Why No Touring Topic??

[Skierchickie]

It seems to me touring would be worthy of its own space, like mountain biking, cyclocross or funny funny stories. I wanna talk about touring!

I acquired a lovely new Trek 520 last summer, and have gradually been accumulating panniers, handlebar bag, light, mirror, hand-me-down front rack, .... in the hope that by the time I've spent the first billion dollars I'll be able to do unsupported touring. While I've commuted to work on it a few times, next weekend is the big test trip. My buddy and her DH spent 3 months touring Europe years ago, so they are all into it. My DH, not so much. He's sort of coming around, but not in time for this trip. We're just going up to Copper Harbor, maybe 40-ish miles away, camping a couple of nights, and then coming back. DH couldn't part with DD (Dear Doggie) for the whole weekend, and doesn't have a touring rig, so he and Zoe will meet us up there, with her somewhat worn out (hopefully) with some mountain biking. If she's too rambunctious, they will come back that first night, so as not to be too annoying to other campers. She's 50 lbs of pure Aussie-mix energy, and loves everyone. Anyhooo, I'm all excited (and sorta scared, for some reason).

I also am not sure about my setup. For instance, I had my light mounted on the handlebars. I bought my front panniers and handlebar bag online, so I didn't see the handlebar bag in person. It's an Ortlieb Ultimate 5 Classic, size M - so smaller than the only other size, which is L Takes up some acreage. Acreage needed for the light. If I move the light, the light takes up acreage needed for my hands. Where should I put this thing? I'm playing with putting it on the fork, on top of the brake mount, thinking that would keep it from slipping down farther (it doesn't in any way interfere with the brakes there). I'm having trouble with the light mounting bracket (Cateye 510) not wanting to tighten down enough - it seems to jam at various points, and sometimes acts like it won't tighten OR loosen, ever again. Even if I get that part straightened out, I'm thinking it will want to be pointing slightly up, which just isn't going to work.

Anybody have a super-neato mounting location for their headlight? As you can see in the photo, the bag comes up too high to be able to get the light to shine over the top of it. I assumed it would sit lower (the bag), and not affect the mounting of other things. Well, I probably won't need the light yet, anyway. I'll be off the road long before dark every night.