Thursday Aug 18th: Health & Natural Healing with Essential Oils
Location: Crackers & Company (NE corner of Greenfield Rd & Brown Rd.)
Time: 11:30am – 1:00pm (see agenda below)
Presenter: Melissa Guthrie – Nutritionist/Fitness Trainer/Health Educator
Special gift to those who RSVP and bring a guest with them. Please RSVP you and any guests you are bringing. mmguthrie@hotmail.com or 480.861.2222
Cost: Free class. Pay for your lunch if you choose to eat.
Agenda: 11:30am – 1:00pm (11:30am – noon arrive, order food – if you choose, network), noon – 12:45pm Essential Oil Education & Discussion, 12:45 – 1:00pm Prizes & Wrap Up.
Friday Aug 19th: Natural Detox & Cleansing with Essential Oils
Location: Mimi’s Café (Alma School btwn US-60 & Southern Ave in Mesa)
Time: 11:30am – 1:00pm (see agenda below)
Presenter: Melissa Guthrie – Nutritionist/Fitness Trainer/Health Educator
Special gift to those who RSVP and bring a guest with them. Please RSVP you and any guests you are bringing. mmguthrie@hotmail.com or 480.861.2222
Cost: Free class. Pay for your lunch if you choose to eat.
Agenda: 11:30am – 1:00pm (11:30am – noon arrive, order food – if you choose, network), noon – 12:45pm Essential Oil Education & Discussion, 12:45 – 1:00pm Prizes & Wrap Up.
Tuesday Aug 30th: Sports Nutrition 101 for Runners, Walkers & Triathletes
Time: 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Location: Sole Sports Running Zone - Scottsdale (Hayden & Indian Bend)
Presented by Melissa Guthrie – Nutritionist/Fitness Trainer/Health Educator
Cost: Free
Wednesday Aug 31st: Sports Nutrition 101 for Runners, Walkers & Triathletes
Time: 6:30pm – 7:30pm
Location: Sole Sports Running Zone - Tempe (NE corner of Rural & Warner)
Presented by Melissa Guthrie – Nutritionist/Fitness Trainer/Health Educator
Cost: Free
Melissa Guthrie
MBS Development Group
Nutrition Coach & Fitness Trainer
Tel: 800.775.0712 ext 7015
Email: mmguthrie@hotmail.com
www.gettingfitwithmelissa.com
Eat Right. Train Smart. Live Well.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Sport Nutrition for Runners, Cyclists & Triathletes By Melissa Guthrie
With Melissa Guthrie - Nutritionist, Fitness Trainer, Health Educator, Athlete
Tel: 1.800.775.0712 ext 7015
Cell: 480.861.2222
mmguthrie@hotmail.com
www.gettingfitwithmelissa.com
.........You are an experiment of one – discover what works for YOU!
Day to Day Nutrition
Have a daily healthy nutrition plan that coincides with your daily training plan and is in sync with your goals.
•Are you eating sufficient calories to recover, replenish, & refuel your next workout?
•Is your goal to maintain your body weight, lose body fat, and/or increase lean muscle?
•Are you attempting to resolve, control, or prevent specific health issues that are influenced by exercise and nutrition?
Macronutrient Progression (standard)
Training: 50-60% carbohydrate, 20-25% protein, 20-25% fat
Taper: 60-65% carbohydrate, 12-18% protein, 15 - 20% fat
2 days pre-event: 60-70% carbohydrate, 10-15% protein, 15-20% fat
*Remember we are not necessarily increasing total calorie intake, we are just shifting where the calories are coming from. And your macronutrient percentages are based up multiple factors including volume & intensity of training.
* Eat a variety of Whole, Fresh, Unprocessed Foods daily. Focus your meals around 100% whole grains, fruits, & vegetables. Garnish your meals with some lean proteins and non-fat or low fat dairy or dairy-alternatives. Make sure every meal is balanced with some carbohydrates, protein, & healthy fat. Your body is designed to be fueled approximately every 3 hours – so you should be eating 4-6 times per day. Smaller, more frequent meals that are properly balanced will increase energy, promote healthy metabolism, reduce unhealthy cravings (i.e. sugars & fats), and ensure stable blood sugar levels.
