Day 1: Ready as I'll ever be...and other pre-ride last minute musings

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Today's the day that Barbara begins her bike tour....

(Fam, you know the tune!)

Today is the official tour start date (Day 1 on the itinerary, though the wheel dip and ride begins tomorrow), comprised of lunchtime orientation and a chance to meet the now-but-not-for-long group of 20 or so strangers who will be joining me on this journey. Kind of feels like the first day of camp your first year, when you don't really know what to expect. 

Tempted to but inclined not to ride today, for fear of something stupid happening. (My worst crash to date was with a roller-blader on the bike path in Santa Monica, so thinking I'll take a pass!) Instead I'll take the time to process, reflect, and just breathe. And blog. 

I've gotten so many questions about the trip. What's the route? How many miles will you ride each day? Where do you stay? How does one prepare for a trip like this? So here are some answers, and other learnings from the days/weeks/months (indeed years!) leading up to this.

Trip Details

Are you riding alone? 

No. I'm participating in an organized bike tour company called Crossroads Cycling Adventures (Big Dream Bike Tours) run by an amazing woman Paula Farmer and her support team. There are 20 or so in the group, including about 1/3 women, from across the US and abroad. I suspect I'm likely on the younger end of the age spectrum (many riders are retirees), though I hear there's a father/son team who may bring down the average age. I'll learn more about the group later today. The days' routes are pre-planned, and already have been loaded onto my Garmin 1030 Edge and backed up on Ride with GPS on my phone. If I find a group of comparably fit riders to draft off (that is, anyone as slow as I am!), I'm game for the company and the efficiencies of drafting -- but I'm used to riding on my own. 

How far will you ride each day?

Here are the stats:

• The total trip is 3,396 miles, assuming I ride EFI ("Every Fabulous (or F'in) Inch") over 43 riding days. 
• The average daily mileage is 86 miles, with 8 days of 95+ miles or more. 
• The longest day is 116 miles -- thanks to my 2 x my age birthday ride, it won't be my longest ride ever, so I got that! 
• We travel through 15 states (CA, AZ, NM, TX, OK, KS, MO, IN, IL, OH, PA, NY, VT, NH, and MA). 
• We have 5 rest days in each of Flagstaff, AZ, Santa Fe, NM (where Ben will meet me!), Emporia, KS, Champaign, IL, and Erie, PA). 
• We climb a total of 106,838 ft., with the most elevation in the first and last weeks, and 6087 ft. being the most climbed in a given day (the NJ Gran Fondo was more than that, so I got this too!)

It sounds kind of daunting, but I've been told to think of it as many 20-mile rides, which makes it seem much more manageable (up 9W to Stateline and back -- piece of cake!). The other key difference is all I have to do each day is eat/pack/ride/rinse/repeat -- no work (thanks to TR's sabbatical policy and the amazing Practical Law Labor & Employment Team!), shopping, cooking, or even kiddush to rush home for...so maybe, just maybe, I GOT THIS TOO! 

Are you camping or staying in church basements or high school gymnasiums?

NO, NO, and a big NO! Fortunately we will be staying in hotels every night, where I will have my own room, a hot shower, and breakfast. More than that has not been promised, and I suspect there may not be any bathrobes, slippers, or spa services offered...but I'll take the bed, bathroom, pillow and be thankful for that! 

What about food? 

Ah, a good (and most important) question, as I spend much time planning and thinking about what I will eat (and of course, drink!) and where. The good news is that I'll likely be burning more calories a day than I can imagine consuming, so I see ice cream in my future. And perhaps some beer. 

Breakfasts are served at the hotel and most dinners are included, with a few nights on our own. (Seeking dining recommendations in: Indio, CA, Prescott, AZ, Santa Fe, NM, Las Vegas, NM, Great Bend, KS, St. Joseph, MO, Springfield, IL, Champaign, IL, Erie, PA, and Troy, NY!). We have 1 or 2 "SAG" (support and gear) stops each day, where I'm promised an abundance of snacks and beverages (unlikely to include bloodies or martinis!). And lunches sound like a bit of a crapshoot -- either along the way, or when arriving at destination, meaning it's just shortly before dinner. TBD how all this works.

