Jessica (my wife) suggested that I should start some kind of journal about my journey to race the Allegheny Mountains Loop and then maybe the  Tour Divide later this year.  She said that someday I’ll want to look back on these early days in the preparation and see what I was thinking.  Since I’m already knee-deep in training I realized she was right.  Time does move ever forward . . .

Here’s the rig:

So I’ll try to keep these short, but here goes (I’ll add to this as time goes on, scroll down for more entries):

Entry 1 (December 28, 2011):

But to start, I first heard about the Tour Divide and bikepacking in general from David Horton, an ultrarunner who rode the Divide in 2011.  I was interviewing him over the phone for a book I’m writing and he told me about the race.  2,700 miles of mountain biking??!!  Through some of the most remote and rugged wilderness in the U.S. and Canada??!!  Awesome!!!

It appealed to me on many levels: first, I grew up in Idaho.  Now I live in North New Jersey.  I really enjoy being close to NYC.  It’s great for a musician, and I have an awesome job at the university, but my heart is still out West.  Racing the Divide will be a great way for me to reconnect with that terrain.

Second, I’d been thinking about getting into backpacking for a while.  I used to do some in high school with boy scouts.  But bikepacking is really much more interesting. You can go further and do more.

Third, I’m looking forward to some extended solitude.  I need it for my creative work and I function very well by myself for long periods of time.  I will miss my family of course, but the time will pass.  It always does.

Entry 2 (January 4, 2012):

Slow but steady start.  I broke my left ankle on October 1 of last year.  My plan at that time was to complete a 50K ultramarathon in the middle of October, then a 50 miler in January, then shift over to cycling to get ready for the Tour Divide in summer of 2012.  But with the broken ankle I bailed on the two ultras and didn’t do much for over a month.  My friend Eric Metzgar asked me if I would ride with him out to Pennsylvania as part of a longer ride he was doing down to Virginia.  The start date was November 8.  My doctor didn’t think it was a good idea, but I decided to go anyway as my ankle was doing much better.

Eric and I had a blast.  Too much, actually.  We rode very hard that first day, covering 60 miles on loaded bikes in less than six hours, including a leisurely stop for lunch.  My ankle was sore by the end of the day but the bigger problem was that by favoring the left leg I had put too much stress on my right leg and I ended up straining my IT band on my right knee.  Dumb, dumb, dumb!!!!

Now, two months later, it is just barely healed up.  It still itches from time to time, but it’s mostly there.  I know I was very frustrated from having sat around for all of October, but really, how could I have been so dumb to ride so hard and so far after sitting around doing nothing for a month?  I’m trying not to beat myself up over it, but still . . .

Entry 3 (January 16, 2012):

Things I’ve learned so far about training for the Tour Divide:

1.) 2:1 works for me (two weeks build, one week rest)

2.) slow and steady wins the race.   This is not a sprint triathlon.  Coast down the hills.  Hike-a-bike up them, easy on the flats.

3.) spin at a higher cadence to recruit slow twitch muscle fibers.  They burn fat instead of glycogen and can do so for a long time and recover quicker.  Still figuring out the magic cadence number, but seems to be around 90 or 95.

4.) Fine tune gear.  I’ve tried my tent, air mattress, and sleeping bag many times now in the back yard and the nature preserve across the street.  They work.

5.) Be one with the obsession.  Yeah, I’m obsessed.  I think you have to be to do something like this.  Better than a drinking problem I suppose . . .

Entry 4 (January 17, 2012):

A funny story: Two weeks ago I decided to try out my new bivy sack in the nature preserve across the street.  It was only 40F that night, so not too cold, perfect for my sleeping bag.  So I pedaled over at 11:00 p.m. with my lights.  I got settled, took a melatonin pill to help me sleep, and nodded off looking up at a full moon.

All went well until 4:30 a.m. when I woke up to a howling wind.  No problem with the wind, but towering up above me the tree branches were swaying back and forth wildly.  And then suddenly large branches started crashing down all around me!

“Damn,” I thought.  “If I’m going to die doing this it’s going to be somewhere cool like Glacier National Park, not freakin’ 400-acre Eagle Rock nature preserve in West Orange, New Jersey.”