Practice Event/Race Day Nutrition during long workouts NOW. Have a plan! What are you eating/drinking 48 hrs pre-workout, during workout, and for 24 hrs after workouts? Remember…he/she who fails to plan, plans to fail.
Pre-Workout/Pre-Race Meal – The right foods, at the right time, in the right amount
The following are examples of a pre-exercise meal depending on what time you eat prior to your workout. (Note: The actual amounts YOU require will vary based on your metabolic rate, your digestive system and your overall nutrient/caloric requirements)
If you eat your pre-exercise meal….
* 2-3 hrs before a workout/event: ~ 1 cup of cooked oatmeal, 1 small banana, 8 oz skim milk or non –dairy milk
* 1 hr before a workout/event: ½ whole grain bagel with 2 tsp of peanut butter, ½ banana, 8 oz skim milk or non-dairy milk
* 15-20 min before a workout/event: a small “healthy” energy bar, an energy gel, 8-10 oz fruit juice/sports drink, 1 small piece of fresh fruit (i.e. 1/2 a banana), ½ - ¾ cup applesauce, ¼ -1/2 cup of dried fruit or ½ cup granola cereal
Mid-Workout Fueling
Discover what foods, at what time, in what amounts works best for YOU!
For fueling during your training/events do you prefer gels, bars, energy drinks or real foods like dried fruit, fig newtons, PBJ, crackers?
•Determine how often you must fuel – every 45 minutes, every 4-5 miles, etc.
•Recommended: 30-60 gm of Carbohydrate per hour
•Determine how often you must drink – follow your thirst
•Recommended: 2-4 oz every 15 minutes
Post-Workout Nutrition
As a athlete, your body requires plenty of carbohydrate rich foods for energy to get you through your workouts. The body stores carbohydrate in the form of muscle glycogen. During prolonged exercise, those glycogen stores can be depleted. If not replenished, subsequent workouts will suffer and we may not make it through our long, intense training. Post-exercise nutrition is as important as pre-exercise nutrition. There is a window of time in which the body is like a super absorbent sponge and will refill the glycogen stores most rapidly and efficiently. This is 15 to 60 minutes after a workout. Muscle glycogen uptake remains elevated for up to five hours post-workout, although it is not as rapid as it is during the first hour post-workout.
“So What Should I Eat and How Much Should I Eat in my Post-workout/ Post-race meal?” ……Let’s start with understanding the ideal ratio for replenishment is a 3 or 4 to 1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein, so a meal containing 75-100 grams of carbohydrate and 25 grams of protein is ideal.
Here’s an example of what that might look like: a medium sized whole grain bagel topped with 1 ½ TBS peanut butter and small banana with eight ounces of skim milk. Approx. 75 grams carbohydrate, 20 grams protein, 15 grams fat, 510 calories (Note: The actual amounts YOU require will vary based on your metabolic rate, your digestive system and your overall nutrient/caloric requirements)
Do you have a plan for your post-workout meals?
More Nutrition Tips
Keep a training and nutrition journal – this can prove priceless in you having a successful event day experience and/or having your best run/race yet! Log what time of day you eat, the specific foods/beverages you intake, and the amounts. Also note how you are feeling i.e. felt strong and energized or felt depleted and fatigued, etc.
Foods to Limit or Avoid During Training and Especially Just before an Event:
Limit high-fat protein foods like hamburgers, fried chicken, extra cheese because these foods take longer to empty from your stomach and can contribute to sluggishness. Limit sugary sweets like candy, cookies, candy bars, cakes, ice cream, candy bars, doughnuts, pastries, etc. Limit overall junky foods like French fries, onion rings, potato chips, most crackers, all fried foods, and alcohol. Limit or avoid heavily processed, refined foods – they cause inflammation in the cells, they alter the pH balance of the body, they are void of nutrients and result in the body robbing nutrients from vital organs/tissues to compensate, they do no digest properly, they result in metabolic malfunction, and they are often stored as fat.
