Greenlee/Smith

Greenlee Smith

Ann, Willis, Kelly and David are training for Ragbrai 2012. It is something that has been tossed around for several years to do but this year we are checking it off our bucket list! Ann turns "50" on July 18, we leave for Ragbrai on July 19th in our RV. We have been training for about 4 months. First we all had to get bikes, this was an important purchase! Learn to ride them, work our brakes and gears, drink while driving, and most of all be clipped in! Yes we have had several tumbles learning to be clipped in but we have all mastered it somewhat. Then of course we had to get the "outfits" , bike shorts, bike tops with the pockets in the back, and lets not forget the shoes to match. Someone on the team has had to accesorize her bike with lots of fun things too.
Training has been very fun with our wonderful greenways here in Raleigh. We have seen parts of Raleigh that we have never seen, just beautiful. So after work a couple of days a week we started riding 10 miles and on the weekends about 20-30. Then we worked up to 15-20 miles after work and 30-50 on the weekends.
We did the Bike of Hope , which was fabulous, chilly, early in our training. Okay I will admit we did 33 that day and I thought I was going to die!! Needless to say we made that route one of our training routes because it had lots of hills and it was well marked!
Then we did the MS ride, beautiful day, great route too. All of these rides have made us stronger.
We are now on the home stretch, with the heat being so intense we are trying to ride early SO that means getting up at 5:00/6:00 am and getting our mileage in for the day. Making sure we have enough fluid in our bodies so we don't get dehydrated.
Only 12 days left before we leave, can't wait to get started.