I am hours away from flying to Kansas to resume my journey.  During the last 10 months, I have:

• Recovered fully from shoulder surgery
• Lived as a snowbird in Northern Florida, accumulating training miles on my touring bicycle by riding along the beach against sustained winter winds
• Returned to Northern Virginia to polish off my training rides with some hills and serious slopes while carrying full weight

Because of muscle memory, training wasn’t as hard the second time around. In fact, I feel stronger and more capable as compared to last year.

I shipped my touring bicycle to Kansas using BikeFlights, a marvelously cost-effective method of getting a bike to where it needs to be by the date you desire.

I monitored the weather in Kansas and decided to purchase my plane ticket six weeks beforehand. Considering the recent days of tornados in the area, my timing actually appears to be ideal as the weather will be calmer when I get there.

Upon arrival to Kansas, I’ll assemble the bicycle and ride to the local Target and Walmart to stock up on supplies that couldn’t fly with me (such as camping fuel).  After a night’s rest, I’ll bike 35 miles to the north to catch up with the spot where I left off.

I have about 2000 miles ahead of me through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Virginia.  I plan to take a slow and steady approach and have allotted plenty of time for the mission. 

The only serious trepidation I have is about the severe slopes in the Ozark and Appalachian Mountains. I take some solace in the thought that some of the most challenging climbs in the Rockies involved several thousand of feet of elevation gain spread over 20 miles. This often involved climbing for most of the day in a state of prolonged physical and mental anguish. 

The anguish might be more pronounced since slopes in the Ozarks and Appalachians can be twice what is typical in the Rockies, but I don’t expect the anguish to be as prolonged. For instance, the most severe climb on this half of the journey involves 2000 feet of elevation gain spread over 3.5 miles. And this most daunting challenge is located towards the end of the journey so my legs and my mental state should be prepared by then. This element of the challenge is one of the reasons I’m pursuing this quest. I don’t like biking up mountains, especially on a loaded touring bike, but I know that it is good for me.  So I’ve embraced the goal to “Conquer Mount Vesuvius.”

I plan to update the blog with new entries and pictures on about a weekly basis.  Thanks for tracking my progress.  I appreciate your encouraging online comments as well.

For those of you who are newcomers to this blog, I recommend that you read the older posts from the bottom up to get the context for what I am doing and why, and to get a sense of my earlier adventures. I appreciate your interest as well.