Fifty Plus (50+) - RAGBRAI Report

I'll try and post everyday, if my phone will let me. Right now I am riding a shuttle bus from Davenport (east) to the eastern starting point. The riding starts tomorrow. This is my first RAGBRAI so I am anxious about my training. the folks I have met say that my 900 miles is plenty. We shall see.

You can't change your preparation now anyway, so why worry about it? Relax and enjoy the ride. :)

Looking forward to reading your updates. Have a blast!

I'm interested to hear how it goes. It might make a nice target to shoot for next year. Thanks in advance for keeping us informed.

Just enjoy the tour, you'll be fine. I have a bro-in-law riding, he's always wanted to.

I'll be watching too, anxious to see how it goes. As Blues said above, you can't do anything about training now,, just lean in and enjoy the ride! Good luck, I wish you the best experience ever!

Just remember that this is not a Race



Sorry- scrap that- for some it is.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1r4vFZo&page_id=249253&v=1 This is the journal of a young woman on tour from west coast to east. As long as she was in the neighborhood anyway she decided to join RAGBRAI. kerk, maybe you can find her in the "peloton".

First off if you have a cell that uses AT&T forget getting a signal in west Iowa. The first 4 days have all been 90-100 degreees. and humid! the first 2 days wre the toughest back to back days of riding I've ever done. the hills were crazy! the third day was better until we got to 'Twister Hill' I guess it was in the movie. anyway the toughest hill I've ever ridden. I went up partway and thought about walking when i saw a sign that said 1.3 miles to the top. i wasn't about to walk 1.3 miles! today was not too hill but still hot. my legs are starting to feel the stress.

The Davenport area got 14+ inches of rain yesterday and this morning. Be happy to just avoid the torrential rains.

'm glad w didn't see that kind of rain. Today it sprinkled in the am but nnot much. We rode 67 mils today, headwind and hills but the heat broke and we had a great day! Tomorrow should be good too as we are looking at our longest day of the week.

I'm also on RAGBRAI.


The first 4 days have all been 90-100 degreees. and humid!

Yep - it's been very hot, with heat indeces in the low 100s (38 to 43 degrees C)


First off if you have a cell that uses AT&T forget getting a signal in west Iowa.

I have Verizon - reception hasn't been perfect, but has worked in most parts of the state.



My ride so far:

Sunday 60 miles / 97 km, Hilly as hell - but not the worst I've had. I live and train in MD, where there are NO flat roads. Very pretty countryside. Contrary to popular misconception, Iowa is not miles and miles of flat cornfields.

Monday 65 miles / 105 km, More hills.

Tuesday 101 miles / 164 km, Pretty flat - except for that HELLA hill at the end. Kerk isn't exaggerating. Going up the hill, some guy said to me "I've crossed the continental divide 5 times, and the eastern divide 3 times, and I've ridden across the country. And lemme tell you - THIS IS A HILL" :D. Actually, the ride was 70 miles / 113 km - but there was an optional 30 mile loop to make it a 100-mile century - which I did. Despite the hill, I managed to finish this day's ride in an average of 19.6mph - felt pretty good about that, even though I was damn-near dead at the end!

Wednesday 52 miles / 84 km, Flat, nice, easiest ride so far, but afterward, the weather was just oppressive.

Thursday 57 miles / 92 km, Head-winds for much of the ride, and and hills of about the same intensity as day 2 - i.e. constant rollers. A bit cooler, though.

Coming up:

Friday 75 miles / 122 km. I'm told it will contain lots of short rollers and 2 big hills.

Saturday 65 miles / 105 km.




My training:

I've only been cycling since April, but managed to get the recommended 1,000 miles under the belt before RAGBRAI - including several club rides and a century. I've had a lot of fun jumping on the wheels of faster riders, and getting into a paceline with them. E.g. on the century, I joined a group of 15+ people for about 40 miles - at 20+ mph.

