Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Riding to the border!


So, would anyone be interested in riding from Minnesota to Missouri via mostly gravel roads on the weekend of March 22 and 23? We would start from Emmons, Minnesota and end at Lamoni, Iowa. The route will be roughly 270 miles (ok, probably just a bit further!) Here is a VERY TENTATIVE route.

Some pluses to this route:

Usually at this time of year there is a northwesterly wind. Hopefully we can get pushed most of the way.

We will have plenty of towns to go through. At mile 128 or so we will be going through campus town in Ames where there will be more beer and pizza than we would care to devore with another 140-150 miles to go!

The southern part of the state is full of rollers so it would be fun!

It would be a group ride and not a race!

The start and finish will be VERY close to interstate 35 so to have your family provide a bit of support it would be a piece of cake!

The negatives?

Ummmm We might have a stiff wind from the south that weekend. If so, we will run the course in reverse! Heck, we aren't riding this to kill ourselves! We just want to ride a whole heck of a lot of gravel across the state!

Spread the word and get back to me either via this blog or via email at thejacobsons at q.com. If I get 5-10 "Heck yes I am interested!" then I will start getting things organized. If not, well, then just a few of us crazies will do it. It sure would be fun to have 10-20 guys and gals to do at least half the course!

Let me know!

7 comments:

Lance H Andre said...

Mostly gravel?
I grew up in Southern Iowa (hicksville) them arn't rollers! i'll see what my schedule holds.

Travel Gravel said...

I'll check my schedule at work and alert "the war department" and let you know. Wind aided rollers tend to flatten out, so no problem. Somebody should get ahold of Dave Krenz. Later!

Paul said...

All right Lance, I will admit I haven't ridden down there... yet. I am sure they aren't rollers compared to the Dubuque area where you live now.

Paul

D.P. said...

Paul, I think what Lance means is the hills are somewhat more than rollers.

D.P. said...

here's the topo ~ Lamoni.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=40.76152&lon=-93.8653&s=500&size=l&u=4&datum=nad83&layer=DRG

bontrag said...

I kinda like the idea of catching up with you guys when you roll through Ames:)

Paul said...

That will probably be the best part of the course! North central iowa is a bit flat and boring at times.

And... after leaving Pizza Pit it should be quite the riot!