Here’s My RAGBRAI Training Plan & 10 Top Tips

When I signed up for RAGBRAI (the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa), I knew I’d have to train. However, I really didn’t give any real thought to how much time it would take.

My whole life ended up revolving around training for RAGBRAI in the months leading up to the event in July 2022. I used two separate training programs combined for my fitness level and time afforded to me to train for RAGBRAI 2022.

My RAGBRAI Training Plan

When I signed up for RAGBRAI I didn’t even own a bike. Other than occasionally renting a bike on our 50 state road trip, I didn’t ride very often but I always had fun. It therefore seemed like a good challenge to set for myself in a state that we weren’t expecting to be very exciting.

RAGBRAI offers a training plan in March or April each year. By that time you need to be able to comfortably ride 10-15 miles a day several days per week.

I knew that I needed to train to train! I thought of the “Couch to 5K” programs and wondered if something existed for cycling. Searching online, I found this program from BayCare clinic in the Midwest. I still knew that 8 weeks was too short to go from not riding at all to riding 30 miles, especially when I wasn’t very physically fit to start with and was recovering from gallbladder surgery in October 2021.

I had ~16 weeks until the RAGBRAI training program, so I doubled the 8 week plan that was provided. This started out well and I did cross-training as well as riding. I started with 10 minutes a day while we were in Portland, OR which was cold and rainy. By the time I reached the 30 mile ride, I was in Palm Springs, CA.

Over time, it was harder to keep up with both the increase of mileage and the cross-training. After the 30 mile ride I slacked on my training for a few weeks and it was hard to get going again. But when March came, I started using the 2021 RAGBRAI training plan, so I increased my training once again. In the month of April, my training dropped off a lot. We had family visiting and we moved every week.

One thing that was both really cool and really hard about my training was our nomadic lifestyle. If you’ve come across this post online and aren’t familiar with our site, my husband and I are on a 50 state road trip and live in hotels and Airbnbs.

Hotels rarely had a good exercise bike (only the occasional recumbent) and moving “home” each week meant I didn’t have a trainer with me to ride my own bike inside.

For outside rides, I had different views and trails almost every week. This provided a lot of changing training routes and conditions (hills at altitude in Utah to 90°F+ in Arizona). However, researching and finding safe trails that were long enough for my rides every week was exhausting. By the time I’d load my stuff, unlock my bike at the hotel and load it on the car, get to the trail, and then do it all in reverse, each ride was much longer than originally planned. That mean I had to begin to build that prep time into my day too. At my average pace of 10 miles an hour, then adding in breaks, my longest ride in training was 8-9 hours out during the day – averaging 2-4 hours regularly.

Ultimately, I started at 10 minutes a day on November 21, 2021 and completed my training before RAGBRAI on July 22, 2022 with my longest training ride being 61.8 miles. I was able to ride at a 10-12 mph pace the entire 462 miles of RAGBRAI 2022.

Looking back, I wish I’d made better choices in my nutrition during my training and that I’d done more cross-training. I also missed quite a few training rides; after March averaging 2-3 a week with one of them being longer from May. I also wish I’d been better about my stretching before and after my rides – I was good about breaks and stretches during my training rides. I had a blast on RAGBRAI so I know my training was adequate, but it would’ve been even more fun and comfortable with a little more dedication to my training plan.

My Top 10 Tips for RAGBRAI

1) Enjoy The Ride!

Stop and enjoy the fun of RAGBRAI. Don’t just ride the miles (even as a Newbie/Virgin) – this was the top tip given to me and it holds true as the best advice I received for an awesome RAGBRAI experience.

2) Bring a friend

RAGBRAI can be really lonely so – if you can swing it – bring a friend with you. My week was made so much better knowing I had Stephen with me at lunch and each evening. I got lucky since I’m a big extrovert and made a couple of friends to ride with too. But don’t expect that. If you can’t bring someone you know, consider joining a team or using a charter that camps together each evening to have friends to spend your time with at the end of the day.

3) Test Your Biking Gear

Test ALL your gear before you ride RAGBRAI. I used all my same exercise clothes, etc. during my training to follow this rule. However, I got a new rack the day before RAGBRAI started to carry my stuff which ended up being a terrible choice for me. It made a tear in my pants on day two and created a sore on my thighs that bothered me all week even when I changed racks.

4) Make Time For Training

Make sure you have the time (and energy) to dedicate to training. My training was adequate (as shown above), but if I’d been able to be a little more diligent with cross training, nutrition and stretching it would’ve been even better and I might’ve actually lost some weight during training.

5) Be Prepared To Spend Money

Plan to bring $$ with you to RAGBRAI to make the very most of it. Overall, cycling is a very expensive hobby and RAGBRAI is no exception. There are fun RAGBRAI jerseys to get, fun foods to try, kids fundraising across the state, showers to pay for if you want hot water, etc. There were a lot of estimates of how much people brought along at around $40-$50 per day and I was close to that amount in the end as well.

6) Be Confident Doing Things Your Way

You will panic and want to know all the things and will want to ask questions. The most frustrating replies will be “it’s RAGBRAI – you do it your way.” But, I found that was indeed the case. You really do leave when and where you want, stop when and how you want, ride as many or as few miles as you want and no one cares. You really do “do you” during RAGBRAI. It’s best to know about “cycling” more than “RAGBRAI.”

7) Consider Leaving Pets & Children Behind

Don’t bring your pet or your small children, unless you train with them and have a sweet set up for them. I saw a lot of families. The most happy looking ones had tandems with younger kids riding along with mom or dad. One young teen hit me a bit with his bike; he was racing along and I think his enthusiasm and inexperience riding with so many people just didn’t make him as careful as he should’ve been (we were both ok thankfully.)

I saw 4 pets on the route – 3 dogs and 1 bird – during my week. I’d originally thought about bringing Truffles, but I’m glad I didn’t. Why you ask? It’s hot – and we had a beautiful week. AND IT’S CRAZY CROWDED. You get off and walk through towns. Stephen brought Truffles through for meetups and it was hectic. She loved the petting she received, but overall it was very overwhelming for her by the end of the week – and she loves people like I do.

8) Follow Road Rules, But Don’t Stress It

Be prepared for experienced cyclists on the route to expect you to stick strictly to the rules of cycling even though they don’t always follow it themselves. Just do your best. It’s best to over-announce what you’re doing as a newbie/virgin than under-indicate. You’ll hear the lingo – use it. “Rider on – Rider off” and more… I added my own to the mix “Rider – Stuck!” when I couldn’t get my leg over my bike after lots of miles – it added smiles to those around me.

9) Battle Through Anxiety

About 4-8 weeks before riding RAGBRAI you’ll probably have a ton of anxiety. Keep training through it. Have a back up plan you’re ok with and take some of the pressure off the ride. Just go for a ride for fun (when I was worn out with training I went over the Golden Gate Bridge for 3 miles – just because!) and enjoy the scenery. It will pass and you’ll be glad you stuck with it.

10) Remember Your Electrolytes

Rather than buying bottles of flavored drinks, I trained with Pedialyte sachets (our affiliate link) and they were perfect. I knew how much water and electrolytes I’d need for 20 miles (which was basically the longest ride between towns and opportunities for free water) and the sachets were easy to keep on me to easily refill my electrolytes.

Bonus Tip: Play a drinking game to stay hydrated! My friend, Greer, came up with a great one and it was a lifesaver! “Take a drink every time you see a tandem bike!” It made it fun, silly and kept you focused on sipping your water and electrolytes when you get distracted and in the zone.

Questions

Do you have any questions (or tips!) about the RAGBRAI experience? Share those below in the comments!