RAGBRAI Overnight Towns Announced

Image courtesy of Bike Iowa

Saturday the RAGBRAI overnight towns were introduced as a part of the Iowa Bicycle Expo. The annual ride is coming up on its 45th edition and will have a Northerly track this time which means pretty flat until you get into the last day.

The overnights are as follows:

• Orange City
• Spencer
• Algona
• Clear Lake
• Charles City
• Cresco
• Waukon
• Lansing

 Please see BIKE IOWA for more details.

We expect that along with the easier route, that the proximity of the route to Waterloo will amp up interest in doing RAGBRAI this year over last. With that in mind, you should get your rig in NOW and have it tuned up. Beat the rush and all that, don't cha know.

So here is a bit of mechanic insider info for you. Many folks wait to get their bikes tuned up right before the event so that (a) they have a "fresh tune up", or (b) "insure themselves" against failures. Okay, let's take "a" first.....

If your bicycle gets an early Spring tune up, and you train on it, assuming you weren't on the verge of wearing out parts and opted not to replace them, your bicycle tune up will still be "fresh". A good, thorough bicycle tune up done by a professional will be good for a season of use, barring unforseen issues like crashes, getting hit, or what have you, which leads me to.......

"b"- There are NO GUARANTEES that you will not have a flat tire, broken spoke, bad shifting due to someone inadvertently hitting your rear derailleur, or some other malady. Most RAGBRAI issues that occur happen NOT because you did not get a tune up just before RAGBRAI, but because something happened to your bike ON RAGBRAI. So, if you think, "I got a tune up a few days before RAGBRAI, so I am good.", well that won't stop most of the failures that happen on RAGBRAI from happening. The most common of which are flat tires and broken spokes, by the way.

So, if you want to relieve some stress just before RAGBRAI, have that bicycle tuned up now. That'll be one less thing on your list, and barring the unforeseen, you should be good to go for the event.

Stop in and see us now before the end of January for some really good tune up pricing.

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