I used a lot of new equipment for this trip. I bought a one-year-old Fisher Cronus and put the compact (50/34) crankset on it for this trip. My brother also set me up with a rear rack that attached to the seat post since this "racing bike" didn't have braze-ons for racks. We traveled very light with just a couple pairs of shorts and a couple jerseys each. For the first time, I used my iPhone with Google Maps (which now include bike trails) to navigate every day. Since the battery wears quickly with lots of gps use, I bought the PC5 solar charger from Suntactics which worked really well. I used RunKeeper to record the routes and stats each day. Send me an email if you have any questions about setting-up a trip like this. Oh, I also used the book, Cycling the Erie Canal to plan the route and follow the canal trail the first few days. Happy Trails!