For additional articles on proper sports nutrition visit www.gettingfitwithmelissa.com
Tel: 1.800.775.0712 ext 7015
Cell: 480.861.2222
mmguthrie@hotmail.com
www.gettingfitwithmelissa.com
.........You are an experiment of one – discover what works for YOU!
Day to Day Nutrition
Have a daily healthy nutrition plan that coincides with your daily training plan and is in sync with your goals.
•Are you eating sufficient calories to recover, replenish, & refuel your next workout?
•Is your goal to maintain your body weight, lose body fat, and/or increase lean muscle?
•Are you attempting to resolve, control, or prevent specific health issues that are influenced by exercise and nutrition?
Macronutrient Progression (standard)
Training: 50-60% carbohydrate, 20-25% protein, 20-25% fat
Taper: 60-65% carbohydrate, 12-18% protein, 15 - 20% fat
2 days pre-event: 60-70% carbohydrate, 10-15% protein, 15-20% fat
*Remember we are not necessarily increasing total calorie intake, we are just shifting where the calories are coming from. And your macronutrient percentages are based up multiple factors including volume & intensity of training.
* Eat a variety of Whole, Fresh, Unprocessed Foods daily. Focus your meals around 100% whole grains, fruits, & vegetables. Garnish your meals with some lean proteins and non-fat or low fat dairy or dairy-alternatives. Make sure every meal is balanced with some carbohydrates, protein, & healthy fat. Your body is designed to be fueled approximately every 3 hours – so you should be eating 4-6 times per day. Smaller, more frequent meals that are properly balanced will increase energy, promote healthy metabolism, reduce unhealthy cravings (i.e. sugars & fats), and ensure stable blood sugar levels.
Practice Event/Race Day Nutrition during long workouts NOW. Have a plan! What are you eating/drinking 48 hrs pre-workout, during workout, and for 24 hrs after workouts? Remember…he/she who fails to plan, plans to fail.
Pre-Workout/Pre-Race Meal – The right foods, at the right time, in the right amount
The following are examples of a pre-exercise meal depending on what time you eat prior to your workout. (Note: The actual amounts YOU require will vary based on your metabolic rate, your digestive system and your overall nutrient/caloric requirements)
If you eat your pre-exercise meal….
* 2-3 hrs before a workout/event: ~ 1 cup of cooked oatmeal, 1 small banana, 8 oz skim milk or non –dairy milk
* 1 hr before a workout/event: ½ whole grain bagel with 2 tsp of peanut butter, ½ banana, 8 oz skim milk or non-dairy milk
* 15-20 min before a workout/event: a small “healthy” energy bar, an energy gel, 8-10 oz fruit juice/sports drink, 1 small piece of fresh fruit (i.e. 1/2 a banana), ½ - ¾ cup applesauce, ¼ -1/2 cup of dried fruit or ½ cup granola cereal
Mid-Workout Fueling
Discover what foods, at what time, in what amounts works best for YOU!
For fueling during your training/events do you prefer gels, bars, energy drinks or real foods like dried fruit, fig newtons, PBJ, crackers?
•Determine how often you must fuel – every 45 minutes, every 4-5 miles, etc.
•Recommended: 30-60 gm of Carbohydrate per hour
•Determine how often you must drink – follow your thirst
•Recommended: 2-4 oz every 15 minutes
Post-Workout Nutrition
As a athlete, your body requires plenty of carbohydrate rich foods for energy to get you through your workouts. The body stores carbohydrate in the form of muscle glycogen. During prolonged exercise, those glycogen stores can be depleted. If not replenished, subsequent workouts will suffer and we may not make it through our long, intense training. Post-exercise nutrition is as important as pre-exercise nutrition. There is a window of time in which the body is like a super absorbent sponge and will refill the glycogen stores most rapidly and efficiently. This is 15 to 60 minutes after a workout. Muscle glycogen uptake remains elevated for up to five hours post-workout, although it is not as rapid as it is during the first hour post-workout.
