How would I travel by bicycle with a travellers backpack?

Aside from the obvious fitness requirements to ride a bike long distance, what do I need to know about carrying my luggage with me across countries?

I'm thinking of doing a few bicycle trips across Europe. Specifically, I am thinking of starting in Milan, and riding along the coast of Italy - or another route; riding from Milan, along the French coastline past Monaco, Nice, Cannes, and eventually ending up in Barcelona, Spain.

How would I go about doing this trip by bicycle? I would need a good quality bike obviously - what price range would allow for a decent bike? And the other important question - how do I carry my hiking backpack with me? It's not a good idea to wear it on my back while riding, so I'm wondering if there are some kinds of mounts or racks I can install on my bike that would allow me to ride with a 65L backpack.

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Have you started categorizing Travelbloggers...backpackers, flashpackers, bikers, divers, hikers, mountain climbers, cruisers, food afficienados, mobile home/caravaners, RTW and long duration travelers, students on a year or semester abroad, annual travelers on one month or less vacations, those who have written books about their travels, etc? It would be great to have a Forum for each category with a list of applicable travelers...an easy place to find those with similar interests. It would be easier on the Moderators if TBers could categorize themselves (perhaps on multiple categories) through a TB link. Reply to this

That was mentioned at some point, but other things were higher priority at the time. Reply to this