My wife and I plan to ride across Oregon and Washington with our two sons this July 2017. We intend to follow the Adventure Cycling maps through the Cascades. Our sons are 11 and 13. They are both short for their age but strong and athletic. I'm not worried about their physical strength, but we've never practiced riding up and down mountains. We live in Tunisia but are from the Northwest and there are not really any mountains in Tunisia. I'm more worried about their mental stamina. I'd like to aim for 40 miles a day but we'll see. We may have to go slower. Suggestions on this front are welcome. How to train for mountains when there are none!
My other question is actually about gear. My wife and I rode across the US more than a decade ago and still have our touring bikes so we will use them. However, the boys don't have anything. We will need to buy them bikes as soon as we arrive in the US. Can I get away with buying them hybrid bikes? I'm reluctant to spend a bunch of money on touring bikes that may only get used once before they hit their growth spurt. I plan to bring the bikes back to Tunisia at the end of the summer and mountain bikes or hybrids would be much better suited to this terrain. Any thoughts?
My other challenge is finding the right sized bike. They both are determined to ride independently, but their standover height is only 680 mm and 650 mm respectively. I've looked online and found precious few options without spending a fortune on more custom designed bikes. Any suggestions on what and where to buy appropriate bikes? Do I dare buy something online and have it shipped to our arrival point in Seattle, sight unseen? We will have limited time to arrive, buy all the new/used gear that we need and then get down to Ashland to start our ride. It is a bit of a logistics nightmare. I don't want to spend a ton of time going from one bike shop to another and then waiting for something to arrive in stock...Again, shopping suggestions are welcome.
Thanks.