“So What Should I Eat and How Much Should I Eat in my Post-workout/ Post-race meal?” ……Let’s start with understanding the ideal ratio for replenishment is a 3 or 4 to 1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein, so a meal containing 75-100 grams of carbohydrate and 25 grams of protein is ideal.
Here’s an example of what that might look like: a medium sized whole grain bagel topped with 1 ½ TBS peanut butter and small banana with eight ounces of skim milk. Approx. 75 grams carbohydrate, 20 grams protein, 15 grams fat, 510 calories (Note: The actual amounts YOU require will vary based on your metabolic rate, your digestive system and your overall nutrient/caloric requirements)
Do you have a plan for your post-workout meals?
More Nutrition Tips
Keep a training and nutrition journal – this can prove priceless in you having a successful event day experience and/or having your best run/race yet! Log what time of day you eat, the specific foods/beverages you intake, and the amounts. Also note how you are feeling i.e. felt strong and energized or felt depleted and fatigued, etc.
Foods to Limit or Avoid During Training and Especially Just before an Event:
Limit high-fat protein foods like hamburgers, fried chicken, extra cheese because these foods take longer to empty from your stomach and can contribute to sluggishness. Limit sugary sweets like candy, cookies, candy bars, cakes, ice cream, candy bars, doughnuts, pastries, etc. Limit overall junky foods like French fries, onion rings, potato chips, most crackers, all fried foods, and alcohol. Limit or avoid heavily processed, refined foods – they cause inflammation in the cells, they alter the pH balance of the body, they are void of nutrients and result in the body robbing nutrients from vital organs/tissues to compensate, they do no digest properly, they result in metabolic malfunction, and they are often stored as fat.
For additional articles on proper sports nutrition visit www.gettingfitwithmelissa.com
Achieving Your Ideal Body Tele-Classes My Melissa Guthrie
Hi.
Thank you for attending the post-ride sports nutrition clinic on Saturday. As you requested, You can access the recordings to the "Achieving Your Ideal Body" tele-classes by going to www.freeconferencecalling.com look to the right midway the page and click on the question: Have you been invited to listen to a previously recorded conference call?
Enter your first and Last name along with your e-mail. The conferance code is 604086You'll then have access to all calls I've done since day one. Enjoy and please let me know how I can further assist you.
Melissa Guthrie
MBS Development Group
Nutrition Coach & Fitness Trainer
Tel: 480.861.2222 or 800.775.0712 ext 7015
Email: mmguthrie@hotmail.com
www.gettingfitwithmelissa.com
Eat Right. Train Smart. Live Well.
Thank you for attending the post-ride sports nutrition clinic on Saturday. As you requested, You can access the recordings to the "Achieving Your Ideal Body" tele-classes by going to www.freeconferencecalling.com look to the right midway the page and click on the question: Have you been invited to listen to a previously recorded conference call?
Enter your first and Last name along with your e-mail. The conferance code is 604086You'll then have access to all calls I've done since day one. Enjoy and please let me know how I can further assist you.
Melissa Guthrie
MBS Development Group
Nutrition Coach & Fitness Trainer
Tel: 480.861.2222 or 800.775.0712 ext 7015
Email: mmguthrie@hotmail.com
www.gettingfitwithmelissa.com
Eat Right. Train Smart. Live Well.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
RAGBRAI in Linnea Words
Several of The Ladies asked about RAGBRAI and have said they would like to ride it “some time.” I’d like to share my experiences and if, after reading this, you are still interested in going, we can start planning a group trip for 2012 or 2013.
First, the basics: RAGBRAI is a seven-day bike ride across Iowa held the last full week of July. The route changes each year, but it always starts near the Missouri River in western Iowa, and ends at the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa. The route and overnight towns are announced at the end of January. The registration deadline is April 1. Most years, everyone who registers gets in. Some years, they have a lottery to cap the number of participants at 8,500 week-long riders. Results are posted the first of May, giving you three months to train and make travel plans.
Second, the disclaimers: RAGBRAI is a lot of fun, but if a week of riding in whatever weather Mother Nature provides, camping, porta-potties, and communal showers aren’t your thing, then you probably shouldn’t go. One of my favorite RAGBRAI team slogans is, “If you’re not having fun, lower your standards.”
