RAGBRAI (as it is known to those that know of it) happens during the last full week of July. It travels a different route every year but goes from West to East across the state of Iowa.
About 10,000 officially sign up and ride for the week with estimates of close to 20,000 people doing a day or 2 or the whole thing as an unofficial RAGBRAI rider.
I had heard about it for a long time and knew some people that did it. It was a goal of mine to do the ride at some point in my life.
When the route was announced early in 2017 it was said to be the 3rd shortest and 3rd least amount of climbing (no Iowa isn't flat) in the history of RAGBRAI. 7 days and just over 400 miles. I called my friend Peter and we decided this was the year to give it a go.
Here is a good video on RAGBRAI history
As the day approached to hop on the plane I bet I wasn't alone in thinking that I should have trained more for the week ahead. I had ridden many miles outdoors and many hours indoors but 60 miles a day 7 days in a row was sure to be a test.
Things that are comfortable on a bicycle for 10 or 20 or 40 miles can change at 50 and 60 miles. Shoes and saddles and bike clothes needed to be put to the 4 and 5 hour test for the long days ahead. I narrowed down my picks as I trained.
In addition to that I had to figure out eating and drinking. How would GU or Hammer Gel packets sit in my stomach for that long of a time? What else should I carry with me and how much of all if it would I need each day?
I knew there was to be a lot of food on the ride as each town we passed would have multiple places to get some kind of food but I also wanted to plan for having the right fuel for me if I didn't want to wait in lines or if I didn't see something I wanted.
The Bike
If the bike didn't work properly then I would be out of the ride fast. If I couldn't get the bike packed and shipped I wouldn't even get started!
Step 1 was to get my Zinn bicycle to a shop I trusted and a place that knew how I ride. Since my friend Rob manages the St Helena Cyclery shop and he is a regular on a weekly training ride I do they were the best choice to have a look at my bike.
Sure enough there were a few small things that needed service. They weren't a big deal but they were the kind of thing I had gotten used to and didn't notice. The fresh eyes of the service shop corrected them quickly.
While I could have taken my new bike bag on the plane as checked baggage I decided to use SendMyBike.com and it would be sent FedEx to Pork Belly Ventures - PBV. They would take all of the bikes to the PBV campground in Orange City, Iowa where the first overnight would be on Saturday before we headed out Sunday morning.
Would my SciCon bicycle bag be as easy to pack as the YouTube videos showed? Surely It couldn't be.
Well it was actually pretty simple! Wheels off and in the sides. Bike in the frame of the bag. Tighten the straps, zip it up. Simple. Except for one thing - my size 48 handlebars were too wide.
Ok no big deal. I took the handlebars off and put them (with padding) on the top tube. I had some handlebars that would fit and put them in place on the front of the bike. I guess I didn't have to do that but it seemed to give the bike bag a little bit of a "bumper" and protection. It took just a few minutes to get the new bars in place.
Once the bike was in I put some bike stuff in the accessory bag and slipped that and my frame pump in at the bottom of the bag between the bike frame.
The first time I did it I spent about 20 minutes getting it all set up correctly.
It worked fine.
I took it to FedEx and they tagged it and off it went about 10 days before RAGBRAI Day 1.
I flew from Oakland to Des Moines with a stop in Las Vegas to change planes. On Saturday morning Pork Belly Ventures had a shuttle to Orange City, Iowa. It was about a 4 hour ride to the far north west edge of the state. Looking out the window of the bus I saw windmills. Lots of windmills. A foreshadow of what was to come on my first RAGBRAI perhaps?
When we arrived I was pretty amazed to see over 500 tents set up at a golf course for the riders and crew of PBV. This moving campground was where we all became a family for a week under the care of the great staff of PBV the guide service for about 1,500 of the 15,000 RAGBRAI riders.
Earlier in the week I had a nightmare that when I opened my bicycle bag it was full of 100's of broken metal tubes. Happily when I got to camp I found my bike to be fine and about 10 minutes after opening the bag I was off for a quick ride to check things out. It was all good man. I was as ready as I could be for Day 1.
Let the fun begin! More here soon!
My 2017 RAGBRAI entries
pre ride Did I Bit Off More Than I Can Chew?
you are here - arrival in Iowa A Nightmare And Windmills!
