Someone 18 years of age who is relatively active and in good health might be able to hop on a bike and do the distance without training. But, for the rest of the adult world, this is something we will have to work up to. On the other side of the coin, most single day events offer routes of varying intensity and distance to accommodate the varying abilities of the riders. If you choose to go this route, simply pick a ride and route that seems comfortable for you. But if you are going for the long haul, that will require a greater deal preparation.

Most of the various causes sponsoring rides have networks of volunteers who, once you sign up for their charity event, will work with you helping you train to get ready. Typically there will be a cause specific website you can visit which will post schedules of rides at various levels of difficulty run specifically for the purpose of helping you train for their event. Most sponsors also have written training schedules that will guide you in preparing on your own. The good programs have both.

If you have signed up for a multi-day long distance ride, you will have to train for the event! If you think you can get ready for a multi day ride by riding once a week on weekends, you are mistaken. You will have to make a commitment to a training schedule that has you working out on your bike at least two, preferably three, days a week minimum. If this sounds like a lot of time, it is. Remember the part where I said that the fund raising was the easy part? Well now youÕre finding out what I meant. This does not mean that you will have to ride 100 miles every time you get on your bike. But you should be prepared to spend 3-9 hours on your bike per week in the months leading up to your ride.

Once you get good at it, riding your bike in training actually becomes fun! Your training time, which in the early spring starts out as a cold miserable effort, one which leaves you rubber legged and questioning your own sanity, ultimately becomes your personal time of joyful celebration. A time in which your body works perfectly, propelling you almost effortlessly through the best time of the day, a time in which you enjoy the morning smells of awakening flowers and dew evaporating from the grass.

You will have become an athlete! And you will not want to stop! The charity event itself will not be the physical challenge you thought that it would be, rather it will be the celebration of your months of work, and the reward for your efforts. That is, it will be, if you trained!

So then you are expected to deliver a healthy body, trained for the event, which has fund raised to the expected level, and which is mounted on a safe, serviceable, well maintained bike ready for the rigors of the road. You should have at least two water bottles mounted on your frame, or a camelback, a basic self repair tool kit, patch kits for your tubes, at least two spare tubes, a pump, and a happy attitude ready to ride and help others.