Proper preparation prevents poor performance!

And so I use the exercise bike almost everyday! 

One of the things most of the travel blogs I read so far has taught me is that you need to be ready for the first days of riding. It will be difficult because of your expectations of the bike, yourself and of whatever route you have chosen beforehand.
You might not cover the distance you want, or the weather is slowing you down. Many things can prevent you from reaching your goal. 

So I decided that not being able to ride long distances shouldn't be the problem that prevented me. Most days I sit on the exercise bike, and some days I even run afterwards.
In the beginning it was 20-30 km. Then I went to 50-70 km. Today I did 90 km.
So I'm getting there. The average distance for every day I bike in Japan is 109 km, so some days will be less, some days will be more. My average speed is about 23 km/t which isn't a whole lot, but if I were to race across Japan just like that I wouldn't need 50 days, haha. 

Oh, and I get to sit for more than 3 hours a day and what whatever television show without feeling bad about. (Not that feeling bad prevents me from watching an additional 3 hours after finishing the exercise...) But it's a good way to spend time while biking. Otherwise I would be bored out of my mind!

The best part though: my legs are feeling really good. Even after biking and running it feels like I didn't do anything. If I feel like this after each day in Japan then I might do the trip faster than expected, but I won't get my high hopes. One thing I learned through all the outdoor trips is that some things can't be planned, some things can't be foreseen and sometimes you just have to make do and come up with a way to do it better next time. 

I suspect that the learning curve will be highest in the beginning of my trip and that I will find some kind of routine quickly. For now I will concentrate on reaching 110 km. After that I will adjust my route, find camping spots and contact people I know in Japan. I also need to secure a bike, gear and clothes. So much to do!  

That's it for today. I released all the other posts on the blog so people can read them now. I wrote them a while ago and they are more or less a product of the situation when I wrote them, some things might have changed! 

Quote of the day: Good Preparation is half the work
Condition: Post-series depression (look it up if you don't know what it is!)