Gearing up for my First Overnight Bike Tour.

After about a month of planning, bike modifications and researching gear, I'm ready to set out on my first overnight bike tour. The plan is to ride from Carytown in Richmond, VA to Newport News Campground in Yorktown, VA (which is also the starting point of my "Bike the Nation for Education" bike tour) and bike back the following day. It is possible to do this round trip at around 120 miles, but I've opted for a more scenic and safer route.

I'll start in Carytown biking southeast to Darbytown Rd. until I cross the James River via the Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge, and continuing along the southern side of the James River, until I cross in again via the Scotland-Jamestown Ferry, through Jamestown then following the Colonial National Historic Pkwy, turning north through Williamsburg, then East to Yorktown, which will be 180 miles round-trip.

I've been making quite a few changes to my rig and gear too:
-Took off all the reflectors and switched them for lightweight, high-vis, reflective stickers
-Put on some touring fenders
-Put on a protective chain-stay wrap
-Added a water proof map mount
-Added some toe clips
-Got a protective covering for the mounted air pump
-Added a mirror to my sunglasses
-Put some high-vis reflectors on my rear panniers
-Added a gel cover to my saddle
-and I also bought new ultra-light, ultra-compact gear for camping (pillow, tent, bag, tarp, ground pad)

This will be a relatively lightly packed trip, I estimate all my gear is under 25 lbs. Besides maintenance tools and bike accessories, I packed the following:
-1 person Tent
-pillow
-ground pad
-folding camp seat
-sleeping bag
-tarp
-assorted hygiene products
-PB&J items, protein bars, gatorade mix
-towel
-camera
-phone
-Nintendo DS
-book
-First-Aid Kit.
-change of clothes
-dog repelant


In fact, there are very few things that I need for my Coast to Coast.
-Front Pannier Rack
-Charity Jerey
-Front Waterproof Panniers (Ortlieb)
-Replace current rear panniers with Waterproof panniers. (Ortlieb)
-Field GPS (Garmin eTrex Vista HCx)
-Netbook
-Ultralight Camp stove
-Flip style Camcorder
-Other assorted camping accessories

FYI: This trip and all others preceeding the Coast to Coast is coming out my my pocket.

Note: I'll be taking plenty of notes and pictures so I can tell you all about it when I get back in a few days.