RAGBRAI

Some of us like to know where we are going when we ride.  For those of you that do, I’ve pulled together a couple of resources you can use to visualize your ride on RAGBRAI this year.  There are a couple of sites which show maps and course information about this year’s RAGBRAI.  I’m attaching links below so you can see each day’s course and elevation, from GeoBike www.Geobike.com , Map My Ride www.mapmyride.com and the Des Moines Register http://ragbrai.com/data/2009/ragbrai-main-map-2009.php.  

The Geobike site provides a nice summary of RAGBRAI on their homepage and profiles data about wind direction, weather and elevation and a lot of other statistics about RAGBRAI courses, past and present.  The MapMyRide information was recently provided by a fellow Twitterer, @geekcoach.   You can see street maps, topographical maps and satellite maps of the course.  You can even download it to your Garmin.  So as RAGBRAI gets closer and you get more excited, take a look and see in detail what the ride looks like and where it goes.

Day 1:  Council Bluffs to Red Oak:     

Geobike:  http://www.geobike.com/geobike/profilen.php?P=2667                                                      

MapMyRide:  http://bit.ly/57mNz

 Day 2:  Red Oak to Greenfield:          

Geobike: http://www.geobike.com/geobike/profilen.php?P=2668                                                         

MapMyRide:  http://bit.ly/nqlMU

Day 3:  Greenfield to Indianola:        

Geobike: http://www.geobike.com/geobike/profilen.php?P=2632                                                           

MapMyRide: http://bit.ly/oXKbU

Day 4:  Indianola to Chariton:

Geobike:  http://www.geobike.com/geobike/profilen.php?P=2669                                                           

MapMyRide:  http://bit.ly/bpZeo

Day 5: Chariton to Ottumwa:            

Geobike:  http://www.geobike.com/geobike/profilen.php?P=2670                                                           

MapMyRide:  http://bit.ly/GOFKk

Day 6:  Ottumwa to Mount Pleasant:     

Geobike: http://www.geobike.com/geobike/profilen.php?P=2676                                                           

MapMyRide:  http://bit.ly/cTMOR

Day 7:  Mount Pleasant to Burlington:   

Geobike: http://www.geobike.com/geobike/profilen.php?P=2672                                                           

MapMyRide:  http://bit.ly/NUboO

Happy visualizing, the real thing will be here before you know it.

Coach David Ertl

David Ertl is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Elite) Coach. He coaches individual cyclists,  the Des Moines Cycle Club Race Team and the JDRF Greater Iowa Chapter for the Ride to Cure Diabetes.  He is also an NSCA certified Personal Trainer.  He can be contacted at Coach@CyclesportCoaching.com .