Dip-Flip-Double Dip

The last morning at camp is always a little bittersweet as you realize tomorrow you won’t be able to chat with new friends while packing up the tent, but also realize that you’ll get to sleep in a bed tonight. 

We lucked out and didn’t have any major rain last night!  Actually it was by far the best night of sleeping for the week. The body is tired and cooler temps make it much easier to crash out once you hit the sleeping pad. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep writing the blog the past two nights!

Dad came to camp this morning to pick up my bags so they didn’t have to navigate the ending town and finding the truck. He also dropped off two riders to ride the last day. Family friends Kent and Sharon were going to ride from camp with me. I had told them that it wasn’t that crowded and they should do it. So we headed out of camp to get on the route. I had sold them on the fact that the last day was spread out and there weren’t that many bikers and they would be fine. Well of course this morning as we left it was pretty packed. I was hoping they weren’t regretting the decision before we even got out of town!   Then we got to a point where bikers were merging from both directions on to the route. It was a little hairy, but they navigated it like pros!  

The ride to Charlotte was a lot of fun. Some nice rolling hills and really good downhills!  My max speed for today was 33 mph. As Gary and I approached the hill, I looked and saw the long winding downhill and said “oh yeah, let’s go!”  I love descents!  It’s fun to go fast!!  When we got to Charlotte Gary and I got some lemonade from some kids. They would fight over who got to fill the cups, but they also made quite a few friends with the riders. 

The fire department was selling breakfast sandwiches and water for $5. Which is a good deal!  The line was forever long but they kept pumping out sandwich’s all morning. I look forward to dad getting the inside scoop on how many they sold because it had to be in the 1000s. I heard lots of comments about how good the sandwich was…I can attest it was amazing!  I guess the Charlotte locker knows a thing or two about sausage patties!!! I also had a piece of apple pie. Since I didn’t have pie yesterday it seemed only fitting to have some for breakfast!  

It was here where most of us who did the loop ended up reuniting. Everyone in our “bozo brigade” except Cos was there so we took a team picture since we didn’t get a good one on century day. It was good to see Paul and Emma again! As you can see by many pictures today…we look tired, but we’re still happy!!  
I was also able to meet up with Kent and Sharon and some of dad’s other biker friends Todd and Rick. It was good to see them and chat a bit. I need to get dad to ride a part of RAGBRAI next year!  
After Charlotte we headed to Goose Lake. I was able to support the Northeast Athletic Boosters and got some pie…yeah I had two pieces of pie less than an hour apart!  This time it was cherry!  I got to see friends and Wendy, Morgan, and Kayla, and got my pie from Deanna who I ran track against in high school!  

The fire department here had a “swim up bar” and even though it was a little overcast people were getting in. As we pulled up they kept trying to get people to belly flop in and if they did they’d get $100!  Seems like a easy way to earn $100 to me. But I didn’t do it!  Rumor has it that later in the day there were some ladies who stripped down and went in naked. Not sure if that’s true or not. 

As we rode past the turn north out of Goose Lake I told Gary, Chris and Emily that was my short cut home…but I didn’t take it. We had to dip!  And I had to get my T-shirt from the Iowa Craft Beer tent. I earned that sucker!  Lol 

We then rode on into Clinton. From 2 miles out people were lining the route and welcoming us into town. The last day always kind of feels like a parade because people are cheering for you and wishing you congratulations!  The look of aww on their face as you pass by reminds you of just how big of a feat this is. I think sometimes you can take for granted what you accomplished, but if you take a moment and think about the week in the same way these random people cheering for you did you’d realize that completing a whole RAGBRAI is a very big accomplishment!  I always try to soak in all of those cheers as a constant reminder that you can do hard things!!

One of the biggest cheers we got was from the Air Force team…yes they were cheering for us as we finished. They always meet up so they can ride into town in formation. So while they wait to ride in they line the route and create a tunnel for us to ride through with them cheering all the way. I feel like it should be the other way around…that we all should be cheering for them, but that’s not how the Air Force rolls. They are there for everyone else and not themselves. 

