Indoor Training

At the end of January the participants and mentors start meeting twice a week at the Downtown YMCA for ninety minutes of training. Thirty minutes is devoted to each of the three workouts: spin classes on stationary bikes, weight training, and running around the indoor track.

Indoor training lasts until the weather turns warmer and Daylight Saving Time offers an additional hour of sunlight for rides after school and work. The last day of indoor training was April 4th.

      

Outdoor Training

A typical week involves three rides. Monday and Thursday night rides are completed before dark. Saturday rides offer an opportunity for longer rides and later in the season plenty of heat.

A number of routes are used at different times of the year. Early season outdoor rides utilize flat routs on bike paths to learn safe biking habits and riding in groups. Participants learn to communicate to other bikers to insure alert riders. Shifting strategies are learned for efficient riding.

The next routes will incorporate riding in streets and roads to prepare the participants for a long life of safe riding. Hills are later added to routes to increase fitness levels and prepare for whatever RAGBRAI offers.

 

Overnight Campouts

Plans for the 2005 training season include three overnight campouts. The first one is a fifty-mile trip to the YMCA camp near Boone. Equipment is driven to the camp and riders sleep in tents and experience whatever weather is offered.

The second planned overnight campout is the Raccoon Valley Trail to Panora
and camping at the youth camp west of town.

The final trip is a three day affair involving a hilly ninety-mile trip on Friday to southern Iowa and beautiful Sun Valley Lake. Saturday is spent with a short ride in the area followed by recreation in the lake. Sunday means a long hilly return to Des Moines.

      

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