Training for a 410 mile bike ride...

RAGBRAI is a 7 day ride, NOT a race, across Iowa. Mileage varies each year and even each day. At 411 miles, this year's ride is the 3rd "easiest" in RAGBRAI history based on mileage and climbs/elevation. That's really no consolation for a non-cyclist like myself. I have ridden for pleasure for years, mostly on my pink 7-gear beach cruiser and last summer in Wyoming, on a $99 Kmart mountain bike which I recently sold. Below is a hill I climb on my training route now...

    Below, an underpass on the bike path I'm training on, made from Wheland Foundry steel...

I only found out I was going to RAGBRAI on May 1st, leaving me about 10 weeks to get up to speed. The longest day of the week will be Day 2 at 72 miles, and the shortest will be the final day at 45 miles. The other days range from 55-67 miles. The most I've ever ridden is 20! I hadn't done much in the way of exercise the past 40 days after spending the winter in FL doing daily swims, but no cycling. I did spin classes regularly at the gym for over a decade, but haven't had a gym membership in 3 years. Suffice it to say, there is work to be done and not much time.

  Against my better judgement, I found a decent $149 Schwinn road bike at Walmart on May 9th. RAGBRAI forums say that people of all shapes, sizes and fitness levels do the ride each year. Inevitably, a few die of heart attacks. Yikes! Participants ride unicycles, racing bikes, one speed cruisers, mountain bikes and recumbent bikes. Many even wear costumes and tow a child or pet behind their bike. Some only tag along for a day from one overnight town to the next. And then there are those that travel with handlebar mounted  coolers for their cocktails! Sounds like a big rolling party, except the fact is that I'll be in the hot sun or pouring rain for 5-10 hours a day for 7 straight days! Ever tried that as an out of shape person?! My 18 gear bike is fairly light weight at only 20 pounds compared to my previous 44 pound beach cruiser. It is sort of a "commuter bike" with road tires, which is good.

My home town of Chattanooga has a wonderful riverfront bike path that runs from the foot of Lookout Mountain (St Elmo) all the way out to Chickamauga Dam, and even has rental bike stations. It's 22 miles round trip. On May 10th, I got to work. I planned to ride the entire length of it on my own bike.

I had to walk my bike up my first steep hill and by the turnaround point at the Dam, I was feeling a little queasy and light headed. Uh oh. On the way back, I stopped to rest and even laid down in the grass in the shade. My butt, wrists etc were screaming from my first long bike ride in months. At mile 18, my brand new bike chain broke! @#$%^& I had to WALK my bike the remaining 3-4 miles to my car, through downtown. I'm counting that walk as a bit of cross training. I sweated by tail off and worked all kinds of muscles. Day 1 of training was in the books, and Walmart graciously exchanged my bike for an identical one which changed gears much better! Their seasoned bike builder spent a few hours tweaking the replacement bike to perfection. This is a photo of some new riverfront homes being constructed along the bike path. It's really a beautiful path to ride on!

On May 12th, I was back in the saddle, literally, for another ride. I chose a very hilly golf course community where my Dad lives and rode every mile of paved road. There are some steep hills, and once again, I had to walk my bike up a couple but I increased my MPH from 7 to 9, but riding only 11 miles.

Week two of training, I got back on the bike path which is where all these photos are from. It was built in stages over the last few decades, and the newest part of it runs along the TN River through some abandoned industrial areas. The vacant factories are really interesting to ride past and there are story boards along the way, detailing their history.

The one above shows telegrams from Eisenhower and Macarthur, thanking the laborers at Ross Mehan Foundries in Chattanooga for their help during the war. Below, the board along the bike path explains that during the war, the foundry made castings for Sherman tanks, 90mm artillery pieces, and helped in the construction of 45,000 landing craft used in the invasion of Normandy in 1944. Who knew?

On May 15th, I rode 20 miles and got my MPH up to 10. I'm quite happy to stay at that pace for RAGBRAI, as it's not a race, and will ensure that I'm only in the saddle for 7 hours on my hardest 72 mile day of RAGBRAI!. On the 18th, I repeated the 20 miles, with ease. No walking up hills, no huffing and puffing. I had my lungs back, and my quads weren't screaming. I changed by butt and wrist positions frequently, used a gel seat and fingerless gloves, and things were getting easier. I now have 9 weeks to go. My plan is to add 5-6 miles each week and ride twice a week and probably 4 times the final week. By July 23rd, the start day of RAGBRAI, I should be up to 70+ miles. Wish me luck!

18 miles into my May 18th  ride, I detoured into downtown Chattanooga for lunch. I stopped at Five Guys and got a burger, fries and milkshake. I only ate 1/2 my burger, but realized pretty quickly on my loooong, exhausting 3 mile ride home that during RAGBRAI, I cant eat big, greasy meals early in the day. I'll have to have ice cream, watermelon, corn on the cob, basically carbs and lighter fare during my daily rides and munch on the heavy stuff once I get to the overnight town. Lesson learned. What was I thinking? And of course, water, water, water. If you wait to drink until you're thirsty, it's too late! Temps can soar into the 90s in Iowa in July ;)

These are geese along the bike path and a view of Lookout Mtn and the river while I rode.

One of many bridges along the route to the Dam

                   
                     Once at the Chickamauga Dam, there is all sorts of power generating stuff...

Chickamauga Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. The dam is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s as part of a New Deal era initiative to improve navigation and bring flood control and economic development to the Tennessee Valley. The dam impounds the 36,240-acre (14,670 ha) Chickamauga Lake and feeds into Nickajack Lake. It was named for the Chickamaugas, a politically detached branch of the Cherokee whose chief village was located just north of the dam site during the 18th century. The tribe's name has also been applied to several streams in the Chattanooga area, as well as an important American Civil War battle and a sandbar that existed at the dam site prior to its construction. Pretty interesting bike ride!

Along the bike path, I also saw flowers marking the site of Chattanooga's domestic terrorist attack. On July 16, 2015, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire on two military installations. Four marines were killed and three others wounded. Sobering...

                                
         Above is the other side of the long meandering hill (1st photo in this post) on my twice weekly route. I've got this! ;)

The next week, it rained like hell so I missed my first of 2 rides. That Thursday, May 25th, I added six miles to my workout, riding 26 miles. It was a pretty windy day, so I dropped off a little on my "comfortable" pace, but overall it was doable and I wasn't exhausted. The longest day of RAGBRAI, Day 2, requires a 72 mile ride with the first jaunt to a pass through town being 19 miles. I've got that covered now. After that town, there will be stops every hour or so to eat and rest. If I can get up to 30 miles next week, I'll be a happy girl ;)  

I traveled over Memorial Day, but on Thursday June 1, I road back out to Chickamauga Dam from St Elmo.. it's 22 miles round trip so I backtracked and repeated 4 miles miles at either end to bump the miles up to THIRTY, non-stop, no break. It took me just over 3 hours! I sipped water along the way but made sure I could do it without a stretch/bathroom/food break. I was exhausted at the end and really sore the next few days, mostly joints, but I think I'm good since my longest between-towns trek is 20 miles on Day 2, in the morning, right out of the gate. 

Next week, I may shoot for 35 miles or just repeat the 30. I'm also swimming for 30 minutes every day, rain or shine, to keep my cardio and flexibility up.  Enough about RAGBRAI training. I'll either survive or I won't ;)