We got to the dip site and it was a fairly long line but it moved quickly. We saw the Dream Team ride in and they got lots of cheers. What those kids do this week is really inspiring. After we dipped the Air Force came riding in and they did get a lot of cheers!  

We got to the dip site and they had several lines for dipping and the volunteers were on point with the picture taking. They all know about the dip of the tire and the flip of the bike!  They took a lot of pictures today, and we were definitely thankful to have such an organized process. 

After we dipped we got a picture of the biking ballers and our new adoptive member Gary!  Gary rode with us today so it was only fitting he get in the picture!  

From the dip site we said our goodbyes as they all headed off to the buses and I went to go meet my parents who had come to watch the bikes come in. After I talked to them for a bit I hit the road for a bike ride home. Yes, I rode home to my parents after I dipped. It was a short day for RAGBRAI so what’s another 20 miles, right?  

Today’s RAGBRAI route was 32.37 miles and 1122 feet of climb. It was fun riding through areas that I knew well. My ride home added 20 more miles and 1015 feet of climb. The climbs on that route home seemed way bigger today that then ever have. I guess that’s what a week of riding will do to you!  Oh and for those readers around the Miles area, I can safely say the roads of Butler County are way worse than coming down Wilckes’s hill into Miles. That hill is rough but not the worst thing I rode all week!!  For the week, I rode a total of 504 miles. I’d consider that solid win!

When I made it home I thought it appropriate to do another dip in the dog pool. Gabby, Boomer, and Bria welcomed me home! Well I’m almost falling asleep again as a write this. Maybe a follow up blog of all the stories I couldn’t tell will happen later!  

Wasted Slip and Slides

It was a perfect night of sleeping. Not to hot and not to cold!  We decided to sleep in a bit today and it looked like many others did too. 

Last night we met Paul in camp. I’d say he is about 70 years old. Maybe older. Well yesterday he lost his wallet. I’m not sure he even knew he lost his wallet at the time but he found out when his daughter called him saying “dad you lost your wallet”. Someone had found his wallet and luckily he had some phone numbers in it. The person who found the wallet gave it to a state trooper. The state trooper called his daughter and then she got ahold of Paul. When Paul got to the next town his wallet was delivered to him by a state trooper. They found him…he didn’t even have to go get it. Now this may not seem like a big deal but when there are 10000 people on this ride delivering a lost wallet to the person the same day is quite the feat!  The lesson I learned here from Paul is to make sure there are some phone numbers in my wallet so someone can call if I lose it!!

Last night sleeping at perfect. Had to break out the long pants and long sleeve shirt. What a difference a night makes!  The high today was supposed to be 75 degrees. That’s 6 degrees less than the overnight low two nights ago!! 

Today was college jersey day so we had a competition to see who could find the most of their school. I knew Emily would have an advantage but I thought maybe Central College could give Purdue a run for their money. Who would win?  Unfortunately Ray wasn’t here for our annual jersey picture. I didn’t see any Villanova jerseys without Ray or Joe in camp. 

We went back by the penitentiary on our way out of town today and got some good photos. Nicest looking prison I have ever seen!  It really is a castle!! After the prison we saw the American Gothic statue. We recreated the pose with me acting as the suitcase. I think nailed it!  What do you think?!? 

As we left Anamosa we had some really good climbs and some challenging hills. It seemed like it took forever to get to Hale!  I supported the Midland post prom fun with a muffin and banana. As I was talking  to the ladies working the stand I found out they were cousins to my 4H friends Marca and Carla Wosoba!  Never know who are going to see on RAGBRAI!  Coming out of Hale there is a very steep hill!  Cobalt Hill was no joke!  I ran out of gears very early, but just kept pedaling on. 

