I'm in! RAGBRAI XXXVI

Look at the email I received today:

CONGRATULATIONS! CATHY,
your wristband number is: 101***

I’m in RAGBRAI - I’m very excited but also a little nervous…mainly about the hills and all those people on bikes! But it is something I have to try at least once and it will be great to experience it with my oldest daughter! It also reassures me a great deal that we won’t be out there on our own with the masses, we’re signed up for the ShuttleGuy camping and shuttle service. I talked with Tim P. who used ShuttleGuy last year on RAGBRAI and they did a great job of making sure everyone was well taken care of. The ShuttleGuy even provided the option of letting everyone “camp” in the basement of an air conditioned church on one hot July night last year.

Now about those hills…plenty of time to train for those. And I rode these rolling hills on highways 1804 and 1806 along the Missouri River between Pierre and Chamberlain (the Native American Scenic Byway)last year.

My first hill training ride might be the Bunyan’s to Bob’s ride on May 17th. Ashley and I are thinking of doing the road bike ride. The Bunyan’s to Bob’s ride ride would help us train for both essential elements of RAGBARI – hill climbing followed by the recovery drink of thousands of cyclists: BEER. The theme for the BtoB ride is: bikes, burgers, beer.

As posted on the RAGBRAI message board:

we're in! better start training. gotta get a beer.

Here is a nice summary of what we should expect on RAGBRAI 2008:

“Sunday appears to be the usual sand hills, with a couple 200 footers but otherwise never level, always up and down as expected for that area. Monday looks to be the most unpleasant day with 80+ miles and 5200 feet of climb as well as passing into some areas deemed unpleasant by many in 2006, but headed north this time, not south, so if the wind holds out, it shouldn't be as bad. We often get a tailwind headed north this time of year. Tuesday into Ames looks to be one of the easiest 55 miles and just 1500 feet of climb, although there appears to be a 200 foot hump in there around Boone as mentioned above. Wednesday looks longer at 75 miles but proportionally about the same with under 3000 feet of climb. Thursday into North Liberty and Friday into Tipton again, about the same. And the final day is easy again, about like that Tuesday into Ames, minus the 200 footer.”