Jan 29, 2011
Rider Cup went to the Whiners.
Highway Patrol did issue some warnings last year to people riding left of center, Genie didn’t think there were any tickets issued.
Housing & Campground committies different. Housing only for groups under 15. DON’T contact towns before May 1, if you do, you go straight to the end of the line. Register baggage truck opens doors 4-4:30 am for 1,500 people, be aware of where their space is if you want to sleep in. They figure 150-175 tents per acre, don’t ask for an acre for 50 tents.
SAG wagons, 4 of them, no wrist and bike band? no ride. Last Sag leaves town at designated closing time ( unless extreme conditions exist) Want to catch it? turn your bike upside down on the LEFT side of the road and stay close. If it’s a mechanical issue, they will let you off at the next bike shop, otherwise you are on for the rest of the way into the overnight.
Bike shops, 10 on the routes in the pass through towns, not every shop may have your exotic parts but the coordinate and may know which shop does. #1 repair? broken spokes, #2 repair, flat tires. carry a pump, tube and learn how to change it and avoid long lines. volunteer to help someone out if you can.
Karras Loop, 2 big blue signs, Patch ahead, and patch here. on the right side of the road, must have week ot that days wrist band. Also must stop and get off bike. only handed out during posted hours, too early or too late, too bad.
Route marking Orange for riders, Green to vehicals (they will pull vehical passes to those on the bike route) and Pink for the vehicals that want to go into the meeting towns. Groups avoid Black on orange or green to campground direction signs, Also DON’T spraypaint messages on the streets.
9 Replies
Valuable information Skunky!! No wrist band – – no sag ride!!! No tickee no laundry. I hope the new policy solves the hassles with the Karaas Loop patch…it should…looks good to me. Thank you much!!!
RIDE RIGHT (wish we could have been there, heard it was better than last year)
How about chalk? Is that OK, since that will wash away with the next rain?
Otherwise, some excellent suggestions. My only observation is that it is a sad state of affairs that makes it necessary for some of these things — like use of the sag, be able to at least fix a flat, offer to help another rider — to even have to be mentioned.
By the way — what’s with the repair code (#1 and #2)? Is a #1 repair a minor inconvenience that would only p*** you off a little, but a #2 repair is a major breakdown that would leave you up s*** creek?
-“BB”-
#1 was their most common repair, why so many broken spokes? too much rider for the bike, too much extra weight, old out of true to begin with?
#2 their second most common repair, fixing flats.
You have seen it as often as I have Beebs, a 230 pound rider wants a bike just like his 165 pound riding idol. Broken spokes are a common result.
RIDE RIGHT and I have never ever broke a spoke.
It not so much the weight of the rider as the maintenance and quality of the wheel. I’m a Clydesdale and have no problem with low spoke count wheels. If they are properly trued and tensioned. They can handle it. Also how you ride plays a factor. Some folks just don’t watch the road and hit every hole and junk on the road. Rolf, Mavic, and Velocity Deep V rims are bomb proof. The Shimano tubeless 7850 are rock solid. Shimano 500 and 550 suck. Shimano RS-20 are so so. I have a pair of those as back ups. My favorites are my Rolf. They just stay true mile after mile.
Good info, but, can you restate this:
Register baggage truck opens doors 4-4:30 am for 1,500 people, be aware of where their space is if you want to sleep in. They figure 150-175 tents per acre, don’t ask for an acre for 50 tents
Does this mean each truck handles about 1,500 bags? Does DMR reserve tent sites?
1,500 would be divided by the number of semi’s they use, is it 2 now? we usually don’t stay in the main campground where they are but anyone with a RAGBRAI band can stay there. The towns assign camping areas for the main campground, RV’s, teams & clubs (sometimes the towns will mark off each teams area with caution tape and signs) , and usually a “quiet” of “Family” campground. Tent sites are whatever you can find in your area, not always ideal, sometimes under a light, too close to the kybos, a long walk from the truck, etc.
A lot of teams/clubs make arrangements with private landowners to camp on their property and after May 1 the towns will have housing committies that will try to match up riders wanting a home stay with vo,unteer host homes.
I would think changing tires would be the most common thing using the term “flat” as a catch-all. Adjusting shifters would have to be high up there.
As we have gotten older, the biggest thing our team looks for in camping is water access. Second is an electric hook up. We can run self contained but it’s easier if we can just use someone else’s stuff.
I have an older set of 550’s…. They have over 5000 miles on them…. Never broken a spoke…. Only needed to be trued twice (and they were not not that bad before they were done)…. I was going to upgrade a few years back, but decided that these have been so good to me that there was no need…. I was told that flat bladed spokes for them are no longer available…. So I guess if I ever break a spoke, I will NEED a new wheelset!!!!