Travel Tip for Riding Your Bike Across Iowa

The goodies in this town were delicious in 2011

Travel tips for riding your bicycle 471 miles in a week aka RAGBRAI...okay this counts as a food and travel blogging event because I will be traveling across the entire State of Iowa and eating every 10 miles or so...so how how does our team of 6 prepare? We all have different training strategies that work for us individually, but the important part is that we have training strategies. At the beginning of the year, each of us looked at our goals for the ride (before we knew what the exact route would be) and we talked about, read about and then wrote down our individual training plans - very much like writing a business plan. Most of us have had some mid-course corrections but the goal was always the same - complete the sections and distances of RAGBRAI that we originally established. Some on our team will be riding one day, some plan to ride to the meeting town each day and some of us plan to ride the entire 471 miles.
While on the ride, we will hear comments from riders that they just got on their bike the week before for the first time and I always want to see how they are feeling at the end, if they even completed the 471 miles...as the days go on, there is a lot less of that kind of bravado on the course. We train and set the goals that we do so that we can feel good and enjoy every moment of the week - not just the parts while we are on our bikes (although that is a substantial part of the day - usually 6-8 hours a day). Feeling good is an important part of the eating experience too - you can enjoy more food the better you feel, more on the food tomorrow. So travel tip - prepare for whatever you are doing, set your goals to prepare for the trip and you will be able to embrace any of the unexpected surprises that come your way while you are actually on your travels. From my table to yours - www.MamaCarusoCooks.blogspot.com