RE: your worst touring bike

> From: Scott Loveless [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2011 9:48 AM
> 
> Just for the sake of conversation, what's the most ill-suited bike
> you've ever taken on a tour?

Well, it wasn't my bike but when I rode the Southern Tier route in 2004
starting from San Diego, I met a guy coming in the other direction from
Florida near the Arizona border.  He had an ordinary hard-tail mountain bike
that was almost certainly what he just happened to have and so it was his
touring bike.  What was unusual wasn't his bike but his pannier "system."
He had a rolled up bedroll strapped to his straight handlebars and two day
packs swinging freely from each end of his handlebars.  I've always
regretted that I didn't get a photo.  The interesting thing was he seemed to
be perfectly content with his arrangement, contrasted by my "correct"
front/rear pannier arrangement.  I use my memory of this encounter to remind
myself that the trip is still more important than the best/correct equipment
and that folks are surprisingly adaptable to whatever they have available.

Denis