RAGBRAI 2022

During the period July 23-30, I participated in the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). This event started with an exposition on Saturday (Day 0) in the town of Sergeant Bluff, then consisted of a seven day bike ride, with overnight stays in several towns, concluding in Lansing. The entire course is shown below, color-coded by day.

RAGBRAI 2022 Course

You may think that Iowa is flat. I assure you it is not. The first day took us through the Loess Hills. The last day wound through hills near the Mississippi River. In between, the terrain was a lot of rolling hills.

This year the event included an Imperial century day as part of the official course. In recent years there has been no century day, but on one day each year, there was the option to complete an additional loop to bring the total miles for that day to at least 100.

The weather was nearly perfect. It rained a few times, but never on me while I was out on my bike. Last year, it was so hot and humid that I left the campground in the dark every morning just to get as many miles in as possible before the heat of the day could build. This year, the temperatures topped out in the mid 80s and it was actually chilly several mornings, as low as 55 degrees. I was staying in campgrounds and was glad I brought a sleeping bag.

I stopped for ice cream at Beekman’s only once, on the century day. The rest and calories were wonderful even though it was only 9AM. I had already been on the road for 4 hours at this point.

Beekman’s Ice Cream

In Pocahontas, I wandered by the main campground and its baggage claim area. Most riders put their gear (tent, clothing, etc) on a truck each morning and meet the truck at the next overnight town. Claiming your luggage can be an exercise in searching...

Baggage Claim

The skies got gloomy but did not open up in Emmetsburg.

Emmetsburg Campground

On the last day, it is a tradition for riders to dip their front wheels in the Mississippi River. Because I started early, I was finished early, before the crowd, and there was no line at the wheel dip site in Lansing.

Lansing Wheel Dip

I haven't seen official counts of actual registered participants. The only thing I can say is that I personally saw thousands of riders. How can I say this? I finished early on Day 7 (Saturday) and was in my car heading home to Virginia when my route crossed the official RAGBRAI route. For about 2 miles, in the town of Waukon, I saw the oncoming lane completely filled with riders who were still on the course.

Notes

• Total Mileage: 469.2
• Total Climb: 13,041 feet
• Longest Single Day: 104.8 miles (new personal record and first century ride)
• Greatest Single Day Climb Total: 2,963 feet (new personal record)

Daily Summary

I stayed in charter service campgrounds. These numbers are directly off my Garmin bike computer and they do not exactly match the official course because my ride each day was from/to the charter service's campgrounds, not the main RAGBRAI campgrounds.

Day 1: Sergeant Bluff to Ida Grove, 53.9 miles, 2467 feet of climb

Day 1: Sergeant Bluff to Ida Grove

Day 1 Elevation Profile

Day 2: Ida Grove to Pocahontas, 72.6 miles, 1873 feet of climb

Day 2: Ida Grove to Pocahontas

Day 2 Elevation Profile

Day 3: Pocahontas to Emmetsburg, 57.3 miles, 669 feet of climb

Day 3: Pocahontas to Emmetsburg

Day 3 Elevation Profile

Day 4: Emmetsburg to Mason City, 104.8 miles, 1847 feet of climb, thankfully there was a consistent wind from the West. The first part of this day's course backtracked the end of the previous day's course.

Day 4: Emmetsburg to Mason City

Day 4 Elevation Profile

Day 5: Mason City to Charles City, 48.7 miles, 1240 feet of climb

Day 5: Mason City to Charles City

Day 5 Elevation Profile

Day 6: Charles City to West Union: 63.6 miles, 1982 feet of climb

Day 6: Charles City to West Union

Day 6 Elevation Profile

Day 7: West Union to Lansing, 68.3 miles, 2963 feet of climb, the hill climb at mile 15 was very steep: at one point my GPS unit reported a 9% grade. The descent to the Mississippi River around mile 60 was very fast, with sustained speeds in the high 20s, peaking at 38mph.

Day 7: West Union to Lansing

Day 7 Elevation Profile

I had a great time biking, seeing Iowa from the Missouri River to the Mississippi River, meeting lots of fellow riders, and enjoying Iowa hospitality.

RAGBRAI Training #2 (2022)

RAGBRAI starts in a few days. It feels like I’ve been a training slacker because I spent two weeks in Alaska, then was really tired when I returned home, and then there was rain. I haven’t spent much time on my bike lately. I’ve used the indoor trainer some.

So far in 2022, I’ve ridden 1273 miles outdoors, with an additional 1952 virtual miles on Zwift. I’ve had two weekends of three days off during which I rode on the W&OD all three days, for roughly 180 miles each of those weekends. Hopefully I’m at least as well-prepared this year as I was last year at this time.

What’s different this year is the century day. I’ve never ridden 100 miles in a day. Next week, I’ll do it in the middle of a week of riding every day. I have a nutrition and hydration plan. I hope it’s a good plan.

Alaska

Earlier this year, the Air Force reassigned my daughter to Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson. She reported for duty early in January. She planned to bring her dog, but at the last minute, was told by the airline that they could not take her dog because it was too cold in Alaska.

So, she sent her dog to me in Virginia. Ironically, it was colder that day in Northern Virginia than in Anchorage. We selected a time frame during which it would be neither too hot in Virginia nor too cold in Alaska for the dog to travel. I delivered the dog, visited my daughter, then took a cruise.

Of course I was jet lagged that first morning in Alaska. I went for a walk in my daughter’s neighborhood and saw some moose.

Moose with calves

During the week in Anchorage:

• We hiked.

  

  Anchorage from Flattop Mountain

• Tried to see Denali on a partly cloudy day. By the time we got there, it was overcast.
• Visited some parks in Anchorage.

  

  Moose in Earthquake Park

  
  
• Saw lots of moose.

My daughter drove us to the cruise port in Whittier, where my wife and I boarded the Royal Princess. This was our second Alaska cruise, having previously cruised from Vancouver to Whittier on the Pacific Princess.

Royal Princess at the Dock in Skagway

On this cruise:

• We visited Hubbard Glacier on a dreary overcast day.

  

  Hubbard Glacier

  
  
• We visited Glacier Bay.

  

  Glacier Bay

  
  
• We made port calls in Skagway, Juneau, and Victoria, ending in Vancouver.

The cruise ship used the new medallion instead of a cruise card. It would unlock our stateroom door from 50 feet away, which was kind of weird.

The check in experience at the Vancouver airport was the worst of my life. After 80 minutes in line for the check in agent, there was another long line to get through security and yet another long line at US passport control. It was a full 2.5 hours from our arrival at the airport to our arrival at our boarding gate. Thankfully we deliberately took a flight that gave us LOTS of time. Then our flight took off a little late. That cut our margin at our already tight connection in Chicago. We had one of those customary long O’Hare taxi rides after landing to get to the arrival gate. Finally off the plane, we dashed to our next gate, only to find that the flight was delayed. And delayed again. And again delayed. Finally we boarded and departed, only to spend a long time in a long line of other aircraft waiting for takeoff. When we landed, it took a long time to get our baggage. We finally arrived home about 2AM.