The meeting town was Oxford Junction and this is when the great Kolache hunt began. Coming into town they had signs for Kolaches and we couldn’t find any in town. What the heck?  Yesterday we were let down by a pickle theme with no pickles and today false Kolache advertising. This is completely unacceptable!  We walked back and forth in town twice and never did we see the tasty Czech treat. 

But because of this great hunt we got to see this 15 year olds doing a chalk mural. It was pretty cool. Here is a pic of her while doing it and the finished product!

Riding today was a bit tough. While it was cool and overcast there was also a bit of a headwind…all day long. It just made it hard riding because you had to work for every mile and that is something we took for granted on some of those warmer days!  Oh well I would take that over the heat of earlier in the week any day. My legs definitely appreciated the reprieve of being blasted by the sun all day after yesterday. 

As I was riding I found the Iowa Cops team and I found Matt who is also on my C26 triathlon team. We rode together for awhile and then stopped at Mr. Pork chop to get a picture together. We had to let Coach Robbie know that we were doing all the riding!!

One downside of the cooler temps was that there was less enthusiasm for getting wet. Some people had sprinklers set up but nobody really went through them. But the biggest tragedy of all was that there were two great slip and slides set up along the route and nobody was using them. We haven’t had a good slip and slide all week and today their were two wasted ones. It was a sad day. We’re also camped by a pool today and of course this is not good in the pool after a long day of riding weather. 

We picked up Gary in our crew about 27 miles from the end and he hung with us most of the afternoon. We had some good beet stops and I got a burger. People really underestimate the Brewer brat!!  

Coming into DeWitt was fun because it has changed a lot!  So many new houses!  The people living along the route were all super welcoming and fun. It’s always nice when you feel like the town really embraces the experience. 

I got my tent set up and then headed out of town to see some family. Elaina was nice and let me use her shower!!!  And she made cookies and brownies to share I’m with people at camp!  I’d call that a good stop. It has rained off and on since we got camp set up. Hopefully it doesn’t rain too much tonight!!  No pie today but I did get a Thelma’s cookie!! 

Today’s ride totaled. 64.57 miles and 2011 feet of climb. With the exception of the headwind it was good day. Emily won the college jersey competition today. Purdue totally destroyed Central and Gonzaga. Tomorrow is a short one, but it will be fun to roll through some towns close to home

Better Together

This may be a short blog tonight because I am TIRED!  I didn’t sleep well last night because it was so hot. It is the first time in my ragbrai history that I used my tent fan all night. It rained a little with a few sprinkles and a few flashes of lightning. When we woke up this morning we found out that the low overnight temp was 81 degrees. No wonder we didn’t sleep well. 

I have to start off by saying Happy Birthday to Chris!  He celebrated by eating Mr. Pork Chop and having a Tailwind!  

He also had his first Beekman’s ice cream. I’d say it was a good day for him!  

We started out pretty early again because today was century loop day. I had planned to do it but would decide for sure when I had to make the turn. 

Unfortunately the first few towns we went through weren’t really towns so breakfast didn’t happen until mile 17. I was hungry and had sweated out a ton already. Much of our ride was on a 4 lane highway and they let us have one whole side. It was so nice and we had a little tailwind. When we got to Jessup I couldn’t pass up the giant homemade cinnamon roll!  It was as big as my head!  I knew I’d probably have a major sugar crash, but it was worth it!  For perspective that is a large take out container!! I also knew I needed some protein so I had a steak and egg bowl. It was ok, but not my favorite. 

After Jessup I left Chris and Emily because I knew if I did the century it would be a very long day. When I got to Rowley I had a piece of peach pie and a mango smoothie.I just needed something cold and refreshing. Those over cast skies we had yesterday had disappeared. Today was going to be a full on sun day!  

As I was going into Walker I was thinking “man I could use a pickle” and then as I rounded the corner I saw that pickles were the theme!  This was going to be great!  But before I got to town there three girls were shooting people with high powered super soakers. Each one of them and a direct hit on me and I was soaked. I went back and got a picture with them because they had the best aim and best shot all week!  

