(I put this together the night before I left on my Pacific Coast Highway bike tour, and am posting it now. For further trip updates, including post-trip reflections, check here: http://www.blackburndesign.com/outthere/pacific-coast/jschofield/ )
It is the final week before my trip, and I am ready to be done with the planning, errands, logistics and details! What little time I'm spending on the bike is less about building endurance, and more a reminder of why I'm doing all this work. If I can make a ridiculous analogy, I feel like a racehorse at the starting gate. (Pretty sure racehorses are faster than my 10 mph average.)
I've had my bike fit, tuned, re-fit, adjusted, mapped the route, tested all the camping gear, swapped some things out, thought of and forgotten a gazillion little details.
When I finally do get out for a training ride, it is such a relief... a release just to be out, simply riding my bike. And 5 hours into that training ride, when I can still feel my fingers and think, yeah, I could actually wear these shoes for a few more hours - those are the sweet rewards for all the grueling preparations.
But the funny thing about planning is - I can do it with my little dogs at my side, in the comfort of my own home. Is there a word for the emotion of missing something before it's gone? There is a lot of push-pull between home and the road right now.
I am having a lot of fun daydreaming about what lies ahead. I'll close with a few trip predictions:
- I'll see a major change in how much I swear ... not sure if it will be more or less.
- Telling people about my trip will prompt them to tell me about their dream adventures. (This has happened a few times already; it's pretty fun.)
- I will develop an extreme dislike of sunscreen in about a week. It's already brewing - sunscreen and sweat, yuck!
- I will consume astounding quantities of food! I will enjoy this immensely!
-The proverbial blood, sweat and tears will make an appearance. Although I may have already met the quota in the planning phase...
