For several years, I’ve talked with friends about doing a century or just a nice weekend trip. I always wimped out at the last minute or forgot about it. It isn’t like a century is especially hard. A couple of weekends last fall I rode 50 miles solo and unsupported. OK, well, there was that one woman I got some water from… but that’s it, I swear. Anyway, a couple of months ago, Jim asked me if I wanted to do RAGBRAI with him. I said “Sure, but only the last three days.” And then, Rwanda happened and aside from some guilty feelings that I wasn’t riding enough (it has been cold!), I’ve mostly forgotten about the trip. Well, no more. I’m doing RAGRAI if it kills me. Yesterday, I hopped back on my bike for the first time in a while. 20 miles and I felt it in my legs. Tomorrow, and every day from here on out, I’ll do another 20 till I can get back to 1:15 (or better) on my time. Then I’ll get a decent road bike and do the rest on that. I expect the road bike will let me get down to one hour on my time. I’ll have to fill the weekends with 40-60 mile rides. 125 days till RAGBRAI. (UPDATE: Just noticed that the first RAGBRAI was the same year I was born. We’ll turn 35 together!)
Re: Looks fun!
Eons ago I did 150 miles in two days with lots of support. I was younger, but I didn’t prepare for it much at all. It was easy.
And by lots of support, I mean they had food every 10 miles. Which I scarfed down.
I’m not shy about calories 😉