03: Training

It’s real.

I hurt.

Even I, who can usually find plenty of reasons for not doing so, know that some training is better than none.

People who live in Florida have as much of a notion about hills as a Dutchman. Tired and sweaty on Sunday, after 43 miles around San Antonio and Zephyrhills - what locals amusingly call the Florida Alps - it became obvious just how much the first two weeks of the tour will hurt.

It’s not just the distance, not just the heat and not just the hills – it’s having all those at the same time and then having them again the next day and the next and the next…

Greater Los Angeles is relatively flat, so that presents no difficulty, but then there are more than 500 miles to ride in 6 days in temperatures of at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The first part, on the shoulder of I10 through the Mojave Desert, has moderate gradients but which go on endlessly until you’ve lost the will to live. Following that are never-ending switchback ascents through the Sierra Nevada Mountains – less hot and less traffic and nice views, but climbing over 7,000 feet in two days will make my legs burst.

That’s 7,000 feet.

In 2 days.

Sweating, tired and proud of myself on Sunday, I passed a sign that proudly proclaimed an elevation of 324 feet.

There’s not much to say about that, is there…