Hey I Know, How About If I Ride Across Iowa Just for Kicks?

The clock for RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) is counting down inexorably...less than 50 days to get ready for my first attempt at the largest, multi-day ride/rolling party in the country. http://ragbrai.com. And, no boys and girls, Iowa is not flat. Its rolling hills and the course this year reportedly is one of the hillier in the ride's 37-year history. While no one will ever describe my training grounds around the Puget Sound area as "flat," I still need some quality miles and strategic callouses to be ready do 442-miles over 7 days in July. This ain't no Seattle-to-Portland (STP) jaunt that I can knock off 200-miles in a day just so I don't have to get back on the bike a second day -- in fact She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed even suggested I do STP in TWO days just for the experience! Well, that isn't going to happen, but I hope to get more mileage and seat time this weekend between Little League playoff games, the Seattle Country Day Crazy Carnival, and combat weeding. Keep on spinning!