In a couple weeks, I fly to Portland, Oregon, to meet 34 folks who have signed on to do the America by Bicycle (northern) cross country route. No, I'm not going to do the whole route. I've signed up to do 21 riding days leaving the group in Rapid City, South Dakota-just a few miles past Mt. Rushmore.
I'll be meeting up with Matt who was on the XC15 tour last year. Looking forward to discussing the current state of affairs as we pound out the miles over the Rockies and down again. It should be "Huge"!
On Sunday, June 19, we'll have orientation meeting with the America by Bicycle team leaders in Astoria, OR. We'll then take a quick 29 mile loop out to the Pacific to do a ceremonial dip in the Pacific before heading out for our first full day of riding to St. Helens on Monday the 20th - a mere 98 miles East.
This ride has a bit more climbing per mile and on average more daily miles than last year's ride. I hope I don't underestimate the effort required or over estimate my abilities. However, my take-always from last year's adventure is to stick with a good pre-ride and post-ride routine. Early morning is not the time to think about what you need to get done before you start riding for the day. And being tired doesn't mean to shirk the work. Once I got the routines down, my anxiety levels subsided and riding enjoyment settled in.
Still, I did make time for a Winter and Spring coaching session. Twice a week from December through April, I brought my bike to a training center, loaded onto a trainer and followed a program designed to build leg strength, spinning speed and aerobic endurance. There were about 25 other men
and women in the program spread over three session times. The coach was awesome and he got a
group of 12 of us to sign up for the Gran Fondo New York. We all started the 100 mile race at 7:00 AM on the Lower deck of the Geo Washington Bridge Sunday morning which was closed for the race. View of the city was awesome from there.
We were accompanied by 3,500 other riders. What mayhem! With that many riders on the course, there were quite a few pile-ups and I was lucky to avoid them. One of our crew not so lucky and had to cut race short - big disappointment. Three of the group finished around the 5 hour 40 minute mark which is crazy time for 9,500 ft of climbing over 100 miles! Others finished in 6 hours some at 7, one
at 8 and change and me at (a humbling) 9:03. So did I mention I wasn't last? That I did finish and that I was satisfied with my run? And inspired to try harder...?
