So far for this year we are planning to do a bike ride called TOMRV, Tour of the Mississippi River Valley. This bike ride goes from Bettendorf to Dubuque (or Preston to Dubuque). Of course we are doing the longer ride and starting in Bettendorf. The first day will be 106 miles. The second day we ride from Dubuque back to Bettendorf for another 90 miles, so in two days we will almost have ridden two century rides. In Dubuque we will be staying at Loras college, I'm bummed we did not get into Clarke College where all of the activities will be, but there will be a shuttle. And we are used to waiting in lines for shuttles from RAGBRAI.
I did part of this ride about 5 years ago. The first day I had the flu, so I missed out on the hill called the Wall that goes into Galena.
I'm super excited to be putting on a compact crank on my bike that I just purchased off of eBay, I think it will give me the extra gears I need to get through this rather hilly terrain and enjoy it. I will miss my standard crank, but I am not as young as I used to be. And honestly I am more for riding for the fun and exercise rather than to break any records.
I will be going out there with Dan and his brother and dad. All the other guys I used to ride with will be there too, but I am sure we won't seem them much of the ride as they are going to hammer it out.
Dan is really strong on the bike and we have fun riding together. However, I do predict he will be riding up those hills better than me with his new awesome bike. I'm okay with that. I just have to keep the blood sugar even so I stay okay with that. I really really really wish I could have talked a girlfriend into doing the ride. The guys are okay but it would be nice to have someone else along, but alas I could not talk anyone into doing 196 miles of hill after hill after hill for two days.
I am hoping that the weather is nice, however, it is known to rain a lot of years on this ride, so I will be prepared for any type of weather. The scenery will be nice so that will definitely help.
By the end of the month we need to be riding outside at least 3 days a week with a long ride 50+ on the weekends.
Had an awesome ride this past Saturday, the wind was strong but by sticking to the trails the ride was not a bad one. 22 miles down on the way to this awesome ride.
