Start training now for RAGBRAI

Sun March 09 2008
Posted Mar 9, 2008
6,484

By Rachel Gallegos Iowa City Press-Citizen With the announcement Saturday of the complete route for this summer's RAGBRAI, one local bicycling enthusiast advised riders that they might want to train a little more than normal for this one. The 471-mile route includes 22,500 feet to climb, almost double last year's 13,600 feet. "It looks like a great route," said Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition and a North Liberty resident. This will be the 11th hilliest RAGBRAI, The Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, in its 36 year history. "Not in the top 10, but it's pretty darn close," Wyatt said. For Wyatt that news isn't a concern but a delight. "I love hills," he said. Although he recognizes that it often is tough to get up the inclines, "at least half the ride you can go downhill," he said. This year's route includes a local overnight stop in North Liberty on July 24. Wyatt said he thinks the ride from Tama-Toledo to North Liberty will be an enjoyable one for RAGBRAI participants. "I don't think you can get a prettier bicycle route," he said. One of the pass-through towns on that day of riding is Chelsea, what Wyatt described as "a beautiful old town." And although it will be flat in and out of North Liberty, riders will soon encounter the hill on Mehaffey Bridge Road, he said. Heading out of North Liberty, riders will head northeast, traveling through Solon, Lisbon, Mount Vernon, Martelle, Morley and Mechanicsville, before arriving in the next overnight town of Tipton. The July 25 route is 65 miles with a climb of 3,051 feet. To prepare for the hilly terrain of this year's route, Wyatt advises riders to "get a little bit more than the minimum amount of mileage in." Wyatt said he is asked almost daily about the upcoming RAGBRAI ride, including when he was in Washington, D.C., for the National Bike Summit. "As far away as D.C., they're taking about this route," Wyatt said.