Training For 11 Very Long Days of Riding (or, How To Create Life In A 58 Year Old Body) Training and Conditioning Part 1

In 26 days Bro Mark and I will wake up to the early morning glow of an Arizona sunrise. (I feel good just thinking about it.)

We will mount our mechanical horses (bicycles) and pedal in a westerly direction.

The largest expanse of desert in North America, and mighty Colorado River, and a coastal mountain range, and (most dangerous of all) about 12 miles of cycling through downtown Los Angeles await us before concluding our 11 day,  675 mile / 1,081 km adventure following the 1775ish trek of Lt. Col. Juan Bautista de Anza as he led the first settler families to their new homes in Alta California.

From the get go, it is obviously that Lt. de Anza was smarter than us. He rode a horse. The horse did the hard work. We pedal bikes. We do the hard work.

Thus the challenge: How do a 58 and 60 year old not-exactly-spring-chickens-type-guys prepare their bodies for eleven days of intense pedaling across one of the most physically challenging environments in North America?

Conditioning is the key.

Compare my before conditioning and after conditioning profile:

Not really. That's not me. I'm just messing with your head. My true profile is somewhere between those pictures. (Well, ok. Probably a little closer to the left. But that blank stare does look like someone I see in the mirror occasionally.)

My training actually began the day I bought my "new to me" $100 Raleigh Hybrid Bike in the summer of 2010 and started riding it; because every time you get on your bike and ride you are training. From Summer of 2010 until November 2011, my training consisted of riding my bike, outside. (The preferred location for riding a bike.)

Most of my rides were in the wee morning hours (as in "early morning" not "constitutionally required morning activity") between 3o minutes and 2 hours, depending on the day and the amount of time I had with respect to other things I needed to do; like go to work and earn money to pay bills, or go on dates with my wife, or spend time with my kids.

Using this simple training plan I enjoyed riding an average of 460 km per month (That's about 115 km per week) this past summer for the months of July, August, and September. That was fun and healthy. But keep in mind that these were all relatively short and not very intense bike rides.

So when we decided to ride the de Anza trail at the end of next month, I realized that a "higher" level of conditioning would be required. So I went to the Source of All Knowledge Regarding Things Bicycle (No, not Google), Bro Mark.

"How," I asked Bro Mark, "do I condition for 11 days of riding with an average distance of 98 km per day (60 miles per day), especially when I will not be able to ride my bike outside from October 2011 until I hop on the seat on March 24, in the parking lot of the Flat Stone Inn, south of Tucson, on the first day of our Big Ride?"

(Too cold and too icy around here to ride outside between November and April or May. And even in May it may still be too uncomfortably cold to ride and be able to say, "That was fun.")

Bro Mark's authoritative answer was simple: "The best conditioner for the cyclist is the kind that makes your hair light and fluffy.  It can be purchased at Wal Mart for a reasonable price."  Bro Mark's precise answer demonstrates a common problem with which most geniuses struggle. Their minds are just like Wikipedia, too full of good information.

So I rephrased the question, emphasizing that I was concerned about my physical, not hair, conditioning. Then he got it. And said, "Buy a Trainer."

Now I'm discouraged. How can I buy a Trainer? I can't even afford to pay a Housekeeper $40 a week to vacuum and dust. I expressed my exasperation to Bro Mark.

He patiently explained to me that a Trainer was not a person, but a machine of sorts. A small triangular looking metal structure. You clamp the rear wheel of your bike into into the contraption. Your rear wheel is now slightly elevated and suspended off the ground, kind of like the way you felt after the office Christmas Party last year.

Now you can get on your bike and pedal like crazy and go nowhere. Very much a real simulation of real life. (This is a terrible exercise program if you care anything in the least about what other people think of your mental health status.)

And just to make the pedaling experience more "interesting" and effective, add to the device a few magnets that somehow create a resistance that you must pedal against. Creates an experience similar to riding through soft sand. So now you are not only going nowhere, but working real hard to do so. Just like real life.

So I bought said Trainer and assembled it and set it up in what we call the "Mud Room."  The Mud Room is like an indoor porch. Most homes in this part of Canada have one. It is the place where theoretically wet jackets and muddy or snow covered boots are taken off and kept so as not to incite the anger of whoever has the responsibility of keeping the house free of the muck and mud of the outside winter world. (This is a "Theoretical Place" because somehow most boots end up on the floor in the kitchen and the jackets end up hanging nicely from the kitchen table chairs.

Our Mud Room is also the winter home of 3 cats and a rather large dog. (Can you see the Dog House? Which has since been moved into the closet that you cannot see. And the Kitty Litter Box? Which still stinks.)

See the Trainer holding up the rear bike wheel.

See the Music Stand which will hold up the lap top which will play the DVD movie which keeps the rider from focusing on the pain of profitable exercise.


And, our Mud Room is not heated. So even though it is protected from the winds and elements, it is still quite cold. Most of the time, this time of the year, it is below freezing. (But I still ride in a T shirt and sweat bullets anyway. Being cold is not a problem doing this type of exercising.)

Such conditions create a rigorous training environment. It would be a perfect training environment if I were planning to ride my bike to the North Pole. Unfortunately, it is nothing like the climate in Southwest USA where we will be trekking. But hey. You got to work with what ya got, right?

So I am going to get into shape using this machine and a disciplined training program.

In my next installment, I will explain my soon-to-patented "Pain Is Only In Your Head -- Ha!" training program.