Seems that many RAGBRAI riders get pissed if you come past them at a high speed :(

Incredible updates sir! Congrats, I don't think I'll ever get to the point of feeling like I'll be able to do something like that... I KNOW it's terrible to feel that way, and my Father put a rule into my life when I was little, it's stuck ever since, "Take two words out of your vocabulary,, "I CAN'T" I have tried to live by that all my life since, and think I have done a good job of it. Hence, you don't see me saying I CAN'T do that,,, LOL,, but I better take baby steps first, get a few centuries under my belt, ect...
Your ride is definitely something you'll be proud of the rest of your life I am sure.

I wonder if it was one of you two that was wearing a 50+ jersey on Monday going from Atlantic to Carroll! I commented on it on my way past!:p I live in "them thar parts" so the hills are my normal riding. Wish I could have done the whole week! Jealous of you both!

Seems that many RAGBRAI riders get pissed if you come past them at a high speed :(

Not just on RAGBRAI. Passing is fine as long as you let them know you are coming.

Thanks for the report. It sounds like you are a very strong rider to be so new at it. Also it sounds like you are having a good time. :thumb:

To heck with the riding. I want to hear the "beer garden" stories.......

Not just on RAGBRAI. Passing is fine as long as you let them know you are coming.

I bet I said "On your left" 12x400=4800 times doing the two tours in Colorado in June. The one time I didn't say anything going around a guy early one morning and giving him a really wide berth the fella hollered smartly "On your Right!". I bet he didn't have his coffee that morning. Geez. Most folks responded with "thanks" or "good morning".

It didn't bother me a bit the 2-3 times I got passed over the two weeks. Just saying........

I bet I said "On your left" 12x400=4800 times doing the two tours in Colorado in June. The one time I didn't say anything going around a guy early one morning and giving him a really wide berth the fella hollered smartly "On your Right!". I bet he didn't have his coffee that morning. Geez. Most folks responded with "thanks" or "good morning".

It didn't bother me a bit the 2-3 times I got passed over the two weeks. Just saying........

Some people do tend to get too wrapped up in following the "rules" imho. All I expect is for people to ride safely on group rides. I don't really expect a verbal warning from someone passing several feet to my left, but I do get a little bent out of shape if they fly by inches away from me without a warning. I've been known to yell "on my left" when that happens.

Some people do tend to get too wrapped up in following the "rules" imho. All I expect is for people to ride safely on group rides. I don't really expect a verbal warning from someone passing several feet to my left, but I do get a little bent out of shape if they fly by inches away from me without a warning. I've been known to yell "on my left" when that happens.

+1

Some people do tend to get too wrapped up in following the "rules" imho. All I expect is for people to ride safely on group rides. I don't really expect a verbal warning from someone passing several feet to my left, but I do get a little bent out of shape if they fly by inches away from me without a warning. I've been known to yell "on my left" when that happens.

+2


I bet I said "On your left" 12x400=4800 times doing the two tours in Colorado in June.

LOL - I think I've done the same.



I wonder if it was one of you two that was wearing a 50+ jersey on Monday going from Atlantic to Carroll!

Might have been Kerk - I don't have one. (Do I understand that these jerseys aren't available anymore? Or can I order one somewhere? I'm very new to this forum...)



I'll be interested to hear Kerk's updates. My take on today's ride:

Rolling hills for about 20 miles, flat(ish) for about 30, then more tough rolling hills for the last 25-or-so miles. Finished at an average of just 18.2 mph, partly because I only pacelined with groups for about 15 miles or so. It was hot again (yesterday was the only slight respite from the heat) but if you start at 6:30, you can be finished by 11:00 or 11:30 (including a few drink and eat stops), and miss the worst of the heat. Also - you're only riding with a huge crowd from the overnight town to the first pass-through town. After that, the bike traffic thins out nicely.

Even though I'm from Maryland, I'm riding with Bicyclists Of Iowa City - and at the Coralville campsite our group was located right next to the aquatic park, and just a few hundred yards away from all the food and drink vendors - which was way cool. Traffic organization in Coralville was atrocious, and many support vehicles could not get to the camp ground. Pity, because most other aspects of the Coralville stopover are very pleasant.