As Arizonans, we have additional challenges of getting ourselves and our bikes to and from the start and finish; extra travel time (plan on being away from home 10-12 days); the cost to travel and ship bikes; and perhaps most important, being committed to training all summer.
How it works: The registration fee of $150 covers the overhead of putting on a week-long event. The Des Moines Register has been running RAGBRAI since 1973, and they are experts at route planning, traffic control, emergency services, and working with the many communities along the route to make sure things go as smoothly as possible. SAG wagons are available for those who need them, but it’s really not a supported ride. Also included in the registration fee is having your gear hauled by the RAGBRAI trucks. I haven’t used them for gear hauling because the first five times I rode, my family came along in a camping trailer, and this year I went with my friend Diane’s bike club in Muscatine, Iowa.
The advantage of paying extra to a bike club or charter service is that transportation is included to the starting town and back from the ending town, plus you get some extra support and services.
This year I flew round trip to the Quad Cities/Moline, IL, which is about 30 minutes from Muscatine. Friday afternoon, we took Diane’s boxed bike to the local bike shop where it was loaded on a U-Haul truck. My bike had been shipped and was already on the truck. The following morning, the group loaded ourselves and our gear onto two charter buses, and rode across Iowa to the starting town. As soon as we set up camp, we assembled our bikes and put the flattened boxes back on the U-Haul, in order to make room to load our gear in the morning. The procedure is reversed at the end of the ride, although some of us chose to ride to Muscatine instead of finishing in the Quad Cities, disassembling bikes, and taking the bus back to Muscatine.
I enjoyed chartering with the bike club. Some of the people ride together weekly; others live elsewhere and just show up for RAGBRAI. The club had a wine and cheese party at the end of our first day; they also provided tire pumps, a generator and power strips for charging cell phones, and kept a supply of cold water, Gatorade, beer and soda available on the honor system at $1 each.
The route is supported from 6 am to 6 pm, although some people start earlier (before the sun is up in Iowa). Most days I started riding about 6:30, made lots of stops along the way, and finished by 4:00. Some people hurry to finish by 1:00 or 2:00, but there’s really no point to finishing early. You just have more time to sit around the campground.
I’ve ridden six RAGBRAIs since 2000, and each year the weather was different. Some years, mornings were chilly and I didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag. Some years we had perfect days in the 80’s and maybe a few hot days that reached 90 in the afternoons. Most years, there is some rain once or twice during the week (hopefully at night), sometimes even severe storms. This year was just plain nasty all week. The afternoon temperatures were in the upper 90’s with high humidity, and the nights were too hot for a sleeping bag. Waterproof sunscreen wasn’t. My clothes were damp all the time, whether being worn or in my duffle bag, my bike rusted in places, and my watch had so much condensation that it quit running. I met several people from Arizona, and we all agreed that we prefer our dry heat!
While the weather can make it miserable, it’s the people that make it special. RAGBRAI is a rolling party with 10,000 guests. Towns on the route are typically 8-15 miles apart, and many have fewer than 1,000 population. It’s not unusual to find DJ’s and high school bands playing music, local volunteers grilling burgers, people in all sorts of costumes and cycling attire, a beer garden, kids spraying you with a hose, and church ladies selling homemade pie – all at 9:30 on a weekday morning – and in every town throughout the day, all week. Overnight towns run shuttles from the campgrounds to downtown street parties. Cyclists come from every state and many countries to enjoy this atmosphere as much as to ride. One group’s T-shirts said it best, “RAGBRAI is spring break for adults.”
