Just keep on keeping on

One thing about training, riding, and sticking to a somewhat demanding schedule - with all of life's other commitments - that I decided early on is that it's either going to be fun and seem totally worthwhile, or I'm not going to do it. Life is way too short to take on a regimen that makes you crazy.  So while I'm definitely cool with riding in the rain, dealing with oppressive heat and humidity in short bursts and so forth, it's not OK to just be unhappy about the whole thing and wallow in misery. Sometimes just making a decision to enjoy something makes it more enjoyable!  Besides, the side benefit from cycling that I really dig is all the little slices of Americana that you run across, often quite unexpectedly.  These experiences are sometimes the highlight of a day on the bike.

The first week of April was the real start to higher mileage weeks.  We had signed up for an Adventure Cycling Association bike tour in southwest Texas, through Big Bend National Park, an area I'd not seen before.  It was a great week to start riding multiple days in a row, at somewhat moderate miles - around 60 average per day.  

Good hills, beautiful desert, some hot weather, some winds.  All the stuff that can make an easy day on paper a more strenuous one in reality.  We were in a group of 10 riders plus our 2 ride leaders.  The leaders, Jerry and Doug, were just great and helped make it a terrific week of discovery and adventure.  And, we rode 350 miles in one week.  An excellent kickoff to my training plan!

As the weeks rolled along I discovered a few things that may be helpful in dealing with some of the mental and physical challenges that come up on the tour.  Maybe the most important is that every 3rd or 4th day on the bike doesn't go as well as I think it should.  Either I didn't rest well, didn't eat properly, didn't drink enough, had a bad attitude about something, or any of countless other reasons.  Hopefully, this will help me remember that sometimes having a "successful" day means simply that nothing terrible happened.  Every day does not have to be paradise to be a good day.

On Memorial Day I rode home from Madison, about 145 miles.  The weekend hadn't started out as well as planned, and Mark picked me up on the way to Madison on Saturday with 40 miles left on my route.  I just didn't have it in me to pedal any further.  Felt better the next day and had a nice ride in the Madison area, but at 70 miles a shorter day than I had planned a few weeks before.  So Monday was a big success, mainly because nothing bad happened and I finished the ride!  What made it even better was feeling solid in the saddle even on the heels of two less successful days.  You can always come back from a disappointment if you recognize the possibility exists. 

Consistency in training has ultimately meant improved speed, more endurance and increased confidence.  Not by leaps and bounds, but still in measurable ways.  On July 4th weekend I set out to ride to Madison again, do a RUSA 200k the next day, and then return home.  It all worked well, total for the 3 days was 427 miles compared to 262 on Memorial Day weekend.  In fact I even felt stronger and rode faster on day 3 than the previous 2, which is a big boost in confidence with the Transcon starting in just two weeks.  So now I'm ready.  Or at least, as ready as I am going to get.  The time has flown by, but I have put in the miles and the work, and in just a few days the tour will be assembling in Everett Washington for the start of our journey.