Getting Fit

For my annual tours, which are normally in June, I rely on my normal day rides to get fit, perhaps getting a few more in as the date approaches. My total distance in the whole of 2008 was about 2400 kilometers, a bit less than the previous two years. As I'd probably be doing greater distances and over a longer period than in my usual tours I thought I ought to put in more miles.

I only managed one ride in January 2009 because of weather/icy roads on the moors so I joined the gym. I continued the gym in February and did 145 km on the bike. In March I did my "Travelodge Tour". I'd booked up Travelodges in their sale the previous autumn. This was a three day tour across the hills to Barnoldswick, then the Forest of Bowland to Burton in Kendal, the next day down to Blackpool and final day back home. This was a good kickstart for my training and also a good test ride on the bike. So in March I did about 500km. I did another 780km from March until I left on 9 June.

In summary:

Jan: 1 ride 18Km
Feb: 5 rides, averaging 29Km
March: 11 rides, averaging 44 Km (including 3 day Travelodge Tour averaging 94Km)
April: 9 rides, averaging 36 Km
May: 12 rides, averaging 36Km (including 2 of 75 & 80Km)
June (before setting off): 2 rides, averaging 18Km

So, all in all a very modest preparation in terms of distance and fewer kilometres than I intended (in fact, I did considerably more in the same time period after the trip) though, it was all as hilly as anything I was likely to encounter. I also did very few rides of the sort of daily distances I was expecting to do (only 5 were over 75Km). However, I felt fairly confident it wouldn’t be an issue as I wouldn’t be racing and I didn’t have a deadline. I did one fully loaded test ride on a fairly hilly route.