Ooops!

Here I am learning lessons and I haven't even started my bike tour yet.  Yesterday I spent some time loading all of my gear into my two panniers (bags) and my rack pack (another bag that goes on the top of the rear rack).  When I got done I weighed everything just out of curiosity.  I found that I had a little under 50 pounds of gear, which is about average for the trip I'm going on.  The problem is that I had all of the weight on the back.  I thought about it and I didn't like the idea of having all of that weight plus my body weight all on the back wheel.  I decided I want to evenly distribute the weight on the front and back.  This means I had to drive into Portland and get a new rack for the front and the panniers to go on the front too.  I think it will be much safer.  I don't want to have to worry about blowing out a tire or breaking spokes when I am barreling down a hill. That seems scary to me. Safety first!!  :)  The pictures below are of my bike with everything loaded on the back.  When I get the front rack and panniers on I will post pictures of the new setup.