Prologue

Our training plan originally consisted of reaching back to back 700 mile months, at which point Ed said “.., if that’s the case, bag the ride, I’ll just turn pro…”. Ok, so maybe my first crack at setting a training regimen was a bit optimistic and highly unrealistic. But what did I know. Together, we agreed upon a more reasonable goal of two back to back 500 mile months. In reality, Ed was the only one able to crack the 500 mile barrier. Nonetheless, I think we set up the right amount of training mileage.


How do I know? For at the end of Day 7 of the ride, we all considered a 30 mile ride without a pit stop as feasible. 80 miles or less were considered a short day. And, on Day 7 all of us had the energy to continue with more centuries in the following days if we needed to.

My hope was that on day 7, I wouldn’t be a physical mess. I didn’t want to have to return, only to have to recover from all the injuries endured on the ride. So from that viewpoint, I deem our training program a success.

The toughest part of training was trying to coordinate all of our schedules in order to do group rides. Unfortunately, our group rides were few and far between. Gary and Fred were in the East Bay, and we were in the North Bay. We liked to depart at 6am, they liked to depart after 9am. At the beginning this was ok, but as we tacked on the mileage 60 mile plus days became all day affairs.


Gary, Fred, Ed and Mike were able to do some group rides on Tuesdays. This was great however, I wasn’t able to make any of these due to my work schedule. So, in order to meet my mileage goals, I would ride in the mornings before work. Sometimes I would even ride in from Novato, as well as return home the same day (72 mile days). It was the only way for me to train. And luckily for me, I enjoy getting up early and riding!

On many of my morning training runs I would frequently be joined by Mike and/or Ed. We would vary up our routes. The staple training route was simply Larkspur to San Francisco and back. But as we progressed, we threw in the Tiburon Loop, Strawberry Loop, and even the Headlands/lighthouse loop to get our extra mileage in. Ed would sometimes start out from Fairfax those mornings to get some 50 mile mornings under his belt. Mike, on his part would go on 50 mile “Mike Marin Real Estate Tours” of his own on the weekend, even if no one else could join him. Fred and Gary also did their part to ride on their own when they could. Sometimes they’d ride together, or sometimes simply Gary would pull Quincy along on some loops in the East Bay hills.
What I’m trying to say is that we set out tough goals, and we dug deep to achieve them. Ed said it best when he mentioned that physically, the AIDs Lifecycle Ride brings out your weaknesses. What I discovered was that the ride not only brought out your physical weaknesses, but any mental weaknesses you have as well.


For example, already on Day 2 of the ride, I immediately discovered that my decision not to worry about being too organized with my stuff the night before…was definitely shining a personal weakness of mine. I’m as organized as anyone, but if I choose to actually be organized is a whole other story. How can you misplace a cycling glove in a 2 man tent? I mean really?

By Day 5 I wanted to chuck my bike into the trees. I had faced fear straight on a few days earlier when as I was speeding down a hill, my front wheel/handlebars wobbled dangerously close to out of control…as if I was riding over ice. I went from a 42 mph down hiller to 18 mph if I was lucky. Suddenly, cycling was scary and I still had several days of riding left.

Like all good stories, this one has a happy ending. I quickly became organized, and have steadily built my confidence back on the down hills (thanks Jenna!). After 40 years, I am now beginning to fully understand those people who say “if you put your mind to it, you can do anything”. So if you ask me what the event was like, I can seriously tell you.

It was the experience of a lifetime.

Mo

p.s., the following story is a “mashup” of writings between the AIDs Lifecycle 6 bloggers, myself (my words are in blue), and other 40mph members…as I have asked them to post replies, with their own memories of the day.