I have signed up with the Adventure Cycling Association to do their Introduction to Bike Touring course in May in Eugene, OR. http://www.adventurecycling.org/tours/tourdetail.cfm?t=EDU11&id=249&p=1
I am going to do it on my Atlantis, so it's Riv related, and thought that there might perhaps be some other people in this group who would be interested in joining. Not that you can't just do it on your own, but I figured it would be worth for me to get some formal education/training and support to go on this adventure. I also got my wife in a "weak" moment to agree that this was going to be my 51st birthday present. Birthday was in January, and I'm really looking forward to this experience. Any advise or suggestions from the touring experts in this group regarding stuff to take/leave, packing suggestions, etc., will be much appreciated. For now, my plan is to use the Nitto Big Rear Rack and my Tubus Nova low rider that allows me to keep the Nitto Mini front rack on the Atlantis. I also have a Nitto Big Front rack, but am not sure it would be superior to the Mini/Nova combo. A set of rear GT-54 and front GT-42 would complete the setup, in addition to the Acorn Boxy Rando Bag on the Nitto Mini. The area where I'm mostly clueless about, but will learn during this course, is how much clothes, bike shorts, underwear, etc. to bring. I know it's very easy to overpack. I've started training for this event where I'll be biking about 50 miles per day for four consecutive days. At this time my longest rides have been 20 milers since my body ailments result in pain that doesn't allow me to ride for longer. Still, I'm pushing slowly and trying to get those problems fixed with fit tweaks and chiropractic work. I'm basically trying to design daily commutes via Caltrain and bike to accomodate this training plan, but there are always business trips and other issues that disrupt it. If anyone has any good suggestions for a structured training plan to reach my goal of being able to do the four day 50 mile rides, I'd be interested. As it currently stands, my average speed with my commuting load is around 10 mph. With the fully loaded bike, I don't even want to know yet. All I do is figure that I'll have to be on the saddle for about 6 hours every day for four days... and my body starts hurting! Yet, I remain very optimistic and my new diet plan has been working so I've been losing some weight. I believe that my best chances to improve are tied to how much weight I can lose before the tour starts, as that will allow me to ride faster (less saddle hours) and also fit better on the bike. René -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
