What is the Southern Tier?

Good question........

A little bike ride from San Diego CA to St. Augustine FL. Total distance is roughly 5000 km. I will be travelling with a company called WomanTours. As you may have guessed from the name, we will be an all-woman excursion. The perks that particularly caught my interest were hotel accommodations each night and a chef who travels with us and prepares most of our meals. The interesting people who I will be travelling with will be a bonus. Apparently I fall into their "average" demographic for this trip. Nice to know. We will be out there for 57 days, averaging 100 km per riding day and 1 rest day per week. Should be fun!

And then there were 10....

......days until the pedalling begins. Looks like I'm going to have to be satisfied with a grand total of 4 spin classes. I got in a few final skis last week, including a beautiful moonlight ski last Thursday and a 42km spin around the Cookie Race route yesterday. I would have added another moonlight outing to that last night but the moon wasn't coming out from behind the clouds. The bike is due to be boxed up on Wednesday so I'll try to get down to the basement a few more times. Then I need to clean up my lengthy to-do list, cram everything into a couple bags and catch a flight to San Diego on Sunday. Woohoo!

20 Days 'til Departure

Well, another 10 days have slipped by. No more spin classes but I have visited my bike in the basement a few more times of late. I was in Canmore last weekend trying to learn to skate ski and we happened upon their winter festival. I took a fat tire bike for a 5 block spin on the snow and I think that will amount to my outdoor training prior to arriving in San Diego.

I have started to look at the gear and clothing list. As anyone who has travelled with me will know - this could be an even bigger challenge for me than the biking itself!

Countdown!

Well, the emails are flying - reminding me that we're under 30 days before we start pedalling. One month until we meet everyone in San Diego. I certainly haven't been doing the spin classes and bike training that a lot of others have been devoted to. I'm hoping there will be some crossover effect from my other activities. I spent a week at Silver Star and skied 6 consecutive days - probably averaged about 25+ km per day. It was beautiful - amazing scenery and grooming and great weather. Home today and out to the hockey rink. Maybe tomorrow I'll get back on the bike in the basement.......