Shayne
Some things you can only learn from experience, but I hope these suggestions will be helpful for someone else.
- Talk with all the locals you meet. They know the area better than you and often will have a good suggestion to offer.
- Ziploc bags are indispensable for keeping your gear dry. Be sure to use the freezer bags for extra durability. Garbage bags are handy if your panniers aren't waterproof.
- When cycling in cold rain, avoid stopping unless absolutely necessary. You stay warmer in motion than you do in rest.
- "Flat terrain" is relative to whether you are a motorist or you are a cyclist.
- If your stomach makes the slightest suggestion that it is hungry, stop and feed it.
- Before you travel with others, be sure they have similar goals and abilities as yourself. Otherwise, be willing to compromise.
- Optimists will set your hopes too high and pessimists will suck the life right out of you.
- Anyone can cycle eighty, ninety, or one hundred kilometres. The challenge is to do that every day. It is not physical exertion, but rather mental determination.
- Cyclists are only truly happy when they are going downhill with a tailwind on a sunny day.