Do you have to carry your gear? 

Again, fortunately not. I'll have on my bike a small seat pack with emergency repair gear (tubes, CO2 cartridges, tire levers, allen wrenches, and tweasers to remove those pesky metal shards), 2 water bottles, a Garmin computer, iPhone, front light and rear light with radar (to alert me of cars or faster cyclists approaching from behind). Additional snacks in jersey pockets. The rest of my gear (sparse as it is) is transported by the Crossroads vehicles. 

As for that gear, we were limited to 30 lbs. in total divided into 2 small duffels. Translation -- someone may have to do laundry on this trip!

How did you prepare for this trip?

I have been mentally and physically preparing for this trip for the last 6 years, as I had been scheduled to do it (with another now-defunct company on a different route) in 2018. I designed and had custom-painted (named Tropical Indecision due to the number of renderings!) my Alchemy Helios in 2017 for this trip at Tenafly Bicycle Workshop. I've ridden nearly 2,600 miles so far in 2023 (thanks to being able to winter in La Jolla), and averaged about 5,000 miles a year since 2020. But in addition to just logging the miles, Coach Mara Miller (Double Star Coaching) kicked me into physical and mental gear, giving me a plan and purpose for every ride, tips for nutrition and hydration (not the post-martini type!), and even helped me organize and pack my gear. Thanks, Coach! 

Are you ready?

I'm as ready as I'll ever be, though perhaps not as ready as I once was--age has a nasty habit of creating more aches and pains, and degenerated discs, each year. But, in the immortal words of Hillel: 

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? 

If I am only for myself, what am I?

If not now, when? 

These words seem so fitting to this journey, and eerily prescient that I recall having scrawled them on a high school spiral-bound notebook so many decades ago. 

So here we go! Ride on!

Mental Musings

As you can imagine, all those solo training miles gives one much time for contemplation. That has been only heightened in these final weeks of preparation for this ride of a life-time. So at the risk of over-sharing, here are some musings, in no particular order of importance.

• Most people are good and surprisingly generous. Share a positive story, with an Uber driver, a bartender, or a stranger at the airport, and see what happens. You just may feel the love.
• If I have inspired anyone else to take on a seemingly impossible goal by committing to this ride, all will not be for naught.
• An old friend told me it was so refreshing to be part of something so positive when there's so much death, destruction, and negativity in the world. You're welcome, and happy to help.
• However many miles I pedal on this journey, I have raised $$$$ for cause near and dear to my heart, in memory of my most loving and devoted parents. How can that be a bad thing? (Thinking of that Hillel quote again!)
• Having a goal is very motivating and working toward it is a great anti-depressant, especially around the time of "big" birthdays.
• I relish the opportunity to turn 20+ strangers into new friends with a shared mission. It really does remind me of camp--and I loved camp! 
• Speaking of camp, a shout out to my Camp Lewis Village friends from 1977 and 1978, who I've remained connected and reconnected with over all these years. They have donated generously and even more so shared pictures from my Sweet 16 in Wantagh NY that I have never seen. Keeps me smiling!
• Speaking of other parts of my life, thanks to friends and colleagues from Swarthmore, NYU Law School, Alschuler, Grossman & Pines, Thomson Reuters, Team Big Jon, the amazingly generous Englewood community, and even strangers who I literally have never met. 
• I ride for so many more than my parents, as more than 6 million people worldwide suffer from Parkinson's disease. I am thankful every day not to be one of them, and hope and pray for a cure so that I never will be.
• Feeling blessed and grateful (the highest mental state on the mood elevator):
• for the love and support shown to me;
• for the privilege of being able to take the time off from work to do this and not having to wait until I retire;
• for my beautiful, independent and "off the payroll" daughters who think their mom is a bad-ass (but think I should be doing all this on Insta or Tiktok and don't think anyone will read my blog -- prove them wrong by following me!); and 
• most of all, for good fortune of having found Ben more than 30 years ago on a mountain bike in the smoggy hills of Glendale, CA. Thank you for everything. I love you.