RAGBRAI Decisions

I got an email from the person who drove the bus last year for the RAGBRAI team I have been riding with for the past nine years, and he says that he will be driving the bus again this year. Assuming I am able to go on RAGBRAI this summer, I will have to decide between riding with this group again, or riding with another group that my sister found through the college she attended.

There are several advantages of riding with the group with which I have ridden since 2000. First of all, our bus has its own shower and toilet, so I would not have to wait in line for either. Oh, I would have to wait to shower, but I would be able to sit at our campground waiting instead of in a line away from camp. I also know the people with which I would be camping, assuming that many of them return. And then there is also the sense of loyalty to the group with which I have been for so long.

There is one potential disadvantage though of riding with this group. Last year there was an incident involving the choice of camping location which caused some major problems, including necessitating moving our camping area after tents had been set up and with most of our group away from the camp. That caused a lot of discord, resulting in some of our group leaving. However, I imagine that our driver learned from that experience and will strive not to repeat the same mistake this year. I am also concerned that, with the late notice about the team, many members of the group will have already made other plans. I can see this resulting in not enough people signing up to go with us to cover the expenses of operating the bus. I do not know what would happen in that case. Although, one person has already signed up since the email we received late last night, and more may do so before I know if I can go.

As for my possibly not being able to go on RAGBRAI this summer. As I was preparing to email the necessary managers and others at work earlier this week requesting to take the week of RAGBRAI off, I noticed that there is a task on one of the projects I work on that is scheduled to be worked on by either me or a coworker of mine during the week of July 20, the week of RAGBRAI. My coworker is likely going to be at an off-site meeting all that week, leaving the task to me. The manager in charge of the schedule said she would see if the schedule could be adjusted to accommodate my request. Since it is still several months away, it is quite possible that the schedule can be changed. So hopefully I will be able to ride on my tenth RAGBRAI this summer.