ROTFLMAO. Sorry Mitchell, clearly your first RAGBRAI. My team tends to ride in the back of the pack and linger in pass through towns. We show up late in the overnight towns as well. Trust me, there have been may times when pass thru towns are selling beers for $1/can because they bought too much. You will NEVER have a problem finding beer on this ride.
All the info above should be enough to get you through RAGBRAI without any issues. The only other thing I’d offer up would be to get a long ride in at least once if not a couple times. Doesn’t have to be a century but a 60-70 mile day will prepare you for how your body reacts to being on the bike for 4-5 hours. You should be in good shape.
Hey Jim, What team do you ride with. I am in Boulder and typically drive out after work on Friday to meet the Road Pirates in Ankeny on Saturday morning.
I think we are going down a cruise of a river basin from Rock Rapids to Keokuk. A diagonal route that we haven’t done in quite a while. Following is my guess for this year.
Rock Rapids
Spencer 72 miles
Humbolt 76 miles
Ames 65 miles
Pella 75 miles
Bloomfield 66 miles
Farmington 40 miles
Keokuk 31 miles
TOTAL 440 Miles Routing may change this of course.
4 more days til we figure this one out. Regardless of the route, I can’t wait for the weather to improve out here in the Rockies so I can get on the road again.
You’ll be well prepared for the ride with one notable concern. Liver Training. Is your liver ready for the trip? Some don’t consume on the ride and I completely respect that. However, I like to partake in all that is BRAI. Have fun and ride right.
Tracey, you should consider Tumbleweed Classic. Departs Erie, CO on July 16 and ends in Glenwood, IA on July 23 (then it’s party time with RAGBRAI to finish the adventure). There are only a couple riders doing it this year. No Bad Boys. :-( Gonna miss the bar on the back of their bike.
It doesn’t sound so much like you’re concerned about the miles more than you are the saddle time. Find yourself an old drummers stool. Remove your seat post and seat from your bike. Mount the post and seat to the newly acquired stool and take it to the office. Remove current office chair and replace with new stool/bike saddle combo. That’ll increase the saddle time. :-) You can also take said stool to events, restaurants, bars, etc… and gain valuable saddle time while training for all the other aspects of RAGBRAI as mentioned above.
@Christian – You are close to me in Boulder, CO. I’d love to get more info from you regarding your custom gear. I’m looking to get 5-10 jerseys for our team. We have some design ideas but nothing locked down yet. Do you have a website or contact info where I can reach you?
I know LeftHand Brewing team are driving out from Longmont. I can try and put you in contact with them if I can figure out their plans. I’m not sure how many are going or what their transportation is like. You sure you don’t want to bag out with the BuccanGears? :-)
Hey DenBiker – Let’s get together and ride this spring. My small team is out of the Boulder area (40-50 somethings). Would love to meet up for a ride and some beers. We’ve identified a 40 mile training loop btwn Erie, Boulder, Longmont, Niwot and back to Erie with 8 Micro Brewery’s in the loop. Have yet to ride the exact loop but it is out there if necessary.
Team Buccan-Gears (Part of the Iowa based Road Pirates). If anyone on your team is interested, we are riding from Erie to Glenwood, IA this year starting on 7/16 (calling it the 1st annual Tumbleweed Classic). We’ll see how it goes this year and whether there will be a 2nd annual event. :-)
Very interested in peoples comments here as well. Bagging out from Boulder, CO this and am looking for adequate gear. Ortlieb seems to be the recommended solution.
Welcome to RAGBRAI. Where in Colorado are you coming from? I have a small team of Colorado Road Pirates that do RAGBRAI every year. We’d love to ride with you sometime. Our training rides typically consist of 35-45 miles with a beer break in the middle somewhere. Gotta train those livers for this one. ;-) We are out of the Boulder Area (Erie/Ward) and ride North Boulder/Longmont/Lyons/Loveland frequently.
BTW – I agree with everyone above. Your plan is sound although it sounds pretty cramped. 12 people, 12 bikes, 12 sets of baggage/tents/gear might fill that trailer AND the van pretty quickly.
The band booking clue is fantastic CyRider. AND it supports the Cogs and Wheels theory. I couldn’t agree more with Ken. 2013 ride was fantastic and definitely my favorite as well.
Really like the idea of the cogs being the overnight towns. The wheels representing Towns/cities. Maybe the large Wheel representing Des Moines. Working out from Des Moines to the Northeast maybe the next wheel is Marshalltown. Working to the West Maybe Stuart then Coon Rapids. The Cogs could represent Council Bluffs – Denison – Atlantic – Guthrie/Panora – Perry – Grinnell – West Liberty – ???? (Clinton???) Just a thought. It is certainly not even close to my guess in the contest. Can’t wait for Saturday night!!!!!
I’ve taken a stab at a South route and a North route based on historical data and the attempts to analyze this years logo. Struggle with the Logo as I am not a native Iowan and I have only been involved in this ride for 6 years. That said, I’m thinking we start north again in either Hawarden or Owana. End town with either be Bellevue or possibly NE corner in Lansing. We shall see. Last year I only got 1 town right.
