Hilly Hundred 2012

I rode the 2012 45th annual Hilly Hundred out of Ellettsville, Indiana (just outside Bloomington). I've done this ride several times. This year, I rode with minimal training (just my weekly club rides, pretty much).

Pre-ride communications
I'm on their mailing list from previous rides, and they send an information booklet every year. The website (www.hillyhundred.org) has good information about the ride and online registration procedures.

At the ride
They have tons of volunteers on-site, so there are plenty of people to get directions from, and they have an official information booth. Everything is extremely well organized. The main mystery every year involves the weather (will it be wet? will it snow? will it be cold?), and the route, which varies a bit from year to year. But always very hilly.

The ride is always two days, approximately 50 miles each day. This year, day 1 was longer than day 2. They supply optional indoor sleeping and food at the HQ, a grade school/high school complex. Also included is indoor bike storage and free parking, and warm showers after the ride.

I finished strong, but I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had been in a little better shape. New years resolution -- more time on my bike.

Tour de Nebraska 2010 Review

This is a review of my 2010 "Tour de Nebraska" ride:

http://www.tourdenebraska.com/

TDN organized routes, indoor sleeping or outdoor camping options, organized rest stops, pre and post-ride banquet events.

Overall, my experience was "Ok". I really liked the Nebraska landscape, the towns and people I visited. The ride organization itself was "ok", in my opinion, at least compared to my experiences with RAGBRAI and doing other rides.

Pre-Ride Communications

TDN pre-ride materials included a packet with maps and general information. As the ride approached, TDN sent out emails as well. Most of the email info was in the packet as well.

During the Ride

The routes were good, I enjoyed the towns and the people, etc. When I compare TDN to other rides I've done, I'd say the main difference is that I felt much more "on my own" to figure things out, as there was less communication from the ride organizers with the riders.

For example, the ride started at the Clay Center fairgrounds. There was an option to camp overnight at the fairgrounds before the start of the ride. Turns out that there was a major thunderstorm forecast for that evening, and the ride organizers needed to inform riders that they should sleep at the school. The normal procedure for most rides would have been to physically station a person at the camping area to inform people. TDN didn't do that, they taped a paper sign on a door that was pretty easy to miss (the fairgrounds had several buildings, and campers have little reason to inspect the buildings closely since they are, well, camping), and thus most of the riders who made it to the school heard about the school option from fellow riders. A little too laid back for my taste.

Routes were marked on the same day of the ride, which meant if you were a person who wanted to ride early to beat the heat, you often rode without road markings.

I absolutely loved the small towns of Nebraska. And the landscape. The roads were nice and smooth. I got some great pictures, and had some great conversations with local folks.

One final comment: the TDN felt a bit "clanish". A lot of riders (maybe most of them) have done TDN many times, and they all seem to know each other, and oddly enough, I felt a bit more like a stranger among a couple hundred or so TDN riders than I did among the many thousands of riders of RAGBRAI and the several hundred fellow riders in Brancel Charter in 2009. Odd.

After the ride

Received a thank-you email that solicited suggestions from riders for next time. Received another email in Dec 2010, when they advertised for the 2011 TDN.

Summary

My impression is that TDN has been doing bike rides pretty much the same way for many years, and that a lot of the riders who do TDN have done it many times and are OK with that. I may do TDN again someday, but I think I'll look for a different ride in 2011.

Brancel Charters RAGBRAI 2009 Review

This is a review of my RAGBRAI 2009 tour with Brancel Charters: http://www.brancelcharters.com/

Brancel provided bus transportation for me and my bike from the end of the ride to the beginning of the ride, and transported my gear during the ride itself.

Overall, my experience was excellent, I'd recommend Brancel.

Pre-ride Communications
Very good.

I sent them their form and check before the RAGBRAI lottery. Brancel sent me an email in June asking for wristband numbers. I sent the number, and got a confirmation email back.

Later in June, they sent out a document with their tour information, and sent out an online questionnaire to ask how many people wanted morning coffee service and mid-week laundry service. The tour document explained where to go, optional indoor sleeping options, and described the daily ride routine (departure times, etc).

Brancel took care to update their website regularly to indicate which services were available/sold out.

Bus ride

Very good.

I found Brancel, checked in, they provided luggage tags and put my bike on a moving truck. My bike suffered no scratches or damage during the trip. The tour is big enough to fill several busses, took a while to get them all loaded and on the road. RAGBRAI safety video shown on the bus on the way.

During the Ride

Very good.

We generally had fine camping spots. RAGBRAI might mean "waiting in line to pee", and there was some of that, but in a couple of cases, they found camping areas away from the unwashed masses, but toilets and showers were always within a block or two. They provided an awning, chairs, and drinks (for purchase) after each day's ride. They had luggage color-coded with luggage tags that made finding luggage after each day's ride a bit easier. On days when rain threatened, they did a good job trying to keep luggage dry with plastic tarps (doesn't help you find your luggage of course). They also provided a portable generator with plugins to recharge phones -- this proved to be very popular, was sometimes hard to get an outlet.

New this year was a mid-week laundry service. They tried using little plastic laundry bags to keep people's stuff separated, but the bags proved too flimsy, and we ended up having to do a little sorting. No big deal.

After the ride

Brancel sent out a satisfaction survey, and for the next year, they sent out an email announcement for their services using constant contact.

Summary

Clearly, not only does the Brancel team know what they are doing, they strive to improve their services every year by asking their customers what they need and trying to deliver.

More than one set of gloves on a multi-day ride

I was glad that I brought along two sets of cycling gloves on RAGBRAI. I have a favorite set of gloves that are comfortable, but a bit stretchy, and after a few days riding everyday, a couple spots on my hands were slightly irritated, probably rubbing against inside seams. I switched to my second set of gloves, which are tighter and have less padding, and that helped a bit.

RAGBRAI 2009: Pekin School Band

Training for RAGBRAI: The view after the ride

I rode a total of about 900 miles on my road bike, along with commuting to work and some riding with my family. This amount of riding was about right. By pacing myself, I was able to finish each day pretty strong, and I even did the century loop (105 miles) on day 5. I felt so good on the last day, I didn't feel like I was on some sort of forced march from hell.

Some other guys in my group were suffering a bit, so a few tips on pacing for RAGBRAI:

1. Of course, training rides sometimes involved pushing myself (especially if the distance or duration of the ride was relatively short, like 20 miles). During RAGBRAI itself, I took it easy -- didn't charge up hills or worry about keeping a pace. The goal was to conserve energy to make the ride the next day easier. In my mind, I wasn't really thinking about RAGBRAI as exercise (it was anyway, of course).
2. I use a heart rate monitor, and I found it to be useful on the ride as well. My anaerobic heart rate zone might be 170 or more, but my goal during the ride was to keep my heart rate low.
3. On hills, I used a combination of standing or sitting in low gear. Generally speaking, if I didn't think I would be able to stand and get to the top, I'd use low gear instead. I wanted to avoid having to "bail out" of standing midway up the hill.
4. I didn't have much luck finding anyone to draft from. Seems like only the peleton-types in the fast lane were concerned with drafting. Didn't experience any horrific headwinds though, thankfully.
   

RAGBRAI 2009: Swedish Dancing in Stanton, IA