This past weekend I did a 3 day ride. Four of us left south Minneapolis heading to a buddy’s northern Wisconsin cabin, biking 58 miles north on a Friday and then 52 miles the next day. I decided to bike all the way back 105 miles on Sunday. In mid-August I am doing a charity ride that is 400 miles from Traverse City, MI to Detroit, so I felt this would be a good test to see where my capabilities were. The weather and air quality were not optimal, but not enough to cancel the trip.
I was a little perplexed with my anxiety leading up to the ride. I have done these types of rides over a dozen times and almost as many 5 day rides. I knew I could do it, but: 1) what if I learned I needed to be in much better shape for the 400 mile ride, 2) what if the guys I was riding with could not do the 2 day ride, or 3) general anxiety of a multi-day ride and the associated risks. The risks are real in bike touring, from minor issues like mechanicals or injuries to getting hit by a distracted driver. When that phone pings, who is going to blame the driver for picking up their phone even if it means some biker dies? I would.
I have found bike touring depends on 3 components - body, bike and knowledge - with an overriding dimension of attitude. For the body, do you have a fitness level to get through the miles. For the bike, do you have the equipment to efficiently move through the miles in a reliable way that minimizes mechanicals. And then do you have the knowledge of the route, where you can get nourishment, where you can stay the night, if anything goes wrong what contingency plans do you have. Finally, spending several days on the road with a rider with a bad attitude amplifies all problems and spending those days with friends with good attitudes smoothes out all the problems and amplifies all the great moments of the ride.
So where was my anxiety coming from? Likely a little of all 3, and like anything that is hard the anxiety was probably healthy, but in retrospect not justified. I got through all the miles and now have the confidence for the 400 mile 5 day ride. The guys I rode with all have great attitudes, which I knew, and their fitness and bikes were just fine for the ride. Though a couple guys had almost no knowledge of the ride, all went well and it was nothing to stress about unless my stress was that if anything did go wrong it would have been all my fault, which means if I am mentioning it that was probably real. The ride was about 70% on trails, so the risk of the distracted driver was lower, but again enough time on roads for that distracted driver to take out a couple bikers. At this point would that even make the evening news?
In the end a really good bike tour. Though the anxiety in retrospect may not have been justified, it’s a good thing to do something that makes you nervous. At 58, I should be proud I can still agree to do things that scare me.
