Thursday, July 28, 2011

RAGBRAI



I had a bit of extra time, so did a few days of RAGBRAI with some tri friends. At the end of the week was the Endurance Nation Ironman Wisconsin Rally, so my RAGBRAI time was limited to just a few days at the beginning of the week.

Sunday 7/24
Spent the night at my Aunt Nancy's house to have a bit less riding to do in the morning.

Monday 7/25
I didn't think the crew would be to Carol all that early, so I took my time getting ready. Late morning and I was dropped off on the blacktop road, and on my way. It was my first time in a LONG time since I had been on the road bike. My butt was not happy. The route was 68.94 miles of VERY flat road, but there was one hill that made up for the flatness of the rest of the route. Fun going down, not so much coming back up.

About 20 miles out and I get the call that my group is in town and headed to the swimming pool. Would have been nice to take a dip after the ride, but I wasn't going to get there in time. Oh, well. I showered and hung out with Jeremy's mom (the driver). It wasn't much longer until they were back and dinner was being heated up...delicious taco lasagna (aka tasagna)! Yum!

Tuesday 7/26
We wouldn't be triathletes if we didn't get up early and run before the century ride. Only a few "you're crazy" comments from the other riders. It was a bit tough to begin with, my legs woke up quickly. 3.84 miles. Good enough.

The ride quickly turned from nice and casual to the guys leading and the girls hanging on to keep up. They didn't slow down until the second half. We made a few stops along the way for free cliff bars, a swinging rope into a water hole, and a firehouse with a sprinkler to cool down.

Me, April, Jeremy, Casey, and Trevor

Found our camping spot for the night, and the garmin was a few miles short of a century. Trevor and I headed back out to finish up the last 2 miles.

Wednesday 7/27
My last day of RAGBRAI. I rode the first 3/4 of the day with the group, then rode alone back to Ames to get my car for the drive back home. 67.43 miles total.

A few more were added on to our group, and made it a casual day with most of the guys sporting speedos. Jeremy had the foresight to have a chamois sewn into his. The other guys were not so lucky, but made for a humorous day :)

Fun times!