When The Universe Talks, It’s Best To Listen…

Last week was The Strangest.  With only three full weeks before the tour, I had planned to do high mileage.  That was, as it turned out, Plan B.

Monday I did a good, long ride.  Having taken off the day before, I felt really strong.  Have to keep reminding myself not to overdo things - that less is more when it comes to training.

Tuesday was my scheduled “get caught up with life, stay off off the bike” day.  Got a lot crossed off my ‘to do’ list, including going to the dentist, which ended up being significant, as you’ll see, below.

I also stopped by the Sarasota office of The Make-A-Wish Foundation where Marie Riley & Mark Diorio were wonderfully welcoming and enthusiastic about my idea of finding sponsors for the UGRR tour as a way of raising funds for Make-A-Wish.  This will be the first time I’ve tried my hand at fundraising.

From then on, the week sort of fell apart.

On Wednesday, a couple of miles from home, I got a flat — my fifth, since getting new tires about 1,700 miles ago.  And wouldn’t you know, every one has been on the back wheel, trickier to fix than a front wheel flat.  My last set of tires I had maybe two flats in 4,000 miles.  Something is not right here — or else the Bicycle Grinch wants me to have a lot of practice changing the tube on the back tire.  Anyway, rather than doing yet another roadside tube change, I walked the bike home & spent a good part of the afternoon microscopically going over the rim, the tube, and the tire, trying to find the cause of the flats.  Couldn’t figure it out, though.  Being at home with the rear wheel off, I took the opportunity to clean the cassette and give the rest of the bike a good cleaning.  So, hardly any miles on Wednesday.

Thursday, a friend who doesn’t drive had a last minute, middle of the day doctor’s appointment that she needed being taken to.  That knocked training off the day’s schedule.  Friday I had to wait in for the telephone repair man.  You know how they give you a window of time when they’re going to show up and always appear at the last minute?

Saturday and Sunday I was back on my training schedule but ended the week with considerably fewer miles than planned.

But here’s the thing:  this morning, leafing through a book on training techniques for cyclists I find out that two to four weeks before an event you’re supposed to decrease the duration of your training so as to be rested and not risk overtraining.  As it’s less than three weeks to the UGRR, obviously that was what the Universe was trying to tell me all last week!

And here’s the other thing:  at the dentist’s last week I had, of course, told everyone about the UGRR.  First thing this morning, Tracy, the Practice Facilitator, called to say that the office would like to sponsor my ride!!  Is that not fantastic!  My first sponsor!  Thank you so much, Dr. Mark Fleming & Ladies!

About the Tour

In less than a month, I’ll be starting on a bicycle tour that will follow the Underground Railroad (UGRR) — one of the informal routes on which, in the years leading up to the Civil War, slaves in the South escaped to freedom in the northern states and Canada.

The tour has been organized by Woman Tours, a fantastic company that I’ve biked with twice before:  in June, 2006, on a one week ride through Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley (beautiful and seriously hilly); and last year on the second half of their Meandering Mississippi Tour which, starting in New Orleans, followed the Mississippi River to its headwaters at Itasca State Park in Minnesota.  I joined the tour in St Louis for 1,000 miles and three glorious weeks of riding. 

There will be thirty women on the UGRR tour, most of us in our 50’s and 60’s.  We leave Mobile, Alabama on May 10th and arrive in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario on June 14th - after thirty riding days, six rest days, and close to 2,000 miles of road under our tires.  Averaging 400 miles every seven days, daily rides will be between 28 and 102 miles.

I am extremely excited!

The UGRR route was developed last year by Adventure Cycling, a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging bicycle travel.  You can read about the route here.  

Adventure Cycling’s touring maps give turn-by-turn directions and also point out sites of historic and cultural interest along the way.  My plan is to stop and “smell every rose”:  to read every road plaque, to stop at every historic site, to visit every museum, to enjoy every State Park.

And because trying the local delicacies is one of the reasons to travel, and because long distance cycling both gives you a great appetite and eliminates all guilt related to calories, I plan to check out every interesting looking food place along the way.

Here’s the route we’ll be cycling:

Did I mention how excited I am?  

Vickie C., one of the women on the tour, summed it up perfectly:  ”I am so pumped to get back into that space where my only concerns are ride, enjoy the scenery, enjoy the company, eat, sleep, repeat.”