Day 4 at RAGBRAI. We survived the 100-plus miles (actually 105) from Emmittsburg to Mason City. Out at 5:45 am and in around 4:00pm. Beer stops helped! And stops for pie, ice cream and a great brat. Music by the Eagles, Queen and Willie, ABBA, Gordon Lightfoot, Pearl Jam, among others. Met Chewy, the tandem-hauled […]
RAGBRAI Day 4: The Century Read More »
More stops for food and beer and conversation. Learned about the beer tent firsthand. Added another wristband to the collection. What a vast improvement over the medical and hospital bands from just 3 years ago. Almost prophetic. Out at 6:30am with a temperature of 69 degrees (a far cry from the 80s back home in
RAGBRAI Day 3: Tutu Tuesday Read More »
After arriving around 2:00 pm in Pocahontas, the ride part was finished. Another 72 miles added to the tally.Waiting out the rain at camp. Most of the climbing was done early. Roads are clean and glass free! It is as if the state DOT buffed the roads clean just for us! I am so used
RAGBRAI Day 2: College Day in Motion Read More »
Day 1 is in the books. Pancakes, beer, corn, beer, steak, beer…you get the idea. And hills, wind and…wait for it…gobs of traffic. This first day was the hottest day of the week. Sergeant Bluff to Ida Grove. 53-plus miles. Started at 6:30am and got off the course at 2:00pm. Ended up camping on the
RAGBRAI Day 1: Getting Rolling Read More »
Practice, practice, practice. While I’m not looking to get to Carnegie Hall, being ready for RAGBRAI will suffice. And doing a bit of planning and preparation before the ride is a good idea. My hiking-and-camping friend, Jody, suggested that I rehearse setting up my tent and gear before I got to Iowa. This actually was
RAGBRAI: Rehearsal Read More »
Maybe it was when I started making the Thursday training laps a drag race. I got carried away with the speed and competition between riders. Then I remembered: this is supposed to be fun. Somewhere along the way of piling up the weekly miles (nearly 200 per week) and climbing hills and attending rallies, it
RAGBRAI: Remember, this is supposed to be fun Read More »
Tires and chains and pedals, oh my! With only 14 days until the RAGBRAI start, it is time to ensure that these touch points get some attention paid to them. The tires touch the ground and need to be in condition to survive the long miles each day. My current tires had at least 2,000
RAGBRAI: Tires, Chains and Pedals Read More »
Another weekend training ride to rack up the miles. Or was it to help us learn to cope with the heat? We’ve been going out early (leaving our starting point at 6:00 am) to do anywhere from 40 to 70 miles. Today we did just around 50. We had originally aimed for 60, but the
RAGBRAI: Miles and Heat or Heat and Miles? Read More »
Logistics can be overwhelming. Particularly for someone embarking on a new adventure that combines multiple interests and activities. In my case it is cycling and camping (which I probably haven’t done seriously since about 1990). Let the games begin! Ok, seriously, in preparing for RAGBRAI one of the challenges is preparing a bag and a
RAGBRAI: Packing and Preparing Read More »
Just about the time you think you can handle a bicycle, along comes a challenge that requires a bit more preparation than the typical weekend bike rally. Like a 7-day 500-mile ride across one of those rectangular states in the middle of the country. In this case, Iowa. Sure, you could probably do this ride
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