Anyone ride RAGBRAI in Iowa?
- Thread starter Jdeere562
- Start date
Yep. 1991, I believe. I have several friends that are from Iowa and were racers who did it every year. It was a real hoot. I drove up from Austin and met one of my friends there who was just returning from Olympic cycling trials (no, he didn't make the team).
Not this year but might next. Have been doing one a year but taking a month long Alaska trip. Unless it's a ehh route might do BRAN or Freewheel for the 2nd time.
I did in '95. Took a job that keeps me busy in July before I could get back to ride it again. But retirement is only a decade away... I'll be back to do RAGBRAI again!!!
Also, "POOOOORRRKKK CHHHOOOPPPPP!!!!!!!"
Also, "POOOOORRRKKK CHHHOOOPPPPP!!!!!!!"
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2021
- Messages
- 138
You guys are a crazy, hard core bunch. Last year I was working in Iowa when it was going on and it was over 100° with like 90% humidity. I'd never experienced anything like that soupy miserable heat. Just walking out from an air conditioned 78° building would cause my glasses to instantly fog up, and there were 1000's of people grinding through it somehow on their bikes.
Would like to try RAGBRAI, have not had the pleasure though.
As for the post above mine, doing these sorts of rides it is imperative to get out at the crack of dawn in most locales. All the bad stuff happens in the afternoon - heat, humidity, thunderstorms, etc. When I did Bicycle Tour of Colorado a few years back, I was up at 5am for breakfast, tent packed up by 6 and on the road at 6:30. There are thunderstorms on the passes almost every afternoon and you want to be over them early in the day. And at the lower elevations it gets hot in the afternoons. I always tried to shut it down for the day no later than noon, and preferably by 11am. Your body adjusts pretty fast to going to bed at dusk and getting up at 5.
The only day that I pushed later into the afternoon on said BTC tour, I was of course hit with a thunderstorm on the last of three 10,000+ foot passes of the day. Pretty scary but not much to do other than push on as there was no shelter. 102 miles from Creede, CO to Gunnison, CO with a lot of climbing and thin air, and it was only the 2nd day of the tour, by the last day I was better adjusted to the elevation. I think on that 2nd day I arrived around 4PM. All the other 6 days, I never arrived later than 1.
As for the post above mine, doing these sorts of rides it is imperative to get out at the crack of dawn in most locales. All the bad stuff happens in the afternoon - heat, humidity, thunderstorms, etc. When I did Bicycle Tour of Colorado a few years back, I was up at 5am for breakfast, tent packed up by 6 and on the road at 6:30. There are thunderstorms on the passes almost every afternoon and you want to be over them early in the day. And at the lower elevations it gets hot in the afternoons. I always tried to shut it down for the day no later than noon, and preferably by 11am. Your body adjusts pretty fast to going to bed at dusk and getting up at 5.
The only day that I pushed later into the afternoon on said BTC tour, I was of course hit with a thunderstorm on the last of three 10,000+ foot passes of the day. Pretty scary but not much to do other than push on as there was no shelter. 102 miles from Creede, CO to Gunnison, CO with a lot of climbing and thin air, and it was only the 2nd day of the tour, by the last day I was better adjusted to the elevation. I think on that 2nd day I arrived around 4PM. All the other 6 days, I never arrived later than 1.