Good summary Duncan. I'm with the oos group. I felt like crap in the am and rode pretty slowly. After the flats I did really well in the last seet of hills. btw I do not have a 50+ jersey. Tomorrow I will wear my Fidelity Investments jersey. It is red white and blue. You won't see me though because you are way faster than me.

Thanks for the updates, enjoy the ride.

50+ jersyes are a periodic project of ccorlew who designed them and once or twice a year takes a big order - at least in the past. I don't know if he is going to continue this absolutely voluntary endeavor, but I sure hope he will!!

Good RAGBRAI reports.

50+ jersyes are a periodic project of ccorlew who designed them and once or twice a year takes a big order - at least in the past. I don't know if he is going to continue this absolutely voluntary endeavor, but I sure hope he will!!

Good RAGBRAI reports.

DITTO, I want one.

I tend to take the devil's advocate on replies. Don't know why.
I know I would enjoy the ride and the fun that goes with RAGBRAI. I'm no prude, mind you. But with all the drinking and then operating a vehicle on public roads I don't see how in this day and age, this ride hasn't suffered from that in the public's eye. And how do the cops patrol this? Just turn a blind eye? I mean it just seems strange to me.
Now 30-40 years ago might be another story.

Some people do tend to get too wrapped up in following the "rules" imho. All I expect is for people to ride safely on group rides. I don't really expect a verbal warning from someone passing several feet to my left, but I do get a little bent out of shape if they fly by inches away from me without a warning. I've been known to yell "on my left" when that happens.

+1. There is no law requiring you to warn another vehicle before you pass it. That's a sidewalk rule. If you pass 'em with safe clearance, that should be all they need. After all, it's also their duty to be aware of their surroundings. With that much traffic, I generally only warn them if they look like they're about to do something stupid. Besides, I can't yell loud enough to be heard 3 seconds prior to passing them.

Yeah, on RAGBRAI, anyone going over 14-15 mph is roundly jeered for being a 'racer.'

I tend to take the devil's advocate on replies. Don't know why.
I know I would enjoy the ride and the fun that goes with RAGBRAI. I'm no prude, mind you. But with all the drinking and then operating a vehicle on public roads I don't see how in this day and age, this ride hasn't suffered from that in the public's eye. And how do the cops patrol this? Just turn a blind eye? I mean it just seems strange to me.
Now 30-40 years ago might be another story.
For most it's not a drinking game on RAGBRAI. There is a group wherein it becomes a progressive drunk as the week rolls on, but for most it's a couple of beers at day's end. I've ridden with 90 yr olds and 4 year olds; I've ridden with those riding a $69 Huffy and those with $10K bikes; I've ridden with entire teams that are paraplegic pedaling with their arms. I've told people for years that you can find anything you want on RAGBRAI from naked beer slides to Bible studies....the beer slides are easier to find! When you get a group of 20,000 people in the overnight town, 2% that are after the drunk is a large number. At times RAGBRAI does suffer from image, but more-so from riders not paying any attention to normal legal rules of the road. I get upset when riders won't even get out of the way for an ambulance coming from behind....and those riders are in the oncoming traffic lane! One of my friends described RAGBRAI as "It's Mardi Gras married to a county fair whose parents were a rock concert and a church potluck all on a bicycle ride."

The beer was easy to avoid. I didn't have any problem or even notice anyone who couldn't maintain their behavior. The pass through towns were amazing. I was surprised that we had to walk through towns due to the LARGE number of riders trying to get through. Every town had a festival just for us. Every type of food they had was for sale, lots of pork chops/brats/burgers/pulled. The churches had great lunch/dinners and were always the best deal. Bands played, cheerleaders cheered people had their sprinklers set up to ride through, it was amazing. The number of riders on the road was overwhelming. I was always just a little leary of what other people were going to do. On the other hand, yesterday I jumped onto a paceline with the Arizona team and we road 18-20mph between two of the pass through towns. That was really fun. I was very surprised that riders didn't organize into groups based on abilities more. There was more of it on the last two days, but I thought it would happen right away. As my riding buddy said, "RAGBRAI is not for the faint of heart". Boy was he right. It is the longest, toughest ride I've ever done. The 900 miles of training I did was good enough that I was not sore at all during the week so I was really relieved about that. I had a lot of fun, I could be talked into doing it again.

