One of the nice things about bike commuting 19 miles a day is that you develop a base of strength in your legs that allows you to bang out 50-80 mile days when you're touring. Integrating this workout into your daily life means you'll be able to do multi-day charity rides or self-planned tours without specific preparation.
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So when it came time to bike to Burning Man, I basically just threw some bags in my Xtracycle and took to the road. The ride started in Quincy, California, where I was off-road touring on Xtracycles with friends. Then I took off from there to Nevada for the festival. It was 180 miles in two days. The second day was about 95-100 miles, and included 80 miles on dirt through the Nevada desert. During those 80 miles I encountered 5-10 vehicles, many toads, a snake, cows, and some dogs who couldn't decide whether to be aggressive or friendly.
