RAGBRAI

When most people here RAGBRAI they think of pie and a huge party. I'm using RAGBRAI this year as a training opportunity. My plan is to head down to Indianola tonight and ride Wednesday - Saturday. Wednesday is a pretty short day (44 miles) so I'll use Wednesday as a speed day starting with a 5 mile warmup, then 7X4 miles at 90%, 1 mile recovery, 4 mile cooldown. Thursday is going to be my long day with a 100 mile ride (original route is 76 miles, with the option of doing 100 miles). This will be my LSD ride and making sure I can cover the distance - I will then follow it up w/ a 3 mile run-off. This is going to be a tough day and I'm going to try and only make a few stops along the way. The century ride will also give me an opportunity to test out my nutrition plan. Friday is a longer day 76 miles) - today I'm going to focus my time on the hills - we've got over 3,088 feet of climb. I'm going to put my energy into energy utilization on the hills and technique. After this ride I will do an 6-8 mile run-off. Saturday is a short day of 44 miles and I'll use this as a recovery ride - nice and easy with a few pick-ups to get the blood flowing.

I'm looking forward to getting out of DM for a while and enjoy the training, and time with the family and friends. For updates on my riding, check out my Facebook page.