Here comes the disappointing news of the day!  Walker had no PICKLES even though they had a pickle theme?!? How is that even possible. I feel like if your theme is centered around pickles you need to have pickles. And pickle juice and all the things pickles!  They did have some fried pickles but who wants that when you really want a cold pickle?

Center point was the meeting town and their theme was Go Pig or Go Home!  Everything was pig theme. I even got a fun little squeaky pig toy. They had a slip and slide with a pool but I was already soaked from the Walker girls. I got my pickle here, but it wasn’t that great. Thankfully even if it wasn’t that crisp, they still work the same. 

I really wanted Thelma’s today but the timing just wasn’t right. It was getting close to when I needed to decide about doing the century loop. The loop this year added on 27 miles and over 1000 ft of gain. You turned for the loop when you were 3 miles from the end, so it would have been real easy to bail. I saw my girl Shari right before the turn off and her exact words were “oh hell no” when I asked her about doing the loop!!

Thankfully I had met up with Mark, Dan, Coz, and Noah from our charter and they had connected with Emma and Paul. We all decided to do the loop and stick together. Mark, Dan, Emma, and Noah had ever done a century, so it was cool to ride with them. When we made to turn to start the loop it started down a screamer of a hill!! It was a ton of fun but you had to make a right turn at the end, so you had to brake a bit. My top speed was 41 mph!  But we all know what happens after a big downhill…a HUGE uphill. I think they said it was a 9% grade for over a mile. It was very challenging, but thankfully it was in the shade. That’s probably the only silver lining of that climb. We all stuck together and made it up the hill. 

When we got to Waubeek we got out patch!! That’s the main reason you do the loop!  The woman giving us the patch has worked or ridden 45 RAGBRAI…she only missed the first 3. She told us stories of the worst days and memorable moments. It was cool to hear her love for the event. Where we got the patch was near the river with this cool stone building!  The century loop was very scenic. I didn’t have too many pictures, but it was gorgeous. 

I’m thankful to have this group to ride with. They all brought their own strengths and we worked together well. Definitely proud of the first timers because it wasn’t easy. I felt like the heat wasn’t as bad as past days, but the sun was strong. That makes a huge different even if it isn’t that hot. We got a picture of everyone except Emma and Paul when we got back to camp. I can’t share it right now as I can’t get it loaded, but trust me. 

As we made our way into Anamosa we went past the old prison. It looked like a castle!  Unfortunately our camps site was at the stop of some steep hills, but when we got there it was totally worth it. It was a nice Arboretum with several opportunities for shade!  Emily and Chris had gotten my bags and started putting up my tent!  What a score!  Also as we were coming into town the thought of leaving camp to get food was daunting. I really just wanted to order a pizza to be delivered to camp. That became even more daunting once I saw where we were camping.  GUESS WHAT?!?  When we got to camp it was Pizza  night. The charter had about 30 pizzas there and my prayers were answered!  I didn’t need to leave camp!!  

It was a pretty low key night. Tonight is supposed to get “cold” so I’m breaking out the long sleeves for the first time this week. 

For the day I rode 111.5 miles and 3635 feet of gain. It was a tough day but honestly I felt very strong all day. I just wanted to be out of the sun!  Having the group to ride with made a huge difference. A good reminder that you’re almost always better together!  I hadn’t ridden with any of these guys for more than a few miles this week, but we had a really great group and it made 111 miles very enjoyable.  Invite others to join you on your next adventure and don’t be afraid to ask to join. Life is too short to go it alone!! I’m going to sleep well tonight!  

The Experience

Well it didn’t storm last night but I also don’t think the temp dropped much either. It was an early wake up this morning. We planned to head out early and by the sounds at camp this morning, everyone else did too. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen bathroom lines at 4:30 am!!  The cool crisp mornings were gone and this morning it was about as humid as you could get. I’ve never been completely drenched in sweat packing up my tent before. But I will say there was a good omen leaving camp. A woman from Iowa Falls was walking around camp with apples and bananas and wishing us all well. Every time someone said thank you, she follow with a “you betcha”. Such an Iowa thing!!

