You and I Have Memories Longer Than the Road That Stretches Out Ahead.

My first "road" bike - really a CX bike.

 Soooo, this year is my 50th birthday on July 16th. It just happens to fall on the Thursday before RAGBRAI. If it were only up to me, I would just skip RAGBAI and do something else incredible. If it were up to me and I were rich, I would head to Europe to see The Tour in person and then find some cool road rides or go on that bike/pasta/wine tour in Southern Italy that I have always fantasized about...What I will do instead, is sit down, take a bite of that reality sandwich and make plans with my best friend and partner, with the money we can scrape together.

What that looks like isn't too damn shabby at all. On my 40th birthday, I went to the Black Hills with my pubescent'ish daughters and swam and ran on trails and saw buffalo, and climbed around in caves and had an amazing time. So, what I think John and I will do is a mix of a couple of different things.

Stinky on our frist trip to Sylvan Lake.

 We will head to South Dakota with our bikes. We're still trying to figure out if we'll camp or rent a cabin, but we'll figure that out either way in the next week. I think if we drive out on Wednesday night and stop about 6 hours in (the border of Iowa and South Dakota), we can spend the night there.

Me and Coadster in the Badlands.

 We can head to The Badlands on my birthday and ride the roads with reportedly wide shoulders around there and then head to The Black Hills for that evening.

There we will spend the next few days frolicking in the majestic beauty of the park and I can finally show John this place I keep telling him he has to see.

We haven't decided which day for sure, but either Sunday or Monday, we will head back to Iowa and join our friends for the rest of RAGBRAI. Apparently, I'm really going to need my Geritol to gear up for all of this, but I'm already as giddy as a 49 year old school girl.