...I'm no prude, mind you. But with all the drinking and then operating a vehicle on public roads I don't see how in this day and age, this ride hasn't suffered from that in the public's eye. And how do the cops patrol this? Just turn a blind eye? I mean it just seems strange to me.


Perhaps I wasn't in the right (wrong?) place at the right time, but I saw remarkably little of this sort of thing. Pretty much everyone I saw, rode with, and hung with after the rides, was a straight-laced rider. Some drank a few beers, but I did not see anyone over-indulge. So I'm guessing that the people who do this are in a small minority.



Yeah, on RAGBRAI, anyone going over 14-15 mph is roundly jeered for being a 'racer.'

:eek: My slowest all-day average was 16.8 mph on the last day, fastest was 19.6 mph opn the century.

Plenty of "jeers" here :lol:




Final day:

Plenty of rolling hills near the beginning, then long and flat.

For me, the going was tough - my upper back was hurting, and saddle sores were developing - and I doubt I'd have managed another day. The last 10-or-so miles seemed to drag on forever, partly because it was hilly again, and partly because we knew we were in the final stages of a really, really long event! Also, it was hot. Seemed to me that this was the first day with low humidity. That was good - though it meant I had to slather on more and more sunblock at almost every rest stop. (I felt like a glazed doughnut!)

I took plenty of pictures on the last day and will publish them here after I get home, on Tuesday.

Congrats on completing an Epic event!

I will report on our RAGBRAI 2011 adventure as soon as I get done processing all the photos etc...

It was our first ever RAGBRAI. The entire team just started cycling 14 months ago or less.

Here we are at the finish line dipping the front wheels in the mighty and muddy Mississippi.

http://www.pcsincnet.com/RAGBRAI_2011_Finish1.jpg

I'm the first person on the left.

Not sure if this should go here or in the "show your 50+ jersey thread". :)

I finished...... sort of.

Sunday and Monday were tough. Really tough. Not just from the hills....those I could handle....but the heat was horrible. And it got to me. I had to sit Tuesday out to recover from dehydration. But by Wednesday I was a new man and the temperatures had let up a bit. I gave lots of detail in my blog.

Still looking forward to Kerk's updated impressions. And thanks to all for the kind words of encouragement etc. to the riders.


I will report on our RAGBRAI 2011 adventure as soon as I get done processing all the photos etc...

It was our first ever RAGBRAI. The entire team just started cycling 14 months ago or less.

Here we are at the finish line dipping the front wheels in the mighty and muddy Mississippi.

http://www.pcsincnet.com/RAGBRAI_2011_Finish1.jpg

I'm the first person on the left.

Great picture. Pity the river, at the dipping site, was so green - it looks like you're standing on a lawn! (I believe they tried to scoop some of the green gunge away later in the day.)

It was very cool of them to arrange for volunteers to take pictures (with our own cameras) of riders dipping wheels in the Mississippi.



Not sure if this should go here or in the "show your 50+ jersey thread". :)

I finished...... sort of.


I left very early each morning to avoid the worst of the heat - finishing around 10:30 to 11:30. It helped a bit - but there were heat advisories at every city along the way. I thought the day you skipped was the worst day for the heat. Cool that you felt good for the rest of the event, though. I drove across Iowa today, am now in a hotel in Omaha, and will be flying home tomorrow. Will browse your blog a bit later this evening...

Not sure if this should go here or in the "show your 50+ jersey thread". :)

I gave lots of detail in my blog.

It's a great read, and well written. Thanks!

