NATHANRTAYLOR » ragbrai

RAGBRAI XXXVII photos

Nathan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:29:37 +0000

Written entries are on the way. Until then, here are some of the photos from last week.

Click on any picture to enlarge.

RAGBRAI XXXVII starts next week

Nathan — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:35:00 +0000

Friday morning Rob, James, Jonathan and I leave for RAGBRAI. I still need to organize and pack all of my stuff, and make sure everything is in working order. Most of this will undoubtedly be done late Thursday night at the very last minute.

I’m still pondering bringing my Dell Mini 9 along with me so I can update this site from the road. I am already taking a digital camera and iPhone, so who knows. Why miss a chance to over complicate a vacation using technology?

On another topic, I almost took a pigeon to the forehead while riding to work this morning on my motorcycle. Someone had thrown french fries into the road and the stupid bird waited till the last second to fly away. I ducked, and it missed the top of my helmet by mere inches.

Example @15 seconds after some unsafe-for-public-road style riding. (Not my video)

RAGBRAI XXXVI Route announced

Nathan — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:52:59 +0000

The Des Moines Register announced the overnight towns for this year’s Ragbrai yesterday. it’s a southern route, cutting a line 442 miles across the state from Council Bluffs on the Missouri to Burlington on the Mississippi.

All signs point to this being a fairly hilly route, which should quickly dispel any rumors that Iowa is flat. Nebraska is flat. Kansas is flat. Iowa has hills and sometimes the Ragbrai route finds them.

Take Burlington for example. Burlington Iowa’s placement on the Mississippi River mean that a part of the town is built along the bluffs. This has led to some interesting road design, exemplified by the infamous Snake Alley.

Yes, this road is in Iowa.

Think Fremont Street in San Francisco. Except steeper.

There’s a good chance that even if the actual route doesn’t goup or down this street, there will be a hill climb challenge, or something similar planned for the last day. I think I have a hill that approximates this one near my house to practice on.

The rest of the route will take us through river valleys, open farm territory with corn fields on both sides, and many small towns. Ragbrai veterans say that you are guaranteed one chilly day, one rainy day, three really hot days, and one perfect day. I really hope that this year gives us a few extra perfect days.

Let the training begin

Nathan — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:51:33 +0000

I logged into the Ragbrai (Des Moines Register’s Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) registration site today and saw this:

All the paperwork is in, and my vacation time has been approved. The lottery is on May 1st. Now I have 172 days to train. The standing joke amongst Ragbrai riders is that training for Ragbrai involves less cycling than pie, beer, and of course… pork chops.