Do you need to have bulging muscles of steel to bicycle tour?
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Do you need to have bulging muscles of steel to bicycle tour?
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Physical strength is something that can usually be improved upon before the tour. Even if you don't there is a saying, "Train to tour or the tour trains you" that nicely summarizes the fact that if you don't train before the tour then you can certainly do the tour anyway.
Hopefully it's obvious that it's not a free ride. If you don't do any pretraining then you can expect to have harder then normal days for about the first week or two. After that your body will have taken up the challenge and responded to the touring needs by producing more muscle.
There are ways to reduce the impact through. Plan for shorter days during the first two weeks gradually ramping up towards your daily average goal. Factor in a few extra rest days to give your body a chance to heal if needed.
Of course you could always do something radical and actually train in advance for the tour. This training would involve simple things like riding your bike more often (perhaps even daily commutting back and forth to work), doing some stretching on a regular basis and for those wanted to be really prepared some strength training (which btw is apparently something we should all be doing regularily anyway regardless of touring plans).
All of this is great advice but what does it mean in practical terms?
"The distance you ride in a week at home is usually a reasonable or attainable goal for Day One of your tour."
As a rule of thumb this has typically worked out well for me whenever I've used it myself or mentioned it to anyone new to touring. It is important to note that it is a general statement. If you are someone who goes two or three hundred kilometers in a week you might not want to set a 200 to 300 km goal for day one. On the other hand if you do around 100 kilometers a week then based on my personal experience that is a very achievable distance.
I typically recommend a rest day every fourth or fifth day for the first week or two of your tour although personally I take rest days based upon inclination when I am on the road.
The next few pages will discuss some more suggestions on how to prepare for your tour in advance.
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