Across-state bicycle tours setting dates for 2007

BRAG. GOBA. RABGRAI. TRIRI. RAW. What the heck is this, alphabet soup? No, it's a very short list of some of the across-state bicycle tours that already have ride dates scheduled for 2007.

I spent some time vicariously bicycling across several states last night as I updated some of my listings at Across State Bicycle Tours. I read about bike tours that skirted mighty rivers, summited mountain passes and crossed deserts. Quite a few already have dates set and some are already taking registrations.

For instance, I learned that the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure (GOBA) is called “Bike Me to the Moon” this year. Why? Because there's a layover in Wapakoneta, home of the Neil (not Lance) Armstrong Air & Space Museum. The next day, the tour passes the Bicycle Museum of America in New Bremen.

Oklahoma Freewheel will take about 1,000 cyclists from the Texas to Kansas borders during this year's 100-year anniversary of statehood.

Bike Florida hosts one of the year's first rides — in March. The competing bike tours in Colorado — Denver Post Ride the Rockies and The Bicycle Tour of Colorado — are both scheduled in June, I assume so that a cyclist can finish one and zip over to the beginning of the other.

Bike Virginia celebrates its 20th year anniversary in 2007, and its week of cycling along the historica York and James rivers is called “John Smith Adventure.”

There are 80-some rides at Across State Bicycle Tours. For the most part, they're weeklong, non-profit bicycle tours established to encourage slow-motion, two-wheel tourism in a particular state. Most are fully supported, meaning the organizers will get your gear from one place to the next and look after you if you have serious problems on the road. And most require tent-camping or gym-sleeping.  Here's a list of states that have updated rides:

California (Sierra to the Sea and HI USA Christmas), Colorado (Denver Post Ride the Rockies and Bicycle Tour of Colorado), Florida (Bike Florida 2007);

Georgia (BRAG), Illinois (Bicycle Illinois), Indiana (TRIRI), Iowa (RAGBRAI);

Ohio (GOBA), Oklahoma (Oklahoma Freewheel), Oregon (Sustainable Energy in Motion);

Virginia (Bike Virginia), Washington (RAW), and Wyoming (Tour de Wyoming).