Hooray for May!

We have now been riding outdoors since the first of April and have chalked up 250 miles. Rain and cold weather always cause some ride cancellations in April.

We are very pleased with the progress of riders this year.

We have a favorite hill by Sleepy Hollow Park that tells us how capable the riders are. Very few times have riders stopped. The ones who have, got back on the bike and made it to the top.

We participated in the Mayor’s Annual Ride for Trails where we had a rain experience at the end.

We worked together as a team to help operate a water station on the Drake Relays Half Marathon. We were at a station the gets passed twice on the longer run. It was cold and rainy but the group learned what fun they can have working together and helping others.

We have competed our first longer ride with hills on May 2, going to Runnells and back. The 36 mile ride was a world record for many of the new riders.

We now are looking toward the weekend camping trip to the Boone YMCA camp. We combine a 56 mile ride out to the camp, team building activities, fun activities in the evening followed by sleeping in tents.

Some will be uncomfortable with shared bathroom and shower facilities.

This is an introduction to the normal life on RAGBRAI.
On Sunday we will break camp and ride back to Des Moines setting many personal world records in the process.

Here’s hoping for good weather on the camping weekend.

Happy trails out there.