Woman's Tour Bike Training

My bike in 2011...down by the beach.

You've read a snippet or two about the Woman's Bike Tour that I will be going on in July. It's a 6-day tour through part of the Grand Tetons and I've been in training for a few weeks now.  I'm so excited!

The Woman's Tour has many tour packages, but I chose this one because it was rated for beginners. However, Cliff keeps reminding me there will be hills and I keep reiterating that it's rated for beginners. I think I might be trying to convince myself of that, but in the meantime, I will ride my little legs off to make sure I'm ready for this tour.  The first day on the tour, we will ride approximately 12 miles. The rest of the week we will ride anywhere from 20-40 miles a day, from point to point staying in Inns at night. The rides are in the mornings and then we have little side excursions in the afternoon. One day, we'll float on a river and one day we'll have a yoga session. I'm really excited about that, too. And now, since I most assuredly have to train for this week-long riding tour, you get to hear all about my training. Ha!

I've been riding my bike on the porch at the lake with the help of a trainer.

The Woman's Tour sent me a six-week training schedule to follow. I started early to make sure I would be ready and I will wrap up their schedule next week. But, I still have almost two months before the trip. So, I will continue training....taking longer rides, until the day I leave for Wyoming.

I've had to re-think how I normally train because I'm all about the miles and when I give you stats, they will be in miles. But, the Woman's Tour training schedule has me riding by time. When I started a few weeks ago riding half an hour two days a week and then an hour on Saturdays, I could tell that the training was not enough for me. So, I thought, I'll just tweak their plan to fit my ability. Well gah, I didn't have to! The training has picked up now and it's very challenging. Time on the seat is most crucial. And Sunday, I rode for 3 hours. I'm not gonna lie, it was a little painful. Especially for the ischial tuberosity! My next long ride will be 4 hours. Holy Ouch!! I ride outside, when I can. And when I can't, I set my bike up on the trainer and ride indoors or on the porch. My biggest fear is not the hills or how bad the tush is going to feel, but the traffic. From all I've read, the Woman's Tour courses are on less traveled roads or on bike paths. I'm counting heavily on this. If you would whisper a prayer for safety, I would love you forever. For now, I will follow their schedule and continue to, throughout June and July. I'm sure I'll be ready!

So....in case you were wondering, my stats are as follows:
Week of Apr 26  - 14.36 miles
Week of May 3   - 10.82 miles
Week of May 10 - 26.5 miles
Week of May 17 - 41.67 miles
Week of May 24 - to be continued...but so far, 38.50 and I still have 2 more days of riding this week.

Trusting my training,

Laurie

Oh wait, before you go......take a look at the sunset Cliff and I were watching this evening at the lake.

The gloaming.....a magical time of day.