Comment

Comment by Craig S. on March 4, 2010 at 5:52am

Katie, Aaron: You picked a great year for your first time. 1st hill out of Sioux City will be more vertical climbing than a year of riding here in Chicago. Nice gentile rollers the rest of the week. Good year to do a century loop.

Eat pie everyday, especially plain rhubarb pie if you can find it.
Look for shady kybos later in the day.
Stop at Mr. Pork Chop early in the week and you'll be hooked on thick Iowa pork chops. Yumm!
Expect rain and headwinds and to have tons of fun regardless.

Comment by dan brown on March 4, 2010 at 5:47am

first timer. many of my riding friends friends have done it multiple
times -- so the end of the envy is drawing near...

drinks tonight at 7pm .... see earlier entries on this thread

more drinks at Aaron's too !

Comment by Joe Studer 8.0 mi on March 4, 2010 at 5:27am

Registered, and planning to ride again. Of course, I was signed up last year and was unable to go due to work. I'm hoping I don't have the same conflicts this year. RAGBRAI has always proven to be one of the most relaxing and fun weeks of the year for me.

Comment by KatieP on March 4, 2010 at 5:06am

I am a first timer - received my confirmation today!

Comment by Aaron Bussey on March 4, 2010 at 5:06am

Just signed up today - first timer and extremely excited!

Comment by Craig S. on March 4, 2010 at 5:04am

142 days.

Just out of curiosity, how many folks in this group are riding Ragbrai this year?

How many first timers?
How many vets?

Anyone getting together for drinx anytime soon?

Comment by Craig S. on February 25, 2010 at 3:44am

Kelly,

If you are looking for a couple of more folks to round out your crew and share some expenses, there are a couple of Chicago area riders looking for a team on the Des Moines Register RAGBRAI forums. http://ragbrai.com/index.php/forum/teams/chicago-area-looking-for-t...

Comment by Kelly on February 25, 2010 at 1:35am

Craig,
Thanks so much for the info. It is also great to hear how others have succeeded in the past to transport so many bikes and people at the same time. We will keep Marne in mind for the pre RAGBRAI festivities. Yahoo I can't wait until July!

Comment by Craig S. on February 24, 2010 at 8:22am

Kelly,

I did this very thing with my old team several times years ago, however, if your group gets any bigger I would highly suggest getting a trailer as well.

It's a looooong drive to Sioux City from here and there's no easy nor direct route so you'll be in that van on Saturday for at least 11 hours and if it's packed chock full of riders and gear, it may be uncomfortable.

A trailer is a secure parking spot for bikes if you have to be in campgrounds for the night. I've done 12 Ragbrais, there's a bike stolen every year.

If it rains at night and it will, the trailer is a great place to keep the bikes dry, and locked up.

People sometimes also tend to bring more than they actually need. The trailer is a great way to transport cases of water/gatorade/vodka because the last thing your driver wants to do is scramble around in a town looking for water if he needs to find a campground.

I ride with Team Bad Monkey. Our bus deck is always filled with bikes for the ride to the start from Indianola so we also travel with a dual axle trailer and pickup/Tahoe/Hummer (whatever anyone can grab for the week) and that trailer is chock full of gear, and of course cases of beer and vodka and gatorade for the week.

That travel Saturday, many of the big bus teams stop in Marne (site of a massive off-route party in 2001) for drinx, volleyball, reacquainting. Stop in and say hello, Team Bad Monkey will be there and there's only 1 bar in town so you won't miss it.

Comment by Kelly on February 24, 2010 at 6:30am

Hey folks!
SO a new plan is in store. I have an awesome deal on a 15 passenger van with a hitch. Our rack can hold three bikes on the exterior while the back two seats will be removed for interior storage of remianing bikes and tents etc. I have a confirmed driver, and five confirmed folks. Basically May 1st I'll be able to contact host families off of the towns' websites. We'll have better luck with just the van because we won't need hookups. We never have used the rv for sleeping. If a bed is needed, we can arrange that with host families. The van will be very nice because you'll be able to ride it to the start from Chicago. Along the way you can have a rest day if needed. All the gear is safer and easier to find at the end of the day. You'll also have transport home. I'll be planning another meeting soon to gauge how many people we have on board. We can then go ahead and place money down on our van. Feel free to email me at veggiemind@yahoo.com with any further questions.

That's all folks! Talk to you soon.
kelly

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