Training

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During the course of my research for this ride, I read somewhere that for a trip this length you can train on the ride itself. I have now repeated that to enough people that I'm starting to believe it. Since I have no deadline for completion, I have the luxury of starting at a slower pace and increasing my mileage as I progress. I also can take rest days as needed, though I'll want to keep a sense of momentum.

While my best training will begin on the day I leave Yorktown, I am going on longer rides this month in preparation for my departure. Living close to the Chicago lakefront bike path allows me to make the convenient thirty-five mile loop, shown above. I'm not getting the full experience of dodging traffic, but the busy path can pose it's own obstacles created by the combination of runners, rollerbladers, speeding cyclists, strollers, and unattended children. There's usually at least one fatality a year on the path -- usually a biker without a helmet. I'm hopeful that the winds I face on the Transam won't be any worse than the April wind gusting off Lake Michigan, but I imagine the wind in Kansas will rival the wind I've battled here. In addition to my rides on the lakefront, I plan to take a three-day trip to Wisconsin next week. This will serve as a trial run with a fully loaded bike. I'll know sometime in early May whether this preparation was sufficient.