2009 RAGBRAI Route
 

For those who are going to ride RAGBRAI...

Council Bluffs, Red Oak, Greenfield, Indianola, Chariton, Ottumwa, Mt. Pleasant and Burlington.

Overnight stay in my home town. Not sure if we can handle the volume or not!!!

Looks like a pretty nice route for '09. I shouldn't say it's flat, cause I learned the second day last year that the rollers can really wear ya out! I spent a little time working on some projects in both Ottumwa and Burlington a few years back. I'd like to go again if I can convince some friends of mine to join me.

See if you can join a team. I'm riding with Team Pilderwasser this year. They may have an opening.

Until they tell us which county roads you are riding on I can't tell you hills, but I have ridden on most of those roads on my motorcycles, and we don't have flat in southwest Iowa. And the county roads are the worst for hills, because they didn't change for 100 years. They just go from dirt of gravel to paved.

The RAGBRAI group say this is just about as hilly as last year. They have 22000 ft of climb over the course of the week. Given the Southern route, they could have made it much worse.

I can't imagine what it would be like to have RAGBRAI come through my hometown. There's just SO many people. I just sit back and think if RAGBRAI came through the little town I live in now and it's just mind-boggling. Obviously, I live in MN its a moot point, but anyways.

I'd really like to go back this year. I guess it's a combination of not having any friends that would join me and it's hard to take a week off work to bike accross Iowa. I'll never forget the looks I got when I told my coworkers I was taking my vacation in Iowa and spending the whole time on my bike. If they only knew.....if I do go again I have to train correctly...don't worry about the ride, train for the food & drink...exhausting.