James H. email re: Previous Tour

Gil,

The one thing I can guarantee you is that the tour will totally exceed your expectations. You will have the time of your life. I went last year for the complete tour and I am just as excited about this year. One of the reasons I am so excited is that I do not have the anxiety that you are now feeling. There is nothing I can say to remove your worry other than you will not have any trouble with the tour. I was one that wanted to do EFI (every fantastic inch or every f__king inch). The tour leaders admitted that our crossing was the most difficult they had encountered. We had HEADWINDS 80% of the tour. One of the days we crossed the desert we had 20 – 45 MPH headwinds and record heat (115 degrees). They actually closed the interstate due to high winds and dust. That was the only day I did not finish. Only 2 people finished that day and one had to go to the hospital that night and did not ride for the next day and a half. A gust of wind actually pick one of the smaller women and her bike and slammed her to the ground. She did not ride for the next 2 weeks. I am not telling you this to discourage you but to let you know we had some extraordinary circumstances. If you are riding centuries already this year you will not have any problems. Just take your time and remember this is not a race. Enjoy the country. The #1 problem people had on the our trip was saddle sores. The 2 recommendations I have are to make sure you are comfortable with your saddle and that your bike is geared low enough. I put a triple chain ring on my bike and was glad I did. I lot of the guys did not use triples but had compacts and did just fine.

I believe our group bonded very well. About 10 of us went to Texas and rode in the hill country for a week. Hopefully we will continue this each year and include some new friends from this trip. I do not believe EFI hindered us in any way. It may be because everyone blew the EFI due to the desert crossing the 1^st week.

The first week is tough but not impossible by any means. You will get stronger every week. One tip – do not try to lose weight on the tour. I found out quickly that you need to keep your energy up and not worry about the weight. I bonked one day and made sure it did not happen again. I did finish that day but was miserable.

YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE. YOU ARE GOING TO DO JUST FINE.

Jim H