Hi everyone...

I have been hanging around the Touring area for awhile now and finally decided to look around the rest of Bike Forums.

If I could take a moment of your time and tell you what I plan to do I would welcome any thoughts or opinions.

I just turned 40 in September(urgh)and my wife, who also had a B-Day(38 for her)and me have a beautiful 4 year old daughter. We are tired of the grind-the day to day commute, jobs, etc and we started talking one evening about our younger days and eventually we started talking about bicycling. How we both loved it, the feeling of it, what it would be like now, the bikes we had as children and teens, etc.

We both realized that with our current ages we hadn't ridden a bicycle in many years-for her, since she started driving at 16 and for me, when I left the Nest for college at 17.

We are both out of shape and overweight. My wife put on weight(she needs to lose around 40lbs)after our daughter was born and me, well... that's where I need some opinions and encouragement...

I have always had a weight problem. It started for me when I was around 9 years old. Once we had our daughter we decided I would become a Stay At Home Daddy. It was both a gift and a curse for me.

A gift because I got the chance to be around our little girl on a day to day basis and which/witness and take part in every change she went through. A curse because I also became extremely sedentary and started to pack on even more weight than I ever had before.

So this post doesn't get too long or boring let me fastforward to our plan and where I am at currently...

we want to start riding for health, adventure and fun and after awhile, sell pretty much everything and set off on a 5 year, fully loaded tour with our daughter in tow. We have begun looking at bikes and quickly realized that it's pointless to buy anything but the bikes that will eventually be just what we need so we are 99.99% sure on what bikes to get(custom made touring bikes from Thorn in the UK)and the undertaking of the expense in doing so($2,500.00 per bike)... but I still need some serious encouragement(read-letting go of fear... of failure, embarassment, etc)in getting going once they arrive.

I weigh a lot-400lbs-and at 5 feet 11 inches(as sad as it is to admit... at that weight I am actually down 50lbs so I am trying and so far it's coming off)I am packing some serious weight onto a bike. I've been told by the framebuilder that he promises it will stand up to the task(steel frame, conical tubing, tandem hubs w/48 spokes, etc). No worries there... my concerns are more with just getting my arse on the bike and not giving up.

Am I spending a ton of money on a pipedream or is there a chance that I will still find all this do-able when the UPS man arrives?

Also, based on what you now know about me... can a "standard" bike even hold me? I ask because I drive by a flea market daily and the guy has a bunch of old Schwinn's out front for anywhere from $25-100.00 and I just can't stop looking at them and wondering, "I wish I could try one out and see how all this goes" Our custom bikes won't be started on until just after X-Mas and then should ship in 12-15 weeks thereafter.

I guess I am scared to find out that riding won't be possible until I am much smaller or that it will be totally uncomfortable. I will say this though... since my wife and me began talking about all this in May of this year not one day has gone by where I haven't dreamed, thought, looked, talked or anything else about bikes and touring on one. I am hooked. I just haven't ridden on one yet.

Sorry if this post seems scattered... a lot of thoughts are floating through my head.

Thanks for reading.