RAGBARI Update!

This past weekend we did a 58 mile bike ride on Saturday in Blacksburg, VA, called the Wilderness Road Ride. I was NOT prepared for hilly Southwest Virginia so my thighs really took a beating. It's good to know we can do that many miles, but RAGBRAI is going to be a much bigger challenge, since we will be doing that many miles day seven days in a row! The more we train the more we'll be able to enjoy the event. We practiced drafting during the Wilderness Road Ride so hopefully when we are riding with 10,000!! other people we'll be able to draft well.

We got our packets in the mail for Ragbrai and I wanted to share some cool information:

RAGBRAI is the longest, largest and oldest touring bicycle ride in the world!!

"Over the years, a tradition has developed for riders to dip their rear tire in the Missouri River or Big Sioux River as they begin their seven-day journey east. When they complete the ride, they will dip their front tired in the Mississippi River." I am definitely going to do that!

The cartoonist for the Register's paper will be biking across with us and they put out a daily paper just for the cyclists on Ragbrai.

Mileage breakdown:

Day 1 - 65.5 miles
Day 2 - 84.4 miles
Day 3- 62 miles
Day 4 - 83.7 miles
Day 5 - 78.3 miles
Day 6 - 57.1 miles
Day 7 - 54 miles

FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FIVE MILES TOTAL!!! Whoa.

It's a nice tapered down approach toward the end.

I'm so excited to meet all the friendly Iowans and fellow cyclists!