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Road touring gear? Touring advice?

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Prodigal Son:
Plan them when you want them. Look at historic weather.

happycatbasket:
You can always make your own frame bag if you're handy with a sewing machine. I used a blackburn frame bag on my most recent tour (on long rides, I just use it to hold a hydration bladder) and I'm planning on building my own pack for my next trip this coming summer. My surly front rack is super strong. It's style does look a little clunky, but a large wald basket up front and panniers cover up the ugly real well.

I live in Santa Cruz and made a round trip to Yosemite and back over the summer. Definitely overpacked and could still fit everything into my two large arkel panniers and the wald basket I have lashed to the top of my rack. I brought a bivy even though my hennesy hammock has been screaming for use over the past few years. I think parks are starting to come down on hammock use, so it'd make sense to call ahead to be sure that you can wrap the things around trees. Then again, you can renegade camp anywhere out of sight/site so if you're counting on making do where ever you end up, a hammock could still work.

I spent a lot of time on pavement and think that you might want to consider finding some gravel roads worth riding around. One of my friends pulled a weekend 50 miler in Arroyo Seco over the summer, so that's an idea. Anyways, just keep it in mind. The largest tires that you can fit in your frame should be more than enough to deal with gravel roads / light xc mountain biking. I think those fairdales max out at 45mm or 50mm? Marin has some bikepacking trails/options worth googling. I'm planning on tandem camping with my lady out there once the rainy season comes to an end. Del Valle has camping in livermore that I've ridden to. It has some relatively serious elevation gain to go over in the last three miles, but the downhill after the climb is worth it. I've also ridden and camped at Joseph Grant in san jose / alum rock area. It also has some climbing on the way in. JG doesn't have a lake like Del Valle, so I'd rank that public campspot lower. New Brighton state beach in santa cruz always has some bicycle camping spots open, so you could always use that as a longer trip over the 17 if you want some more mileage without really going out of the way for destinations.

I can't remember which or what, but either state parks or national parks will always have bicycle-in/hike-in camping available and will not turn you away. It'd be worth calling whatever park you're looking for and ask about bicycle-in spots.

Rusty:
Wow thank you so much for all the local advice. Those all sound like some great and obtainable rides. I like the idea of renegade for when I get good but I think for someone who is new to camping I will still to legal campsites.

Tent will probably be my go to since it seems more fitting for me. Have yet to purchase that and my sleeping items as they'll be last after I get my bike retrofitted. Just placed my order for the Jandd Tall Boy front rack from my lbs. Excited to get that thing on, it's got a narrow platform but plenty of room for panniers which I will be using up front. Definitely gonna get a Wald at some point to bolt to it. Gotta look into some bigger tire options for sure but I won't be able to go much bigger than what I'm at.

What sort of repair items did you bring? Obviously tools for flat fixes, but did you get spare cable or any parts handy?

Narcoleptic Insomniac:
Spare spokes and chain links for sure.

Rusty:
definitely thought about links gotta go get some of those

Along with trying to get the accessory components of the bike ready I also would like to switch some of the stock parts out. Was thinking I'd start with seat post and stem as a priority followed by the cranks then work my way to the wheel set. Gonna go for some Thompson components because bikeguide....the last thing I want is to have bike faliure.

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