With 9 days till start day I feel like I’m fit enough to do this tour, but I’ll only know for sure when the pedalling really begins. As any cycle tourer knows, the only way to really find out if you are fit enough to ride 6-8 hours a day on a loaded bike is to do exactly that.
I have been training by doing a variety of local rides, on and off sealed roads, on several different bikes including my mountain bike, my small wheeled bikes and (mostly) on The Red Bike aka the Thorn Audax.
For the past month, I cycled almost every day with an average of about 25km. Although not much distance, and on unloaded bikes quite unlike my loaded touring bike, most of the training rides have included climbs, averaging about 300 meters per day.
It’s these ascents which feel like the fitness building activity.
I have no idea how accurate or scientific Garmin watch measurements are, but I’ll insert some pics of data it’s generated.
The equivalent of cycling to Mt Everest summit thanks to the proximity of local lookout, Mt Ainslie.
I’m slightly reassured that my fitness age, according to the Garmin algorithms, is less than my calendar age. Obviously the Garmin doesn’t measure knee age.
Graham SmithTo Andrea BrownAndrea that reminds of that saying, “My mind feels like 25; My body says my mind is an idiot.” Reply to this comment 8 months ago
The Red Bike and my most frequent and favourite training ride. An 11km circuit from home to/from the summit of our nearest lookout. It takes about 50 minutes with 300 metres of climb
A few of my cycling mates aka The Friday Peloton. For several years, almost every Friday morning, we’ve met to do various local rides at a recreational pace. The main goal is to get to and from a coffee shop somewhere within the Canberra region.(Photo Credit Janet Fabbri)
