Update for week 1 of April, 2009

I can't believe it! It's April already. Just about one month to go till our Trans-America. I just heard from my daughter Krystal yesterday, and she's all set to meet us in Yorktown. I'm very excited.

This past week has been a windy one. mentally, the wind and the hills are a big demoralizing factor for those of us who enjoy cycling. It's a mind over mater kind of thing. A good friend of mine by the name of Mike Curiak, told me that riding a bike is 99% mental. It's the mental discipline that enables elite racers like Mike to endure the overwhelming odds pitted against them during those ultra endurance events such as the Ididabike, and the Great Divide mountain bike races. The point is to try to pretend that these obsticles don't exist. If you can do that, then they don't exist, and the elements become part of your ride.

This week, I covered 108 miles, but only two of those outings involved pulling the trailer. Since it is getting close, I want to ride my road bikes more often, because once I leave, I won't be riding them for over 100 days. I love my road bikes, but they are not touring bikes, and are not designed for anything but going fast on smooth roads.

Last weeks venture with Lisa and Fern relieved a few kinks in my set up. I have since made the correction, and will try to get another test ride in before we go. I've also proven myself to be right the hard way. You can't use a 26" X 2.125" tube in a 26" X 1.5" tire. There is simply not enough room in there, and the result is not only a blown tube, but also a blown tire. With no room for the tube to lay nicely in the tire, you end up with a pinch flat, that at high pressure (In my case 80 pounds) will blow up exactly like it did with me. I have since bought the right tubes. The reason for the switch in tires results from the fact that mountain bike knobbies are only good for about 500 miles on the pavement. This became evident in just a few short weeks. And with a trip lasting near 5000 miles, I'm going to need too many of them. A street tire will last anywhere from 2000 to 5000 miles depending on the load and surface conditions. I've also replaced my chain rings, the links were starting to rest on the shoulders of the rings causing irritating noises as they rub against each other. I also added a rear rack, and shed about 20 pounds from my original load. I realize I had too much cloths, I'll only take one stove, and go with an inlfatable sleeping pad, and possibly a smaller tent among other things. In other words, I'm leaving almost all the creature comforts home. If I find I am unable to live with out them, I can always have them shipped to me at a predetermined location along the way.

In three weeks we ship our bikes and trailers to the east coast, hoping that they will be there when we arrive. Hopefully assembly will go quickly, so that we will have enough time to do the necessary adjustments well ahead of our official departure on May the 12th. I am constantly checking the bicycle touring hub, aka "crazyguyonabike" for updated info on recomendations with bike set up, and energy supplementation. We'll be burning between 4 and 6 thousand calories a day from riding our bikes alone. I've purchased the "Bike Energy" application for my I touch that calculates calorie expenditure based on these factors: Total weight including bike and all equipment, total accumulative elevation gain, average grade, speed, distance, and temperature, along with road friction and wind resistance (The last two are determined from information gathered from http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/rolres.html and http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2007/08/06-tire-rolling-resistance-test-results.html . These two sites use scientific methods to derive formulas for figuring out tire and road surface resistance depending on your set up. All things being equal, it's amazing at how much difference the tires have on wattage expenditure. Air pressure seems to be a big factor. http://www.mybikeapps.com/Apps_/BikePower.html Helps calculate wind resistance for various types of bicycles based on frontal mass and aero dynamics using wind tunnel testing. These figures may not be 100% accurate, but they are consistent, and will give us a dependable formula to work with. If we fail to adequately replace the much needed calories, we will simply lose weight, along with the energy to maintain this type of exertion. That's why you don't see very many skinny endurance athletes. They either can't finish, or they die.

Before leaving you with this update. I'd like to tickle your funny bone with this home made video clip entitled: "Uncle Ted's Trick Shots"