My GRABAAWR Experience

[mtbdarby]

Hi All,
I'm back from GRABAAWR already, but what an experience! Your sunny thoughts must have helped because it rained bad the day before but let up around 8am the day of the tour. I met up with Sue (SJCzar) Saturday night. She'd already made 3 male friends so the 4 of us headed to dinner. Apparently Sue had tent issues the night before and lost her temper...you'll have to ask her about that, lol.

I made it through 3 hilly days and my hand & wrist couldn't take it anymore. I'm home with a swollen hand today. My total miles ridden were 169 out of 445 so almost half way. The scenery was absolutley beautiful! The weather was in the 70's during the day with a slight headwind, and the hills were steep. Sue told me she rode about 15-16 mph but me thinks she was sandbaggin I averaged 14.8 and couldn't hang with the girl - especially on hills! She can fly up the hills! She was nice enough to ride most of it with me so now she can open 'er up today and ride away.

We met some fantasic people. By far the most fun and interesting were the Canadians! Not only can they ride, but by God, they can drink! I was completely amazed at how many people drink and bike. And they start drinking in the morning - heck, I couldn't do that in my 20's and most of these people are in thier 50-60's. The average age of the rider was 49, the oldest was 81 and I think the youngest was 8. The other neat person we met was recombent Chris from Kansas, founder of Team Duck. We got "in-Duck-ed" into the team early on and proudly wore Team Duck badges, along with our Canada pins and tatoos. Everyone was so darn friendly.

Each day riding was a personal record for me. Day 1 was 52 miles, day 2 59 and day 3 62. My legs were so tight at the end I could barely walk. So today I treated myself to a full body massage. Hmmmm, wonderful.... I also slept 11 1/2 hours last night and I could easily take a nap - is that normal? I had a hard time eating breakfast the last two days because I woke up nautious. Not sure where that came from but I felt better today.

All-in-all it was a fantastic experience. Met one nice single guy from the state so the scenery was nice on and off the bikes. I'd recommend it to anyone but next time I need to be in better shape. I started developing a top ten list of things you need to know when on a tour that I thought I'd share:

10. Have fun - doesn't matter what time you start, finish or how fast you go, just have fun.

9. Bring lots of money. I only brought $60 to get me through 2 1/2 days (cuz I knew we were stopping in my hometown) and it didn't last long when you have to buy 3 meals a day.

8. When taking down your tent in the morning, remove your air mattress first. Sue and Chris just stood there and watched me do it - goobers! At least I provided early morning entertainment

7. These words of wisdom were kindly provided to us by Ed and Terry - two old time touring guys: Don't put your tent near a light (too bright at night), the porta potties (you'll hear slamming doors all night), or the Canadians (because they party all night). Well said.

6. Bring ear plugs to sleep with because of the advise in #7.

5. Did I mention bring extra money? And don't forget your credit card!

4. When packing up your luggage in the moring, put your cycling clothes ON first. I managed to pack up my cycling shorts and brought my luggage to the semi to get trucked to the next town and realized I didn't have any shorts. Luckily, I was at home that night and had one thin pair of shorts with a suede chamois which chafed the heck out of me for 62 miles.

3. Unless your family is extremely supportive, don't meet up with anyone (boyfriends included) during the ride. Lets just say I had issues with this one big time....they just don't understand cycling and the cycling community.

2. Do not rely on the SAG vehicles on this tour to help you out in a timely manner if you have a flat or an accident. The first day was so wet we saw at least 15 flats. We were baffled by the number of people who carried nothing - no pumps, co2, patch kits, tubes, nothing! And one poor guy endo'd on the century loop, splitting his helmet and had to ride 30 miles before finding the SAG vehicle.

1. Of course, HAVE FUN!!! Even a bad day cycling is better than a day at work

I'm hoping Sue can add to this when she's done. We didn't remember to actually take our cameras out of our luggage until the 3rd day. So I got a couple of pictures that I will post in a couple of days. Thanks for all your support and well wishes - it was worth it even if I didn't finish it all.

[Trekhawk]

Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for the tips, I will remember those for the future.

[SadieKate]

One of these days I may have to try one of these chaotic tours, just for the heck of it.

