Welcome

This blog covers my 2010 bicycle trip from Costa Mesa, California to Savannah, Georgia over 27 days and 2,900 miles (assuming I don't get lost). If you are new to blogs, the most recent posts are at the top; start from the bottom (and last page) and read up to see the posts in chronological order. I am riding with a company (America by Bicycle) that specializes in long distance bicycle trips.

In April of 2009, I completed the first leg of this trip from Costa Mesa to Albuquerque, New Mexico, which was 840 miles over 7 days. It was easily the most difficult physical challenge I had ever attempted. I pushed myself harder than I ever imagined I could. Along the way, I learned a tremendous amount and met some really great people. The staff and fellow riders were an incredible group of cyclists.

One of the things I learned with the 2009 ride was that I needed to train harder to enjoy a fast-paced cross-country bike trip - as opposed to just surviving it. I live in Bermuda - an island that is only 21 miles long and about 1 mile wide. It is difficult to get in the 350+ miles per week that you need to average to get in shape. But that is not an excuse... I just have to accept the fact that I'm going to get dizzy going around this island so many times.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Day 0 Orientation (16 miles)

This is the day when all of the remaing riders arrive, bikes are assembled and inspected, and we have a 3 hour orientation to go over all the rules.  We are currently missing only one rider.  The guy from Denmark is going to have a problem arriving because of the Icelandic volcanic erruption.  The current plan is for him to fly in whenever he can get through, rent a car and catch up with us.

After bike assembly, I took a group of four other riders on a short ride down to the ocean and up the path that we will be taking tomorrow.  The group was Paul (met him yesterday), Brian, Dick and Hawaii Mike.  It must be a rule that we have several Mikes on each ride.  Last year it was English Mike, Bermuda Mike and Team Leader Mike.  This being a Saturday, there were a ton of other casual cyclists out and we kept the pace to a very reasonable level.  Riding with other cyclists on a day like today is just great.



At this afternoon's orientation, I got to meet the rest of the 14 riders.  Team Leader Mike ("TLM") had each person introduce themselves, say where they were from and tell us how many miles they had biked since January.  We have a very, very strong group.  The average amount of miles biked in 2010 was about half the distance to the moon.  I'm going to have a hard time keeping up.  My goal is to try and stay in the same state with everyone else.

Tomorrow the real riding begins.  Stayed tuned.  Let's see if my blog doesn't drop to single sentence posts, like "Rode bike, now sleep".
Posted by at

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousApril 18, 2010 at 7:43 AM

    You actually sound excited this time to begin the journey where as about this time last year, I only heard about ppl that have died from the trip and how many injuries usually occur. :O

    I am sure you will be fine, just take it day by day. That really sucks about the guy in Europe, who knows how long that will last. :( Good luck!!! I am assuming you are already on your way today!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)