Rose is writing the blog today. It’s now 12 days until we start riding and the last day for the road bikes before shipping them to San Diego. The temp was in the 30’s with mercifully little head and side wind. It made for a very pleasant 50+ mile ride.
I’m guessing that I’m not the only one of the 44 riders who is asking myself
Am I ready?
Perhaps a check list would help me stay focused. Am I ready to?
· Be a cheerful contributing member of this group of 44 riders and 18 staff? Yes
· Make new friends. Yes
· Pay attention to the scenery and appreciate both big and small vistas. Yes
· Avoid complaining about aches and pains. Heck, the average age of the riders is 60. Even without intense physical exercise most of us have at least one body part with an expired warranty. Yes
· Have enough appropriate gear. Yes. Before I began biking I thought it would be an inexpensive hobby. At least it is cheaper than owning horses, or maybe boats. I do enjoy it so much that I haven’t minded cutting back on other expenses and activities.
· Learn and use new technology, blogs, IPad, ITunes, camera, Gopro, GPS links, on line bill pay. Yes as long as the feeling of being really stupid doesn’t outweigh the excitement of learning new skills.
· Ride 80 miles in a day. Yes. We did 13 major rides last year that were at least 80 miles. I even know how to ride with heat exhaustion and pneumonia but hope I don’t get to refine those skills.
·
Ride 80 miles or more for 45 days, out of the 53. [The others are rest days.] Yes as long as I keep in mind what a friend said “Every day is a training day for the next day.”