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ragbrai 2008





Preparations



Invitation to RAGBRAI





In March 2008, my good friend Larry Baerveldt called from St. Louis to ask if I'd be interested in joining a team which would ride this year's version of RAGBRAI. After investigating the official RAGBRAI website, I got interested. It sounded like just the kind of oddball adventure an idiot like me would find entertaining and challenging. Problem was, I didn't have a road bike - I was a mountain biker who had never owned a bicycle with skinny tires. All I knew about bikes designed for pavement was they seemed poorly designed for Chicago's pothole-centric city streets. But RABGRAI gave me a reason to buy a new toy, and of course I love buying toys.


Thus began my search for a road bike. After education and advice from my roadie friends, I had a basic idea of what kind of road bike to look for. I found just what I needed from dirt biker buddy and Florida resident Lee Daley, who had just bought a Specialized Roubaix and was about to sell his Trek 2300.





Putting it all together



trek 2300





In May, Lee shipped me the Trek and I began the process of figuring out how to ride it. First thing I noticed was the gear shifters integrated into the brake levers. The last road bike I'd ridden was my aunt's Schwinn with old style shift levers, circa 1985, so obviously I'd missed this nice little advance in technology. The front fork and seatstays were carbon fiber, very cool. The red and black color combo was badass. It was a nice bike.



mountain bike pedals





Even though I'd just sent Lee Daley a pile of money to buy the bike, somehow I couldn't come to terms with spending more for a pair of road shoes. I put Time pedals on the 2300 to match my Giant NRS, and rode across Iowa in off-road shoes.



first ride on the 2300





I was too afraid to do my inaugural ride on Chicago city streets, so I took it down to the farm and pedaled 15 miles into a 20 mph headwind in padded mountain bike shorts. Padded shorts or not, it was seriously uncomfortable. Wrists, butt, inner thighs...it all hurt. I loved the speed (with a tailwind) and pedaling efficiency, but I had some work to do in the comfort department. Big improvements came with flipping the reversible handlebar stem to raise the bars a bit, and adding another layer of bar tape to keep my hands from going numb.



Butt-hurt solutions





After several rides, the seat seemed specifically designed to torture my hindquarters, and it had to go. I walked into a Performance Bike store with eyes on a comfy mountain bike seat, then noticed a Forte neoprene seat cover. Problem solved, money saved, and my butt has thanked me ever since.



riding the bike





For training, my goal was to reach the point where I could ride 60-70 miles for a couple days in a row without feeling like death. This took some time, and I wondered if I'd ever get there. One day I suffered through a 60-mile ride where I truly believed mortality was imminent. Eventually I was able to go 70 miles in one day, up and down the Fox River path in the western Chicago suburbs, with no ill effects. I was ready.



getting stuff there





Next up on the RAGBRAI to-do list was figuring out how to get myself and my gear to the starting town. Our group of riders, calling themselves Team Joyride, were planning to gather in St. Louis and drive a rented Winnebago RV to Missouri Valley. I wasn't much interested in traveling to St. Louis and then

spending 7 hours in an RV, so I booked a flight to Omaha and shipped my bike to a special FedEx drop point in Iowa. A charter service called Pork Belly Ventures reserved a spot for me on their bus from Omaha to Missouri Valley, about 30 minutes from the airport, where I would meet Team Joyride. All of this went off without a hitch, and I joined the team on Saturday, June 19th at our host family's property just outside of Missouri Valley.



Packing





Takes a lot of stuff to ride 7 days in a row.



Official jersey





Courtesy of my parents.



FINDING PLACES TO STAY





Part of Team Joyride's planning for RAGBRAI was lining up a place to park the RV each night. Our goal was to find families willing to let us park at their houses, camp on their lawns and use their bathrooms. Each overnight town had a housing committee that helped match teams with residents willing to open their yards to campers. We divided up the towns among the team. I was responsible for housing in Missouri Valley and Jefferson.

We were ready to ride.


RAGBRAI Begins!

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