I also would like to know about training for those hills. I do not live in a very hilly region but recently saw those monster hills in southern Iowa by car. I feel I am putting in the adequate miles (120 miles last week and 75 miles the past three days). But will I be ready to take on those hills? I have a 24 speed HP trike and am riding with my college age daughter.

Its my first Ragbrai too! That being said I am training in NE Iowa quite hilly next to WI. I bike hard every other day. On the off days I do yoga. By hard cycling I mean I pedal into the wind for 10-15 miles then pedal with the wind 10-15 miles. Sometimes the elevation change is 600 ft or more. I think this is overkill but it is what is available locally. From what I have heard the main thing to remember is you have all day to RIDE. I have talked to numerous veterans and they all say the same thing. If you can ride 20 miles and still feel pretty good you should be fine. most towns are between 8 and 15 miles apart so there are plenty of stops. Keep up the training and I’ll see you there!

I should also add that I have been adding the recommended training program posted here.

My son and I used a modified version of Dave Ertl’s training schedule and it worked great. I added extra training days each week but his would be excellent to follow as is.

Early on last year we were behind due to weather but the miles really started to add up by the end of June. We ended up just short of our goal of 2,000 miles ridden before RAGBRAI, but with out the training log I am positive we would have not gotten that many in. It helped to keep us focused and on track.

Look under the training blog to find the spreadsheet.

Hi Cathy,
How’s your training going? Just in case you are still concerned, I checked all the mileage between towns. Sunday has a 21.2 mile ride and Thursday has a 20 mile ride. All the others are less than 20 miles. And you can ride 22 miles without an issue! Admittedly, we’ll do more than 1 ride per day but if you think of RAGBRAI as a ride to the next town, it will be very easy. And according to MapMyRide, there are no “hills” which they define as more than 3% grade for over 500 meters.
If you ride too fast or don’t stop along the way, you’ll miss the fun. You have from about 7am to about 5 pm to get 60-75 miles, that’s less than 8mph. You don’t need to race. You’ll have time to stop and enjoy the craziness.

I think the RAGBRAI article about hills pretty much covered it. Don’t psych yourself out about the hills. They’re just hills. Settle down and chug up the hill. Besides shifting…if your legs get tired try alternating…push 5 times harder on the right foot, then 5 times harder with the left foot, then 5 times all around, then repeat. doesn’t take many times to get up the hill in IA. Mostly don’t get all excited about it. Just settle down and breathe.

I think the RAGBRAI article about hills pretty much covered it. Don’t psych yourself out about the hills. They’re just hills. Settle down and chug up the hill. Besides shifting…if your legs get tired try alternating…push 5 times harder on the right foot, then 5 times harder with the left foot, then 5 times all around, then repeat. doesn’t take many times to get up the hill in IA. Mostly don’t get all excited about it. Just settle down and breathe. Plus its pretty flat right where you are…so just look down and don’t look up the hill and freak out. it must send adrenaline or something. seems to shut down your lungs also. just relax and forget about it being a hill. music helps if you have a good beat to go up the hill with.

Sometimes I think cross training might be good. Running, biking, swimming. Anything that gets your heart ready so you don’t go out there and have a heart attack. Like any muscle i suppose.

I think the biggest thing that people forget about when training is to establish a regular cadence for themselves. I find at least for me its a very important thing to do.

A regular cadence means I know when I need to shift to a different gear to keep the pressure off my knees. It also means I am doing everything I can to keep from damaging my knees. It makes my Ragbrai a more enjoyable and comfortable ride for me.

If you practice spinning up a hill instead of mashing up a hill then your legs will not be so wore out when you reach the top of that hill. Of course I ride a recumbent trike so I cannot stand up on my pedals so I am left with no choice but to spin up the hill. Riding the recumbent bike has taught me not to get excited but to establish a regular cadence and to use the gearing on my bike to do the work for climbing and speed. I think its a very valuable lesson. Even if I was riding a regular bike now I would practice the same training method for Ragbrai. After all I only have one set of knees and I would like to keep them as long as I can. If gearing you have is not working for spinning up a hill then get it changed to gearing that will.

Jason