Preparation

When you decide to go on a tour like this there is a little preparation to be done. In a series of pre-departure posts, I will share some thoughts on

1. Training – this post
2. Equipment
3. Leaving the workplace
4. Reading
5. Planning

Preparation – Training

It is evident that you have to spend some time on the bike in preparation and I have really tried to do that. “Tried” because realized monthly distances have always been shorter than planned distances. It is time consuming to get in good bike form and when time has been limited it has always been more tempting to take a run or a swim. Not speaking of the weather which is not designed for road biking in Denmark from October to March. One could have considered the mountain bike but I’d rather sit in our basement and pedal on the home trainer. Then I could train and read at the same time. So I must be the exception from the rule that men cannot multi-task. At least I could duo-task when one of the tasks was just to move the legs in a circular motion.

One of the courses on the Tacx was a ride from San Simeon north on the Pacific Coast Highway. It became one of my favorites because it was approximate two hours and then I smelled a little of the yellow striped US roads. When I had dropped off Charlotte, Patricia and Filippa at the airport in Los Angeles on Saturday, I simply had to go to San Simeon. The Foothill Cyclery in San Luis Obispo was the only store in the region which was open on a Sunday.

The real experience with broader vision and a fresh breeze from the Ocean easily beat the Tacx movie (see picture in the lower right hand corner). So to conclude – training has been serious but at some time your inner dialogue is about a hope of getting into form as we ride and an expectation that if de not exhaust ourselves by regarding each day as a race, everything will work out fine.