January 10, 2010 - Coast to Coast

January 10, 2010 - Coast to Coast
We landed in El Paso on January 3rd to start our month of training. We have two goals while we’re here, get used to the altitude and get used to climbing hills, neither of which is available in Mich. We know that when we leave San Diego, we have about 30 miles of flat riding and then we climb nearly 5000 ft. over the next 30 miles!
Our training has to run a tightrope of training hard but not so hard that we get injured. It has become even more critical since we missed two months of riding in the fall due to a death in the family and me going thru hernia surgery. During our first week we have ridden 166 miles with one 50 mile day and climbed the highest road here in El Paso another day (which we had tried several times in the past and never made it). We’re both carefully watching our knees and our ITB (a tendon/muscle that runs from the hip to the knee). So far so good.
Additionally we had the bike completely overhauled before we left but couldn’t ride it before we left so besides training we are having to check out and adjust all the new equipment including the new clothes. Most of it is going well but we are certainly happy to have the month to get the bugs shaken out. Dick