Gonna Go Climb That Hill

Switching out to purple Bike Bag Dude bags for the event.

Well, my riding this year has been pretty much on the down low compared to years past. That weather thing, Life, and work stress has all conspired to make 2019 pretty dismal as far as riding time goes. All that to say that I'm not expecting much from this Saturday's Prairie Burn 100.

In fact, I'm going in and treating it like an "organized training ride" and that's all my goals are for this. Just a ride. Nothing more, and the distinct possibility that it will end up being a short one. But I gotta start somewhere and climbing that hill isn't going to get easier the longer the year goes on.

But anyway, this event is perfect for exactly the reasons I am going for. It is not a race. It's pretty much just an organized ride with number plates. Speaking of which, it was famously announced just before the Almanzo this year that number plates were being eliminated. They were perceived as being a "barrier" to participation. Yeah.......I don't buy into that at all. In my view, it's the opposite. Number plates, if anything, are attracting folks to events. They are souvenirs of participation. I don't see that having them, or not, is a barrier. It's just a thing. It shows you "were there" and rode.

I recall one year at Trans Iowa we didn't have numbers at all. (T.I.v7) If anything, we heard more grumbling that we didn't have them. We heard nothing about how cool it was that we didn't have them. But I digress.........

I hear a lot of locals are going to be at the Prairie Burn 100 too. That's awesome. My friend, Tony, mentioned it is the kind of event, "we all want to go to." It's just a fun ride, a potentially good time with bands, music, and food. Of course, the gravel family will show up. That and hopefully new folks too. I just don't see any downside to it.

So, I'll ride it and get whatever I can get out of the riding part, then I'll hang out maybe a bit and come home. Should be a good time.