How much too much did my touring bike weigh?

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.