Road Trippin'
2,800km from Vancouver Island to Santa Barbara
Hey, this is going to be a quick entry.
I’m sitting on the ferry in the harbour of Victoria, Canada and we’re about to set sail for the United States. After who knows how much time in the US this year, there’s still time for one last adventure.
We’re road-tripping from Vancouver Island to Santa Barbara. It’s some 2,800km and the goal is to cover 250-300km per day across ten days. We’ll be riding between four and six hours per day, and driving whatever kilometres remain.
The ‘we’, is Riley Pickrell, Maggie Coles-Lyster, Franzi Koch, and myself. Housemates back in Girona, this winter training is starting with a different adventure.
A few people have asked me: “Why?”, I always reply “Why not?”.
I’ve spent a lot of time on the road this season, by the end of the year it’ll be some 183 days away from home. I complained that I was travelling too much, and that I just wanted to spend time at home. But, this trip is different. It’s more of an adventure, call it a holiday if you will.
Here’s our route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3262475979124029116
We’ll be making some edits as we go, but this is the backbone of it.
The plan is there is no plan. We have a hotel booked for every night which is the target location. That’s pretty much that. Some days we’ll ride long, some days we’ll ride long. Some Most days we’re going to get wet. It’s one of those trips that if we didn’t do it now, we’d just keep kicking the can down the road, so here we are.
Pulling out of the drive this morning, there was that feeling of butterflies in my stomach. It’s such a cool trip, and we’re doing it for the simple love of riding a bike. How good is that?
I’m hoping to do short entries on here as we go, but I make no promises. Instagram is probably the best place for daily updates.
Big Loop
Now we’ve covered the excitement of the next ten days, let’s talk about my first ride back. Riley, being the bastard he is, convinced me that my first ride back should be ‘Big Loop’.
Big Loop is 245km, and seven hours long. I was (still am) heinously unfit after three weeks of off-season. I said I wouldn’t touch the front, it was a big group so I could avoid the wind and hide. I said that, but I lied. Within a half hour Riley and I were doing pulls as if it was the middle of the season.
The wheels started to come off some four hours in, with a hundred kilometres to go. I’d over carb’d myself trying to make sure I had enough energy, and I puked violently. My legs felt heavier and heavier, and I got weaker and weaker.
If the road went up, I’d get dropped - even at 200w. I puked again, and started to feel a touch better. I could now sit in the group without getting dropped, but my stomach was racing. Still with three-and-a-half hours to go, it became a race. My stomach was emptied by the puke, and I couldn’t take any more carbs on. The bonk was inevitable, but I was hoping I could hold it off.
I somehow had a second wind. In the 100km after puking, I ate a single almond croissant, I couldn’t stomach anything else. But, when I did bonk, boy it hit me.
Riley lives at the top of a stupidly steep 15% climb. I think it’s the closest I’ve ever come to crying on a bicycle.
Doing a 245km bike ride as your first back after offie is stupid, but sometimes I do stupid things.
Project TAG, proudly partnering (both for my athletic and influencing ability) with…
While you’re here…
I’ve added a paid subscription and a ‘Buy Me A Coffee’ link to this post. As the year progresses, I’m planning on building this blog and putting out articles which I’ve always wanted to write but for whatever reason, haven’t wanted to pitch.
Any money that I make from either my Substack or BMaC link will go straight back into supporting my 2024 racing project. I am planning on keeping all content on here free to view though.