How to train for the tour.

Biking the PF

Daunting as the distance may sound, the PF is mapped out in small chunks that will be manageable for most anyone.  According to the League of American Bicyclists, the average bike commute speed is 10 mph.  Factored into that average speed are things like traffic, lights, and other impediments associated with riding in a city, as with most commuting.  Much of our riding will be more open and sustained where it will be possible to maintain a higher speed, without all the stopping and starting.

Except for the Richmond to Fredericksburg leg of the tour, each day entails between 30-45 miles of riding.  While this may sound like a lot, it is only 3-4.5 hours of riding spread out over the whole day (and that’s using the conservative speed estimate). The Richmond to Fredericksburg leg is long, but that’s an unfortunate necessity, there’s nothing closer to Richmond that makes sense for us to stop for. Still using the conservative estimate, that ride will be about 5.5 hours, certainly attainable when you consider that that amount of activity is spread over the whole day. We’ll rest well, get up early, hit the road slow and steady, roll into Fredericksburg and have a good time.

The PF is no race

There will be riders of all types on bikes of all types. Road bikes, hybrids, mountain bikes, skinny tires, fat tires, fast riders, slow riders; it’s not about a competition or what kind of bike you have. We're all going to bike together and arrive together. No one will be left behind to climb up any hills by themselves. We'll be riding in a group (or groups depending on numbers, traffic and road conditions/width) with a designated person to bring up the rear so that nobody gets left behind.

In addition we'll be doing some get-acquainted/shakedown rides to do a bit of training, meeting, greeting and getting used to riding with each other before the tour starts. These rides will meet in Harrisonburg with a planned route in mind, just to get some miles under our respective belts before we depart. And, if you can’t make it to the training rides, or just want to ride more, go out for a spin by yourself or with a friend. See what there is around/outside of town that you’ve never seen before. It’s fun and that’s partly why we do it.

We're in this to have a good time and spread the word about petroleum-free transportation. We've designed it to be open to as many people of as many ability levels as possible.  If you have any questions give us a shout.