When you are planning to ride an average of 70-80 miles a day for almost two months, you need to be in pretty good physical (and mental) shape. Preparing for this ride has been a bit of an issue for me. I had a very busy spring semester and limited time for training. It didn't help that I got Covid in March. While it didn't hit me that hard, I was knocked off my training plan and significantly cut back my riding for a couple of weeks.
Thank goodness for Chris Carmichael's The Time Crunched Cyclist and my indoor trainer. The book offers training programs for those with limited time. The plan I followed emphasized power intervals (riding extremely hard for say 2 minutes, riding easy for 2 minutes, then hard again...), something called over/under intervals, and longer "Zone 2" rides (which are a couple hours long but not as hard, conversational). My indoor trainer, a Wahoo Kickr, allowed me to get started training back in January and February.
I know my riding partners, Dave and Bruce, are in better shape than I from the start. I hope I can keep up with them. Maybe, I can ride myself into shape over the first couple of weeks.
