Get buff, haul stuff
The cool thing about riding to Provincetown is that you really don't need to be an expert cyclist to do it. Whether you're the kind of person who cares about UCI regulations and knows the barista at the Rapha clubhouse or the kind of person who's moderately athletic and able to balance on a bike, you can do this ride. Plus, if you take care of yourself, you can even feel great at the finish line! Here's some suggestions on how to get ready to ride.
Since this is an all-levels social ride, take this advice for what it's worth:
- If you're a regular cyclist in any discipline (road riding, cross, mountain biking, touring/bikepacking), you probably know all of this and do not need a guide. Let us know if you have any nuggets of knowledge we should be adding!
- If you commute regularly on your bike or ride regularly on weekends, you might know some of this already, and again, let us know if we missed something.
- If you're athletic in other ways than bike riding, you're probably set as long as you make sure you can finish a Shakedown Ride strong. Feel free to skip to that section.
- If you're brand new to cyclotouring, congratulations! You're in for a treat. Read on for how to enjoy it.
A Training Schedule, of sorts
Training for a bike ride is a full body experience. You use your your legs, core, arms (wrists especially), and sit bones (the cycling term for "buttcheek and grundle area") on a ride, so don't think of it as just leg day. Training is also about ergonomics, on-road comfort, and—most importantly—psychological readiness. Going fast is fun, but comfort is the name of the game if you want to have fun throughout/afterwards.
We (the Ride Leaders) recommend you make a training schedule and hold to it. Suggested schedules (incidentally, also just our schedules) are below. Feel free to follow our leads, hop on a bike the first weekend and bust out a full shakedown ride, ride every other week and do whatever your main sport is in the meantime, etc. As long as you feel confident and comfortable when you do your 40 mile shakedown ride, we believe you and your bike will be able to schlep all the way down to Ptown.
| Week | Weekend | Mileage (Full) | Mileage (Abbreviated) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3/26 | 10 | - | |
| 2 | 4/2 | 20 | - | |
| 3 | 4/9 | 22 | 10 | Full schedule adds 10% mileage/week, abbreviated adds 5mi/week |
| 4 | 4/16 | 24 | 15 | |
| 5 | 4/23 | 27 | 20 | |
| 6 | 4/30 | 29 | 25 | If you haven't yet, try riding with gear on your bike |
| 7 | 5/7 | 32 | 30 | |
| 8 | 5/14 | 35 | 35 | |
| 9 | 5/21 | 40 | 40 | Shakedown Ride, see below |
| 10 | 5/28 | Rest | Rest | If you had issues on your shakedown ride, do a shorter ride (5-10mi) to confirm fixes. |
| 6/4 | RIDE WEEK | YOU DID IT | CONGRATS |
Example Rides
Tom will be riding a few practice rides and everyone is welcome. All rides start from Lowden but feel free to join at any point along the route -- or do the rides yourself.
Bedford Farms Ice Cream (~26mi)
Out and back trip along the Minute Man. At the end: ice cream. Mostly flat and very few cars aside from the last ~1 mile when you transition from bike path only to rural roads.
Walden Pond (~32mi)
Start along the Minute Man, grab a takeaway lunch on Concord and sit by Walden Pond. Enjoy nature. It is probably still too cold to swim without a wetsuit. This trail is a loop and almost entirely on rolling surface streets with a steep descent near the end.
Nahant (~40mi)
Take a trip along the (hopefully now completed) Northern Strand Community Trail. Out and back ride that ends up at East Point Memorial Park with scenic views of the ocean. Contemplate life.
Salem (~50mi)
Nahant, but longer. Follows the East Coast Greenway from Lynn town center on the Nahant ride.
Shakedown Rides
A Shakedown Ride is the final pre-ride check, which simulates the actual ride as directly as possible, on account of:
- being kinda long, and
- having you ride a loaded bike
- this also helps you make sure your gear/carrying solution are also 💯
Note: Since going from "no load" to "loaded touring" changes your bike's feel, it's best to ramp up the load gradually. Riding to a swimming hole with your beach gear, to a forest with your camping gear, to an empty suburban park with a picnic basket, etc, are all reasonable and maybe fun ways to get used to carrying stuff on your bike.
On your shakedown ride, you should:
- Put in the miles, natch.
- Do it with the gear you intend to carry on the full ride (LMK if this is infeasible for you and we haven't planned around that yet).
- Keep an eye out for common issues, such as:
- Drivetrain/brake noises and difficulties shifting/braking
- Loose/rattly gear and racks
- Your bike being uncomfortable to ride in any way
Don't forget to take pics! We're excited to see where y'all go!