My date with "Big Agnes"...

Just to set things straight before proceeding, "Big Agnes" is a Brand/Model of air mattress that one of my fellow riders suggested that I get for my 10 weeks camping.  The recommendation was to indulge on the mattress for camping gear since being well rested is critical to enjoying the experience.

The ride organizers suggest that you spend a few nights camping in your gear to try things out and get familiar with the new experience before doing the ride. Having done Alaska, and Montreal to Portland Maine (both week-long cycling tours) without seeing the camping equipment before the end of the first day’s riding, I figured the suggestion might be a bit of “overkill”, and imagined thinking, as I set up camp for the 60th day in a row in mid-August “Why on earth did I ever sleep in the tent before the ride???”

That said I decided this afternoon to "pitch camp" after my 46-mile training ride today and at least get familiar with my camping gear - partly from awaking in the middle of the night wondering how I would handle pitching a tent and setting up camp in a driving rainstorm (probably caused by the scene in "The Motorcycle Diaries" where their tent gets picked up and blown away into a raging river while they are trying to set it up in a howling rainstorm...) 

My previous exposure to my tent was setting it up once in the basement, and then once outside in the back yard shortly after purchasing it last October.  This time I set up in the front yard (level terrain), and was amazed at how whenever I tried to put a tent peg into the ground of our yard, I managed to find the rock buried 2" under the grass - I wonder if there is a science to that - probably so.  The answer to that question waking me up at night is "I would get wet while doing so, and deal with it!"

I laid out the ground sheet, put the tent on top, arranged the tent poles (only two which span from corner to corner in an "X" shape), set up and then wrestled with the fly.  Luck being on my side, I managed to align the doors on the fly so that they opened up onto the side of the tent rather than the tent door - D'oh!  As I re-positioned the fly I thought to myself there ought to be a better design so that you don't do what I just did, only then seeing that the corner fasteners on the fly are color coded to match with the corner fasteners on the tent.  With that pearl of wisdom captured, I am well prepared for June 27th when we first set up camp in Mission BC. All in all, the tent looks like it should serve me well this summer.

Next was inflating "Big Agnes" - my last experience with her was on Christmas morning when I managed to hyperventilate and get dizzy taking what seemed like an eternity to blow her up beside the Christmas Tree.  What a difference 5 months and 1,500 miles of cycling make - this time it took me only 2m15s, and I felt great afterwards.   Something to be said about building up lung capacity.

Tomorrow we are riding 55 miles which will be my 3rd day in a row of reasonable length riding - 52 miles Friday,  and 46 today.  The plan going forward is to ride about 150-175 miles per week with at least 3 days in a row.

31 Days to Departure.

A day in the Hamptons or "Two down, One to go"

Yesterday was the third year in a row that I participated in the "Montauk Century" with some guys from our Team Marty's riding group. 

This year, it took on an added significance as it is one of the three anchor rides for building up my mileage base for my Tour du Canada, which starts in just 5 weeks.

Unlike last year (45°F, raining sideways), this year we awoke to mid 50°s and a beautiful sunrise on the aptly named Sunrise Highway, in Massapequa, NY.

This year there were seven of us doing the Century, which I had described as "flat as a pancake" or more accurately "flat as a pane of glass" - there were only 870 feet of climbing (one bridge midway and a few hills at the end)  in the 105 miles.  I think this will prepare me well for the days in the Prairie provinces. 

We drove in to Long Island the night before and had a great pasta dinner at a restaurant which specializes in capturing that Long (pronounced with a hard G) Island atmosphere - Think of a mix between Joe Pesci and John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, with more food than 7 hungry cyclists could ever hope to eat.  The dinner arrived in mountains on our plates so we were well fed for the ride the next day.

The alarm went off at 4:30 after which we showered, had a bite to eat at the hotel lobby, and then drove the 5 miles to the start of the ride at the Babylon NY Train Station.  The ride started out ominously, with a missing shoe causing a 30 minute delay for us - apparently Pascal dropped one of his cycling shoes in the parking lot of the hotel, and we realized it was missing when we got to the start.  We headed back (in the car) to look for it only to get called back - another cyclist staying at the hotel saw the shoe, figured that it belonged to a rider doing the century, and brought it to the lost and found at the start.  A great "save" to what could have been a major bummer, but that is the helpful nature of the types of people who do rides like this.