And do I gather that you only just qualified to post in this forum? If I read that right, then happy birthday, and welcome!

It's a great read, and well written. Thanks!

And do I gather that you only just qualified to post in this forum? If I read that right, then happy birthday, and welcome!

Yes. I turned 50 just before RAGBRAI started. The picture above is the first time I wore the 50+ jersey.

I got way behind on hydration and on food. I thought I was drinking enough, but apparently not, and my appetite suffered. But with some tips from fellow riders and with reduced temperatures I was able to return to the road for the rest of the ride. It was a fantastic experience.

Yes. I turned 50 just before RAGBRAI started. The picture above is the first time I wore the 50+ jersey.


So that's the 50+ jersey!

I saw several of those, and didn't know what they were :(

I'm not 50 yet.

I have about 7.5 months remaining as a 49er.

I just searched for RAGBRAI and this thread popped up on the search results.

Looks like I found a place to visit in a few months. :lol:

Congrats to all of you that competed/participated in this ride. It looks incredible for sure! To the rider that sat out one day, I wouldn't be disappointed in sitting one day out, sounds like a very difficult time, with the record heat and humidity that the midwest has been having.
It's also uplifting to me, to see this,,
Yeah, on RAGBRAI, anyone going over 14-15 mph is roundly jeered for being a 'racer.'Guess I'd be one of the "Racers" ! COOL! :thumb:
I do have a difficult time keeping it under 17-18mph it seems. (Well, at least on a 24 mile group ride) we kept that pace very easily.....

Again, Congratulations on the completion of this ride,, it deserves much more than a piece of pie, eat the whole damned thing! LOL and a half gallon of ice cream to go with it!

I will be turning 60 next month and just finished this year's RAGBRAI on Saturday, my first RAGBRAI. Total miles logged was 493 which includes the century loop. I train in the hills of Missouri west of St. Louis and found the hills on the first two days to be long but not particularly steep, more of an annoyance than anything. "Twister Hill" is what is we normally train for so it wasn't that bad. I didn't care for the heat, particularly camping at night. I thought the majority of the riders were courteous and cautious. The accidents that I say were mostly caused riders crossing up in "illegal" pace lines and wheels getting caught in the road cracks. The people of Iowa were wonderful and served some great food. I look forward to next year and hopefully it will be bit cooler.

I think I must represent more the average rider here. Typically ride 1000 miles or less each year. We have large hills here in Ohio too, we just avoid them, if we can, when we ride. If I were to go back and alter my training for RAGBRAI, I wouldn’t increase the mileage but I would increase the intensity. There are hills here that rival twister hill, I just have never ridden up them. Had I known what I was in for, I would have ridden all of them. That being said, my legs were never sore during the week and I was glad for that. The first two days were right at the daily average in length, but the heat and hills made it a tough two days. We got a break from the heat on day 4, down to 85 I think, but what a difference it made. Much nicer riding!

More about my RAGBRAI ride - Got up around 5:30 every day, ugh! Some of the riders got up at 4am just to beat the heat. Makes some sense, but then you get to the end town with nothing to do at 12 or 1pm?? Hang out I guess. The number of riders on the road was amazing, 20,000+ everyday. You were never very far from another rider whether you liked it or not. Some of the riders were quite inexperienced which made me nervous on downhills and climbs at times. The pass-through towns put on festivals for us and most had free water, but sold other drinks and all kinds of food. At each town there was so much congestion of riders, we had to walk our bikes through. It was neat the way they greeted us with cheering and bands.

I was surprised at the number of bikes that were pulling trailers. Most of them were battery powered radios! I thought it was really fun to have the music along for the ride. I also enjoyed seeing all of the different bikes. I even saw two World Voyageurs!

