[TrikerOne]

A friend and I do the warning about the number of bikes passing. Haven’t heard it from too many others. The hill on Buckthorn is sometimes known as “That &(*^$# Hill at Buckthorn”, especially early in the riding season. If anyone’s interested, NVRPA has a survey out on the W&OD here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XM5DJNC

Please do fill it out- the more people’s input the better.

@Geoff 79711 wrote:

Racking my brain here… what is RTC?

I never hear a pass with a number; most people passing me don’t call the pass at all! Which seems like a problem, but whatcha gonna do…

Don’t know why the runners get up earlier, but yesterday it wasn’t because of the heat. Yesterday wasn’t cold, but still a ways from being hot.

Extending the topic a bit, yesterday afternoon, coming down the hill on Virginia Lane near where the W&OD crosses Shreve, I saw a fellow with a bloody arm adjusting his handlebars. There was an SUV stopped nearby, with the driver looking around for… something. I didn’t ask what happened, nosy questions probably wouldn’t have been appreciated. Careful everybody, I see too many accidents on the W&OD.

[TrikerOne]

@bobco85 76434 wrote:

What happened to the bright yellow bollard that was supposed to be there? It annoys me that it was missing in the exact case where it’d be most useful. I’ll write an e-mail to the NVRPA about this later tonight, so hopefully they’ll replace it soon.

So, the driver pulled a very dangerous move yet managed to do it in a somewhat less dangerous way. It’s like the lesser of two evils.

Looks like using the trail to cut through traffic was completely intentional to me. She probably ran on the same trail that she was just driving on, too, I’ll bet!

Those bollards are getting knocked over on a regular basis.

[TrikerOne]

“Separate Camp” just means you could be in a different campground, if you go with a group such as Pork Belly Ventures or one of the bike clubs. In some smaller towns there may be a main campground and others at the local high school or churches. Most towns set up a shuttle so you can get to where food and other activities are.

Here’s a few shots from RAGBRAI:

http://www.pbase.com/harry1/ragbrai_xxxviii

[TrikerOne]

@ejwillis62 72801 wrote:

So i just entered my name into this RAGBRAI 2014. If I get selected I will be riding across IOWA this year. Yikes. Sounded like a good idea at the time. I did the climate ride and loved it and this one will be in warmer weather. Anyone ever done this?

LIZ W.

You’re insane … I’ve done it six times, the last one on a recumbent trike. Make sure you do a *lot* of hills. If anybody tells you Iowa’s flat, they’ve never been there. Lots and lots of half mile up, half mile down hills. Make sure you get a battery powered fan if you’re going to be sleeping in a tent, and make sure you pack your stuff in waterproof bags. There’s usually at least one good thunderstorm at night during the ride. Earplugs are a must if you want to get some sleep. If you go out to a church or anyplace that’s serving food, they frequently run out of food as it gets later. You must eat at least one pork chop…

The RAGBRAI website has lots of good information.

[TrikerOne]

I spend a lot of time on the W&OD wearing a Trail Patrol jersey and we see a lot of this. I was threatened with assault once when I called out a rider for passing unsafely- and he had a chiled seat on the rack on his bicycle. I wish we had a solution to this kind of behavior.

@mstone 52163 wrote:

It’s not a mode thing, it’s a selfish human thing; I’ve had as much trouble with joggers running 2 or 3 abreast as with cyclists. I’ve also had pedestrians yell at me for being (legally) on a shared trail. And don’t get people started on ninja crazy ivans.

I have started providing feedback to cyclists passing pedestrians at high speed “in the middle lane,” as I think it’s important for a community to establish acceptable norms, but I don’t really expect that to make a difference given the immense weight of selfishness on all sides in our society.

[TrikerOne]

They’re officially opening 3/16- this from the owner. 6:30am.

Dirck

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