Apparently Sue had tent issues the night before and lost her temper...you'll have to ask her about that, lol.

Yes! We do want to hear. I myself do not recommend having a beer before attempting to set up a tent in 30 mph winds, especially when you already know your tent mate is tent-challenged and she's had two beers. You know, they should post these warnings in the Mono Lake campgrounds.

[mtbdarby]

Oh crud - there will be no pictures. In my haste to hit the one hour photo place yesterday, I opened up my camera to take the film out before I realized I hadn't shot all the film yet and exposed it. Man, what an idiot

Forgot to mention, in my appreciation for red biking shorts, Team Polska was represented on the tour. Gotta love those guys! hehehehehe

[annie]

mtbdarby,

Were the Canadians from the Thunder Bay Cycling Club? And did one of them wear a strange looking bandanna on his head and pass out canadians pins?

annie

[crazycanuck]

Canucks partying eh....I always thought it was the ozzies that partied harder!!!

Beware of us Canucks...... we like to party eh.

c

[DebW]

Oh crud - there will be no pictures. In my haste to hit the one hour photo place yesterday, I opened up my camera to take the film out before I realized I hadn't shot all the film yet and exposed it. Man, what an idiot

You should get it developed anyway. I believe I've done that and only lost a few of the pictures.

[Trek420]

mtbdarby "Oh crud - there will be no pictures. In my haste to hit the one hour photo place yesterday, I opened up my camera to take the film out before I realized I hadn't shot all the film yet and exposed it. Man, what an idiot "

ok, we forgot that one

Duck on Wheels and I were listing the pros/cons of film vs digital cameras (my faithfull little Cannon point and shoot got GU on it after the TE Diablo ride and may or may not be able to be cleaned) for my next camera.

Score one point for digital

But thing is on rides like this you may find yourself in online albums like snapfish, or the pro shots.

How many people were on this tour?

[SJCzar]

Well, I think Dar did a great job summing up how much fun our first tour was. I was bummed that she couldn't make it the whole week but she toughed it out longer than I'm sure she expected she'd be able to. I guess the pain deadens a little bit when you're having such a good time (and the margarita therapy is effective as well). I was very surprised that I somehow made it through the whole week without feeling at all sore. I did sleep very soundly the first two nights back in a real bed.

First of all the tent issue....while putting up my tent at the staging area the night before the ride I had a fellow rider come over to help since it was getting dark....his story was that I was screaming and swearing and REALLY needed him. This was wild Chris from Kansas. When I bent one of my poles quite badly the next night (due to a bit of impatience) his story became a bit more believable. The tent made it through the week .. although it wasn't the prettiest or straightest and luckily it did not have to endure too strong of winds. Quite unexpectedly the weather was close to perfect all week. The few short rain showers came at convenient times.

There were 900 riders on this tour and all the ones we met were fantastic. I would never hesitate to tell someone to go on one of these alone. It seemed like somewhere around 20-30% of the riders came by themselves and finding people to ride with, eat with, or just hang around with was never any problem. My husband has no interest in riding more than a casual ride every now and then. Many people on this tour had husbands or wives that felt the same way so they were there alone.

Yes, the majority of the Canadians that I met were from The Thunder Bay Cycling Club and bandana man was there. I was told by a friend on the support crew that they have actually mellowed out some over the years. I can't even imagine how nuts they must have been since keeping up with them now is a challenge. The night Dar spent at home I made it until 12:45am at one of their favorite spots. Some were still going strong as the rest of us made our way back to the campgrounds.

As for my speed on hills, I just do what I can to get them over with the quickest. I much prefer a freshly blacktopped stretch of flat road. The last two days each had a ridiculously steep and long climb...I had no idea there was anything like that in this state. On the backside of the worst one there was a glorious downhill that went on for miles and then a nice spot at the bottom to take off your shoes and soak your feet in the Wisconsin River.

I won't be a tour pro the next time around but I learned most of the same lessons as Dar listed. Have fun, don't worry about hurrying on to the next campground. Take as much time as you need to enjoy the sites along the way. Definitely strike up conversations with as many fellow cyclists as you can. You'll form great friendships that will last throughout the tour and beyond. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.