Hi there,

I am a mom of a 7 and a 4 year old and I used to be a runner but have had some foot issues that have sidelined me and now I find myself enjoying cycling much more than I ever did running. So last spring I bought a Trek 2.3 WSD road bike (my first road bike... and hopefully one that I will use for a triathlon as soon as my feet are better) and have been doing mainly paved trail riding in Northern Virginia about 15-30 miles at a time either on my own or with a small group (though no real road riding yet because it's much more relaxing being on the trail and not having to deal with cars).

Lately I've had urge to see places around here both with the family and on my own by bike so I'm wondering how my current bike will fare and if I'm well- or ill-equipped.

I just put clipless pedals on the bike (as a present from my husband for my upcoming birthday) and now don't really feel like I could use this bike to just ride around with the kids (my 4 year old is always suddenty stopping and I know I would go SPLAT in the first five minutes with having to clip out and not being used to it... not to mention the road shoes that are hard to walk in... still not sure that was the best thing to buy but I went to my local bike store and that's what they suggested - I am having problems with hotspots in both feet - Morton's Neuromas, whereas with running I only had problems with my right... so I'm bringing the shoes back to my LBS for adjustments so we'll see how that goes).

Sooooo, after all that rambling... I was wondering:
1) Could I use my current bike as a touring bike for day/weekend trips or would I be better off saving for a different bike (and if so, are there any recommendations? I'm 5'2" and on the light side and I don't know where to start. I went to the bike store and asked this question today and the bike store owner pointed me to a Trek 7.3 FX WSD bike and I wasn't quite sure about this since I thought that drop handle bars would be best for the different hand positions available... especially since my wrists like to switch it up for anything over 20 minutes! So since I didn't have much confidence in that answer - and he told me that you couldn't switch out the handlebars on that one - I thought I'd come here since I discovered this great site last week but have only been a lurker up until now)

AND

2) Can I use my current bike with a trail-a-bike (I just bought a Novara Afterburner single speed) - or if I should instead use my 14+ year old mountain bike to hook that up to.

Any experiences or suggestions would be much appreciated!

I knew I was going to be getting myself in trouble as soon as I opened up that cycling adventure book (I just finished Where the Pavement Ends and the kids already bought me my bday present: Momentum is Your Friend by Joe Kurmaskie, which I can't wait to read)!

Thanks!