Time for a big reset!
Three weeks out and counting.
This is a pretty momentous week in terms of Tour Divide preparation. This week is the week that we completely strip our bikes down to just about the frame, and then start adding parts back on.
After almost a year and nine months of training, mostly on the same drive train with a few replaced chains, the bikes have taken a pretty serious beating. We have been nursing the bikes along knowing that the cassettes chain in front chain rings were all almost at the point of no return. We’ve been running tires for almost the last 2000 miles, and they’re just about slick. We really tried to push it so that we didn’t have to change tires and then two or three weeks later change them all out again. ($$)!
We had a solid, albeit pretty easy, weekend of training with two good days over 70 miles each. One of the most difficult things about training in Las Cruces this time of the year is the temperatures in the afternoon. On Sunday we saw temperatures in the sun over 100°F. While that doesn’t seem like much for Las Cruces, after six or seven hours of riding it gets pretty oppressive. We’ve decided that in order to keep training for the next three weeks, we’re gonna have to start leaving earlier. It appears our departure times on the weekends are going to be about 430 or 5 o’clock. No more luxury of sleeping in and leaving at seven!!
Also, it’s quite interesting how in order to prepare for the Tour Divide, we have the ability to watch endless YouTube videos. The problem with this is there is hundreds of them on YouTube, and you don’t really know whether the people that are making the videos have any idea what they’re talking about! There are the obvious wackos who have the craziest ideas, and you can throw those out. Then there are those that seem like good riders, but also have some idiosyncrasies that make you wonder if they have any clue what it takes to ride the Tour Divide.
All of this creates anxiety and angst. I guess that’s just part of the planning process.
One thing we decided to try this week was an informal “just talking” video. It can be found on the “Tour divide VLOG” section of the site. For those of you who’ve never spent a great deal of time around Ray and I, the video is pretty much how we are all the time. A great deal of our time is spent quoting thousands of movie lines. There are those that have said that Ray and I have never had an original thought in our lives, we just quote other people thoughts.
Some of our favorites:
Smokey and the Bandit (obviously!!)
Stripes
48 Hours
Princess Bride
Ferris Buellar’s Day Off
Midnight Run (RIP Charles Grodin)
….and 1000s of others!!
Hang out around us long enough and you’ll see we rarely say anything that isn’t followed by a movie quip!! So, “It’s a long road ahead” (Fat Bastard, The Spy Who Shagged Me). See!!
At any rate, we’re going to keep training planning mapping ,packing, and mentally preparing for the Divide with positive thoughts.
Along that line, we truly want to thank all of our friends and families for the incredible number of well wishes, “go get ‘em’s“, and positive vibes that we’ve been getting! It truly is a group effort to get this done and each one of the kind words means an incredible amount to both of us. Thanks so very much!
Until next time,
Ride On,
Shane and Ray
