Training Highlights

Mike and I began a stringent training schedule around June 1st, for eight weeks. We rode different distances on our bikes five days a week and we walked just about every day.
Yesterday was the conclusion of our training. We rode 55 miles and walked 5. This was about the distance we had planned to cover daily in Canada (walk 10, ride 50). However, we made a slight adjustment to our plans. We couldn’t decide how to split up the walking and riding (which to do first, etc.). We finally figured we would walk 5 miles and then ride 25, walk 5 more and then finish with 25 riding. We walked our 5 first but Mike, who bought new walking shoes yesterday for this trip, had a blister after 5 and we had to improvise. So we walked 5 and then rode 55. I won’t say it was impossible, but it certainly wasn’t easy. We probably moved too fast and didn’t take enough breaks (we plan to change this in Canada). We finished our 60 in 7.5 hours and that included lunch at Wilkins (pretty good food and a welcome rest).

So, now that we know we can do 60 miles in a single day we feel more confident with our future goals. We are sore but not beyond going out and trying it again today (we won’t however).

In our training we've encountered several interesting things:

1. BEAR: Yes, I was out alone one day and came over a hill behind a passenger van. The van was braking and I looked ahead to see, in front of the van, the BIGGEST BLACK BEAR I have ever seen walking right down the middle of the road! The van was braking and I also braked (something you hardly ever do going downhill on a bike). The bear seemed oblivious to me and kept walking straight ahead. It finally walked off to the right. Made me think what would I have done if the van hadn’t been there? Mike said he would have ridden right by the bear. Ha!

2. DOGS: We encountered a black and brown dog at one spot on our most common route. They seemed intent on our biting our ankles. We squirted the dogs several times in the face with our water containers which stopped them for a minute while we got ahead.

3. WILDLIFE: We saw countless deer. In fact we had at last two different deer that never moved off the side of the road as we passed them. We were within 5-10 feet from them and they didn’t move. Awesome. We also saw a HUGE turtle (painted) that was bigger than a trash can lid.

4. WEATHER: In 8 weeks of training we NEVER got rained upon. AMAZING!

Yesterday, on our final ride, I told Mike that the last time I rode a bike 6 hours in one day on a seat the size of a corn cob was NEVER!

We are definitely nervous about the upcoming trip; like how big will the hills be (the toughest part of riding a bike) and how strong will the wind be in our face (the 2nd toughest part of biking) and what about wildlife? What else might we encounter that we haven’t even thought about? What an adventure this will certainly be. Alaska here we come!!

~Chuck