A friend asked me the other day, "So the planning has begun in earnest?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Are you neglecting your Triathlon training so you can plan this big ride?"
Um... Maybe? It's hard to tell right now with so much stuff going on in the summer.
The Gear
So I started bike shopping. The last time I did a bike camping trip with my son my Specialized TriCross was a big "wobbly." What does that mean? It means that the aluminum frame was not meant to carry that much weight: the frame shuddered and flexed quite a bit when I stood up or simply stopped/started. And that was only for an overnight trip. If I am going to get serious about a long-term camping adventure I will need a bike built for this. The new category name being thrown around is "Adventure Bike", something between a Cyclocross and a hard-tail mountain bike. I think I am still leaning toward a standard hard-tail MTN bike, since they are significantly cheaper than these other purpose-built camping bikes. More requirements and thoughts are over in the new "The Gear" section.
I've also started looking for rack options as well as some way to mount my camera for easy access. Front-suspension racks are somewhat hard to come by, although there appear to be a few options.
The Dates
I have been in contact with several people that have ridden the eastern section of the JWPT and it seems my distance estimates may be a bit aggressive. 60 miles/day may be easy on the improved, western section but the eastern section is a bit more wild than I am used to. Maybe I'll need to do a trip out there to scout it out with my son?
At any rate I may be looking at a 12-day trip as opposed to a 9 day trip. What makes it difficult is the whole "Sunday Issue". We have decided to avoid riding/touring/exercising on Sundays due to religious reasons. There are several options for attending church on Sunday but we would have to take a rest day in Ritzville, Warden, or Othello. My wife would probably have to meet us with church-appropriate clothes and keep us company. Yeah, that should be interesting... }B^)