At the last minute, 9 weeks ago, I decided to start riding my bike again and sign up for this tour. My friend Doug is doing the full coast-to-coast edition, but with such short notice I can only swing two weeks off work. I am a bit jealous as riding across the country would be an incredible thing to say you've done. Maybe in the future I'll have to sign up for the second half of this tour so I can say I've done the whole thing.
My training started with 100 miles the first week, then 300 miles the second week, and about 250-275 miles every week after that. I really got started when I rode three 100 mile rides in a row over Memorial Day weekend. Thanks Doug! Without him my fitness would not be where it is today. I keep saying I got into tour shape one painful ride at a time. Based on my previous tour experience I knew the minimum amount of time to get into shape is 6 weeks. So this actually gave me an extra 3 weeks to train.
I don't have too many concerns as my confidence level is pretty high regarding my fitness, mental tenacity, and equipment. I do kind of wonder how my attitude will be by the end of the 15 days. The last two tours I've done I have not been ready to hang up the bike on the 7th day, I've wanted to keep on riding. So I'll be interested to see how I feel after 15 days.
I don't have any other big goals or expectations for this trip, I am mostly just going along for the ride and am ready for whatever happens to come my way. I am looking forward to making some new friends and taking a break from my regular work/life routine. It's always good to get away from the daily grind and throw yourself into new things and see what happens. For me my mind opens up, I get tons of energy, new ideas start flowing, and I feel renewed and refreshed. This is what I'm really looking forward to and then seeing where my ideas take me a year or two from now.
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