John Washburn's blog

On the long hard hilly day yesterday all riders made it to Jefferson by the target time. There were lots of hills and fun. Exira was a fun stop for food and drink before the long ride to Coon Rapids.

Coon Rapids showed us how fun a small town can be. Live animals and road kill costumes. Plenty of pictures there.

On the ride to Jefferson there were ominous clouds and distant lightning. Riders were inspired to pick up the pace to get into town before the rain. Most beat the rain and others were caught in light rains.

Saturday night gave us our first storm scare but did not produce rain and mud.

Sunday's ride gave us a lot of hills for a short 59 mile ride to Harlan. All of the riders made it to Harlan by 3:00 in plenty of time for a cool shower, food and a movie to hide from the heat.

At 2:00 in the morning winds came up and announcements advised us to take shelter. A few of the tents got flattened and after a short rain, we tried to sleep again.

This morning we will meet at the Register to load up our goods and board the bus. We will travel to Missouri Valley and start the unpacking/setup routine that will become our daily ritual for the week.
Thirty-one excited riders will ride over with anticipation and concern. The first two days are hilly. We are prepared.

Tonight is our last training ride before heading out to the start of RAGBRAI 2008.

Last week we got caught in a rain on our Monday night training ride. This helps the riders to understand that rain is not a show-stopper.

On Thursday night we made a trip to the Iowa Cubs game courtesy of the Iowa Cubs organization. We gave all of the attendees some Cubby Bucks to buy food and drinks. It was a great night out.

Last weekend 30+ riders and fifteen mentors made the trip to Sun Valley Lake to camp for two nights at the home of Jim and Judy Green. The trip down was 85 miles with medium head winds. We stopped for a break at the end of the Great Western Trail in Martensdale. We stopped again in Osceola at the Subway for lunch. Then we completed the other half of the ride.
This ride always features hills. It is a good preparation for RAGBRAI.
Saturday we rode 20 miles and spent the rest of the day swimming, resting and participating in other recreational activities.

Last week we were presented with meditations about potential flooding. Our two favorite bike trails were under water. The bridges we usually travel to get to our other favorite training path were closed.
We had two alternatives to get from downtown to our route out east. Our concerns on Thursday night was the car traffic out of downtown was compressed due to the closed bridges so training for Thursday night was canceled.

We have been stepping up the mileage as we always do when we get closer to RAGBRAI. On the last day of May we rode to Monroe on county roads which offers 66 miles with a lot of hills. As a bonus, the return ride offered head winds. A good test for all.
This last weekend we rode to St Thomas Moore Center at Lake Panorama on Saturday for a camping experience with a return ride on Sunday.
The winds were so strong that we took most of the tents down and all of the young riders slept inside cabins.

The last half of the month has brought us a great camping trip to the Boone YMCA Camp north of Boone on Saturday and then a return trip on Sunday. The last part of the trip offered strong winds and increased efforts. This long weekend set distance records for all of the first year riders. Now they know why we have been working hard to get into shape.
The next weekend offered strong rains and a cancellation of the Saturday ride.
Tomorrow we are planning a 66 mile ride with plenty of downhills to add to fitness to our growing list of benefits.
We will offer a report on the trip soon.

On Saturday May 3 we started the ride in near freezing wind chills. That was due ot strong winds out of the west. Our goal was to ride to Runnells and return to Yellow Banks Park by 11:00 for a picnic.
The tailwind was appreciated on the way out. About half of the crew made it to Runnells and back to Yellow Banks Park by 11:00. Others turned around before they made it all the way to Runnells so that we would all arrive at the picnic together.
The ride back to Yellow Banks Park was into a strong wind.

We are finally on the bikes and learning to bike in the real world with other bikers and traffic considerations.
This April presented us with a lot of rainy and cold weather. Three of our Thursday rides in a row were canceled.
We canceled on Saturday ride because of snow. We substituted indoor educational training and fun team building activities.
Every rider and mentor got to practice changing tires. We then had a changing rodeo for young riders and also mentors.
The young rider winner was a girl named Victoria.
Jim S won the mentors division.