Reply to Wild on the Katy 2008

This will be my first time doing the DNR ride and I was wondering if any veterans of the ride had any tips on how to train, what to bring, etc?

My first DNR ride was last year. I started training and losing weight around this time in March on my Spinning bike, and then, at least 3 times a week, I'd bike around the asphalt trail at St. Joe State Park. Once I could do that 18-mile trail twice in one day (there are killer hills), I figured I was prepared. And you know what? I totally was.

Other, more experienced riders would probably be better equipped to tell you what to take. I just had a waist pack with cell phone, iPod, credit card & money, allergy tablets, eye wash, sm. bottle of SPF 30, chapstick, disposable camera, travel wipes, and a plastic folding pancho (didn't need it tho). I also had, in the tiny pack velcroed to my seat, 2 extra tubes, chain lube & wash, and one of those bike-tool thingies (it looks like a swiss army knife kinda thing). Mercifully, I had no flats (I ride a mountain bike with tires that have flat faces and knobby edges). No need to pack snacks, really. There's water & peanut butter, bananas, apples, and/or water at each 10-15 mile stop.

Oh, know what else I did? I used this web site to figure out the sights along the way, and copied them off, folded them up and took them with me. It helped peel the miles away, too. I'd never part with my Schwinn speedometer/odomoter from Wal-Mart. It's the best $14 investment ever.

This year, I'm bringing stamps so I can send postcards to myself along the way, sort of a travel diary to accompany my photos. Hotel Bothwell has an old-timey mail slot and chute from the higher floors, so the postcard drops down a glass chute into the P.O. box in the lobby. Fun to watch.