| | How I got myself into this...
The Society for Neuroscience conference this year was in Washington, DC. Somebody in Ryan’s office apparently half jokingly suggested that they could ride their bikes to the conference along the trail which runs all the way between the 2 cities. Ryan, being Ryan, thought this was actually a good idea, and proceeded to tell me that they (him, Jason, Matt, Nate, and Patrick) were thinking of biking to DC, and suggested I could drive their bags to the conference. Me, being me, indignantly asked if he was assuming that I wouldn’t be biking with them. And that’s how Ryan and I somehow ended up 320 miles away from home, on our bikes, covered in mud and bruises.
Training...
Having never ridden my bicycle more than about 2 miles at a time, back and forth from work, I wasn’t sure how I was going to bike all the way to Washington, DC. But there was plenty of time to train, so we started a strict training regimen. Stage 1 of training consisted of talking about how we should be going on long bike rides together after work. This “talking about biking” stage was rigorous and consistent, and lasted for a couple of months. We talked about many long bike rides during this time, as well as when we should take them or should have taken them, and what they might have been like. Eventually we reached Stage 2 of the training, biking. Stage 2 consisted of the following training rides:
1) A 12 mile bike ride to the Waterfront and back one Saturday, with a nice shopping and ice cream break in the middle.
2) A 16 mile ride in which we attempted to figure out where to go for the dotted-line, incomplete portion of the trail. Dragging Reed and Erika with us, this ride included walking our bikes along train tracks, night time on the skinniest sidewalk on the busiest road, carrying our bikes up a large staircase, and riding over a crumbling bridge blocked by huge construction signs we had to climb through in the pitch dark. Here is the warning from the trail website which we should have heeded: The trail is complete to McKeesport, but not to Pittsburgh. The nine mile gap to the Pittsburgh city limits is under development; no date for completion can be given. Road-riding around this gap is difficult, even for experienced riders. We strongly recommend shuttling between McKeesport and Pittsburgh. Stay tuned for updates on our progress in building this most difficult section of the entire trail system.
3) A 25 mile “miscommunication” bike ride along the trail. The weekend of this ride, Ryan and I had a confusing conversation in which he implied that I might try to back out of the ride by being too tired, and I thought that sounded ridiculous since of course I wanted to enjoy a lovely day together on our bikes. On this ride, I discovered that I wasn’t allowed to stop, needed to try to learn to draft, and had to take water breaks on the bike without getting off. It was as if it was supposed to be some kind of preparation for some kind of actual athletic challenge ahead of us, and I was not entirely happy.
4) A 20 mile bike ride at the CNBC retreat near Ohiopyle, one of the areas we’d be going through on the ride. On this ride, I learned the importance of wearing protective eyewear, as Jason’s bike tires catapulted lots of tiny little rocks into my face. Ryan was not on this ride, but the fall leaves were amazing.
5) A 42 mile bike ride with Patrick. While the other fast people (Jason and Matt) went ahead, Patrick kept me company, proclaiming “I just like to ride my bike.” He also proclaimed other things, like that he was going to poop shape animals while riding, and I had to guess what they were. This ride felt quite long to me, and I was so happy to be fed tons of dinner by my dear friends when I got home, despite the fact that I had eaten many bugs already on the trail. After this day, I was confident I could do the necessary mileage each day for the trip, I just wasn’t sure about going so many days in a row.
Scenery:
Patrick:
Me and Jason:
6) A 55 mile ride on the trail with Ryan and Nate. Again, the faster riders went ahead to do some kind of insane 90 mile ride while Ryan and Nate and I stuck to a shorter 55 mile one. However, this day was cold, it was the first day in my new clipless shoes and pedals, it was windy, and generally I felt terrible. We did an uphill portion of the trail that would take us to Confluence, where we planned to spend the first night. By the halfway point where we turned around, I was already in much discomfort, with numb feet and hands, tired legs, a sore back and bottom... With 15 miles left, I was crying on my bike and didn’t think I could make it back. This is when I learned that there are sometimes no options but to keep going -- unless I was going to walk my bike without a light in the dark woods for 15 miles, I was going to keep riding home. And I did. However, I was no longer confident that I could successfully complete any of the actual trip days.
Stage 3 of the preparations was shopping. We bought camelbacks, clipless pedals and bike shoes, shorts with a padded chamois thing in them, handlebar ends, gloves, glasses, a jacket for me, leg warmers, a new helmet for me, socks, crazy covers for the bike shoes so air and water doesn't stream through in the cold, and more. This was my favorite part of training.
    
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| | Posted 11/22/2008 12:30 AM - 64 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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