RAGBRAI LI
"Ride your bicycle across Iowa," they said. "It'll be fun," they said.
RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) has been on my list for a few years. It's the largest organized cycling event in the world, and this year the route was ~430 miles and lots of hills. I bought my ticket (or rather, Corey gifted me a ticket) in December, and I had been gearing up ever since. Now that the ride is over, I wanted to take some notes!
Travel
Corey and I took our bikes and a friend's bike by way of the truck and Micro Minnie. There was camping in each of the overnight towns, and Corey installed a SoftStart for the AC so we could power that with the small generator we have. It all worked out really well! I don't think my morale would have been as high if I'd had to sleep in a tent, although I'm sure I would have made it work. Another friend met up with us in the ending town, along with somebody who needed a ride to the start. Splitting gas that many ways made things not quite so expensive. We camped in my dad's driveway once on the way out and once on the way back, which also helped us cut costs.
We arrived a day early to meet my friend Ren (who now lives in Omaha) which was a fun way to start the trip!
Gear
Having the right gear is essential for a comfortable ride. And while I wasn't devoid of muscle soreness, especially in my arms and upper back, I felt like I was relatively prepared in this department.
- Trek 520 Grando: comfortable bicycle with a steel frame
- Front rack: small Orlieb pannier with water bottle, towel, and chamois cream
- Route Werks handlebar bag: bike tools, phone, light, bell, and snacks
- Half Wald basket: bum bag with wallet, keys, knife, cash, ibuprofen, etc.
- Revelate frame bag: more bike tools, bike lock (didn't use even once), sunscreen
- The Black Bibs: breathable padded bibs
- Sahara Shade Hoodie: breathable UV-protective long sleeved shirt
- Five Ten mountain bike shoes: hard soles for easy riding on platform pedals
- Shock Doctor Knee Brace 886: for my bum knee (side supports removed)
- Wildcycler gloves: bought these when my other gloves weren't cutting it; love the loops to pull them off!
- Garmin Instinct 2S Solar: charged it about every other night, never came close to discharging completely
- Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II: with a lovely camera strap from Outer Shell
My skin hated the sunscreen I bought, so I didn't use it after the second day, opting to cover up with the shade hoodie and let my legs suffer some sunburn rather than have them itchy and breaking out the whole week. I washed the sun hoodie every other day in the shower, and it held up really well. I had enough bibs to last me the week, so I never re-wore those—except the few that got washed along the way.
Training
I loosely followed the official RAGBRAI training plan. I ended up riding about 700 miles between January and the start of the ride, making sure to add in plenty of hills and several 40-50 mile rides on the weekends. As I drew closer to the ride, I got really, really bored of the training. I'm not sure how I could have made that better. Maybe I could have planned a couple of rides out of town or in a new place to spice things up.
Riding
The rides themselves were all pretty chill except the ~60-mile day when it was mostly flat and there were headwinds. Even the third day, which was ~80 miles and the most elevation, didn't dampen my spirit like the headwind day. Although there were two other people overnighting with me, we all had wildly different paces, so we didn't ride together. Instead, I ended up talking to a bunch of different folks along the way whenever our paces would match up or whenever somebody would ask about my camera. If you want folks to talk to, definitely have a conversation piece on you!
Left: Rocky (Road) the dog. Right: My cycling get-up.
Some folks brought their dog, some rode a tandem, one person rode their bike backwards, one person rode a penny-farthing, and several folks had bikes adapted to suit their particular needs (hand cycles, tricycles, recumbents, etc). There was no shortage of goofy and bizarre bikes and outfits the whole week. There were also a lot of booming bluetooth speakers, including a few extra large ones pulled behind on trailers.
My favorite on-the-ride activity was folks standing on the side of the road with a hose, spritzing the riders as they pedaled by. It was a very nice reprieve from the heat, especially in the afternoon!
Towns
Every single town we went through was set up with services of some sort. I ate so much pie, drank a lot of water and gatorade, and talked with plenty of locals along the way. It was pretty awesome to see the tiny little towns come together and get excited about bikes in such a rural place where I'm sure everybody is car-dependent.
I ate so many baked goods!
The four of us typically met up in the meeting towns for lunch. We tried to eat at restaurants, rather than the food truck vendors, to support the local communities. The overnight towns were typically more of a party with a big beer tent (hello, Tailwind golden ale) and some kind of live music and/or DJ situation. Ottumwa even had a water park, which was a nice way to end the day after a long ride.
Repeat
Lots of folks repeat this ride year after year. I don't think I'll end up being one of those people, if only because the travel time means I need to be away from home for two solid weeks. If I do end up going again, I think I'd want to ride with somebody who will go my pace and hang out with me all (or most of the) day. I am glad I did it, and I'll cherish the patch and pie memories forever!