If you think Iowa is flat, you’ve never seen it from a bicycle. Here are the details of the 2011 route:
•Sunday, July 24 – Glenwood to Atlantic, 59.5 miles, 4,298 feet of climb
•Monday, July 25 – Atlantic to Carroll, 65.4 miles, 4,719 feet of climb
•Tuesday, July 26 – Carroll to Boone, 70.9 miles, 1,787 feet of climb (plus optional century loop)
•Wednesday, July 27 – Boone to Altoona, 56.1 miles, 1,147 feet of climb
•Thursday, July 28 – Altoona to Grinnell, 57.5 miles, 3,202 feet of climb
•Friday, July 29 – Grinnell to Coralville, 74.9 miles, 2,681 feet of climb
•Saturday, July 30 – Coralville to Davenport, 65.6 miles, 2,363 feet of climb
Budget ($1200 – 1500):
Registration$150
Bike club charter 250
Bike pkg & shipping (Tribe/FedEx) 90
Bike pkg & shipping (Harper’s/UPS) 106
Airfare (Allegiant Mesa to Moline) 308
(includes 1 checked back ea trip)
Food & drinks~ $30/day x 8 240
Showers $3-$5 ea. X6 30
Extras:Jersey 50
T-shirts and rain jacket 80
Massages 120
Food costs vary, depending on how often you eat and how tempted you are by the smoothie and ice cream vendors along the route. You can save a little here and there by packing granola bars or sports/energy bars for breakfast and using tap water instead of bottled water. Many towns have free water filling stations with tap water that tastes better than Arizona tap water. The best bargains are usually church dinners for $7 or $8, but they often run out of food if you don’t get there early (5ish). Depending on where the group camps each night, you might be showering in a high school gym, community center, or portable outdoor showers. Sometimes a towel is included in the fee, but not always. If you camp near a public pool, you can pay the admission to swim and the shower is included.
In Carroll, our group was assigned to camp on a church property. Kids handed us free bottled water as we rode in, and church members invite us inside for a free meal. They kept the building open all night, allowing us to use restrooms and sleep indoors, and then they served breakfast. They didn’t ask for anything in return, but the club took up a donation to send afterwards with our thanks.
If you plan ahead, you can sometimes arrange overnight stays in people’s homes. Obviously, this isn’t possible for large groups, and even if you apply early you may not get accommodations in every town. Most years, someone in my group has known someone in an overnight town who lets us sleep in their yard or basement, use their showers, and do laundry. Having those luxuries for even one night during the week makes everything easier. The complication with home stays is that you have to haul your gear to some other part of town, and then make arrangements to get it to a vehicle for transport the next day.
This year, a small group of us on the Muscatine charter stayed with friends of Diane’s in Boone and Coralville. The friends in Coralville even cooked dinner for us. As with previous years, I’ve been impressed and totally comfortable crashing in the home of a friend of a friend. Like the church members in Carroll, Iowans are very hospitable and seem to be impressed that we want to ride across their state. As one of the people in our group said at the end of the ride, “Once you ride RAGBRAI with someone, you become family.”
First, the basics: RAGBRAI is a seven-day bike ride across Iowa held the last full week of July. The route changes each year, but it always starts near the Missouri River in western Iowa, and ends at the Mississippi River in eastern Iowa. The route and overnight towns are announced at the end of January. The registration deadline is April 1. Most years, everyone who registers gets in. Some years, they have a lottery to cap the number of participants at 8,500 week-long riders. Results are posted the first of May, giving you three months to train and make travel plans.
Second, the disclaimers: RAGBRAI is a lot of fun, but if a week of riding in whatever weather Mother Nature provides, camping, porta-potties, and communal showers aren’t your thing, then you probably shouldn’t go. One of my favorite RAGBRAI team slogans is, “If you’re not having fun, lower your standards.”
As Arizonans, we have additional challenges of getting ourselves and our bikes to and from the start and finish; extra travel time (plan on being away from home 10-12 days); the cost to travel and ship bikes; and perhaps most important, being committed to training all summer.
How it works: The registration fee of $150 covers the overhead of putting on a week-long event. The Des Moines Register has been running RAGBRAI since 1973, and they are experts at route planning, traffic control, emergency services, and working with the many communities along the route to make sure things go as smoothly as possible. SAG wagons are available for those who need them, but it’s really not a supported ride. Also included in the registration fee is having your gear hauled by the RAGBRAI trucks. I haven’t used them for gear hauling because the first five times I rode, my family came along in a camping trailer, and this year I went with my friend Diane’s bike club in Muscatine, Iowa.
