It's All Mental

Everyone except Sonny, Lee, and myself have departed the Magic Circle. We will remain for another 2 weeks. The training I'm speaking of tonight is mental. We are trying to get our weight down in the next couple of months. The best way to do this is cut back on beer. All of our happy hour companions are gone so you would think this would be easy. No more bad influences. Sonny does not drink.  No one offering a beer every time you drop over. It's all up to us now. As I sit here with a cup of tea I know it's all mental.

157 lbs dropping to 140 lbs. in 8 weeks. I should roll into June at my goal. It's all mental.

The bicycle training is going well. I need to slow us down just a bit. We are training at to high a heart rate for this early in the program. We did 40.3 miles in less then 2 hrs 10 min over an 800' rise in the earth on Sunday. Took today (Monday) off. I found several tires in the truck so we should not need to buy any for a while. We will train about 6000 miles in the next 23 weeks. The tandem goes through a rear tire in about 1000 miles and a front in 2400 miles. At  $40-$60 a tire, finding these tires was like finding a small gold mine. We will also use 6 chains at $30 each. Who said bicycling was cheap. We need a sponsor.  It's all mental. Where the hell are all my bicycle parts hiding in the truck? Damn brain! CRS

We Have Decided to Bicycle Across the USA

After many weeks of drunken conversation the 5 Naked Amigos have decided to bicycle across the southern United States. Let me introduce the Amigos.

Gloria and Ivan:
Married 51 years, full time RVers for several years. Ivan started across the country years ago but his riding partner crashed.  Ivan will ride the entire route.  Bicycling credentials; MTB rides to town to go to Beer Belly's Saloon . Bought a new road bike last week. Gloria will be support half time and ride half time, unless we can convince her to do the whole thing. Bicycling credentials; Rides with Ivan to the bars but does at least stop by the Post Office for their mail.

Sonny:
Retired truck driver with millions of safe miles. Full time RVer.  Lost 50 pounds walking 6-8 miles a day this year. He will be our main support crew, driving G&Is motorhome.  We will be going to every Hooters restaurant close to our route to enhance Sonny's T-shirt collection.

Lee:
My partner for the past year. Retired from the state of California, where she lived her entire life until Rick. We will test our relationship by riding a tandem bicycle. Bicycling credentials; rode centuries back in the '80s, got back into cycling with me on the back of our MTB tandem (crazy woman).

Rick:
Retired 9 years ago and moved into an RV.  Bicycling credentials; rode extensively until about 5 years ago. Probably the most experienced and know what we are facing, but I'm not going tell them. (HAHA)

The training has begun.