Bike Preparation

It's a lot of work and worry getting ready for a bike tour. In the past week I've put on new tires & tubes, new chain & cassette, painted over rust & scratches on the bike frame, cleaned & adjusted brakes, put on new handlebar tape, put on a new handlebar bag ( I love my new yellow Ortlieb handlebar bag ! ), and on and on and on ...




I'm just now starting to pack my bags, which is always fun. Luckily I have a packing list I've put together over the years, which helps a lot.  Here's a photo of all my gear drying out after a couple of days of rain on my Blue Ridge Parkway bicycle tour in May ...

It's good to know if you forget anything, there's always a store along the way to pick up supplies, just don't forget your credit card !

Pete's Bike Ride Across Iowa

I'm heading out to Iowa in a few weeks to ride my bicycle - Yippee !!

I'm getting a ride to Clinton Iowa, where I'll meet up with good friends Doc, Barbara, Mike and Kendra.  We are doing a bicycle ride we call IARBGAR ( this is RAGBRAI spelled backwards ).  We'll spend 7 days doing the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) backwards, riding from Clinton to Sioux Center, staying at motels as we ride from East to West across the state.

When we get to Sioux Center Iowa on July 21, we'll turn around and spend the next week riding back to Clinton with our RAGBRAI friends on "Team Sprint", camping out along the way.  We have about 75 wonderful people on our team, and some of them have ridden RAGBRAI 30 years or more !

 There are usually 10,000 to 20,000 bicycles on RAGBRAI each day.  We typically ride from 60-80 miles per day, stopping every 10 miles to eat, drink, and visit with people along the way.


After RAGBRAI, I plan to ride back to Tallahassee on my bicycle all by myself, following the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers down towards Alabama.  This part of the trip should begin on July 28.  I will be following parts of the Adventure Cycling "Great Rivers" and "Underground Railroad" routes.


I hope to post info and photos to this BLOG during my trip - provided I can find cell or wi-fi service !