Day 2 - Alpine, CA to Jacumba, CA

46 miles today
84 total trip miles
9.9 mph avg
3,645’ climbing
FF - 10
MP - The Tichenor Family -  they have adopted WDYLT more completely than anyone other than me & that alone inspired me to include them as an MP.  They are also just great people.

Today was without a doubt the most difficult day of biking that I have ever had.  For those of you paying attention you may say “How can that be.  He went faster today than yesterday”. The reason is the length & steepness of the hills.  There were some that I just couldn’t pedal up.  I wasn’t the only one that walked sometimes, but there were also a number of riders who didn’t walk at all.  Kudos to them.

The interesting thing I learned about myself through this experience is that after I had to walk for the 1st time it would have been very easy to just keep doing so any time a hill looked imposing.  Instead I dug deep & tried to pedal up everything.  Toward the end of the day there was a 3 mile climb with about a 6% grade.  I made it about 75% of the way before my body just wouldn’t do it.  There were a number of other hills where my persistence paid off & I made it riding.  I’m satisfied with my effort. My avg mph was helped tremendously by some long downhills mixed in during the day.

A couple of interesting facts:

It is legal to ride a bicycle on the interstate highway if no other roads are available.  We did that some today & will again tomorrow.  It actually felt safer than I expected.

Bicycle riders are some of the friendliest people I have ever encountered.  Here I am with a couple of new friends.

I have not experienced any flat tires yet, but other some riders have had 3 or 4.

Weather started out rainy again & it never really got warm all day.  That is supposed to change tomorrow.

Had our 1st view of the border wall with Mexico today.

WDYLT - ILT when climbing a hill it is better to do so in fog.  That way you can’t see how long it is & you have a better chance of making it up.  It’s very psychological.

If you’re having trouble understanding some of my acronyms like FF, MP, WDYLT, ILT go to the blog site & read the page “Understanding this Blog”

Day 1 -San Diego to Alpine

38 miles today
38 miles trip total
9.4 mph average
2,280’ climbing
FF (Fatigue Factor) 8
MP (Motivational Partner) -Bob DeVita - a colleague who helped start the Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative, and introduced me to the mantra “Adjust, Adapt, Prevail”

Well, the adventure begins!  As you can see in the picture, we started out with a day of rain so I put on my full rain suit.  It was comfortable & I thought I was staying dry, but by the end of the day everything I was wearing was soaked.

Here I am dipping the rear wheel in the Pacific Ocean to begin the journey

We have 3 countries represented - Germany, USA, Canada

Bubba says if you make it for the 1st two days, you will make it to St Augustine.  That is because we spend 2 days climbing the mountains from the Pacific Ocean.  There were 2 big challenge hills today & I’m happy to report that I pedaled every bit of them.  I received some great support from Joanne, my daughter Laurie & grandson Luka.  Lots of scenic rock formations to see, but the rain kept me from wanting to stop & take pictures.

Have a nice hotel room tonight. Forecast is for more rain tomorrow 😩

WDYLT (What Did You Learn Today) - ILT (I learned that) the physical training that I did in preparation for this journey appears to have been enough. Guess I’ll know for sure tomorrow.

Arrived San Diego

Joanne & I arrived safely at Camp Stevens near San Diego where our daughter Laurie works.  We will be here until Friday morning when I head into town to meet all of my new friends & get the latest instructions from Bubba, our tour chief.

This morning I put the bike back together and took it for a test ride.  Everything looks & worked good.  Here is what my transportation will look like for the next 52 days:

I think I am about as ready as I can be.  Now I just have to execute.  Hope you enjoy following me along the way.

Heading to the Pacific Ocean

Joanne & I are road tripping from Wisconsin to San Diego where the C2C biking adventure begins.  We have the bike and all my gear in the car & plan to take 4 days to drive there.  Saturday morning March 2nd the rear wheel of the bike will be dipped in the Pacific Ocean & 52 days later (if all goes as planned) the front wheel will be dipped in the Atlantic Ocean.

My intention is to post a blog entry every day & if you want to receive an email notification when I do that, sign up with your email address in the box to the left.  Feel free to ask questions or make comments.  I will do my best to reply to questions promptly.

You can also check out some page links on the left which give background information on the trip & my Cruzbike.

Thanks for your interest.

C2C Demographics

I received an interesting email from Bubba (our tour director) about the make up of the riders for the 2019 Coast 2 Coast Tour:

45 riders (although in the last couple of days 2 had to drop out for various medical reasons.  Fortunately they both had purchased trip insurance & I’m glad I did too)

33 Male & 12 Female

Average Age is 65 (youngest is 44, oldest is 73)

17 states will be represented with Ohio having the most at 7

3 countries will be represented - USA, Canada, Germany

******************

Since I am a 65 year old Male, I guess that means I’m pretty average!

Getting Ready

The big adventure starts 3 weeks from tomorrow on March 2nd, but preparation for it has been going on for months. This includes getting the BIKE ready (it seems there is always another accessory or spare part or improvement to make), getting MY LIFE ready to be gone for over 2 months, and getting ME ready, both mentally & physically.

The biggest changes to the BIKE include a new ergonomically designed seat for even more comfort, a new cassette that has lower gears to help climb the steeper hills, a new more powerful rear light to be sure cars & trucks can see me, and new tires. The tires are most interesting because I never heard of a folding tire before. Here is the box they come in with a water bottle next to it to give some size perspective.

The tires are 26" in diameter, specially designed to resist puncture & have minimum rolling resistance.  With the folding feature, the spares also pack easily.

Getting MY LIFE ready starts with lots of off loading responsibilities at work, as well as being sure all of the 2018 year end accounting is complete.  It also includes being sure everything at home is prepared.  My wife Joanne & I will be driving to San Diego where the ride starts.  Joanne will then spend some time with our newest grandson, Luka, in Julian, CA.  She will then road trip back to the East Coast with our daughter Julie & explore around there as I am pedaling.  So we have had to think ahead about everything in Wisconsin that needs to get done.

Getting ME ready has been going on for quite a while.  The longest ride I have completed so far is Biking Across Kansas - about 600 miles in a week.  The C2C (Coast to Coast) is almost 3,000 miles in 52 days.  I have been working weekly with Chris Delcamp, a personal trainer at the Kettle Moraine YMCA.  He is building my core, upper body & leg strength.  I also ride as much as I can.  Winter doesn't keep me off the roads unless it gets under 30 degrees, or if there is ice or snow on the road.  Here is what I look like on a winter day ride.

The sad fact is that Wisconsin winters mean that I still spend a lot of time on my indoor trainer.  I won't know for sure until I get out there if I did enough preparation physically, but if you follow this blog, you'll be one of the first to know.  I did read somewhere that one of the best things to do to make it easier to ride is to take some weight off the bike.  The obviously best way to do so is to remove some weight from the engine.  That would be me!  So I am working on that also.

Bubba, our tour group leader, says that the most important thing to bring along on the trip is a good attitude.  I believe that, and I am spending a fair amount of time also getting mentally prepared.  I'll share more about that as time goes on.

It is fair to say that I am getting really excited for this adventure of a lifetime.  Thanks for your interest & feel free to comment or ask me any questions.