Sunday, July 12, 2009

C&O and GAP Ride - Preparation

In one week, Bob and I will embark on a week long, 318 mile, self supported bike tour. We will start in Washington, DC and ride the C&O Canal Towpath up to Cumberland, MD. From there we jump on The Great Allegheny Passage up to McKeesport, PA. I will be keeping a detailed journal, including pictures, of the ride and will tell you all about it when I get back.

However, I'm getting ahead of myself. Before we can ride, there is much preparation to be made:

The itinerary - one of the things we look forward to most relative to the trip is the freedom to do what we want, where we want and how we want. We do not want to over plan this trip. We do not want a hard and fast schedule that we must stick to. We want to get on our bikes each day and ride. We want to let the experiences surprise us. That being said, some amount of planning was in order. Our final itinerary, which we merely view as suggestions, consist of:

  • The start and finish for each day.

  • Things to see and do along the way.

  • Places to eat.

  • Places to buy beer (not a suggestion, but an absolute essential)

  • Places to shop.

  • Places to sleep.

    The gear - I already had the majority of the gear from previous bike trips - such as panniers, tent, ground pad, sleeping bag, cooking gear, etc. However, an extended bike trip is a good excuse to buy more. Over the last couple of months, there has been what seems like a constant stream of stuff arriving at my front door. I can't speak for anyone else, but I can certainly say that I have been doing my part to keep UPS in business during these tough economic times. Behold my new toys - uhhh - I mean the stuff I absolutely need to survive (I inserted this clarification in the event my wife happens upon this blog):

    Packing - Now that I have all the gear, its time to pack. The biggest question is how am I going to get all of this:

    on this?
    Answer - divide and conquer.
    Piece of cake!!!
  • No comments:

    Post a Comment