As a qualification for the words ahead, I feel that you need at least one solid summer of cycling if you plan to make a coast to coast ride.

Doing it on the road
Because being mentally prepared for your Grand TransAm ranks in equal importance to how physically fit you will need to become, you can speak to both of these preconditions while out on the road during the longer days of summer. And it is crucial that you understand that if your Coast-to-Coast ride is going to be a successful one that you absolutely have to be out on the road. No longer can you opt for the safety, predictability and time efficacy of doing it indoors on rollers or trainers.

And don't think you need back road riding to be ready for your ride across what is mostly rural America. Get out on the road now. And by all means DO NOT think you have to transport you and your bike to worthy riding turf in order to do so. No way! Where you need to be is, with but rare exception, right out your front door! For example, in 1986 as I was waiting for the Brain Injury Association to get my tour all set up for the Northeast (after I had already crossed the US), for the three weeks that I stayed in New York City, I was able to stay in top shape even in and amongst the traffic and other craziness of that bustling city.

While there, I rode from the Greenwich Village area to Central Park on a daily basis. Once in the park I could let my guard down just a little as I rode loop after loop on the quieter roads in and around it. For me this was not much different from Oakland, CA where I trained for my very first TransAm. In Oakland, I had to fight through much congested circumstance just to be able to get to it's beautiful tree covered hill roads.

And no matter where I've lived or for that matter traveled on a bike, when headed for back roads, the intense traffic has never lasted more than ten or fifteen minutes before I could then relax a little on the bike. And you will need to be ready for busy roads because you will be passing through the excitement of big cities. Even though you will be getting you through them on the safest arterails you will have found, you still will need to be mixing it up with the cars and trucks and buses of the concrete jungle.

If winter has kept you inside, once you get back out on the road, you will need to rebuild your bike handling skills. Here working with your brakes and being able to anticipate any shifting that will be required of you are important skills that will need to be sharpened. Later in the summer, as we will show you, your rides will need to be done with a loaded down bike.

Change your Body Clock
You also need to be riding now, ON THE ROAD, as much as you can, so that your body clock can get used to a whole new way for time to pass. Instead of deadlines, or appointments or event or practice times, even breaktime or how many days until pay day or when your rent or mortgage is due, none of that will matter once you hit the TransAm road. If you are in an urban area, you need to internalize the fact that that the next town or city center is no longer the eye blink of a few offramps away but often a worthy pedaling distance filled with challenge you couldn't know to exist if your time had been spent in a car.

While on two wheels, just as you remember every hill, stop light and threatening driveway or side street that may have slowed you down, you will also begin to develop the new understanding for time that you will need. In fact, soon, your lifestyle will be forced to slow down to match this new pace. And this is a pace you will to need to know because on your TransAm, the clock will not rule your every mile and every meal.

Instead it can be used to casually remind you where everyone else is in their day so you can plan accordingly. As the rest of the world rushes about to make ends meet, you can use your watch to know when to expect commute traffic, when campgrounds or certain stores will be closing, and you can even use one to determine what kind of pace you are keeping as your ride. If you don't want to wear one on your wrist, you can let your handlebars wear one for you as such a miniature clock can be a worthwhile addition.

After just a few weeks of your tour, soon, you will barely know what day of week it is. Here, where a calendar is far less important as you will know to gauge weekends by the lightly trafficked early morning roads of the towns and cities along the way. Do beware of popular recreation areas such as lakes or national parks however. In the later parts of the morning, the roads to these areas can fill up with steady processions of vehicles in all sizes and shapes.

Hitting it early
Another dynamic to get used to is awakening and soon getting into motion with the morning sun. If you do so all week long and this means losing your opportunity to sleep in during the weekend, you will have to make this sacrifice. This is crucial because you absolutely cannot afford to think of your TransAm as a holiday after thought. It, like your work day is a job. And to do the job effectively, as well as have the most fun when you are out on the road, you must do your best to beat as much of the day's heat, afternoon winds and work, school and errand traffic as you can.

Another reason, you will want to awaken early is so that you can find a suitable night's stay for yourself, especially if you plan to camp. Most of the campgrounds you will have set your sights on will either be closed or filled if you arrive after 6 in the evening.

If all of this means an earlier bedtime, consider this a part of your summer training. Effective cyclists are morning people. And this is a dynamic that you can learn if you want to show up in such a way bad enough. To better understand why this is so, after about a month of re-acclimating your body to the road, especially if the weather has kept you inside, you will need to schedule one or two overnight camping tours for yourself. If the closest campground is far beyond what you can make in a day, build your ride around a hotel. But ride there fully loaded and leave early to get there and leave early when you make your return.

Ride Loaded
When I say 'fully loaded', I mean carry all the gear you will need to make it from one coast to another. Whether on your bike or in a trailer, you will need to shake down any glitches that could appear long before your hit the road with us next year. You will also need to get used to the dramatically changed performance characteristics of your bike. If your gear is on the bike, read this to mean slow and cumbersome. If off the bike, in a trailer, you will still be slower and yet even though your bike will still feel like the bike you have always known, you will need more space for the two of you for turns and parking. You will also need to get used to backing up with one. If you are undecided about which option, take a look at our discussion of this entitled, Trailers vs. Panniers.

Either way, even before you make that first overnighter as well as after you have made it, you will want to toughen yourself up for the road ahead by riding your fully loaded bike as much as you can. Even if you are not camping, you will still do well to make loaded training rides with some degree of frequency. Even if it means evoking a few strange looks as you ride around town with your sleeping bag and tent and stove and all of the other miscellany you will need, doing so will prepare you for the oddity you can expect to become on your tour.

Let's Ride!
With all of that said, let's get out and ride. If you can discipline yourself to adhere to the following schedule, there is no doubt in my mind that you have what it takes to successfully complete a TransAm. Note that I have not factored in rest days below. Try not to take more than one a week and make up for the lost mileage by adding what you sipped to the rest of the week's rides such that you still end up getting the total miles I am suggesting here for each and every week.

Nor is it a good idea to try to get all of your miles on the weekends alone. You need to, as the great bike racer, Eddie Mercyx, says, "ride lots". You need to make the bike a part of your lifestyle. It needs to be with you pretty much everywhere you go so that you and those others around you will know what kind of success you have planned for yourself next summer!

Read and Visualize
To supplement the above, you will do well to read about those others who have successfully crossed the US on a bicycle. If on your breaks, and after or before work or school, anytime you are off of your bike, you learn about what the TransAm road is like beforehand, you will be inspired to train with conviction. And as you visualize in such a way, as you learn and then apply on a daily basis you will have built enough tough to know your efforts will place you in the TransAm Winners Circle!

At Amazon.com, there are tons of titles you can peruse if you do a search on 'Bicycle Touring'.

Happy summer cycling to all of you my fellow power persons  !!