Welcome! Now why are we here?

Bysusan.coddington

Hello to you all. Or as we say in the South, hey y’all!

In 2021, I realized that 2022 would be a significant milestone for me and I wanted to celebrate with a bang. I wanted to complete RAGBRAI.

RAGBRAI (Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) is the “oldest, largest, and longest multi-day bicycle touring event in the world.” This year, RAGBRAI riders will be riding 462-miles with a total of 12,945 feet of climb in 7 days. Yes, that’s an average of 66 miles per day, but this year there is a twist. One of those days is a 105-mile ride. Ugh!

Before 2021, I had never ridden more than a few miles on our community greenway. Why would I ever attempt to ride such a long distance?! I’m one of those people who loves a challenge … something that is doable but seems impossible. With over a year to train, I knew I could do it, but I would have to put in a lot of hours.

And why Iowa?! My mom grew up in a small town in Iowa. I have fond memories of visiting my grandparents there and spending time on their farm. Going back to Iowa is a nod to my mom who passed away in 2019.

I could never attempt such a journey on my own and found the perfect person to join me on my venture: my friend Leah. For several years now, Leah and I have pushed ourselves through countless hours of exercise including OrangeTheory Fitness (or as Leah calls it “Orange Torture”), yoga, walking, running, cycling, and now triking. When I mentioned my desire to attempt RAGBRAI, Leah took less than a nanosecond to agree to join me.

So now in 2022, I have completed my 60th trip around the sun and RAGBRAI starts in less than 2 weeks. Leah and I are ready for the adventure and could not be more excited!

This blog is our attempt to keep our family and friends (both old and new) informed of our preparations for RAGBRAI as well as our progress during that week. In upcoming posts, we will tell you lots more about triking so that, as Leah puts it, we can “convince you to join our cult.” Hopefully, we will share stories along the way that will make you smile.

We would love to hear from you all. Leave us a note in the comments.

Susan and Leah

10 Comments

    1. Thanks Zena!
      We’ll talk more about why we chose tricycles over bicycles in a future post, but the short answer is comfort and stability. Sitting on a sling-type seat is SO much more comfortable than a triangle. And three wheels are more stable than two. That doesn’t mean that we haven’t had issues (more future posts), but we found trikes fit our kind of riding better.

    1. It’s funny … as we are riding, everyone thinks that all we need is a TV in front of us. Apparently, we don’t look like we are putting too much effort into it. But trust me, it is taking everything we have to ride up those hills!

    1. Thank you, Jill! So far, so good (I’m replying to these comments late … we have now finished day 2)!

  5. I am SO excited for you both and CAN NOT wait to follow your journey and support you both along the way!..I will miss seeing y’all out and about but am excited to have the opportunity to still be a part..I admire you both and to say that I am proud to know you would be an understatement..GO SHOW EVERYONE WHAT YOU ARE ALL ABOUT…And make HUNTSVILLE PROUD!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️

    1. Thanks Coach Anderson! We will still be out and about riding our trikes after the ride. We will try to make Huntsville -and you proud!!!!

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