Leaving on Portugal/Spain bike tour tomorrow…
I dropped Lindsey and Calico off at the airport Wednesday and then worked an insane number of hours over the next 5 days as I try to get things ready for me to leave. I was hoping to leave Saturday but it had to change to Monday. It is hard to leave a small operation like Shepherd but I think we are in a good place. I still need to draft-publish a ton of pages for authors today…
I didn’t really plan much, I am going to see how it goes and adjust. I just booked my first night at a hotel and I am going ride around 50km tomorrow (with about 1450m of gain and 1200m of drop). I’ll figure out things after that :)
On my last bike tour in France, I only had 2 bags on the back of my bike plus a water bag on my back. This time I am going with 2 on the front, 2 on the back, and no water backpack. Plus I am packing less stuff as I brought a bit too much in France and didn’t use a few pairs of clothes.
What did I pack this time?
Electronics
- Bike GPS
- Kindle
- Small laptop + charger
- Small external battery
- Small USB charger
- iPhone + wired headphones
- All the cords for the above
- Headlamp.
Food & Water
- Swiss army knife
- Spoon
- 3 x 1400ml water bottles
- Food… still figuring this out but I’ll probably start with tuna, apples, carrots, etc.
Bathroom Bag
- Toilet paper roll (at public bathrooms often MIA)
- Hand sanitizer
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Face wash/moisturizer
- Sunblock
- Deodorant
- 2nd skin in case of a blister
- Duct tape strands in case of injury
Bike gear
- 2 extra tubs + patch kit
- Airpump
- Visor + helmet
- Lock + key
- Bike tools + wheel change kit
- Spare belt for Pinion (if my kevlar belt breaks hard to find a new one)
- Emergency bivy in case I get stuck overnight
- Cycling shoes
Clothing
- 2 pairs of cycling underwear
- 2 pairs of athletic shorts
- 2 fast-drying shirts (1 long 1 short)
- 1 scarf thing that doubles as a towel, hat, etc
- 1 warm athletic shirt
- 1 warm athletic pants (semi-waterproof)
- 3 pairs of socks
- Rain jacket
- 2 pairs of underwear
- 1 pair of cotton shorts
- 2 cotton shirts
Other junk…
- Wallet, passport, pilgrim passport, keys, masks, waterproof sleeve for laptop and one for the phone.
- Notepad + pen.
I will probably bring:
- Waterproof booties to cover my shoes.
- My old tennis shoes. As my cycling shoes suck to walk around in.
I had considered bringing my sleeping bag, tent, and pad. But, decided against it as that was a ton more weight and wild camping is “illegal” in both Spain and Portugal. I need to do a few shorter trips with this config before I do a long one like this.
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