I am starting to get a bit nervous! Luckily I am a list person but my list is growing lists of its own. Yesterday I finally had to sit down, breath and just relax. As you might have read, Rich and I got our new BMC bikes and they are just fabulous. Probably more bike than I deserve and they are really fast and light. I was going to ride with my Cosmic Carbone wheels but after a ride in 20 mph winds, I found that fighting the wind and staying on my bike were more than I wanted to deal with, so I am riding with less aggressive wheels and the comfort in the wind will be worth the trade off of cool looking!

We've finally been able to get in some good riding these last couple weeks. Unfortunately not every day but on the days we could, we were able to get in at least 50 or more. I feel with all the winter training that we did on the computrainer, we are ready for the ride. We might not have all the miles we wanted but we have quality in training. I spent a lot of time on power, cadence and interval training. My coach is Shawn Heigen and she is the first American woman to have completed the women's Giro d'Italia. She raced professionally up until about two yeas ago. She founded Pactimo Performance with her husband Karl, who is a racer also. She is one of the best coaches I have ever experienced and is able to really zero in on what I need.

Well, I am going to stop for now. I've been busy downloading music for my iPod and finishing my journal that I made for the trip. It is rather nice if I might say so myself and possibly a new product for BicycleGifts?! Stay tuned for more as the trip becomes a reality!

Rich has taught me how to "blog" so now I am going to add my 2-cents on the ride. It seems like a hundred years ago since we gave our deposit. I think we have been ready to go on this ride since at least November! We have had a very harsh winter and my motivation to continue on the CompuTrainer has hit an all time low. Actually, I have fallen of the indoor training bandwagon! It is the middle of April and snow still can threaten our lives! My cycling coach, Shawn Heigen, is doing everything in her power to keep me on my bike. But let us think of happier thoughts, like shoe shopping or buying a new bike.

Yes, Plan B has gone into effect. The Colnagos will not make it in time and after many phone calls, we decided to build two new BMC Pro Machines. I must say it is a pretty fancy pants bike! Of course the guys at the Bike Shop in Glen Ellyn built my bike first! I even got a chance to get out and take it for a test spin. Rich will have his tomorrow and we will be the Bobbsey Twins with our matching BMCs. We are going to finally have a decent day to ride and we are going to try and take in about 50 tomorrow. As I was riding today I realized I need some quantity time on my new saddle because after a few miles, I was kinda feeling it (if you know what I mean!).

The packing is pretty much done. Now I just need to load the secret "extra" bag with all the shoes...just kidding. I am forcing myself to one pair tennis shoes and a pair of flips. Seven weeks with only two shoe choices is very cruel. Once I've loaded my bags we will weigh them and I will begin the arduous task of taking things out. What can I really live without? Not the iPod. Not the face cream. I did buy one of those Amazon Kindle electronic book machines. It is pretty cool and I can carry hundreds of books and none of the weight.

It seems I am rambling so I will sign off for now. We look forward to keeping you posted on our trip. Feel free to write back to us through the blog or regular email. We will love to hear from you. Rich bought me a helmet camera for Christmas and we tested it out. Look for a few pictures from our training ride tomorrow.

Ciao! Auf Wiedersehen!

Here we will talk a little bit about the luggage we will be living with for the 50 days we are on the road. CrossRoads has provided each of us with two duffel bags. Our weight limit is 30 pounds each between two duffels with neither being able to weigh over 20 pounds. Yes, they will weigh them throughout the trip to be certain we don't add too many heavy souvenirs. Our cycling clothing will consist of four biking outfits with arm and knee warmers, rain jacket, head sweats and wind vests. Our civies will be a couple of pair of shorts, three or four tops, a lightweight pair of shoes and miscellaneous underthings. We will cary travel size toothpaste, lotion, etc and replenish at each of our layover days. We plan to have a box shipped to each of our five stops.

A test run for Rich including 4 pounds for our new MacBook Air laptop computer, case and cables yielded a weight of 24 pounds without toiletries. Laura will carry our cellphone and iPod chargers and we should be pretty good.

A sad thing right now is that we may not have our new Colnago bikes built in time to get enough shake out miles on them to take with on our trip. We will know in a day or two. If not, plan B is to ride our old Colnago's and Rich possibly his Look 585.