Wow, I check this list and see 43 new members and 14 new messages.

I have been on the list awhile and basically have been doing o/n to 10 day tours
both on road and off ,though I may start doing longer trips soon.I tour
lightweight but not ultralight ,yet, due mostly to the weight of my present
gear.My first tour ,a few years ago, was rather spontaneous and I just threw a
duffel over a rear rack I purchased and loaded my camping gear on top and was
off for a week tour with a few others arranged via the internet.I actually
stuffed everything at the ends of the duffel and draped the middle over the top
of the rack so so the ends hung down on either side simulating panniers.Worked
so well I still use this arrangement today though I also add a small daypack for
easily accessed items and dayhikes.

I find ,lately, I have more and more been combining my touring with hiking and
backpacking excursions and in the later case I just throw my backpacking gear on
the rear rack and set off hiding the bike near the destination trailhead before
switching to backpack mode.Now, as I said before, my backpacking gear is
moderate to lightweight bought before the heavyweight era and ,in response, the
more recent ultralight era.So if my gear would ever wear out (I hate to replace
things thay aren't broken),I have been eyeing some ultralight gear that would
work much better for this onbike arrangement.

In fact, since I like to keep things simple and as multifunctional as possible,
it seems to me just tossing ultralight backpacking gear on the back of the bike
is the perfect solution for me.This is actually ,pretty much, what the Jardines
did for their first bike tour a combined biking/backpacking excursion along the
Continental Divide Trail.