CoeBRAI 2014: Our 10th adventure awaits

With RAGBRAI registration opening Friday, Nov. 15, I’d like to take a minute to refresh everyone about how to sign up.

RAGBRAI veterans will receive an e-mail with registration instructions. Virgins will first need to create a profile at the RAGBRAI Web site. You will then want to join the group CoeBRAI (#32344) before submitting your entry. Please do not send any payments to RAGBRAI. Instead, those should be sent to me, soy capitan.

We'll cap the group at 20 week-long riders, give or take a few as the situation allows. Fees for Team CoeBRAI will remain $450 in 2014. Of this, a non-refundable $225 deposit is due March 1 along with a completed (online) entry form and signed waiver. The remaining $225 will be due July 1.

The fee includes the official $160 RAGBRAI entry fee (up $10 from 2013), transportation to and from Cedar Rapids and the starting/ending towns and within each overnight town, some meals, and snacks and non-alcoholic beverages at each overnight stop. We will again be producing a Team CoeBRAI jersey, but it is no longer included in the entry fee. Information on ordering a jersey will be provided after the first of the year. This will be completely optional.

Two vans and a moving truck have been reserved to transport bodies and bikes, as we did last year. A repeat of last year’s weather has also been requested.

Day 7 to Fort Madison and the mighty Mississippi

Megan Wagner, a 2013 Coe grad, and her dad, Tim, began the week as RAGBRAI virgins. They ended it with a homecoming in Fort Madison and hosted Team CoeBRAI at their home for our group descent to the Mississippi River. It was a fitting end to what, by all accounts, was the best RAGBRAI any of us have experienced. The end.

Day 6 to Fairfield

Had it not rained all night and I wasn't fighting a cold, today's 52-mile pancake ride (only 1,222 feet of climb) would have been a joy. Overcast skies for most of the day kept temperatures low again and a nice tailwind made for a magic carpet ride to Fairfield. Turns out I needed long sleeves and a jacket for comfort instead of sweating out the illness.

Soon enough we were in Fairfield, staying with teammates for just the second time in CoeBRAI history. RAGBRAI virgins Jeff Evanelo and Holly Baker have opened their secluded home to Team CoeBRAI. It's going to be a struggle to leave this serenity for another day on the road, but the Mississippi awaits.

First, though, it's time for the now traditional spaghetti dinner with my homemade sauce (frozen and toted across the state and back for the occasion. I'd better get cooking.