I packed up super fast and was snuggling with Jessica within a half hour.

Entry 5 (January 21, 2012)

My knee is healing up nicely.  Last week I rode about 60 miles total and by the end of the last ride it felt a little tired, but wasn’t hurting.  This week is a rest week.  I still work hard on the strength training routine that Peter Scordilis and I developed, but otherwise cut my bike mileage way back and do some light running and swimming.  (My background as a triathlete is helpful I think because I’m used to cross training and I know how important it is to keep the body balanced.)  Next week I’ll ride about 65 miles and the week after about 75.  That’s still very low considering I’ll be doing over 100 miles every day on the Allegheny Loop and also the Tour Divide if I make it, but if I follow my plan as I have outlined it I’ll be riding several hundred miles a week by the end of March, which is a lot of time and energy on the bike.

Entry 6 (February 7, 2012)

Last week I switched over from recording mileage to recording time.  It makes more sense on a mountain bike as one hour can mean 20 miles or 4 miles, depending on the terrain.  At any rate, I put in 8.5 hours on the bike last week and I felt great by the end.  This week is a rest week, with only 2 hours on the bike, but plenty of running, strength training, and swimming in there too to maintain my skills in the other areas.  Next week I’ll put in 9 hours on the bike, and then 10+ the following week.  These are still low hours, but by late March I’ll be up to 20 hours a week on the bike on the peak weeks, and then I basically have a part-time job riding a bike.  Then by late May I’ll be up to 40 hours a week.

Entry 7 (February 25, 2012)

The days are just flying by.  My knee is almost all the way healed up and I’m putting some more serious time on the bike now.  This past week I put in about 13 hours, and was at 11 hours the week before that.  A lot of that is commuting to work, which is actually pretty varied.  I ride on the streets here and there, but mostly on the sidewalks, across corporate lawns, on little dirt paths, and I even get in a little single track if I go through Eagle Rock Reservation.  All in all it’s a pretty base training for the Tour Divide and AML.  What’s getting hard now is finding time to still get in some strength training, running, or swimming.  I like the variety and I’m reluctant to let those things go after working hard on them for five years.  But there are only so many hours in the day . . .

Entry 8 (March 12, 2012)

My friend Eric joined me for an overnighter at Stokes State Park over the weekend.  It was bitterly cold, dipping down to around 25 F at night.  But we still had a wonderful time and my gear held up very well.  I’m amazed at how warm that sleeping bag is.  We rode around on a nice dirt rail-trail, and also some single track before retiring to a fire and an evening of thoughtful conversation.  We were the only crazy people out there in that weather and had the place to ourselves.  Our campsite was very pretty with a gurgling brook just down the hill.  I’m planning to go back next week on my own, riding most of the way there so it will be a real bikepacking adventure.

Entry 9 (May 1, 2012)

A lot has happened in the last month.  I went on my first solo overnighter (see www.paytonmacdonald.wordpress.com for a write up on that), I rode 82 miles straight on dirt, I honed my camping skills, I wore out my bike (it’s now in the shop getting overhauled for $450+ ouch), and I even raced in an Xterra triathlon last weekend for old time’s sake.  My body is holding up well and I’m only three weeks away from the AML.  Eric will be joining me and we’re both very excited, but also a bit nervous.  There’s over 25,000 feet of climbing on the route.  That’s a lot.  I mean, really, a lot of climbing . . .

I’ll be doing my first century ride (100 miles) next week.  I wanted to get it done earlier, but life got in the way.  But still I’m feeling good about the AML.

Entry 10 (May 17, 2012)

Up and down.  I leave for AML in a few days and as I write this I feel great.  Better than great, actually.  I’m ready to attack that route.  But two days ago I was in a terrible place.  My knee was barking at me, my shoulder was sore, and I had totally lost my confidence.  When I think back on it I realize it wasn’t the physical issues, it was the mental situation.  I was scared.  AML will put me way out of my comfort zone into some crazy new places.  I’m grateful for that, but I know I need to expect the highs and the lows, especially the lows.  If it was easy it wouldn’t be worth doing . . .