I'd like to go on a bike tour in august

[shootingstar]

That's great these tires work for you.

No, most of our cycle touring trips have been on paved highways, roads and paths.

Marathon Schwable (there are different types) is what I've been using for past 3 years. My partner uses them also. He is more of a solo, full-loading bike touring pro than I....he has done bike trips over 3,000 km. across the Canadian western provinces and U.S. (Montana, Idaho, Washington State, Oregon, California (Santa Barbara) and back north to Vancouver, BC....in 1 trip last year over 2.5 months). I go very much by his experience because he also rode in France and Spain 2 yrs. ago on his own.

This is someone who has cycled across Canada ...twice. 4,000 km. from Vancouver to Toronto. That's how much I trust his bike touring experience..at least for paved surface cycling. I dislike cycling on gravel roads with heavy loaded panniers and if I have front loaded panniers, I dislike it even more because of the need stay balanced with the weight.

I don't hear much from him complaining about a need for speed..it's very dependent on a person's strength, stamina and mental fitness also. One isn't worrying so much about speed vs. just planning well /enough so that one has enough energy and strength for each daily destination especially if one is not familiar with terrain, nature of destinations, available services along the way and dealing with unexpected heavy headwinds, etc.

So one does need to "train" before embarking on longer trips with significantly heavier pannier weight.

[Sky King]

Amyp,
Back to the bike... Have you researched if you can mount racks? I only looked at your bike on the Terry site and it looked like putting racks on may be a challenge. I know Arkel sells a light touring rack that attaches to the seat post and nitto makes a front rack that uses clamps to attach to the fork. Personally I don't like a front handlebar bag that attaches to the handlebars as it affects how the bike handles so I use a front rack that the weight of the bag rests on. Perhaps taking the bike to the LBS that carry's touring gear is in order. Best of luck. The trip sounds like a great time and as there will be tons of towns you won't need to carry much in the food department so the Arkel or a Revelate bag would fit the bill. (look at the Pika)