The advantage of paying extra to a bike club or charter service is that transportation is included to the starting town and back from the ending town, plus you get some extra support and services.
This year I flew round trip to the Quad Cities/Moline, IL, which is about 30 minutes from Muscatine. Friday afternoon, we took Diane’s boxed bike to the local bike shop where it was loaded on a U-Haul truck. My bike had been shipped and was already on the truck. The following morning, the group loaded ourselves and our gear onto two charter buses, and rode across Iowa to the starting town. As soon as we set up camp, we assembled our bikes and put the flattened boxes back on the U-Haul, in order to make room to load our gear in the morning. The procedure is reversed at the end of the ride, although some of us chose to ride to Muscatine instead of finishing in the Quad Cities, disassembling bikes, and taking the bus back to Muscatine.
I enjoyed chartering with the bike club. Some of the people ride together weekly; others live elsewhere and just show up for RAGBRAI. The club had a wine and cheese party at the end of our first day; they also provided tire pumps, a generator and power strips for charging cell phones, and kept a supply of cold water, Gatorade, beer and soda available on the honor system at $1 each.
The route is supported from 6 am to 6 pm, although some people start earlier (before the sun is up in Iowa). Most days I started riding about 6:30, made lots of stops along the way, and finished by 4:00. Some people hurry to finish by 1:00 or 2:00, but there’s really no point to finishing early. You just have more time to sit around the campground.
I’ve ridden six RAGBRAIs since 2000, and each year the weather was different. Some years, mornings were chilly and I didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag. Some years we had perfect days in the 80’s and maybe a few hot days that reached 90 in the afternoons. Most years, there is some rain once or twice during the week (hopefully at night), sometimes even severe storms. This year was just plain nasty all week. The afternoon temperatures were in the upper 90’s with high humidity, and the nights were too hot for a sleeping bag. Waterproof sunscreen wasn’t. My clothes were damp all the time, whether being worn or in my duffle bag, my bike rusted in places, and my watch had so much condensation that it quit running. I met several people from Arizona, and we all agreed that we prefer our dry heat!
While the weather can make it miserable, it’s the people that make it special. RAGBRAI is a rolling party with 10,000 guests. Towns on the route are typically 8-15 miles apart, and many have fewer than 1,000 population. It’s not unusual to find DJ’s and high school bands playing music, local volunteers grilling burgers, people in all sorts of costumes and cycling attire, a beer garden, kids spraying you with a hose, and church ladies selling homemade pie – all at 9:30 on a weekday morning – and in every town throughout the day, all week. Overnight towns run shuttles from the campgrounds to downtown street parties. Cyclists come from every state and many countries to enjoy this atmosphere as much as to ride. One group’s T-shirts said it best, “RAGBRAI is spring break for adults.”
If you think Iowa is flat, you’ve never seen it from a bicycle. Here are the details of the 2011 route:
•Sunday, July 24 – Glenwood to Atlantic, 59.5 miles, 4,298 feet of climb
•Monday, July 25 – Atlantic to Carroll, 65.4 miles, 4,719 feet of climb
•Tuesday, July 26 – Carroll to Boone, 70.9 miles, 1,787 feet of climb (plus optional century loop)
•Wednesday, July 27 – Boone to Altoona, 56.1 miles, 1,147 feet of climb
•Thursday, July 28 – Altoona to Grinnell, 57.5 miles, 3,202 feet of climb
•Friday, July 29 – Grinnell to Coralville, 74.9 miles, 2,681 feet of climb
•Saturday, July 30 – Coralville to Davenport, 65.6 miles, 2,363 feet of climb
Budget ($1200 – 1500):
Registration$150
Bike club charter 250
Bike pkg & shipping (Tribe/FedEx) 90
Bike pkg & shipping (Harper’s/UPS) 106
Airfare (Allegiant Mesa to Moline) 308
(includes 1 checked back ea trip)
Food & drinks~ $30/day x 8 240
Showers $3-$5 ea. X6 30
Extras:Jersey 50
T-shirts and rain jacket 80
Massages 120
Food costs vary, depending on how often you eat and how tempted you are by the smoothie and ice cream vendors along the route. You can save a little here and there by packing granola bars or sports/energy bars for breakfast and using tap water instead of bottled water. Many towns have free water filling stations with tap water that tastes better than Arizona tap water. The best bargains are usually church dinners for $7 or $8, but they often run out of food if you don’t get there early (5ish). Depending on where the group camps each night, you might be showering in a high school gym, community center, or portable outdoor showers. Sometimes a towel is included in the fee, but not always. If you camp near a public pool, you can pay the admission to swim and the shower is included.
