Look like every organized group cycling tour this summer is cancelled. But the road is calling, at least it is for me. And I suspect small towns across the US will be welcoming to a lone cycle tourist (or small group) passing through with money to spend on inns & restaurants…of course respecting social distancing guidelines.
Anyone thinking of creating their own small or solo multi-day ride this summer?
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Thank you very happy to interact with everyone
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Friv 9
TUGBRAI – Tims Unofficial Great Bicycle Ride Around Iowa starts July 11 from Spring Valley MN to Grinnell with over night stops in Osage, Clear Lake, Allison, Marshalltown, Montezuma, New Sharon. Solo ride but hope to see others on the road and would love to have others join me. Camping planned but motel alternatives possible.
Good for you tjdale57! One small crumb of advice, I have made it SOP to phone each of the county engineers and inquire if my chosen route contains any detours or construction. It has been worth the time. Good luck.
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A group of 6 from the Quad Cities is doing an improvised ride. We are going to do 150 miles over 2 days. We are starting at High Trestle trail on July 25 at 8 AM at the Ankeny Iowa trail head. We will connect to Raccoon Valley Trail loop west of Des Moines. We will overnight in Panora, Iowa. We will finish the loop and return via High Trestle Trail to our cars on Sunday July 26. Any adventurous souls are welcome.
Planning on the Mesabi Iron Range trail in northern Minnesota in mid september. Join the ABCE in the Twin Cities on the return.
Several teams pooled their expertise and recreated RAGBRAI Nation on the Root River Trail. Reading their FB posts I would say they had a great time. I salute the organizers.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/845093879311026/
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Just returned from riding the Mesabi Trail for several days in Minnesota. What a beautiful ride! Several challenging climbs (8% grade and higher). Started in Hibbing, rode west to Nashwauk – lunch at Mucho Si (great margaritas), then back to Hibbing first day. From Hibbing to Biwabik and stayed at Giant’s Ridge Resort a couple of nights riding north to the floating bridge and then to Aurora. Weather was great except for the last day when the high was 60 degrees with rain. We deemed it DRAM – Derelicts Riding Across Masabi – next year it will be DRAMA – Derelicts Riding Across Masabi Again. The views are spectacular and the bars along the way were very friendly – Checcos Tavern in Hibbing, Bernie’s Main Dry in Keewatin, the Biwabik Pub in Biwabik, Rudy’s Bar in Aurora.
Thanks for the info on the Mesabi. That trail has been on our bucket list far too long. I copied and pasted to my bike notes document. Any word from Zinger?
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We just finished Iowa. Started in Council Bluffs with 6 riders. Went to Mo. Valley and actually stayed in Modale Iowa. Have a rider who lives there. He joined us on our ride over to Panora. Another rider lives there. We picked up 2 more riders there and went north on bike trail to Gowrie. Next day back to Panora. About 60 miles each way. Also got together with one of the couples from Team Spin. Next day Panora to Cumming. Picked up another 2 of our riders but lost 2 to going home. Also picked up 4 from Team Hot. Rode about Cumming the next day and then I left back for Denver. The others went up to Cedar Rapids and had a couple of days around there before heading back home. Great to do the Mini Ragbrai. Great time and the bars were empty.
Sandaltan: Zinger is enjoying the great Northwest. She relocated to Oregon back in August of 2018 and is loving every minute of it! She’s planning to make it back to RAGBRAI in the future. I will let her know you were asking about her!
Thanks Stuck, that green Buszilla has attracted some great riders, all fun, all party and all the time.
Excellent gummy bears out there in WA and OR, much better than we have in Iowa, the Little Stoker sez they are a great sleep aid. If Zinger is coming back to Iowa tell her we would like some gummy bears. We biked in WA, OR and ID last June and had a great time.
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Short notice but a few from our team organized a 4 day 200 mile ride this Thursday starting in Ames. Check out the route on Bikeiowa.com. It’s the Bastardos Ride!!!
Just got back from doing a week-long loop around the bottom half of Lake Michigan, crossing at Ludington on the SS Badger Ferry. 545 miles total, a great time, and zero flats!
Last week five of us did the “No Ragbrai No Problem Bike Ride” (my name for the week). We stayed at a hotel in La Crosse WI and did five days of riding. We did some great rides, the Driftless Region is an amazing area for cycling. Bicycle-LaCrosse.com had several options for rides and one day we did the Root River Trail. Downtown LaCrosse had several great restaurants all with outdoor seating and the Pearl Ice Cream Parlor fullfilled our Beekman’s cravings. We practiced social distancing and didn’t have much additional exposure than we would have at home. I am glad I didn’t let a summer go by without a fun cycling event. I hope Ragbrai 2021 is able to be held and we can all enjoy a great week riding across Iowa again.
First Annual NRNPBR ?
I got to participate in part of Darrell’s Annual Bike Ride Around Illinois.
This DARBRAI® set a seven-day record with stops at 33 different breweries along the 417.9 mile route.