Yea, the title pretty much says it all. I’m in training. Which is another word for getting back in well enough shape so I can ride a mountain Bike more then 500 yards without kneeling on the ground pleading with my lungs to give me more oxygen.

I haven’t been riding bikes for a very long time. To be more accurate, the last time I did anything serious on a mountain bike was the summer of 1999. So ya, you could say I need to get back in shape if I want to accomplish my goal this fall.

The Goal

My goal this fall is to take my bike to Acadia National Park and ride some of the carriage roads down there.
Sounds simple enough right? Well, I have found out that there is 20 miles of carriage roads on the island that can be traveled by way of Bikes.
I want to travel the whole loop, and still be able to load the bike onto my vehicle and drive home. lol

My Weapon of Choice

I picked up a used 21 speed Mongoose D40 not to long ago basically because the price was right. lol   It is in great shape for it’s age. The tires hold air and are not weather cracked and have close to new tread.  The bike had been always stored inside which was proven by the lack of frozen, rusted brake cables. The paint is in great shape minus a few small spots of surface rust where the bike may have flipped a time or two and the paint was scratched off.

After greasing the bearings and chain and derailers, i have been preparing to get in shape for my fall coastal ride.

I started out by hitting an old dirt road a few towns from me that I knew didn’t have much traffic. It is a discontinued road, which simply means it is no longer maintained by the town or the state. It is mainly used as an ATV  access trail now. For my first attempt I figured I would ride it for about a mile out and then back. I figured a 2 mile stretch as a start would suffice. the road has a few hills but nothing real steep, so that would let me do some gear changing and get my heart rate up.  after all, not much of an exercise if the road is flat right?

I was in high spirits as I peddled myself down the road. Wow, not so bad. I’m in better shape then I thought. Well, that was my thoughts at the start of the ride. Needless to say, I was singing a different tune by the time I got back from the ride.

As I practically fell off the bike and fought my way to my vehicle while blood sounded like it wanted to explode out my ears, I came to a conclusion.

It’s going to take a lot of times out like this before I can even consider hauling my bike down to Acadia.

However, I will get there this Fall.   I’ll be sure to blog about that trip, no matter if it goes smoothly or if I find out I’m still out of shape.

Bookmark this site so you can come back and read about it!