Ken’s Transcontinental Cycling Tour

Now reality is sinking  in as I pack my duffle bag and get the bike ready to be shipped. Everything around the house and at work is now centered around the trip, making sure my clients know that I’ll be away and what to do in case of emergency.  Also, on the new medical front, our 9 year old Golden Retriever, Iris, had a nerve sheath tumor removed by my wife (a general veterinary practitioner) but Iris needs followup radiation therapy.  We are planning to have the 21 treatments performed about 3-4 hours away in New Jersey by a friend of ours who is a veterinary oncologist.  Kathy changed her work schedule to provide the time to bring Iris to NJ three times weekly while I’m away to get started soon on her treatment and then when I return from PAC Tour I’ll start driving Iris to NJ too.  I’ll be thinking of Iris and Kathy constantly during the trip and please join me in wishing them safe and successful trips to NJ.  The prognosis is fairly good on the other side of the radiation treatments.

  Not too ready?- Here I am on a surgery day with my scrubs, helmet, and cycling shoes showing the Southern route for PAC Tour.  Can’t wait to finish my cataract surgery for the day and get on the bike to ride home with a typical training ride.  My straight ride home from work is 15 miles but with PAC Tour training, I’ll often get 70-100 miles in before and after work.

Here is one of my exam rooms with my new exam stool- a constant reminder in room 3 that the cycling is top priority now.  Note that the stool is a Parks Bicycle Tool Stool!

  Iris says, “Dad, please don’t go out on that bike AGAIN!”

This past weekend marked the Victory Day Holiday, which is celebrated at this point only by the state of Rhode Island.  The holiday commemorates the end of WWII.  It provided a third consecutive day of training as my practice was closed on Monday.  All three days were perfect weather for training- high temps in the 70-80 degree range and cool mornings.

The 3 days brought an even 100 miles on Saturday, 90 miles on Sunday, and 75 miles on Monday.  Saturday’s team ride for about 70 miles was speed work with team-mate Todd Buckley wanting to get ready for the upcoming Green Mountain stage race in Vermont.  We did a lot of flat, fast-paced work with most of us barely hanging onto Todd’s wheel.  At the end of the ride Pete R showed an average, non-normalized (no zeroes removed) power of 235 watts!!

On Sunday I got out a little early to do 20 miles before hooking up with the team for some INTENSE hill training out into Connecticut. Many riders had to leave early so for about 60 miles it was 4 outstanding riders getting ready to win Green Mountain and then there was me, hanging on for dear life with my tongue on the ground!  When the loop ended I limped home for a total of 90 miles with 4,800 feet of climbing and an overall average speed of 18.6MPH!

Monday brought an easy, recovery mileage day of 75 miles.  I was cooked after Sunday’s intense ride and actually finished the FIRST time at 50 miles but after a shower and some food went right back out to join Paul D and Rex for our last ride together before Rex moves to St. Louis today.  I couldn’t pass up some last minute bantering on the bike with the 3 of us!

Today (Tuesday) is a rest day- OFF THE BIKE!!

Sunset on Cadillac Mountain (Bar Harbor, Maine)- taken during training ride last month. 

In exactly one month from today (September 8th) I’ll be flying to San Diego to start the trip.  Now it’s really starting to sink in that it’s really going to happen!  The training is going well, I’m feeling stronger, the bike is almost complete, and I’m starting to organize gear and travel supplies.

Today marked the end of an easier week of training with a little over 300 miles with 2 days off the bike last Monday (start of the week) and on Friday.  This weekend brought fantastic New England summer weather with low humidity and FINALLY relief from last week’s scorching heatwave.  Yesterday’s ride was 122 miles of mostly flat and fast speed workout with the team and today was 81 miles with some significant climbing.

Soon I’ll post a photo of the completed Colnago CT-1 !!!