How did this all play out where I'm bringing my wife on a bike tour with me? I mean, really, she puts on about 60 miles a year, and here we're going on a 150+mile tour over 4 days. What even led to this craziness?

Time Machine

Flashback to Dec 2015. Each year, we travel back from Georgia to Pennsylvania for the holidays. This year, we met some friends of ours from the Lehigh Valley area in the Bethlehem Star Café (one of the good places to eat in Bethlehem). Over the two bottles of wine I brought with me (BYOB seems to be a thing in PA, not GA), I tell the other two couples about my 2015 tour along the GAP/C&O. Then:

Kim, "I'd love to do that"

Me, "I'd do it again if you wanted to go along"

Kim "Really?"

John, "Hey - I grew up in Pittsburgh. I'll go with you"

Kim, "Kathy, are you going?"

Kath (my wife), "Well, if you (Kim) are going, then I could certainly do it"

So in about 10 seconds, it's gone to just me to now four people. I'm used to touring alone - it's a guilty selfish pleasure - you know, going where I want to go, eating what I want to eat, seeing what I want to see, stopping where I want to stop. The upcoming trip will be different. It will need to be a combination of adventures to satisfy everyone involved, not just me. It will test the abilities of everyone - for some, riding abilities, for others, trip planning abilities.

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The outcome

In fairly short order, John canceled, but Kim, Kathleen, and I were still on. So this meant coordination of dates and creation of training plans. We agreed to go in September 2016 since the leaves would be turning and the views would be agreeable. It would also be the end of the summer season and would give the entire summer for training and extending the mileage to be able to ride the tour. My goal was to plan for a tour which didn't encompass 80+ mile days so the newer riders would be both challenged and not be a slave to the ride. For that reason, I set the maximum mileage days around 40 and decided traveling light and making use of B&B/hostels would be the best way to introduce them to a tour.