Every day we took packets of powdered Gatorade which saved us a lot of money since the heat required us to drink so much, like 1 bottle per 10 miles or so. Eating a pork chop on a stick was sooooo good, I couldn't believe it. The Beekman's ice cream was the best! Meeting riders from all over the US, Canada and Europe was really cool too. I was really amazed at the number of people I met who had riden double digit RAGBRAI's. I doubt I'll ever get there. Sleeping in tents was really tough with the heat and noise from other campers. I need sleep to be able to ride and I only really got two good night’s sleep. Even the earplugs didn’t help a couple of the nights. No rain while setting up or breaking camp. I really was happy about that.

In the afternoons we would come into camp, find our bags, set up our tents and then go sit in the shade and cool off and drink some water for an hour or so. Then we would go to a church or somewhere for dinner. After dinner we went to the showers and then found a cool place to play cards. When the temperature went down, we would hit the tents for the night.

A great experience! I'm glad I went and I'm sure I will do it again.

Congrats to all who rode & thanks for the post. I enjoyed reading them & seeing the pics, hope to see more.
Maybe I can post some pics of my ride some day.

I started a blog on the adventure. It will be filled in with more photos and text soon.

RAGBRAI 2011 Blog (http://www.pcsincnet.com/wordpress/?page_id=23)

Nice pics on the blog! Did you see that there were two of the cow tandoms? I thought they were pretty funny. Did you see the bananna recumbent tandom? I thought that was awesome. They had a radio and the guy was singing along loudly, really funny.

I forgot my camera (stupid) but took a couple of pictures with my phone....

Nice pics on the blog! Did you see that there were two of the cow tandoms? I thought they were pretty funny. Did you see the bananna recumbent tandom? I thought that was awesome. They had a radio and the guy was singing along loudly, really funny.

We saw the "Banana Boat" recumbent tandem on more than one occasion. They tended to start very early so we usually passed them at sometime during the day.

How about the skateboarders! I met one of them in Coralville. He had completed every day and fully intended on completing the entire route. He had already gone through 3 pairs of shoes at that point.

We saw the "Banana Boat" recumbent tandem on more than one occasion. They tended to start very early so we usually passed them at sometime during the day.

How about the skateboarders! I met one of them in Coralville. He had completed every day and fully intended on completing the entire route. He had already gone through 3 pairs of shoes at that point.

I could not believe the skateboarders. That's just insane.

There was also a guy on a unicycle, and a guy on a pennyfarthing. One of the days I saw two pennyfarthings side by side, but I think only one was riding for the whole week. I even saw a two-seat surrey one of the days! Later I saw the riders pushing that surrey up one of the hills.

I love this photo. I had no idea what was being photographed at the time. I set my GoPro Hero960 to shoot a photo every 60 seconds and this one really surprised me.

http://www.pcsincnet.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/GOPR0070.jpg

I could not believe the skateboarders. That's just insane.

There was also a guy on a unicycle, and a guy on a pennyfarthing. One of the days I saw two pennyfarthings side by side, but I think only one was riding for the whole week. I even saw a two-seat surrey one of the days! Later I saw the riders pushing that surrey up one of the hills.Yep, I saw all those guys plus did you see the tandom with the mom up front and a 6-7 yo on the back? They had a third crankset and chain raised up on the back seat tube so the kid could reach the pedals. Pretty cool setup. However, the most impressive rider I saw was a woman (saw her several days) with one leg. She had her telescopic crutch strapped to her bike for when she got off. Very impressive.

I thought of one more good one. Did you see the dude with the cinder block on the back of his bike? That looked nuts!

One of the "cow" tandems, which was actually quite nicely done as well as the matching jerseys, was in front of us and hit one of the wide center cracks in the road and went down very hard. The lady in back hurt her knee pretty badly. I felt sorry for them as they really had a nice setup.

One of the "cow" tandems, which was actually quite nicely done as well as the matching jerseys, was in front of us and hit one of the wide center cracks in the road and went down very hard. The lady in back hurt her knee pretty badly. I felt sorry for them as they really had a nice setup.

I damn-near lost it in a center crack near the end of the Karrass loop, while riding with a big paceline, at 23+mph.

Both wheels were in the crack, and I had to almost "jump" the bike out. Got the fright of my life!