RAGBRAI gear...and planning.

RAGBRAI and cycling in general require lots of "stuff". I'll be camping all week, along with 10,000 other people during the week of the ride. Overnight towns in Iowa include the start town of Orange City, followed by Spencer, Algona, Clear Lake, Charles City, Cresco, Waukon and the end town of Lansing...no camping that night, just the ceremonial dip of the bike wheels in the Mississippi River! There are newbies like myself riding, teams that go as a group year after year, and people who have ridden every RAGBRAI since it started in the 1970s! Those people are a wealth of information about what to bring and how to "do" RAGBRAI.

There are 4-5 charter companies that take smaller groups (200 or so) and they offer their own smaller, quieter campgrounds and optional shuttle buses for biker and bike, from the end town to the start town for those who want to have their car waiting for them at the end of the week ($165). Week-long parking in the end town, Lansing Iowa, is $50, payable to the town. For their $300- $400 fee, the shuttle companies provide their own porta-potties, sometimes showers, phone charging stations, camp chairs, tented areas to relax and drink beer, refreshments and morning coffee, etc. For an ADDITIONAL fee, about $65/day, some will even have a tent and air mattress set up and waiting for you each night with your duffel bag delivered to your tent.Sounds like heaven. The Ritz Carlton of RAGBRAIing...

The alternative to using a shuttle company is to just use my RAGBRAI registration wristband ($175) and have their 18-wheelers transport my stuff from town to town each day and then try to find it in a massive pile when I get there, after cycling all day. If it's raining, my duffel bag might be soaked and under a few thousand others. THEN I'll have to lug it to the huge "common" campground (picture a high school football field, city park, fairgrounds) then get my tent set up, find a shower (probably cold) at a local YMCA or high school provided by the overnight host town, then scrounge up some delicious homemade food, sold by local families, church groups, etc.

The food is the best part of the ride I'm told. There are beer gardens, bands and all sorts of diversions set up by the host town. There will be a Nordic Festival taking place when we pass through one of them. The charters are mostly sold out, so being the frugal girl that I am, I'm just going to hang with the peons and do a lot of shlepping and walking every evening. At 7AM each morning, we have to walk our bags onto the 18 wheeler so they can be transported to the next overnight town while we ride our bikes 50-70 miles. Bag tags must match our wristbands when claiming duffels in the evening, which is good.

I'm allowed to bring 50 lbs. worth of stuff between a main duffel bag and an attached tent, camp chair, etc. using straps or bungee cords or possibly in a 2nd duffel bag. So far, I've had to procure the following, and the RAGBRAI forums have been a wealth of information from seasoned riders on the dos and don'ts. Based on their advice, I'm bringing a 40" duffel bag, 2-3 waterproof tarps (for under and over my tent), a 4'x2' foot piece of egg carton bed foam, rolled tight, and a small fleece blanket instead of a sleeping bag, a pillow and 2x4 piece of old bed sheet. It can be in the 60s at night or swampy and humid or rainy. I'm using a cheap tent that claims to be waterproof but online reviews of most tents say they're never really waterproof. I practiced putting it up in my living room... took 10 minutes the first time, hopefully 5 once I get the hang of it.

                                                    Pretty cozy inside... about 7x7...

I got a can of silicone spray to waterproof/seal the seams on my tent, but I'm not holding my breath. I've read horror stories of people getting soaked early in the week at RAGBRAI and lugging around wet, smelly clothing etc for the duration. Because of that, I'm bringing only nylon/polyester (quick dry) bike shorts and tops instead of cotton, and a  chamois cloth instead of a bath towel.... smaller, lighter and wrings out when wet. Tons of zip lock bags and black garbage bags will protect my stuff from moisture when it's in my duffel bag or raining through my tent! Who knew? Flash lights are also necessary to find bathrooms in the middle of the night and then find my tent again in the dark, in a sea of literally thousands. Sound fun yet?

I borrowed my sister's bike helmet and ordered clip pedals on Amazon.com to wear with my cleat cycling shoes, but I also discovered that riding in flip flops is ohhh so liberating. Might mix it up on the ride. I rode in tennis shoes and a cotton t-shirt my first day training. Never again... a jog bra works nicely for those 100 degree, humid Iowa July days, with a light, short sleeve nylon shirt to throw on for the 11-2pm prime sunburn hours. I'm going to forego the tight, logo covered biker jerseys and shorts...not my style. I'll have TWO water bottles, and since I don't care if I look like a pro, I have a basket on my bike, side mirror, front and rear LED flashing lights, and a granny bell! ha ha.

Sunscreen is mandatory, SPF 50+! And I've never used Gold Bond medicated powder or Desitin diaper rash cream for any reason, but apparently, after a 5-10 hour bike ride each day, it comes in handy for overnight "healing", probably more so for men (Think chafing and sweating in all places that touch your bike saddle...eeeww). I also have fingerless, leather sailboat racing gloves, Harken Black Magic, that work great to protect my hands from handle bar rash and rubbing. Rain gear, light weight, is also a must as they say it always rains during RAGBRAI. Some days of the ride, there is a "theme", for example one day everyone wears their college colors/logos. I'm all set there with a pair of orange and white UT (TN) shorts. Another day, everyone is supposed to wear a RAGBRAI jersey. I guess that's their way of selling 10,000 of them at $65 a pop! Might have to pass. Then again, this is a once in a lifetime bucket list adventure. Maybe I'll splurge ;)

Finally, there's trip insurance for about $50. It protects me from losses of any pre-paid expenses from the minute I leave home on 7/21 until I return on the 30th. It should cover cancellation for any reason of my pre-paid hotel the night before I arrive in Orange City, the cross Iowa shuttle, long term parking in Lansing, my RAGBRAI registration fee, and most important... ACCIDENT and illness insurance. Bike "races" are not covered, but apparently "rides" are! With 10,000 riders, many novices and an occasional drunk on the road, a pile up is a real possibility. Better safe than sorry, and thanks to Obamacrap, I still have zero health insurance. I'm amazed at how this is all coming together. A few practice rounds of tent setup, and I should be good to go!