Today was the century loop day. This is where you can add an extra loop to get in 100 miles for the day except this year the loop added on 32 miles to the routes scheduled 85. So for you mathematicians out there that is definitely more than a century! Ray and I decided to do the loop. And when you decide you commit early so you can’t talk yourself out of it!!
We started at our normal time and camp was like a ghost town. People always leave early on century day! We stopped at a small little town and this family was serving breakfast burritos for a free will donation! They were awesome and little did I know then how clutch that burrito would be later. About 12 miles into our predicted 117 mile day Ray dropped a bottle going down a big hill. He decided to leave it so now he’s down to one bottle for the day. That’s not good!! After climbing up some good hills we got to the top of a hill and they were giving out free watermelon!! Soooooo good. And lucky Ray they also were handing out free water bottles and free water. He was back in business and we were cruising.
When we got to Chariton I was in the lookout for my friend Luke from college. He said he’d be welcoming in riders so I was on the look out. Well the town of Chariton was doing a great job welcoming us by handing out free lemonade. We tanked up on that and while standing there I thought hey I think that’s Luke’s wife and kids! It was good to see them and meet the family! Luke’s daughter got a t-shirt from a guy for being the loudest kid out there! She was very proud of that T-shirt until she realized it has been stored in his back pocket and was a little sweaty! 
We also got to use the movie theatre for the bathrooms. Clean bathrooms, running water, soap....what a luxury!
We also got to use the movie theatre for the bathrooms. Clean bathrooms, running water, soap....what a luxury!
Neither Ray or I were hungry in Chariton so we decided to wait until the next town...and well....this is when I realized that today’s route was full of lots of “fake” towns. Meaning it was just a little blip on a map and they never really had “food”. They may have had chips or something but I wanted real food before embarking on this ride. Well we went about 30 more miles and didn’t get anything. I said I have to stop next place regardless.....so this little church I can’t remember saved me. I got 2 hard boiled eggs and a bag of chips and that powered me through. I’ve never had hard boiled eggs on ragbrai before and now I’ve had 3.
We got to the turn off for the loop and had a smoothie and we’re on our way. The loop crosses over Rathbun lake a few times and it was really pretty. But we were tired so we didn’t really take it in. We also found that there were a lot of hills on the loop. I mean was that really necessary? 
As we were approaching the Resort where we could get out loop completion patch I saw a sign that said we were on the Historic Hills scenic highway....well thanks RAGBRAI that was so nice of you. Now we thought when we saw the resort sign we were home free but no....it was a 3 mile driveway down to the resort...with you guessed it...more hills! We got our patch, hung it for a bit, and got some nice ice water for our bottles and we were back on the road.
We still had at least 20 miles to go until we were done.
As we were approaching the Resort where we could get out loop completion patch I saw a sign that said we were on the Historic Hills scenic highway....well thanks RAGBRAI that was so nice of you. Now we thought when we saw the resort sign we were home free but no....it was a 3 mile driveway down to the resort...with you guessed it...more hills! We got our patch, hung it for a bit, and got some nice ice water for our bottles and we were back on the road.
We still had at least 20 miles to go until we were done.
Now while riding a long time like that sometimes you just need to break up the monotony by talking about random things. We had a great discussion from mike 85 to 105 on fruits and vegetables. We decided there is no room for cauliflower in our lives! Ray told me about going crabbing as a kid and I told him about grandma’s chicken and noodles. Maybe it was the miles, or maybe we were just hungry but we talked a lot about food. It definitely helped time go by.
Also on the century loop at around mile 90, we came across this girl Lucy from the Dream Team. The Dream Team is a team of kids from Des Moines that are probably considered “at risk”. They train as a group and the kids are given a bike and all the gear they need. If the kids complete all the training and do RAGBRAI they then get to keep the bike. It’s a great way to get kids into cycling. Lucy looked like she was struggling a bit so I talked to her for awhile. I asked her what her longest training ride was and she said 70 miles....this girl was on 90 of a 117+ mile day! She was doing so awesome but I still worried about her finishing as she seemed to be mostly by herself. I gave her some encouraging words and hoped she made it! I’ll be looking out for her as the week goes on.
We stopped at a house that had fans, misters and shade just to break up some of the trip back. I also got a pickle!!! Yay for pickles! Stacey would be so proud. Nothing it like a cold pickle on RAGBRAI.
We stopped at a house that had fans, misters and shade just to break up some of the trip back. I also got a pickle!!! Yay for pickles! Stacey would be so proud. Nothing it like a cold pickle on RAGBRAI.
We finally made it to town and there was a cop directing traffic and he sent us one way and the route said we could go either. Unfortunately he sent us the wrong way and we didn’t see any of our signs for our camp. So we turned around and then went into the town square looking for our signs. We finally found them but it took awhile and of course our camp was way on the outskirts of town. Lucky us...bonus miles. We felt better though that when we got to camp several others had to do the same thing. We finished the day with 122 miles and 4800 feet of climb. It was a tough day but overall a great day of riding. I got to see some beautiful countryside and it was good weather despite the sun beating down on us all day. I’m glad I did it even though it was tiring!
We slowly and begrudgingly set up our tents. Since many people in our camp didn’t do the loop, tent space was at a premium. We ended up by a site by the porta johns and the truck....a terrible location because that means early morning noise!! I had two things that needed to happen that night....a shower and food. Because if you’re keeping track all I had to eat was a breakfast burrito, 2 eggs, chips, a smoothie, and a pickle. add in some Gatorade and water and that’s what fueled me for the day. This girl needs to eat!!!
We headed to the YMCA for a shower and it was a mostly enjoyable experience. The water pressure was awesome so it aeemed like a massage and after today that was well needed. As I walked out of the lockeroom I saw Magnificent Mullet/skippy walking out of the men’s room and I thought “oh my gosh Ray had to shower with him!” Right then Ray walks out looking a bit traumatized by the experience. I only get small bits and pieces for sounds like it was an interesting expeirnce. As we all rode the shuttle back, Ray tried to engage in conversation with him by asking how his day was. He said he missed the loop for the century...poor guy! Then he said something about being in Boy Scouts and not getting a patch. I tried to ask him a question and I got the biggest death glare ever. It was very weird. I’m sure more bits and pieces of Ray’s life changing shower experience will keep coming back!
We then headed for food...it was 9:30 pm by now and I was HUNGRY!!! Lol. I got a Amish fry pie and a pizza. Works for me!! We then headed back to camp and I was asleep in about 3 minutes.
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