This week on the RAGBRAI Training Blog, Coach David Ertl tells us how to have your best RAGBRAI by riding in comfort.
The best way to have an enjoyable RAGBRAI experience is to be fit and also to be comfortable on your bike. These blogs have focused mostly on how to get fit for RAGBRAI so this one is going to be focused on making sure you are comfortable on your bike.
If you aren’t fit, your ride will be tough and you will be exhausted with the ride and not able to enjoy the festivities that make RAGBRAI the celebration that it is. Likewise, if you are not comfortable on your bike, your 40 hours of riding on RAGBRAI could turn into torture and you don’t want that.
RAGBRAI is supposed to be fun. You don’t want to take a week’s vacation from work to be miserable. You’ve got work for that. So here are some things to consider about your relationship with your bike to make your ride smooth and enjoyable, assuming that you are fit, of course.
You have three contact points with your bike (technically five but hands and feet I’m counting as pairs) – your hands on the handlebars, your feet on the pedals and your seat on your saddle. Let’s take each one in turn starting with hands.