RAGBRAI 2010 first time

[slowandsurly]

I cannot even begin to describe how much fun I had on RAGBRAI. My friend and I rode the entire week and we enjoyed every moment. We took the advice of many and really stopped to enjoy the towns and the people. We found ourselves riding in the back most of the time, which was a really fun place to be. Not to mention it was alot less crowded. I would love to do this ride again next year. This was a good year for RAGBRAI virgins like me, since it was flatter and shorter than other years. I was worried because I only put in 100 miles this season (I'd been focused on running instead), and I do not have any hills to train on. But I was fine. I only walked one hill (Potters Hill) on the last day. It really felt like we were just biking from one festival to the next. As a matter of fact at some point along the route, maybe wed or thurs I saw a sign that said Free Central Iowa Water at the next stop. And it was at that point that I remembered I was biking across Iowa. We were having so much fun biking from one town to the next that I forgot! We used the Register's Baggage truck for our luggage, and camped every night except friday. We were fortunate enough to get to sleep in a house and have a home cooked meal. We were really lucky, the weather was great except for a storm friday morning.

I was very sad to hear about the rider that died. We were in the pack fairly close to the ambulance and watched as the helicopter landed. But we got there after the accident and did not know much about what happened until we read the papers. My thoughts go out to his family and community.

I can't wait to do this ride again. I'm starting to get over the withdrawal I experienced the first couple of days this week, but now I have to convince myself I don't need to keep eating liking I'm biking 60-80 mi a day! I've been searching for pork chops, pie, and ice cream at every intersection! If you haven't ridden RAGBRAI yet, do it... you won't regret it. We met many people who were there alone, no team or charter and they were having a great time. I think riding with a team would be alot of fun too.

RAGBRAI exceeded all our expectations!