Getting Ready II

After deciding to do a transcontinental ride it is necessary to get into shape before starting the ride. Almost anyone can, if they want to, ride across America. It requires some physical fitness and a lot of determination. Crossing the continent at 50 miles a day and taking 3 months is feasible for most people! So many that the most impressive aspect of accomplishing such a journey is often not physical but the mental realization that you did something you never thought you would be able to do. And hopefully the ability to apply that lesson to the rest of your life. It is for that reason that many people think of a cross country ride as being a life changing experience.

I am not one of those people. I can ride 50 miles loops and be done by noon. I can and at times have done that for months at a time. No I am looking for something more challenging. To that end I have decided to cross the country in 35 days of riding. I am not absolutely sure that I can achieve that goal, but I have greater than 95% confidence. I chose a 35 day goal in part because I have a 35^th year reunion from MIT this June; one day on the bike for every year since I graduated. I also found a tour that is going from Los Angeles to Boston in 31 days. That gives me 4 days to get from Berkeley CA to Los Angeles. This confluence of these events seemed, like something I should take advantage of, so I will be off on Wednesday for Los Angeles and then on Monday for Boston, well 77 Mass Ave. Cambridge, MA.

This ride, as most of you might have figured, out will require a little more than 100 miles each day. A hundred miles if more than twice as hard as 50 miles and while I have ridden 100 miles and longer too many times to remember, the real problem is riding 100 miles on the second and third and fourth and … days. What you need to achieve is a level of fitness where riding 100 miles at a reasonable pace is no longer a training ride. Most people who train seriously came to realize that if they work out to near exhaustion for several days in a row their bodies can’t recover. A better regimen is to work out hard on alternate days and let the body recover and build both strength and endurance during the day off. It is remarkable how many people fail to recognize the need for recovery when training. That being said since I will be riding every day my body can’t think of a 100 mile ride as a training ride and I can’t push myself as if it were.

How do you get to the point where your body can consider 100 miles on a bike to be little more effort than most people would consider a quick run or a long walk? The answer is simple ride your bike a lot before you start the ride. My goal was to have done more miles in 2007 when I started my ride than it would take me to finish my ride. I had a few training setbacks and didn’t make that goal but I will have done about 2500 miles when I start. Do I have any other recommendations? I would do specific exercises the strengthen the abdominals and lower back, I would recommend work to strengthen your legs, and exercises to increase flexibility in the upper back and shoulders, one of my problems, and cardiovascular workouts on a bicycle or an exercise bike. There are lots of ways to do cardiovascular exercise, but I see no point doing exercises that don’t specifically work the muscles that you need to develop for cycling. How long has it taken me? While I have had several other cycling related goals over that past year, I would say that I have been working toward this ride since the winter of 2006. Is that enough? I don’t yet know, but I intend to find out very soon.