Training

 Bob D. (an awesome FANY alum) lets FANY Riders download his Excel spreadsheet log for free!  

LOTS OF FUN & SOME HILLS! New York has wonderfully diverse terrain, and we plan to sample all of it. We'll be riding along Lake Champlain and in the Hudson River Valley.  We'll spend some time on hills with scenery that makes the climbing absolutely worthwhile.

(Remember, it's still your hill, even if you have to walk up it - and many of us do walk.)

You have the  choice to average either 70 mi/day, or our new 50 mi/day option.  They'll be mostly road miles, with a new few short stretches of hard packed dirt roads or bike trails.  Light-weight, multi-geared road or touring bikes are recommended.  However almost all types of bikes have come on  FANY; tandems, folders, trikes, mountain bikes, hybrids, recumbents.  Oddly though, no unicycles yet.  :-)

Also, have NEW tires on your bike! You'll be biking for 300+  miles on all kinds of roads, so be sure to use touring/road  tires.  Bike racers usually use 18-23 tires, but many on FANY find that 25-28 are more comfortable for long tours. (Does your front fork accommodate this size tires?) Also NYS has been testing new road surfaces, so tires with names that include "Survivor" or "Gator Skins" make sense, unless you like changing flats.

Knobby tires on mountain bikes usually create too much road resistance to be useful for a long road tour.

Talk to your local bike store about tires that fit both your bike and the adventure of FANY Ride.

Looking to rent an awesome bike for FANY?  (Only avail for Full Ride, not half week options.)  Please contact the fine folks at Unlimited Biking.  They'll bring the bike to meet you in Poughkeepsie, and be there at the end of FANY to make returning it easy.  Great bikes, great service.

YES!  YOU REALLY CAN DO IT! Every year newbies sign-up for FANY to accomplish a goal they set for themselves.  Free hints for training are listed below.

But if you want professional coaching as you train for this great adventure please contact  Mara Miller of Double Star Coaching LLC.  Mara's a 2x USA Cycling Masters Nat'l Champion, former professional cyclist as well as a USA Cycling, USA Triathlon and IMBA certified coach.  She provides on-line training plans for athletes preparing for a goal event or in need of season long coaching.  On top of that, Mara has done FANY 2x, so she knows exactly what you're training to achieve. 

TRAINING HINTS ON-LINE:

Active.com

and more from

REI

and more from

Adventure Cycling*

• NOTE: FANY will carry your gear to each overnight town. When Adventure Cycling talks about "Riding With Weight" they assume you'll be carrying your gear.  You can if you really want to, but why?
  

Last year's bikers would say that "FANY CAN BE HILLY."  We often go up, not around, 10% grades and on occasion FANY has climbed (or walked) 14%.

So make sure to include hills in your training! Train on the bike that you're going to ride.

Join a bike club and go on club rides to increase your speed and endurance.   Also at some point, make sure that you train at least 5 consecutive days, to see if you really like throwing your leg over the bike day after day.