With my base mileage for the Tour, I was unofficially designated (or took on the role) as the engine of the group, leading the others behind me.  No one seemed to complain, and others would come to the front now and then to take over.  To non-cyclists reading this, when you ride behind someone in a "pace line" you do up to 30% less work than the lead rider as he/she is in-effect "plowing" the air out of your way and you can draft behind in the slipstream.  We set off at a fairly good pace (18 - 20 mph) for the first 25-30 miles, and passed a lot of the riders who had started at 6:00 AM.  My view was that each person we passed along the route meant that the shower line at the end of the ride was one person shorter.

By the time we reached the first rest stop the morning clouds had burnt off, and we were riding in sunny skies with temperatures in the mid 70° s (F).  We stopped for a brief PhotoOp shortly after the second rest stop (50 miles) at a steel deck bridge where two of our group crashed last year - in that incident they suffered the usual cuts and bruises that come with a hard landing on the road, and unbeknownst to us at the time Marty ("thumbs up" in the middle of the photo) had broken his thumb - true to form we all finished the ride.

With that behind us we pressed on to the Hamptons.  To the groans of my fellow riders, I quipped that the green walls of vegetation blocking the views of the mansions behind them must have been the result of the "Hedge Funds" that are all over the financial press these days.  We opted for another brief detour for a Photo Op of the beaches and Atlantic Ocean that I will next be seeing in late August.

Our "Bentley count" through the Hamptons this year was: 3 Bentleys; 2 Ferraris; 1 Aston Martin Vantage convertible, and; one antique Mercedes convertible - I guess the economic downturn is affecting everyone, although there was still a lot of new construction happening.

By the way, did I mention that the route was as flat as glass? (see photo)

After a brief delay at mile 85 caused by a crash in our Peleton (those "wheel touches" can wreak havoc on the group), we patched Tim up and pressed on to Montauk.  For the last few miles, Pascal and I were playing a game of "cat and mouse" catching up to riders ahead, letting them draft off us for a bit, then slowing down and letting them build up a lead once again before cranking it up to 25mph again and chasing them down. 

When we got to the end of the ride, at around 1:30, we got our bikes loaded on the truck to be brought back to the start.  We arrived among the first 100 or so participants so no long shower lines (very important) or lines for food.   The ride was very well supported with well stocked rest stops (white chocolate chip cookies, bagels and pita with jam, peanut butter, Nutella, and plenty of other stuff) and a BBQ at five dollar Coronas the end. 

Showered and fed, we hopped on the 3:30 LIRR Train back to the start. The train was filled with riders, some of whom were still in their bike clothes, for the two hour ride back to Babylon - we were very grateful that we had the time to shower and freshen up before the return trip.  After about 30 minutes into the train ride it looked as if someone had released a canister of nerve agent on the train as every seat was filled with people, eyes shut, necks crooked, mouths open, and sound asleep, woken only briefly by the ticket agent to collect the fare.

Back at the start we loaded the bikes on the car, got to witness a few "Fast and Furious" drivers on the Long Island Expressway, and made it back home by 8:15 P.M.

I have now completed two of my three planned longer rides for training, with the "Revolutionary Ramble" being the last one, on June 12th before heading west.

36 days to "Wheels up" from Newark.

Questions and Answers

My recent invitation for people to follow my blog has resulted in a number of questions, which I will attempt to answer here:

Q. How do I keep current of any updates on your blog?
I think I have finally figured this out.  Hopefully if you click on the "Follow" button to the right you should be able to follow my postings in a relatively painless manner.  Please advise if this works (or does not work) for you...

Q. Are you riding alone, unsupported?
No, I am not riding alone.  There are a group of about 40 riders of all ages and from around the globe who have signed up for the Tour du Canada 2010.  As is typical of rides of this size, we will break into groups of riders for the days ride - (probably 4 to 5 people each), based on riding ability and riding speed. Typically if you run into trouble, and need help (a spare tube say) a rider or group will stop to help.

Q. How will you communicate with friends and family?
My plan is to either text or Skype Annie, Eric and Emma on a daily basis (dependent on cell phone and internet access) and to keep a daily log and update the blog (with pictures too) every few days - when internet access permits.

Q. Where will you be staying:

I have secured 35 Sq.Ft. of luxury accommodations for the entire trip! The optional A/C unit was too expensive an upgrade so I will be toughing it!  As my Mum said - "You will be sleeping out in Saskatchewan in the broiling heat of the Summer!"

