According to GeoBike, this year's ride will be the 12th easiest. Yesss! That takes care of the hill problem. There's no site that tells us about headwinds, rain, hail, vermin, and bagpipe players, though. But I think we deserve a bit of a glide after last year. Rich also tells us that 25% of this year's climbing is on day 1.

Our longest day is an 84 miler which is mostly flat. With 30 MPH tailwinds and high temps of 70°, this will be a piece of cake.

This year's reporting will be using the program with the voice narration just like last year, but we'll be recording you on the spot for the narration. We'll have higher res pictures so that it won't look funky like it did last year. I really need upload sites in each town. Unlike the Register's virtual Ragbrai which takes a few shots and then jumps into the helicopter to the Hilton with high speed internet, we ride the whole ride, then knock on random doors and beg to use the internet connections of the locals, but it sure would be easy if you had some friends in the overnight towns who could help us out with a connection so that we can upload the nightly reports. We'll post you as our hosts. Thanks-- and enjoy!

Dave and the crew...

Just click the roadway on the appropriate day and you will see photos and text as they occur!!! Sometimes, we need some time to get our tents up, and our reports written. Occasionally, we're a day late.