I tend to agree with you on that. I had done a lot of riding before my 2004 Australia tour, but figured I was in pretty good shape anyway, and would get in better shape on the tour. Plus, that's what everyone told me!

I started that tour exhausted (moving right before the tour kind of took it out of me), rode exhausted for 3 months, and finished that tour exhausted. I had way too much stuff with me (which I corrected as I went along), and had bitten off a bit too much.

Given that I had done all my training in Manitoba (flat as a pancake), and had done very little riding in hills or mountains ... especially with loaded panniers (1 week in Wales the year before didn't cut it) ... I had a lot of difficulty covering the distance. Toward the end I did improve my hill climbing, but I had a rather miserable first month and a half walking up everything in sight. If I had focussed more on hill climbing with loaded panniers, I could have saved myself a lot of grief during the first half of the tour.

Also, my ride partner on that tour and I weren't on the same page. He was the type of guy who was happy covering 100 to 150 kms a day. I'm the type of girl who would prefer to cover about half that. I'm a randonneur so I'm used to riding long distances, but this tour turned into a 3-month randonnee, and that was a bit too much. I just wasn't in shape to ride 100+ kms a day over mountains. And again, perhaps if I had trained with that in mind, it might have made the whole tour a bit more enjoyable.

Not to say I didn't enjoy the tour, there were very enjoyable aspects (loved the trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, for example), but the cycling part wasn't one of them ... and I still think that lack of preparation on my part was partly to blame for that.

In recent years my training has changed ... lots more hills because I live in a hillier area now. And my tours have changed ... much more relaxed.