The Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa!!

[Uncle Yuan]

Yes, it's  RAGBRAI!  This is the 35th year of the ride, and it's the longest running, largest organized bike tour in the world!  Tomorrow the Yaunling and I head to Rock Rapids, Sunday we start the ride.  Just the two of us . . . plus 9,998 other bike riders!  (With most of the stop-over towns logging in at about 3,000-4,00 inhabitants!)  It's a ton of fun and if any of you are even remotely interested in bicycling I highly recommend it!!

See you all next Sunday!

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

Fair play to you Unc!  I'm a bit of a keen cyclist and done a few organised rides but nothing on this scale.  I hope you have good weather for it and manage to avoid the punctures, the saddle-sores and the thousand natural shocks that cyclists are heir to.

[Uncle Yuan]

Fair play to you Unc!  I'm a bit of a keen cyclist and done a few organised rides but nothing on this scale.  I hope you have good weather for it and manage to avoid the punctures, the saddle-sores and the thousand natural shocks that cyclists are heir to.

Well, if you ever get to the States in July you should see about riding.  Or make it your trip.  Iowa is a surprisingly beautiful state.

I'm afraid we might be in for a bit of a bear of a ride - the temps are supposed to hit the low to mid 90s for most of the week (mid 30s for you metrical folks) and midwestern summers tend to be very humid.  Still, it's way better than riding in the rain!

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

Well its way too late for me to pass on any of my hard-earned lessons from such expeditions.  I always found I was vulnerable to 'the knock' on such trips and could get terrible wobbles from lack of energy long before I was proper tired unless I kept stuffing my face all along the route.  Fortunately there tend to be stops every 20km or so (i.e. a car pulled in at the side of the road where the organisers dispense fruit, chocolate, energy drinks and water).  First time it hit me I thought I was finished... legs completely lacking in power and almost wobbling around the road.  Fortunately I only had a few miles to the designated lunch stop but they were the slowest few miles I've ever cycled.  One pit stop, a feed of lasagne, bananas, a sandwich and a chocolate bar later (the lunch of champions!) plus the odd top up here and there and I was flying for the rest of the day.  I do tend to space my fueling better over the course of the trip these days though so it rarely happens any more.  Plus I have greater reserves of energy tucked around my midriff than once I did so that probably helps too.

Let us know how it all goes UY.

[Reepicheep]

I fell off my bike only yesterday, so I think I'll give this a miss, thanks.

Sounds like great fun. I hope you don't have the same misfortune I did.

[Glitch Girl]

Tell us all about it when you get back and when you can feel your legs again.  :)

[Uncle Yuan]

Well, I'm back a day early - unfortunately my left knee decided to quit a day before the rest of me wanted to.  Still, the Yuanling and I had a great time - by the third day we were completing the daily 60-70 miles in good time and still having enough energy to enjoy the host town's hospitality.  We did get one torrential rainstorm over last night and a few days in the 97 degree (+/-) range.

The Yuanling is very excited about doing this, or a similar, ride again!