In Carroll, our group was assigned to camp on a church property. Kids handed us free bottled water as we rode in, and church members invite us inside for a free meal. They kept the building open all night, allowing us to use restrooms and sleep indoors, and then they served breakfast. They didn’t ask for anything in return, but the club took up a donation to send afterwards with our thanks.
If you plan ahead, you can sometimes arrange overnight stays in people’s homes. Obviously, this isn’t possible for large groups, and even if you apply early you may not get accommodations in every town. Most years, someone in my group has known someone in an overnight town who lets us sleep in their yard or basement, use their showers, and do laundry. Having those luxuries for even one night during the week makes everything easier. The complication with home stays is that you have to haul your gear to some other part of town, and then make arrangements to get it to a vehicle for transport the next day.
This year, a small group of us on the Muscatine charter stayed with friends of Diane’s in Boone and Coralville. The friends in Coralville even cooked dinner for us. As with previous years, I’ve been impressed and totally comfortable crashing in the home of a friend of a friend. Like the church members in Carroll, Iowans are very hospitable and seem to be impressed that we want to ride across their state. As one of the people in our group said at the end of the ride, “Once you ride RAGBRAI with someone, you become family.”
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
The Ladies Only PV/Mummy Loop bike ride
Good Morning Ladies
This saturday we will be riding from the Tribe, meet at 5:00 am with wheels down at first light 5:15 ish. The ride this week will take us up through Mummy mt and out to PV. The ride will consist of climbs and flats to recover. Its going to be hot and muggy so drink plenty of water this week, eat a good dinner the night before the ride and a lite breakfast. Fill and place your water bottles in the freezer today. this way they will be frozen solid and the ice will last a bit longer. Bring a few dollars to purchase water along the ride.
I have some Good new and Bad news:
Good news The Lake Mary ride will be the last saturday in August. All riders are welcome to meet with us at the Harkins theater on I 17 and happy valley rd to caravan or carpool. Please chime in if you are interested in doing this ride and staying for dinner and scrap booking... There will be a fee of 10.00 in advance if you want to stay for dinner.
BAD NEWS: The cabin is full so overnight arrangement are on you :). Please don't go on the site and register.
Thank you All for making this happen
see you all on saturday
LaVerne
Location:
Tribe Multisport on the NE corner of Indian School and miller in the Frys Food Parking lot tucked in the corner.
This saturday we will be riding from the Tribe, meet at 5:00 am with wheels down at first light 5:15 ish. The ride this week will take us up through Mummy mt and out to PV. The ride will consist of climbs and flats to recover. Its going to be hot and muggy so drink plenty of water this week, eat a good dinner the night before the ride and a lite breakfast. Fill and place your water bottles in the freezer today. this way they will be frozen solid and the ice will last a bit longer. Bring a few dollars to purchase water along the ride.
I have some Good new and Bad news:
Good news The Lake Mary ride will be the last saturday in August. All riders are welcome to meet with us at the Harkins theater on I 17 and happy valley rd to caravan or carpool. Please chime in if you are interested in doing this ride and staying for dinner and scrap booking... There will be a fee of 10.00 in advance if you want to stay for dinner.
BAD NEWS: The cabin is full so overnight arrangement are on you :). Please don't go on the site and register.
Thank you All for making this happen
see you all on saturday
LaVerne
Location:
Tribe Multisport on the NE corner of Indian School and miller in the Frys Food Parking lot tucked in the corner.
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