ROTFLMAO. Sorry Mitchell, clearly your first RAGBRAI. My team tends to ride in the back of the pack and linger in pass through towns. We show up late in the overnight towns as well. Trust me, there have been may times when pass thru towns are selling beers for $1/can because they bought too much. You will NEVER have a problem finding beer on this ride.
All the info above should be enough to get you through RAGBRAI without any issues. The only other thing I’d offer up would be to get a long ride in at least once if not a couple times. Doesn’t have to be a century but a 60-70 mile day will prepare you for how your body reacts to being on the bike for 4-5 hours. You should be in good shape.
See ya in 30 days!!!!!
Hey Jim, What team do you ride with. I am in Boulder and typically drive out after work on Friday to meet the Road Pirates in Ankeny on Saturday morning.
I think we are going down a cruise of a river basin from Rock Rapids to Keokuk. A diagonal route that we haven’t done in quite a while. Following is my guess for this year.
Rock Rapids
Spencer 72 miles
Humbolt 76 miles
Ames 65 miles
Pella 75 miles
Bloomfield 66 miles
Farmington 40 miles
Keokuk 31 miles
TOTAL 440 Miles Routing may change this of course.
4 more days til we figure this one out. Regardless of the route, I can’t wait for the weather to improve out here in the Rockies so I can get on the road again.
You’ll be well prepared for the ride with one notable concern. Liver Training. Is your liver ready for the trip? Some don’t consume on the ride and I completely respect that. However, I like to partake in all that is BRAI. Have fun and ride right.
Tracey, you should consider Tumbleweed Classic. Departs Erie, CO on July 16 and ends in Glenwood, IA on July 23 (then it’s party time with RAGBRAI to finish the adventure). There are only a couple riders doing it this year. No Bad Boys. :-( Gonna miss the bar on the back of their bike.
It doesn’t sound so much like you’re concerned about the miles more than you are the saddle time. Find yourself an old drummers stool. Remove your seat post and seat from your bike. Mount the post and seat to the newly acquired stool and take it to the office. Remove current office chair and replace with new stool/bike saddle combo. That’ll increase the saddle time. :-) You can also take said stool to events, restaurants, bars, etc… and gain valuable saddle time while training for all the other aspects of RAGBRAI as mentioned above.
Good luck. Apparently, “RAGBRAI don’t care!”
@Christian – You are close to me in Boulder, CO. I’d love to get more info from you regarding your custom gear. I’m looking to get 5-10 jerseys for our team. We have some design ideas but nothing locked down yet. Do you have a website or contact info where I can reach you?
I know LeftHand Brewing team are driving out from Longmont. I can try and put you in contact with them if I can figure out their plans. I’m not sure how many are going or what their transportation is like. You sure you don’t want to bag out with the BuccanGears? :-)
Hey DenBiker – Let’s get together and ride this spring. My small team is out of the Boulder area (40-50 somethings). Would love to meet up for a ride and some beers. We’ve identified a 40 mile training loop btwn Erie, Boulder, Longmont, Niwot and back to Erie with 8 Micro Brewery’s in the loop. Have yet to ride the exact loop but it is out there if necessary.
Team Buccan-Gears (Part of the Iowa based Road Pirates). If anyone on your team is interested, we are riding from Erie to Glenwood, IA this year starting on 7/16 (calling it the 1st annual Tumbleweed Classic). We’ll see how it goes this year and whether there will be a 2nd annual event. :-)
Very interested in peoples comments here as well. Bagging out from Boulder, CO this and am looking for adequate gear. Ortlieb seems to be the recommended solution.
Welcome to RAGBRAI. Where in Colorado are you coming from? I have a small team of Colorado Road Pirates that do RAGBRAI every year. We’d love to ride with you sometime. Our training rides typically consist of 35-45 miles with a beer break in the middle somewhere. Gotta train those livers for this one. ;-) We are out of the Boulder Area (Erie/Ward) and ride North Boulder/Longmont/Lyons/Loveland frequently.
BTW – I agree with everyone above. Your plan is sound although it sounds pretty cramped. 12 people, 12 bikes, 12 sets of baggage/tents/gear might fill that trailer AND the van pretty quickly.
The band booking clue is fantastic CyRider. AND it supports the Cogs and Wheels theory. I couldn’t agree more with Ken. 2013 ride was fantastic and definitely my favorite as well.
Really like the idea of the cogs being the overnight towns. The wheels representing Towns/cities. Maybe the large Wheel representing Des Moines. Working out from Des Moines to the Northeast maybe the next wheel is Marshalltown. Working to the West Maybe Stuart then Coon Rapids. The Cogs could represent Council Bluffs – Denison – Atlantic – Guthrie/Panora – Perry – Grinnell – West Liberty – ???? (Clinton???) Just a thought. It is certainly not even close to my guess in the contest. Can’t wait for Saturday night!!!!!
I’ve taken a stab at a South route and a North route based on historical data and the attempts to analyze this years logo. Struggle with the Logo as I am not a native Iowan and I have only been involved in this ride for 6 years. That said, I’m thinking we start north again in either Hawarden or Owana. End town with either be Bellevue or possibly NE corner in Lansing. We shall see. Last year I only got 1 town right.