The New Year - The Fun Begins

When last I posted, this idea of a ride from Muscatine, IA, to New Orleans had been very well thought through and discussed with those in my family who had to feel comfortable with my safety and time away from home. Although assured, after lengthy explanation and much map-reading that all were fairly comfortable with my plan, time has proven otherwise.

Most concerned is my wife Carla, not so much because time away, but more for safety's sake. Consequently, I am spending additional time reassuring her that my safety is MY greatest concern as well has hers. I keep trying to explain that I am not going to be beaten on the head by some crazed lunatic and that if I use common sense, (I am going to), and plan thoroughly, (I am), unless some freak of nature or unforeseen accident takes place, I will survive the trip! I think I am making headway but I will continue to address her concerns as they come up.

Reaction to this ride from my friends has been surprisingly positive. It seems to strike a cord in some people that such an adventure is the ultimate in personal freedom, and that at some age, we all would like the opportunity, even for a short time, to be able once again to account only to ourselves for the consequences of our decisions. That certainly is one of the reasons I'm taking the journey. We'll see how all that turns out once I'm out on some country back road with only myself to talk to knowing it's going to be that way for several weeks.

Having said that, a lot of effort has continued to go into the planning and conditioning for the journey.

On the logistical side, I've pretty much scoped out the needs for survival over 29 or so days on the road. I've identified the camping gear I don't have and will need to get, have begun to determine the weight of all that gear, (not to exceed 35 lbs including food, water and clothes), and am beginning to close in on the items I will need in order to upgrade my bike to make it road-safe and ready. I will have more about that in a later blog.

I have pretty much narrowed down my choices for a route which for the most part follows the suggested Great Rivers South Bicycle Route published by the Adventure Cycling Association. There are a couple of options which I am still working through, particularly the route between St. Louis, (itself a detour from the general route) and Cape Girardeau. A route suggested by the Mississippi River Trail Organization would take me south and east of the Mississippi to Cape Girardeau while the Great Rivers South Bicycle Route runs south and west of the river.

I have driven the former in my car previously and found it to be really pretty farm country, quiet and the roadway fairly level. The problem is getting out of St. Louis on less busy roads and until I figure all this out, this part of the journey remains up in the air.

The other interesting routing question, although again the Mississippi River Trail Organization route very explicitly describes the route, is that between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. I'm still working on that part of the ride, but am confident that I will have all this organized in my mind and my maps by the time I leave.

The other piece of this which never lets up is the physical conditioning. I am now working about five or six days a week on my bike which is sitting on a training device or on a trainer at the health club, riding two hours, three days a week and one hour the remaining training days.

In another week, I will increase the longer rides to three hours and the shorter rides to two hours and will continue that training schedule through January. So far, the legs are holding up fine and there is no pain in my knees.

The hardest part is not getting bored to death spending that amount of time on the bike. In addition, as I write this blog, I am looking out the window at Lake Michigan, where the water is iced over along the shoreline, which itself has several inches of snow on it. It is 6 degrees out with a wind-chill of minus 7!

It will be April before I take this body outside to train on the trails which run throughout the Chicagoland area. I cannot wait, for riding on those trails is much more interesting that riding a stationary bike in my den or at the club!

In ensuing blog entries, I'll itemize the gear I'm taking, its weight and cost, so that if any of you are thinking of such a trip, you'll be able to benefit from my experience.

More in a day or so...