I'm only now catching up on my journal reading; you have challenges far beyond mine. I hope they resolve to your satisfaction.

Hi Kelly-

My plan was to start in the west- Bend, OR, to be exact. The choice of start point, along with the timing, was dictated by the family reunion I'll be attending in three weeks; I had planned to ride home from there once the reunion ended.

Thankfully the weather here was not terribly humid (by mid-Atlantic standards at least) but 90+ is 90+ no matter how you slice it.

I don't do heat and humidity well. I've never lived anywhere with humidity and seldom travel to humid areas. What I am willing to do in the west (as you noted, it cools off at night here), is to get on the road at first light to avoid the heat.

What if you switched directions on your route? If you started in the west, would you then hit the humid areas when they are more hospitable? That's a big change, but, could it help?

It sucks to not be 30 forever. :)

That's us too, that its the recovery time needed....we started doing shorter days and calling them half rest days.

What an eloquent description of being adaptable and open to changing plans. You have described our experience of the past few days at the start of our tour.
Racpat

Hmmm... the double-up trick is a new idea to me. Thanks for the tip!

I came here to write exactly what Lorenzo did. Too many clothes. You have a well thought out argument.

The different brands of shorts is an excellent suggestion. I have also heard that doubling up shorts helps if you are developing rear end problems. You place the first pair inside out, next to your skin. The second pair goes on in normal fashion.

I take one set of warm weather clothes, one set of cold weather clothes. I have been told that daily wash and wear might work in the dry western part of the USA, but not in humid areas . . .

I look forward to reading along with you!

Well... It's not as if I have tons of experience. But I had to cut a tour short several years ago due to saddle sores, which I blamed on a combination of old shorts with padding nearly shot, no variety of shorts, and inadequate saddle time before setting off. So it's a topic you could say I'm "sensitive" about.

Haha! I knew you would have thought it through better than I have!

Good points, especially finding different shorts more comfortable than others. I've been lucky to not have problems (yet!), but I know some people do. It's good to have options on a long tour where things might start fitting differently or you just need a change.

I tend to over pack and not use things, but the things I'm not using I've bought and I don't want to throw away, but sending them home is such an effort and expense I just keep them!

Thanks Lorenzo. If one set of clothing is the deciding factor between success and failure, I've cut things too finely.

My choice of three days' worth of kit is based largely on advice I read in a journal decades ago. The author had taken only two pairs of shorts and really lamented the decision; his advice was that three pair, from different manufactures, would put seams, pad edges, and so forth in different spots, thereby reducing irritation in sensitive and potentially vulnerable areas.

It also affords me the luxury of having two days to get stuff dry, if I either get caught in the rain (a certainty) or get in so late that I can't get things fully dry before packing up the following morning (also nearly bound to happen at least a few times).

From my decades of riding in the HUMID mid-Atlantic summers I know very well that things set out to dry late in the afternoon don't always get dry, and anything left out overnight WILL be wet the following morning thanks to the dew. I hope not to forget to bring the washing into the tent but it might happen.

Finally, there's the "stink factor" to consider. My body chemistry interacts in "unfortunate, regrettable" ways with synthetic fabrics, to the point where even I can't stand the smell of it unless the stuff gets a thorough washing on a frequent basis. By carrying three sets of riding stuff, every set gets two days to air before I wear it a second time, and I really do hope / plan to be able to do real laundry once a week.

But, it's something to consider and another good reason to do the prototype run now.

Good luck Keith - not that I think you'll need it!

If you're trying to cut down your load at all, I would think about ditching one set of riding gear. One to wear, wash, wear, repeat, and one backup. Maybe it's just me but I tend to wear the same thing pretty much every day, plus or minus a weather dependent layer or two.