tomballay

Once I made the commitment to this cross-country cycle trip, I immediately began to work on getting ready.   I have delineated the trip preparation into the following categories:

1. Training
2. Route Selection and Timing the Trip
3. Selecting the Best Bicycle
4. Equipping My Bicycle
5. Packing the Bags/What Should I Carry
6. Mental

The topic here is training.

Although I did my best,  I will not know how well I trained until I actually get started. I didn’t work with a professional trainer in preparation.  I read a lot of books and articles and I just climbed on my bike and rode.  I am not sure how I could have completely prepared myself for riding 6 to 8 hours per day.  This is an adventure, not an occupation. The time limits of having a life and job prevented extensive training.  Even if I did have that kind of time, riding a bicycle in Toledo, Ohio during the winter is a bit of a challenge. 

When I made the initial commitment in August of 2010, I immediately starting riding as many miles as possible. I just threw myself at it to see how I would do and what issues would develop. Within two weeks I was riding daily distances of 25 to 35 miles and I rode two 70 miles rides on consecutive weekends. I quickly discovered where my weaknesses were.  In the third or fourth week, my back and neck were hurting so badly that I could not bend over and tie my shoes. On the positive side, my legs and lung capacity felt great.

I couldn’t find anyone that could definitively diagnosed what was causing my back and neck issues.  The best I could determine is that it was a combination of many things:  my riding technique or posture, my bike set-up, a general lack of flexibility, a lack of muscular use for a number of years, and perhaps some basic body physiological issues that are inherent in my make-up. 

A local chiropractor, Mickey Frame did a great job relieving my back pain, and my neighbor, Deb Unverferth, an occupational therapist, gave me some great exercises and general advice dealing with flexibility.  Ultimately, I started doing a Yoga Class a few days a week and that seems to have been the single most important thing that I have done for my physical preparation.  Again, time will tell but I no longer have back pain associated with riding. Of course, I have not ridden 6 to 8 hours a day during training the past 5 months – so we will see.

After October,  I moved indoors so my cycle training occurred in my basement with my bike mounted on a resistance trainer (very boring) and at Wildwood Athletic Club where I joined a spinning group. I tried to do a combination of basement work and spinning that would give me 7-10 hours per week.  I took a few trips down south in February and March and hauled my bike with me. I was pleased with my level of fitness during these trips. I believe that the spinning, although short in duration, is good physical training as  I observed during spinning that my heart rate was consistently up near and often over my anaerobic limit. In the future,  I hope to continue spinning during the winter as I believe it to be a great substitute for outdoor cycling.

My assumption is I am in decent enough shape to drag myself through the first week.  Hopefully, as we progress, I will begin to ride myself into the type of condition that will make this trip a success. My biggest concern is that we are starting out West (Costa Mesa) and will be climbing mountains essentially from the onset.  I would have preferred to start on the east coast and use the mountains as an incentive as I built strength and endurance and became progressively stronger. We shot this idea down based on our assumption that the prevailing winds run more consistently from West to East than vice-versa.  Hence, we opted to start in the West, which puts us immediately into climbing.  Not an ideal way to start, but perhaps an opportunity to accelerate our “in-process” conditioning.

I also tried to lose weight during this period. Every pound taken off my stomach and rear end is a pound that I will not have to haul 3000 miles. When you look at weight lost from that perspective, it really increases your incentive to both lose weight along with convert body mass from fat to muscle. 

So I just completed my last spinning class this evening and I am done with training.  We get started in four days and I will know how well I prepared.  My expectations are tempered, but I am ready to get started.

In August of 2010, during a casual phone conversation with my old friend, Dan Peirce, I committed to riding a bicycle across the United States.  I recall the discussion clearly. Dan was talking about all the great adventures we had together during our younger days and I made the following statement, “you know Dan, when you stop creating stories you begin dying.”  Fateful words – seven months later, we are in the last stages of planning this trip. Our departure is scheduled for March 26, 2011.  That is only 7 days from now. 

I am 53 years old.  Although I have cycled since my late 20’s, I’ve not ridden my bike consistently over the past 15 years. In fact, the day I committed to this venture I had not cycled more than 60 miles in a day.  Our goal is to travel from Costa Mesa, California to Savannah, Georgia, a distance of 3000 miles, in about 40 days. Most of my friends think I’m nuts. I think they are likely correct. But with that admission comes the realization that the stories of my life, the stories I cherish the most,  were created from  events and circumstances that were outside of normal convention.  Circumstances that were often the result of me simply saying, “I am going to do this.”  That is how this thing started. Dan and I said, “we are going to do this”.  From my perspective, I didn’t give much thought to the physical challenge of this undertaking, nor to the personal commitment.  This committment includes being away from my work for an extended period. 

So here we go.  Seven months of training (sort of), purchase of a new bicycle and a boatload of great new gear, route planning, weather analysis, and reading a whole lot of internet experiences that shaped our execution plan.  The day of reckoning is fast approaching and I suppose I am getting just a bit excited. In fact, I am excited enough to actually open and set up this blog page – something that I have never done.

I hope to find some time and share some technical information related to our planning and I would like to go through some of the thought processes that brought me to this point.  For now this first posting is a declaration and the final commitment for me.  I have been saying for months that I would start a blog, but I waited until the last moment to actually make the committment and submit this post.  I suppose that is and will remain a familiar theme in my life. 

Here we go.