Road To Romaniacs - Episode 1 : Training
Well, we’re doing this. And, we’re learning a ton just from the process of articulating what the heck is happening. This blog/vlog series will be released from two separate perspectives: Overkill Andy is releasing a weekly (ish) video on YouTube (see below), and I (Susan) am in charge of the written supplement. To be honest, I considered just copying the transcript from the YouTube video here, but I think you’d miss a critical component. To be fair, Andy is doing the heavy lifting (warning: there will be more bad puns throughout these blogs), but it’s hard to capture everything that’s going on in a 5-10 minute clip. And, no one, not even privateers at Dakkar, actually go it alone. I wanted to capture the additional perspective here and provide a bit more context. Plus, if you have particular questions, whether it pertains to logistics or training or any part of our experience, throw your question in the comments and we’ll address it in a future installment.
We tend to just appear at rides from coast to coast, but there is an awful lot that goes into this traveling circus. Andy and I both work full time jobs that are incredibly satisfying in and of themselves. We take a great deal of pride in our careers and give as much as we can to our jobs. Heavy Enduro, and getting to Romaniacs, are passion projects. We do this because we absolutely love riding and even more importantly, we want to contribute to a community that has given us so very much. You may see snippets of training or workouts on our social media pages, but the reality is, Andy is working out every day.
The current regimen is a mix of cardio and strength training that occupies at least an hour every morning before work. He comes back home to shower, make sure the dogs get a minute of love before heading into work. I try to get home early enough to walk the dogs before it’s dark out, prep dinner and then get in my own workout. Yoga and rock climbing, and Andy joins in on the rock climbing for at least a couple hours. It is an amazing total body workout that is core intensive and trains balance in unexpected and changing conditions. A huge bonus is that if you’re doing it right, you’re not over gripping each hold and it prevents arm pump on the bike. So, now we’re up to 2-3 hour workouts every day and I’m a bit fanatical about getting my steps in, so I’ll sometimes be able to con Andy into adding anywhere from 1 to 4 miles with the dogs. Are you tired yet? We haven’t even gotten to meal prep. But nutrition feels like a whole separate blog.
But then, the weekend hits. To help with off-season training, because we chose to live at the 42nd parallel, we’ve staged our bikes out west. This has meant trips to Arizona and California with another week long stint around St. George, Utah coming up in a few weeks. Glamorous, right? Fly and ride. Easy peasy. The reality is that we are incredibly fortunate to be able to do this, but it takes a good bit of finagling and I have taken intentional steps in my career to be mostly autonomous and to be able to work from the road when necessary. I fly in and drive to our target destination, filling the water tank and picking up supplies before working from the RV until Andy flies in after coordinating with a dog/house sitter and making sure he’s not leaving a dumpster fire at the shop. Still sound easy? Clearly, you’ve never driven a 29’ RV through Hawthorne Plaza just south of LAX, trying to get into the Costco only to find that (1) the speed bumps are unreasonably tall, (2) the corners are impossible without hitting a 3-point turn or hitting angry Karen’s SUV, and (3) there is no parking. I fit into 4 parking spots easily. I did not fit into that Costco. I also found that there are only 2 sites between Malibu and Tijuana that will let you fill up on potable water in the months of January or February. Super fun discovery. And then, the airport pickup. San Diego airport has a 13’ clearance for all vehicles. They don’t tell you until you’re on a one-way into the arrivals pick-up lanes with no outs. I made it, but not without a fair amount of anxiety. And, most of the desert apparently has no cell phone signal. If you don’t set up your StarLink prior to hitting a dead spot, you’ve got a $600 paperweight and will probably miss the Zoom call with opposing counsel that took weeks to schedule. So, if you’re not popping a Xanax yet, well, I suppose you’re ready to adventure with us.
TLDR? Racing is hard. Prepping for a race of this magnitude changes you. Training is a lifestyle. Working out will occupy no less than 3 hours of your day not including getting to the gym + 8 hours of work + 1.5 hour commute + prep your bike + possibly sleep. I imagine by June, we’ll be scheduling our shits.
