Although the trip is still almost a year away, my mom and I have begun training. 100 km of cycling a day is no easy feat. Also taking into consideration that with the long distances we’ll have to cross a couple of mountain ranges, which will be, understandably, significantly challenging. We don’t have proper touring bikes yet, but we’ve been lucky enough to find a great bike shop that’s been able to rent us bikes to start on. Growing up in Holland, I biked all the time so I was shocked when I realized how different road biking/touring is to a commuter bike style. The biggest realization to me was that I’d have to wear a helmet. Yes, a helmet. I’d never worn a helmet to bike before, because in Holland, nobody does, what’s the use? Another thing I’ve gotten to know a bit better are the lovely invention of bike shorts. Thank god for who ever invented those (Wikipedia doesn’t seem to know who). Hours of sitting on a tiny, hard, lumpy seat can really make for a wonderfully painful behind, isn’t that lovely? Unfortunately, I haven’t been terribly diligent about sticking to my training schedule as volleyball season is starting up and Netflix is so very addicting. All that aside, I have been training most of the time. If I’m not out on the road for around a 50km ride then I tend to cycle on a stationary bike for around an hour along with some weight training. Sadly the training is going to get way more intense in the upcoming months, nearly doubling in time commitment. Honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to handle it all once school starts in September, but I’m hoping everything works out well.