Training...a Regimen of Convenience

Several people have asked me how I am training for this 50 day ride. Good question...and I'd like to tell you that I have a good answer...but I don't. I ride...to get groceries, to check on my parents, to the library, to meet my financial guy (yes...he has on a blue button-down, I have on spandex...wet spandex at that). It is my training regimen that is borne out of convenience. I had firewood to split and stack in January, and a mountain of never ending yardwork. I decided 30-40 miles per day in February would be good, followed by 50 in March and 60 in April. I'd like daily, but there are days when I just can't ride. Because there is a tremendous time factor involved with all of the mileage, once in awhile all I can do is hop on the elliptical trainer at home and put on about 45 minutes of random hills at level 7. Does this concern me? Yes. I'd like to incorporate a weight lifting program to build as much muscle as possible, as I know the continuous riding days in May, June, and July will take its toll. But...I also believe that the body is an amazing thing...it adapts. Perhaps you have had a job where the physical demands were high, and the first few days were pure torture. But as your body adapted, you were then able to do that same work, day after day, with no problem. That's...what I'm hoping.




I am not fast. When God handed out the fast-twitch muscle fibers, I think I was in the rec room watching an episode of Father Knows Best. But I do have a few of the slow-twitch fibers and I am loath to quit...anything. Typically, I ride between 12 and 13 mph, and that is with racks, fenders, and a 10 pound rear trunk. I find that if I try to bump up my average to 14 mph, I am fatigued the next day. I won't have the rack or that anchor of a rear trunk on this trip, but I have planned for 12 mph days, or just over 8 hours of actual riding each day. Every 10-15 miles I will stop, get off the bike, eat a little something, and stretch a bit. There are those three contact points which need to be pampered...the hands, the butt, and the feet. All are important...and I will take care of them. But my trump card? Well...I like to think it's my mindset.
"Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body is not tired if the mind is not tired.". ~George Patton~
maybe you can't...because you won't...