"The first 30 minutes aren't so bad, as your body burns through the last of the stored glycogen in your muscles, but once that's gone, your body has to find alternative sources of fuel--and that ends up being fat, protein, brain cells, whatever. It's excruciating."

Oooo. ok i get it.  and i wondered why i was having difficulty remembering my children's names after some long rides...

Maybe your children have forgettable names like boy, girl and you. Poor choices in my mind, but so are destiny, auburn and viola.

This thread has been really useful for me to read as I gear up for this trip: http://ridetherockies.com/

Yay!  now THAT should be an impressive experience.  How is the training going?

 I have been pondering the "form and Freshness" feature of Strava.  anyone familiar with that?  from the looks of the data, it seems like two weeks of pretty low key recovery before the ride would bring fatigue way down and form way up.  but I am not really sure how it works yet.  I wish you could put in theoretical rides and have it spit out the optimal program.  is there another software that does that?

Tapir and Re-upholstery

All the advice on this thread has been great, and now, some weeks later, I definitely have a better idea of what LSD distance training is about, and am improving well.   Yesterday's ride to Bear mtn and and back was the queen stage of my training program, so to speak, at 114 miles and about 7k feet of climbing, so from here untill the ride it is pretty much about recovery, and tapering off.  Which is another interesting question.  Any thoughts on what sort of riding to do to maintain fitness level yet fully recover from high fatigue and low form (he said using the nifty Strava vocabulary)?  for example, a)stay off the bike for the next 16 days, b) ride 20 miles a day at 12mph c) recover for 5 days, try a race or two, and then stay off the bike for the last week...  might be a dumb question, but then again, someone on NPR said there are no dumb questions, so there ya go.  How to taper and recover?

Congratulations on a massive training block McKay - that was a serious commitment. All your pennies are in the bank, now - the rest is the fun part; sleep, shorter rides and enjoying your fitness in LA for a good cause!

Yesterday and today off is fine.

great, thankyou!  

thank you all!

thank you all!

And... done!  545 miles later, back home and well.  wow.  now I know what that is all about.  Many beautiful miles, and a new relationship with my body.  So much to say, but in the end, its true, I probably didnt need to train so much for it, and would have been better off buying some shell steaks to put in my shorts. 

Also, interestingly, most of what it was about seemed to be food.  I was perpetually either ravenous or nauseous.   Over 7 days of riding, i tried all different tactics, but in the end analysis, i think that people are very good at this sort of thing have above all else better digestive tracts somehow.  Going forward, it now seems to me that bikers obsession with nutrition is not as crazy as it seems.  If your fuel lines are not running perfectly, the engine is not getting the gas.  simple as that. 

Camping? not so bad.
 long lines for everything, all day long? not so much fun.
weather? wonderful. cool and foggy in the morning, hot and sunny in the day, cool and clear at night.
 food?   available, plentiful, healthy, but less tasty than hoped. 
lanacane? my new best friend. 
cannondale pro bike mechanics ? friendly, but less knowledgeable than one would think. 
the community? you will have to go find out for yourself.
the route? mostly great, except when going through towns.  big long climbs are my new favorite things on a ride.

i would jump at the opportunity to do a more serious training week, and am imagining that the february trips are a good idea, if it becomes feasible to do.

miss going fast though...

Great to hear McKay; sounds like you guys smashed it on the fund raising side too!