2 Days!

Less than 48 hours from now I will be on my way to Auckland, New Zealand to begin my trip. Last night I finished packing up my equipment and my bike. One first on this trip, among many others, will be shipping my bike and working with the airlines to accommodate the equipment on the plane.


I also wanted to posted a note about the website. You might notice that there are some ads. If you have blogged in the past, you might know that this generates funds daily. The more you visit my blog the more money I will raise for neighborhood bike works! So visit the blog and know you are also helping out, even if its just a few cents.

Now, I just wanted to talk a little about my training for the trip. Like me, you might have initially considered a multinational trip impossible. After a little time on a bike, you might think otherwise. Cycling is an extremelly low impact sport, enabling me to cycle for 3,4,5,6...7 hours a day. There is actually a race across America where contestants cycle across the U.S. in 10 days. Thats an average of about 300 miles a day. And no they are not sleeping 8 hours a day. As an avid runner, this is impossible to do on foot!

My daily training for this trip was quite simple. After graduating in May last year from Penn, I eventually moved in with my parents and cycled the 20 mile commute into work everyday. Combining my workout with my commute, I saved hundreds of dollars over the course of the year, saved time, reduced my carbon footprint, and prepared myself by cycling in through the snow, rain, heat, and darkness. Averaging 40 miles a day, I built up a base of approximately 2000 miles. Furthermore, I trained to prepare for all types of terrain by cycling up the hills of Manayunk and Roxborough and the flat river banks of the Schuylkill. The North Island of New Zealand is infamous for the rough gradients and inclement weather. This goes hand in hand with the scenic vistas, exhilarating downhills, and millions of sheep (seriously, there are about 50 million sheep).