We are off for another season of RAGBRAI training – Here’s the plan

As I’m sure all of you are aware by now if you are reading this, the overall route of RAGBRAI has been announced. After a couple of hilly, long RAGBRAIs the past two years, this year’s course appears a little easier. But face it, riding 406 miles in one week still isn’t easy and I am here to help guide your preparation for this year’s course so that you are able to complete the ride feeling good and feeling good about yourselves.

And while July 19 is a full five months away, it is already time to start preparing your body for this adventure. Believe me, July will be here before you know it. So what’s the plan? Because RAGBRAI is a long distance tour (not race), the main thing you have to ready for are hours riding at a comfortable pace. You don’t necessarily have to be fast but you need to be able to sit on a bike saddle and pedal for hours, seven days in a row. That means you need to have endurance and the only way to get that is to get on the bike and do a lot of riding. You need to build gradually each week, doing longer rides and doing more total miles per week.

Here is a general training plan you can follow to get yourself ready.