Need Advice

[CAS]

Thank you, everyone, I greatly appreciate everyone's advice. The coach I have, is wonderful--although, I do have to remind him that I am not one of his junior riders preparing for a race on occasion. He is having me build my fitness this month, and then come July, he will concentrate on creating a schedule that will work with my life and goals. After reading everyone's comments, I don't see the sense in purchasing a power meter. Although, I do understand what Rebecca wrote as far as weaknesses.

@Crankin,it is Trek Travel that I will be going with, and I am looking forward to it. I plan on doing the New Mexico tour ((it's a beautiful state), and actually will be more focused on the riding (but will take a small chunk of time for sightseeing).

[Crankin]

Sightseeing is built into the trips. But, I am done just "trying to get done" with the miles every day on this tour. We have often skipped places to see along the way, because I get anxious about finishing. A lot of Trek Travel trips have cultural stuff after the riding is done for the day and I recommend doing it. And you can't ignore the food, it's always fabulous, along with the scenery.

[rebeccaC]

He is having me build my fitness this month, and then come July, he will concentrate on creating a schedule that will work with my life and goals.

that sounds like a great way to go!!!!!!!.....especially with good positive communication both ways..

[emily_in_nc]

Your tour sounds fabulous, CAS. New Mexico is one of my favorite states. It seems to be overlooked a lot, but the scenery is spectacular! The only places I've ever ridden there is on trails in Albuquerque (paved) and Santa Fe (unpaved, rode our mountain bikes), but I have wonderful memories. Hope you'll post more about your tour once you've done it!

[north woods gal]

Sorry I can't offer any help on the training accessory stuff - no experience at all - but will echo what others have said and say there's no substitute for hours of riding. 60 miles a day for 5 days is a lot of hours on the bike. Absolutely no reason people our age (I'm 67) can't do it, though. Go for it, girl.

What I can say is that I would love to hear about your tour when you do it. These days, I'm pretty much a stay at home biker, riding the same roads and trails over and over. I very much enjoy reading about those of you that combine travel with biking and get to bike in all these wonderful places.

[CAS]

I must admit, I thought I would be considered "crazy" when I mentioned I was more interested in the riding than site seeing, but I will occasionally look at the surrounding areas. I'm really looking forward to the tour, as I have heard wonderful things about the Trek Tours. I rode with my neighbor yesterday on a very hilly route, it was probably one of the best (in terms of exhilarating) rides I've done in years. The biggest climb had a fast descent, and I will state, the first half scared the living heck out of me, but once I relaxed (I willed myself) I somewhat enjoyed it. The road was narrow with a lot of traffic.

I really like the coach I'm using, we have good chemistry--which to me, is half the battle. Will keep you up to date (and I promise not to over do it) on my progress.

[azfiddle]

Sounds like you've gotten good advice so far. I also think the power meter is not needed for this. I had a coach for a while and she was able to use information from my Garmin, including heart rate and cadence. However, to be honest, I didn't feel like I got much faster... but it was interesting trying the intervals.

I have done one self-guided tour with rides of mostly 40 miles per day. Just doing a lot of regular rides at that length was good training. You might not be able to replicate 60 miles / day for multiple days but I'm sure that once you have some basic cycling fitness for 30 miles, you can up that to back to back rides on a weekend with at least one 60 mile and one 40- 50 mile ride if you can't do 60 miles for two days. That should give you some idea of how you'll feel after two days.

The tour sounds great- where in New Mexico? How much climbing will be involved? 60 miles flat is really different that 60 miles with 5000-7000 feet of climbing.