"Last Chance Work Outs..?!"

This week has been a transition for my training: off of the trainer and onto the road. With only 3 1/2 weeks remaining for training, before boxing up my bike and shipping it on ahead of me, I wanted to start getting some daily road miles in.

Yesterday was day 3 of my new routine involving riding during a long lunch. There is a ~40 mile route that I've been doing each day this week. Monday it took 2 1/2 hrs; Tuesday it was 10 minutes less; and yesterday it was 5 minutes less than Tuesday. It was one of those neat rides that had maybe 8-10 segments that dipped into that 30+mph range...where cycling becomes very intense and focused: there's a realization that the stakes just got higher and you have to focus in and give your full attention and effort to sustain that experience! I Love it! Anytime I can enjoy speeds over 25 on the flats...I do.

Now, in all humility, it is worth noting that the return leg had almost a true S wind which did aid in the higher speeds-no question about it. I am an amature cyclist with less than a year in this sport...but I seem to have developed a taste for and liking of higher sustained speeds.

Today my hope is to ride the 40 mile loop or maybe 50 and then take Friday off. Then ride again on Sat aiming to get a longer ride in (~80). And I think Steve and maybe Darryl will join me for all or some of it.

Next week I hope to ride 6 days in a row - to experience what that is like. I've only done that once before, but not with these distances; which are only a shadow of what is to come...soon.

[As you can see in the photos, the moon set yesterday was very nice. A good indication of the clear day we had. Sure there were winds, but it was nice to wear only a single layer, sunscreen and no backpack. It was a wonderful ride-even with the winds.]

The Parable of 600 Miles: Training

The last several blog entries have shown some of the training we have been doing. Ed started riding in sub-freezing weather just a few weeks ago. A couple have worked out on trainers. The four of us here in Texas have been riding up and down hills and into high winds. All of this to get our bodies ready for some long rides. We don't want limbs turning into pretzels after the first hundred miles.

Forty-five people in the Democratic Republic of Congo want to train to become translators. They need the training so they can go do the long job of translation. They don't want to turn words into linguistic pretzels. But they are limited by a lack of funds. Won't you consider helping to support them? For more information, see the sidebar at the right.

Time

Jon,

Time is always a problem. You might not want to try this for serious training, but one solution to the family is to get them on bikes. We have one family that rides with the Bee Team who has a triple bike, pulling a seatpost trailer. Yep, that's all four. Looks like a train going by. Dad on the front, kid in the middle (raised the crank up so she can reach it), Mom on the third, and Kid on the trailer (which has a crank also).
These days, time impacts my job more than family - Christian often rides with me.
Spiritually, Satan will use other distractions as well to discourage us.

Ben

In 2007, Doug got to ride about 50 miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Trace runs from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN, a distance of 444 miles, all of it bike friendly. But this past week, I finally got my chance at this asphalt ribbon that runs north & south. Recruitment Ministries has asked Linda (my wife) and me to make a 2-week fact-finding trip to both Nashville, TN and Birmingham, AL to determine whether or not WBT needs to put a recruiter in the Bible Belt. As we were getting ready to leave Nashville for Alabama, we spent Saturday on the Trace biking south from its northern terminus. What a ride that was! No commercial traffic, no billboards, no noise, just biking in an almost perfect setting. We got 50 miles in and declared it a winner. The 70 degree temps didn't hurt either. Meanwhile, we're getting snow in Michigan again, so it will be a challenge to get the remainder of my 1000 training miles in during the next 33 days. Just 500 miles to go! Ride on!