DAILY BLOG

Although there is no major news here, I thought I’d provide a Saturday update. The three boys and I went out today for a training ride today up Mt. Wachusett, in what has become our new favorite training loop. Jordan took along his new digital camera, so we got some pictures of better quality than when I use the rather lame camera on my cell phone.

Scenic Mt. Wachusett

Rich and Jared prepare for the summit ascent

Jared, Justy, and I climbed the largest “mountain” in our area, a 2,003-foot summit named Mt. Wachusett. While it felt good climbing strong today, I was quickly reminded that the ascent is a but molehill compared to what awaits us out West, particularly Colorado. But that’s a battle we’ll tackle later. For now, we’ll enjoy our little victory.

The Wagner team descends quickly

Jared attacks the road

Maybe it’s just me, but I think Jared and Justy are
looking a wee bit tired after their ascent

Justy and Rich head towards home

Justy, my 14-year-old son, reached a significant milestone today—riding his first 50 mile ride. He’s planning on riding about half of the miles daily on the tour, so he has effectively reached his training goal. What was most exciting for me as his dad was seeing how he reached it—he kept up with Jared and I for much of the time, drafting off of us. He’s grown significantly as a rider over the past three months!

Justy, convincing himself that he can make it the last mile of the day

Speaking of milestones, Jared and I have come with our own impromptu competitions during lighter moments of daily rides. I dubbed them “meaningless milestones”. The basic rule is that if we see a hill, no matter how minor, we race to the top. The person who wins then raises his hands in total victory, as if he had just won a stage in the Tour de France. Obviously, we aren’t fooling around like that for much of the ride, but the occasional competition keeps things from getting boring.

Jared somehow beats me and wins a “meaningless milestone”.
I assure you that was his last win of the day!

Seventeen-year-old Jordan has had a busy spring with a variety of church, school, music, and other activities. So, he’s found daily training harder to schedule in as regularly as the other three of us. Since he’s not planning on riding with Jared and I the full distance each day of the tour, that’s not a major concern. However, he too made his own meaningful milestone today—riding over 30 miles for the first time this spring.

Jordan either giving the surfer “hang ten” sign
(or else showing that he can count to “2″ with his fingers).

My oldest son Jordan and I went on a quick “road trip” college visit to my alma mater, Taylor University, this week. Since I did not want to lose 3 days of training, I took my bike along with me. I grew up in Indiana and rode my first long rides there, so my Hoosier bicycle training ride yesterday was a bit nostalgic. Corn fields, winds, and flat flat flat roads.

The flats were a nice change…the crazy winds were quite another thing.

I was also reminded of the harsh reality that the W-I-N-D can be either your greatest ally or your worst enemy when you bicycle across the midwest and Great Plains states. Personally, I’d take a day climbing in the Colorado Rockies over headwinds across the Plains.

26mph? I am thinking the strong tail wind might have
helped my speed just little bit

Jared and I approached the 100-mile mark for the first time this year, finishing up at 95.5 miles. Other than almost being swallowed by a couple Grand Canyon sized potholes in Keene, NH, we had an uneventful ride.

A 100 mile ride is known as a “century” in bike lingo.

Those 95 miles were the most I have ridden in a day since 1989, and they helped reaffirm my belief that riding long distances on a bicycle is a greater mental challenge than a physical challenge. There are mental undulations during any ride in which you are on the bike for several hours. Fatigue of a training ride can lead to doubt about being able to handle demands of a full cross-country tour. So, I am really going to ride this long day-after-day-after-day? The key is hanging in and remaining persistent during the low moments. Then, once those downer moments pass, then bicycling becomes a joy again.

I guess I should not be surprised at those rollercoaster moments on the bike, since that’s certainly what real life is like. The key is remaining firm in Jesus Christ during those inevitable low points and not giving in to the temptation to give up or lose faith in the Lord.

7 pounds. That’s my weight loss goal before the tour begins. It doesn’t sound like much, but, boy, it has proven elusive for me thus far. Clearly, training for a cross-country bike tour at 42 years of age is much different than when I was a spry age of 20. Back then, I remember being able to lose 7 pounds in a snap—all the while eating junk food around the clock. Since February, I have been stuck on essentially the same weight even though I’ve more than doubled my training regimen. Where is the justice?, me wonders.

Weight can become an obsession for bicycle riders—Carbon fiber this, titanium that—all in an effort to shave a few hundred or even a dozen grams off of the weight of their bicycle. And I suppose that’s part of the issue for me. I have an ultra light bicycle, so I figure I better back that up. It does little good, after all, to have a carbon fiber frame if I can “pinch in inch.”

