West Coast bike trip - Washington, Oregon, and California

Yo,

So my girlfriend and I are planning a fully loaded bike trip from basically Vancouver to San Francisco throughout June, July, and August.
This means we're carrying all of our camping gear, food, clothing, etc. on our bikes.

I have already considered taking my kiting gear on a trailer (a bob yak, such as this: http://www.seabreeze.com.au/Media/View/5372/Kitesurfing/Bob-Yak-bike-trailer/). I added up all the pieces and it would come in at about 45 lbs with trailer weight, not to mention I would probably be carrying 60lb of gear. As such Ive decided its just too much extra weight to carry!

Anyone have any suggestion about what I should do to incorporate kiting into the trip..

I would try going to the local shops and talking to them when you get there. Places with larger kiting populations can have pretty decent shops. I got lucky when I was in San Diego California a couple years back as they let me take out demo gear free of charge. Just show that you are a competant rider by engaging in kiting related discussions. It may not be a bad idea to get your IKO certification as well to show proof that you are an able rider. And of course show some interest in buying something!

The bike trip was a complete success.

Got to kitesurf in Squamish, Hood River, and Pistol River.

In every place I managed to hook up with a friendly local who provided a board, it was all through the forum nwkite.com.

I biked with the kiting gear from Vancouver across the border, then mailed it from within the US for super cheap.

Squamish had suuper smooth wind, 18-20 knots every day, up to 70 kiters launching and landing from 'the spit', a very swift and wide river which blasted you back upwind.

Hood River was obviously awesome. Kited in up to 35 knots of wind. columbia river just consistently pushes you upwind, so no problem getting around. Super gusty in places, and the river swell was HUGE (like head high in spots). Extremely hectic launch and landing from the event site, due to July 4th weekend and submerged sandbar.

Pistol River was sooo epic. Established windsurfing spot, all the local windsurfers were like get the fuck out of here. Haha, but the conditions were epic. A local kiter let me borrow his 5'4 slingshot surfboard, and pointed us out to a great spot to camp, and the wind was howling from sunrise to sunset usually over 30 knots. So for 3 days I woke up, had breakfast, put on wetsuit, rigged up, and walked 30 feet to the shoreline, and rode for 6 hours straight.

Didn't end up riding at all in the SF Bay area, which was a huge drag. Too busy with family stuff and had no car to get around.

Word. Anyone who wants to do the same? Talk to me about it! Next time I'll sacrifice the weight and tow my kiting gear by trailer!

Next biking trip? Magdalen Islands.
DC