Last night we did a test pack for our summer tour. We use our pack list from the West Coast, updated for the older kids, especially with Ruth on the tandem. As we won’t have the Chariot and its extra space (typically used for food, shoes, blankets, and more), we needed to figure out how to carry it all between us. It looks like the bags we bought for the tandem will do just fine.

So for today’s ride we carried a partial touring load. I don’t have my front rack installed again yet, so I just took bags on the back. Anne carried her new panniers on her rack with most of the stuff that was previously in the trailer.

The ride itself was a bit more than we’ve done this year, but still on the mild side. The first hook north was pretty nice, going between hills north of Dublin. Many a cow, horse, and rusting heaving machinery was spotted. There was a nice climb followed by a fun descent, all with limited traffic. Max was excited to pedal on the downhills — “super race car speed!”

At an early turn at a red light, Anne stopped just as it turned green. I went on ahead, starting a light climb, with Anne promising to be right behind me. When I looked back, she had disappeared. Max suggested she found a shortcut, which seemed unlikely. Eventually they reappeared. Anne said the bags on the back were messing her up, thinking something was wrong.

The hook south was fine, but not as nice. We entered more built up areas, with more or less shoulder and bike lane. The weather was lovely, but the views of housing developments weren’t particularly inspiring. Along Bernal there was a series of short climbs of increasing slope. We gave up on one and walked.

Still, it was nice to be out, the weather was just about perfect, and I’m excited to be building towards the tour loads and duration.