike uses)
• 3 chain links
• lubricants--grease, oil, whatever you use
• friction tape
• a few assorted nuts and bolts (because having the 5-cent bolt that supports your pannier shear off will completely halt you until you can fix it)
• extra bearings (a lot of people use sealed bearings nowadays--you might decide you really wouldn't want to try to replace those by the side of the road)
• wire

First Aid Kit:

You can buy one if you want.  I'd make sure you at least have:

• aspirin or equivalent (don't forget that some of them don't work for muscle inflammation)
• bandaids
• sunburn lotion
• elastic bandage

Camping Stuff:

• sleeping bag and pad
• waterproof drawstring bag for sleeping bag
• tent
• small axe (my advice, as I said, is to leave this out)
• matches
• candles
• nylon cord
• flashlight
• insect repellent
• sunblock
• toilet paper
• towel and soap
• personal stuff (toothbrush, comb, etc.)

Cooking Stuff:

• stove and fuel
• skillet and nested pot set, with some kind of handle
• can opener
• eating utensils
• dish detergent, pot scrubber, cloth, towel
• spatula
• dried herbs and spices in little containers or bags (I used plastic film containers)
• salt and pepper
• plastic bags
• some kind of separate food bag (I was going through bear country on part of my trip, and you don't want any of your other luggage or your tent or sleeping bag to smell like food.  I had a separate knapsack strapped on top of the rear rack for my food.)

Clothes:

• 2 t-shirts
• 1 heavier shirt
• 1 sweater
• 1 pair pants
• 1 pair cycling shorts (or two pairs and skip the next item--cycling shorts make a big difference)
• 1 pair regular shorts
• 1 shell jacket
• 1 track suit
• 3 pairs of socks
• 3 pairs of underwear
• hat
• rain poncho
• cycling gloves
• helmet
• sunglasses
• swim suit

Sewing Kit:

• safety pins
• scissors (maybe on Swiss army knife)
• needle
• thread

Miscellaneous:

• money
• maps (I had regular road maps, but I also got 1:1 million scale topo maps from the Canadian government.  I lived in Ottawa so I just went over to Booth St. to buy them.  I didn't carry all my maps with me at once.  I had a couple of stashes of them at different relatives' houses along the route.)
• compass (didn't use this much)
• pen and paper
• trip journal
• camera and film
• book (take one and trade them in as you go along)
• shortwave radio

So that's the list.  You can certainly get by with less.  I could have.  This was a heavy load.  If you're travelling with others, you can use just one tool kit for everyone and share some of the other things, too.  Otherwise, take my list and adapt it to your purposes.  Remember the general rule:  when in doubt, leave it out.

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