Behind the Scenes

Ok, here’s a quick glimpse behind the scenes of what happens during this tour every day.

Every morning, we wake up, eat breakfast (typically whatever the hotel has), then get ready to ride. That means bring our bag(s) out to the luggage van, make sure our tires have the correct amount of air, load the correct route map on our bike computers, fill bottles with water and electrolytes, and grab fuel. We have a group route talk where the guides remind us of where the van stops and lunch will be, as well as any notes for the day (one lane road at mile 36, for example).

We are supported by three vans: the Luggage Van (full-size Trek Travel van towing a U-Haul trailer), the Picnic Van (full-size Trek Travel van towing custom Trek Travel trailer), and a minivan. As you can guess, the Luggage Van’s primary role is to haul our luggage from hotel to hotel. The primary role of the Picnic Van is to provide our delicious picnic-style lunch every day. The minivan works for snack stops and is also quick reaction in case of flats, etc. All three vans stop for us at least once a day for water support, etc.

We typically have 4-5 van stops per day (including lunch), depending on the overall mileage; that’s usually about every 20 miles. At the van stops, we can refill bottles and restock fuel. Often there is also ice for bottles and cold drinks. We are very well taken care of.

At the end of every ride, the guides set up a recovery station with post-ride recovery shakes (mix your own), cold drinks, salty snacks, and pb&j. We usually bring our bike to our room, but even if we don’t, we’re responsible for charging our front and rear lights and bike computer. Laundry options vary – sometimes none, sometimes at the hotel, and sometimes at a nearby laundromat. I also have a set of Normatec recovery boots (they inflate and deflate to move the blood trapped in your legs back up to your heart) which I try and use every day. After recovery protocols are complete, we eat dinner and go to bed so we can do it all again tomorrow. My bed time varies depending on how hard the day was and how hard tomorrow will be. Early bedtime is 7:30-8:00, late bedtime is 9:00.

Two of the five guides ride bikes with us every day. They are typically “lead” and “sweep” roles, but the are also there for moral support, flat repair, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. The guides work incredibly hard and we all appreciate them so much!