My wife and I biked from Portland down into Northern California last summer and here are a few things that might apply to SF-LA: -We followed the 'Bicycling the Pacific Coast' book pretty closely and showered almost every night. The state parks all were shower equipped, just bring along a hand-full of quarters. (Although most were free, some weren't) -I brought a super light wool baselayer (smartwool) for sleeping and wandering around camp in the mornings. Slipping into something clean at night always felt good. -Bring half a brillo pad for cookware cleaning -Some sort of multi-use soap for dishes/hands -I'm glad I brought a rag for bike repairs/wiping chain -as mentioned before, headlamp -Although not totally necessary, I brought a hand pump with a gauge. I'm not crazy into tire pressure being exact or anything, but the gauge was nice. (crankbrothers sells a great one) -Small bottle of 100% aloe gel. I'm not great at applying sunscreen regularly, so this saved me, and it feels amazing to throw some on your forehead or neck even mid-ride if things are getting really hot. -Lastly, not a piece of gear, but we always ate good food, and never worried about carrying extra food weight. Sweet potatoes and butter are awesome in tinfoil dinners, ice cream right outside the grocery store, nice sausages saurkraut and lemonade all made the trip that much more wonderful. Figure out what you want to indulge in a bit and go for it. For us it was food.
As a parting note, the crankbrothers multi-17 is the best multitool I've ever used, and the chain breaker is better than any other. I find myself reaching for it over my home mechanic chain tool from park pretty regularly now. Also it can be tightened if the tools come a bit loose after a few years, and as far as I'm aware has a lifetime guarantee (haven't had to use this in 6 years, but a friend has his replaced for free) Have an awesome trip! Someday I hope to ride the section you'll be doing! -Spencer -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
