A bit more infor on the route...

Weighing in was certainly less dramatic than say a prize fighter before a big rumble, but none-the-less an equally important part of the process. While this information is all well and good, it makes little difference if one does not know where the heck I'm going and when I'm going.

On Monday I fly out a 8:35 to Yorktown Virginia, which is the start of Adventure Cycling Association's Trans America Rout. Yorktown is a little South of DC and really close to the Langley, the Headquarters of the CIA.
From Yorktown I start West, yest I know I'm "going the wrong direction" but that argument is actually been debunked by several sources I have read. The idea is that riding West to East if better because winds predominately go in that direction across the country. However in reality this is based on the idea is that the jet stream runs West to East. While that does have effect weather on the surface of the earth, the jet stream is really far up off the surface of the earth and does not directly dictate dominant wind conditions.

From Virginia I head into Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, And Washington. 12 total maps from ACA, 4,125mi. I'm looking to complete my journey in about 3 months.
In the mean time I've already shipped my bike to my destination hotel and it has arrived (that was really fricken' expensive UPS, it better be in good shape!) so I currently have no bike to ride which results in me spinning at the gym. While this does keep my legs moving, it is the most boring thing on the face of this earth especially when its bright and sunny outside.

Weighing In

Today and yesterday evening were spent weighing my gear. Thanks to Reed I've been able to use his sweet shipping scales. The process took quite a long time (5hrs) but I think the information gained in the process will allow me to identify places to shave some weight.
Currently my entire rig weighs in at 83.4 lbs, which does not include me or most of the gear I will be wearing while riding. However this does pretty-much include everything else including four liters of water.
Obviously the heaviest item to carry is the water itself (9.6lbs). I will be riding with the capacity for about 1gal. however, I don't have to carry all this if I know I will be near a place where I can fill up.
Other heavy things include my clothing (9.0lbs) and my paniers themselves (8.0lbs) I may be able to shave some weight from the clothing, but little from the paniers. I have Ortleib waterproof role top paniers which are heavy but simultaneously very resiliant. I have had a Ortleib waterproof messenger bag going on 6 years now and the thing has been bullet proof, so when it came time to choose paniers there was little question in what I would buy. In addition, the number of panier makers has significantly decreased since the 70's aso now the options are substantially less.
The only items which still need work before I go are; shoe covers, bike gloves, a seat cover ( I have a Brook's B17 so a seat cover is mandatory), spare cables, a sleeping bag liner and a small spatula. In addition a little more work aparently needs to be done on the drive train of my bike, but the requisit parts are in transit.
All told my entire rig stack up as follows:
Bike alone without water - 30.4lbs
Total gear without water or food - 46.80lbs
Grand total - 83.40lbs.
Granted I am going to try and shave some weight before leaving but as of now things look pretty good. Most literature on the subject of touring suggests carrying no more than 45lbs and the weight shown includes some clothing that I will be wearing on myself during the trip itself. So it looks like I'm pretty much on the money.