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| That's my bike on the left, Tricia with hers on the right |
We just finished our 346 mile bike journey from Washington DC to Pittsburgh along the C&O canal towpath and the GAP trail. It was our first “four-pannier” trip. We took our tent, sleeping bags, clothes, a lot of food and our coffee fixin’s.
I didn’t weigh anything before we left, but did when we returned.
Here’s a breakdown of what things weighed.
Disclaimers: I weighed the larger items by holding them on a bathroom scale then subtracting my weight. Smaller items weighed on kitchen scale.
| Item info |
Weight in pounds |
| Trek 520 Grando (With pedals light, racks, Garmin and full water bottles) |
33.2 |
| Rear left pannier (Sleeping bag, pad, chair, etc.) |
19.4 |
| Left rear pannier (Mostly clothes) |
21.2 |
| Front right pannier (Coffee, stove, personal stuff) |
8.2 |
| Front Left pannier (Mostly food, electronics) |
7.0 |
| Front bag that sits on front rack (lock, rain coat, glasses, small stuff) |
3.1 |
| Tent (on rear rack, without poles or ground cloth) |
4.8 |
|
|
| Total weight without bike |
63.7 |
| Total weight with bike | 96.9 |
Yep, that's too much stuff.
I need to drop a few pounds.
It won't be easy. All the bags together (empty) add up to 8.1 pounds, so I'm at 41 pounds before I add any items.
I took a lightweight chair (1.2 pounds) I'll leave behind.
I also took a USB plug in hub charger and 2 power bricks (2.4 pounds) that'll I'll leave most of behind.
My toiletries bag weighed 1.3. I'm sure that could be less.
Maybe I could take fewer clothes
I carried food we didn't need. Not a lot, but some.
I carried lightweight shoes, but next time I'll go with ultra lightweight "flops"
I'll upload too many photos in a seperate post, but here we are close to the start, ready to get lost in DC on our way to the C&O trail.