We will be camping, rain or shine (hopefully mostly shine) for most of the days - I think we have indoor accommodations in real beds for only about 5 days in the entire 10 weeks. We are advised to camp out before heading to Vancouver so we are familiar with our equipment - hopefully the neighbors won't think it too strange to see me camping in the front yard - probably not since about 8 years ago I stayed out for most of a cold November night watching the Leonid meteor showers - Emma was afraid that the kids on our street would see me asleep on the front lawn as they walked to the school bus!

The tour schleps all our gear campsite-to-campsite each day, and we are on "Galley Crew" rotating cooking responsibilites once per week for the group of 40 hungry riders.  The truck carries a mobile camping kitchen and all the food.

Q. What gear will you be carrying?
I like to travel light (less stuff to carry up hills), so the only gear I will be carrying on my bike are two water bottles, camera, cell phone, a spare inner tube (or two) and CO2 cartridges to pump tires. On my person I will carry fuel (bananas, PBJ, GU) and gear for inclement weather if necessary.

Q. How does your camping gear and clothing get from Campsite to Campsite?
We are assigned limited space in the back of the gear truck to carry our stuff.

Q. What route will you be taking?
We will not know the exact route until we get to Vancouver as it depends on campsite availability, road conditions, etc. The 5,000 mile route stays in Canada and goes through each of the ten Canadian Provinces - which makes for a much longer ride (1,500 miles more) than across the US.

The "Space Shuttle" view of the route is shown below,
with detailed segments following.

You can click on each of the maps for a larger view.
There will be the opportunity to take side trips for sightseeing along the way. I already have a few planned.

There is a "pre-ride" option to ride to Victoria BC to see "Mile 0" of the Trans Canada Highway which I am doing.  It involves a ride to the ferry to Vancouver Island, riding to Victoria, a rear "wheel dip" in the Pacific Ocean, an overnight stay (not camping) in Victoria, and a ride back the next day. 

An approximation of the route is shown in the twelve map segments below. 
Each segment shown is, on average, about 400 miles worth of riding (except for the "Victoria" option above, and the last segment with the Ferry ride across the Gulf of St. Lawrence).
Through BC:












Through Alberta:

In the first day in Alberta, I am planning a 15 mile side trip to see Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks - hopefully it won't be cloudy when I get there.



Once east of Calgary it gets pretty flat - the only thing to contend with are rain and headwinds (although the prevailing winds are from the west).

Through Saskatchewan:

Pretty flat through the prairies - apparently the excitement is guessing how far away the next Grain Elevator is on the horizon.






Through Manitoba:












Through Ontario: (Lots here - it is the longest part of the route)

The section above, and the one below are, surprisingly enough the "Hilly" part of the route  (more so than the Rockies) as there are lots of climbs up and descents down the ridges carved into the Canadian Shield by the glaciers...

This segment has our first of three Ferry Rides - across Lake Huron to the Tobermoray Peninsula.












Hopefully, I'll get to see my sister in Ottawa (and she will cook me dinner).








After three weeks in Ontario, we should finally arrive in a new province, Quebec!
Apres avoir passé trois semaines en Ontario, on arrive au Quebec, enfin!
Through Quebec:

I am planning on dinner with my Mum, Annie, Eric, Emma and Annie's parents when we pass through Montreal.
It should be fun after 7 weeks on the road - hopefully they will recognize me!


More Quebec...













And now the Maritime provinces
(New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia):

To get to PEI, since bikes are not allowed on the bridge, we will ride over in a shuttle with our bikes loaded on the truck.  We get back to the mainland on the second of our three ferry rides.

Our tenth and final Province (below) after an overnight ferry crossing - I have booked a real bed on the ferry :)

Through Newfoundland:

After about 5,000 miles, the ride ends with a ferry ride followed by a short ride into St. John's to the end of the Trans Canada Highway, finishing off with a front "wheel dip" in the Atlantic Ocean.

In the evening there is a celebration dinner  for all the riders, after which I will be flying back to New Jersey the next morning - hopefully my bike won't get lost in transit.

Other than 5,000 miles of pedaling and completing an item on my "Bucket List" that's it in a nutshell.  Needless to say I am looking forward to the adventure, although some folks think I am crazy to do so.  For some of the riders this is their 2nd "tour" so it can't be all that bad.  Maybe I'll have a different view of things after a 5th consecutive day of riding in rain.

It will be good to sleep in a real bed after 10 weeks in a sleeping bag/tent.

Feel free to post comments and ask questions on the blog.

Looking forward to the adventure of a lifetime - as someone I know who has done the ride said "For me it was a GREAT GREAT thing to do, a highlight in my life, a source of fond memories and an endless source of party stories."