When setting out for an extended bike tour, it is not as crucial to train your body. Much of the train will come with the first few weeks. However, if you plan to go for a single week and plan to have some high mile days, it is best to do some training to get ready.

We have a few different week-long rides we are planning for this year, and we are excited about each one of them. We love the planning process and want to make sure that our bodies are as ready. This way we can really enjoy the ride and beautiful sites. It can be hard to go out on these training rides. Sometimes the scenery is the same, or it is a 60-mile day only to be a 60-mile day. We also find it somewhat boring to take off and leave from the same place. When you are on a bike trip, you are exploring a new town or a new area at the end of the day. Or you can reminisce about the amazing scenery you get to see!!!

One day soon, we will be back on the road seeing new sights and exploring new travels. But for now, we have to enjoy the training rides, so we are ready!!!

Tomahawk, & Indian Creek Trail systems

We decided to go back to one of the major trail systems here in Kansas City, the Tomahawk, and Indian Creek Trail systems, for our first training ride of the season. If you have not ridden on these trails, we would highly recommend checking them out. These trails are mostly paved and follow a river. There are definitely better-paved areas and areas that still need some work.

We commonly start at the Love Lock Bridge and ride up the river. Even though most of the trail is flat, this makes the second part of the day a little easier, especially when it is the first time to ride 25 miles in a couple of months.

Creating a strict riding schedule had never been our style. We talk about how far we want to ride each week and go from there. Knowing what our miles are for the longest day determines our miles goal. To start the season, 25 miles sounded like enough.

Lunch Break

We rode for about 3.5 hours and took a lunch break at a nice park. We packed our normal bike lunch; tortillas, peanut butter, honey, cinnamon, refried beans, cheese, and hot sauce. It really took us back to when we rode the Katy. We ate that mean so many times, and we still enjoy it!!!

End of the Day

After the lunch break, we were still feeling good; however, we decided to go back to the car because we got a late start in the day. It was a nice easy ride back to the car. By the time we got to the car, we could feel our leg mussels and sit bones feeling the pain. We were glad we turned around when we did.

For the first training ride of the season, we felt great. We recovered quickly and could have to rid the following day again. We love to ride our bikes, and even training rides like this get us super excited for our tour coming up this year.

See you on the next trail!!!