Sunday, July 20, 2008

RAGBRAI

Growing up I remember one friend had a road bike. It was old and lavender, with the loopy handle bars. I thought it was so weird and dorky with its skinny wheels and funny brakes. As I got older, all of my male friends were bikers...mountain bikers.

When I moved to Iowa I found more and more people riding those dorky bikes. Turns out they are road bikes and are quite popular here. After I got married, I found myself wanting a bike. Originally I thought a mountain bike would make more sense. Eventually, I wanted nothing but my own road bike with the curved handles. I lucked out and got an enviable all carbon one for quite a steal. Now I ride around in my spandex, have dared the clip-in pedals, had my first flat, and clock my miles per hour and maximum speed on my computer. I nod knowingly at the other spandex clad riders and get frustrated when people honk and yell at us. I am beginning to feel like a biker, or rather, a cyclist.

But now I am beginning to wonder. My father-in-law invited me to ride RAGBRAI with him. This is "The oldest, longest, and biggest ride in the world," something like that, where almost 10,000 people each day ride, working their way from the western to the eastern border of Iowa. It started today but I have school so will only be able to do Saturday. I was looking forward to the ride but now Abe will be gone and I am a bit intimidated. My mere 251.1 miles sounds inadequate for the 68 mile daily average. To top it off, I haven't rode for quite some time having been gone for my externship, youth conference, etc. The most I have done in one day so far has been 26 miles. I hope I can keep up, I don't want to be a pest.

We'll see how it goes. I am hoping for a less than 100 degree July day this Saturday!

3 comments:

Shel said...

Hey Erin! Glad you found my blog, looks like you two are busy busy! Good for you! Good luck with the road biking, I've always been a mountain biker myself, but have recently wanted to get into road biking too. It just seems a little less complicated as far as getting ready to go, you don't need to drive somewhere to go for a good ride, anyways, sounds like tons of fun!

Colt said...

the other day i was driving to work and this group of cyclysts thought it would be cool to go right down the middle of the road all the way down 1600 north. They were literally right in the middle of the lane and it really pissed me off.

well other than that, go for it erin it'll be a blast!

Diana said...

I think you are going to do very well. The competitive spirit in you will push you to keep riding. I'm hoping for good weather for you on Saturday! Good luck!