Besides the light bike guilt factor, a second motivation for me are the mountains we will face in California, central Arizona, and especially Colorado. (Check out those red mountain icons on the early part of our tour schedule). Any extra weight I have on me is the equivalent of strapping on a 5-10 pound weight on my back and carrying it with me up the mountains.

When I see my son Jared (who has a body fat percentage of probably 3%!) glide up hills around here with the greatest of ease, I get that extra motivation to avoid the carbs when I am off the bike until I reach my weight goal. I’ve got 65 more days to do it!

We rode out of state for the first time, passing into New Hampshire for a few miles, before returning home.

New Hampshire has no income tax, yet has great roads for bicycling…
How in the world do they pull that off?

In all, we bicycled 70 miles on that route, which is the most we’ve gone so far this year. Our goal is to continue to increase our distance each week, hitting the 100 mile mark by mid-May.

We are suckers for milestones. Our first 70 mile ride.

Jared, showing off his new cycling sunglasses.

Since it has been a couple weeks since I last posted, I thought I’d update you on the training. Spring has finally arrived over the past week, and we’ve been able to ride outside nearly everyday. As such, Jared and I have started to get in some longer rides—trying to go at least 30 miles a day and several in the 50-60 range. But trying to schedule these workouts during a busy work and school week may be the biggest struggle of all.

A sunny day!

The bike tour is clearly shaping up to be a true “family thing”, not just a “dad thing”. Jared is just 15 years old, but he is proving to be up to the challenge of riding the complete 2,500 miles this summer. I hate to admit it, but I have a strong feeling he’ll be beating me up those major summits in Colorado. Justy (14 yrs.) and Jordan (17 yrs.) may not be planning to ride the full distance across the country like Jared and I (they expect to ride about 1/2 the time), but they are riding very strong. They are usually riding at least 20 miles per day, and we make for a great 4-rider paceline when we go out as a foursome.

Just between you and me, I have personally been very impressed at the level of progression that each of the boys have made in their riding abilities over the past few weeks and months. (Ok, that was clearly a “proud dad” sort of comment.)

“Uh, Justy, don’t look behind you but…”

Jordan, enjoying the ride

Today, we discovered the absolute worst road in the history of western civilization. Rt. 62 West into the neighboring town of Barre proved to be worse than any roads I remember when I visited the developing country of Haiti. Potholes for 8 miles, some bent on swallowing bikers whole (watch out Justy!), others just trying to mangle our rims (watch out Shimano!). A mountain biker might enjoy it, but that section was a road cyclist’s nightmare. However, we survived and found one road that we will never ever ride on again.

One of the smoother sections of Rt. 62 West. We decided not to show you the worst
parts of the road as they would have surely deserved a PG-13 or R rating!

One the struggles of the preparation for the bike tour is finding enough time in the day for long distance training. A 20-25 mile ride is easy to squeeze into the afternoons, but trying to go 50 or more miles during a weekday is hardly possible, given everything else going on in our lives. This week, however, the boys are on spring break, so we have had more flexibility than usual. Today, the weather cooperated, so we decided to ride at least 50 miles—a good early spring milestone as we build up towards 100-120 miles. We almost made it. However, because of a dentist appointment I had to get the kids to, we were only able to fit in 44 miles. But we felt good afterwards, so we feel like we are on track for June.

WARNING: Looking directly into Rich’s sunglasses can cause retina burns!

The 50 degree weather was short-lived, however. By the next morning we were greeted with an April snow shower:

Back to the indoor trainers

Over the past few days, the temperature got above 40 and the sun actually came out, so we took advantage by taking our first outdoor bicycle rides of the season. However, the frigid wind still felt like we were tagging along with Shackleton on his Antartic expedition. While we are probably going to be treated for frostbite, riding outside was so much better than the indoor stationary trainer.

Jared and Justy—Can you notice their wind-burnt legs?

This week was also the first time we had a chance to truly ride our new Fezzari bicycles that we got back in January for the tour. I should explain how momentous of an occasion this event was for me. You see, I had my previous bicycle for 22 whole years—over half my life! Back in 1986, I spent all my hard earned college savings on Vitus bicycle. I bought it because I was riding on my first cross-country trip, an event I organized to raise money for a missions hospital in Haiti. That Vitus was a great bike in its day, but over the past decade, it had grown old and tired and loud and cranky. To make matters worse, the frame, one of the early/experimental aluminum models of the 80s, stretched and groaned when I would ride up hills. So, when I rode my new bike outdoors this week, I felt like I had entered the 21st century. It was a true joy!

Rich, enjoying his new two-wheeled transport

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