Preparing for RAGBRAI

With RAGBRAI just 37 days away, I have stepped up my training somewhat. Most of my training has been by taking short rides during my lunch break from work. That is one benefit of working from home. The problem with these rides though is that they are not very long, averaging between four and six miles per ride. So far I have ridden 83.94 miles this year. That is more than three times the distance I rode prior to last year's RAGBRAI, but it is not nearly enough. Fortunately I still have some time to get some riding in. I think what is really going to be trouble for me on RAGBRAI this summer is the hills. I haven't done much riding up hills, but I did ride up a short hill today, and it was tough. I think I better concentrate my riding on hills as much as I can. Going down the hill was fun though. I exceeded the speed limit by 5 miles per hour, riding down the hill at nearly 35 miles per hour.

I have made another preparation for RAGBRAI though. That was buying some replacement pole for my tent. Two summers ago, one of the brim rod for the tent broke which created problems in keeping the rain fly away from the rear window of the tent. Prior to last year's ride, I ordered a replacement one. Unfortunately I thought the model of tent we have is the Tetragon 8. We actually have the Tetragon 9, so the pole was a little too short. Then last summer, one of the main support poles of the tent broke toward the end of the ride, so I had to get a replacement one of those as well. I was expecting that pole to be quite pricy, but it wasn't nearly as expensive as I feared it would be. Now I really should set up the tent to make sure the poles I got are the right ones, and I should do it in plenty of time to remedy the situation if they are the wrong poles.