We left camp at 5:59!  And it was very apparent that everyone else was leaving early too. It was by far the most crowded day leaving town. Everyone was trying to beat the heat. Ackley was the first town we went to today and they may take the prize so far for the beat welcome into town. They had a Moootown theme with lots of cows. They had a very organized and decorated town. They also had some women hola hooping in some sequenced tops!  It was a happening place!  We decided on the all you can eat pancakes at the fire station!  We got to catch the cakes as they flipped them off the griddle to you!  Chris may have dropped a pancake and picked it up off the ground and ate it! But I will warn all the readers…do not ever ask Emily to catch a pancake!!

We got our picture with one of the cow statues as we headed out of town!  I don’t want to jinx it but it was overcast this morning so it wasn’t too bad. The humidity was still ridiculous and it was 79 degrees at 7:30 am. After pancakes we had some nice tailwind and cruised to Applington. Well we didn’t actually cruise. We bounced our way into Applington because the roads were so rough. So many people were groaning and wincing at every bump. Butler County gets the worst roads so far. I thought Hamilton County roads were bad yesterday but they seemed like airport runways compared to today. As we left Applington the road got a bit better, and everyone…not just our group cheered and clapped. We were so happy to have a little bit better pavement.  

Parkersburg was the meeting town and they did a great job hosting us as well. They had a “world’s greatest” theme. I was lucky enough to use the worlds greatest porta-john. And we saw the worlds greatest lamp post several times!  
They also had two cool bike sculptures. One was made of tornado trash as they had a large EF5 tornado go through and devastate the town in 2009. The other was a huge bicycle!  They win the award so far for best artwork in towns!  I got some very tasty strawberry rhubarb pie here!  They had run out of Gooseberry…you have to be the first person in Town to score that pie!!  They also had a RAGBRAI band here. Basically just a piano, drums, guitar, and mic for anyone to play. As we went through there was a woman on piano, guy on drums, and a guy volunteered to sing. They had the whole crowd singing sweet Caroline!  It was a fun RAGBRAI moment. We picked up Gary here and the 4 of us finished the day a big bad biker gang!  Lol. 

As we left Parkersburg there were some kids selling lemonade about halfway up a steep hill. I made a stop and petted their cat and had some lemonade.  They said they were donating the money they made to their church so how could you pass that up?!?

After Parkersburg we had some really good tail wind and we were hauling!!  We hit up Backpocket for another brat. And that’s when we got the devastating news there won’t be anymore brats after today. They were going to run out of them today!  They weren’t just popular with us…but with everyone!!  What will we do tomorrow???  The skies were still over cast and we only had about 25 miles to go. Would we make it to Waterloo without sun?

After we left there we headed towards New Hartford. I will give the people who live along the route a lot of props!  So many people were out cheering us on, had hoses set up, we’re giving out water of freeze pops. They were ready to support us in the heat and it was much appreciated. We made a stop at one farm house for a free popsicle and Macy was a work horse. She ran from the road to the house for popsicles every time someone stopped.  This was a god 75 yards or so one way. She was only 5 or 6 but she was hustling!  The popsicle hit the spot. 

There was a Boy Scout group out with very powerful water cannon. There were squirting people. Well the kid was a great shot but the dad/scout leader nailed me right in the face and ear!  It hurt but felt amazing as well!  It seemed like most of the sprinkler action was on the left hand side today. The right side road families need to give the right side of our body some love too!!  When we got to Janesville the crew got Thelma’s but I’m saving that for tomorrow. This town was also super prepared for use with misters set up all over town, but these crossed over the road so you could easily eat pie under a nice cool mist. It was still overcast so we were lucking out!  They also had a huge tarp slip and slide with misters. Chris and I took a trip and got drenched but it was worth it. We couldn’t convince Emily and Gary to join us though.

After Janesville we only had 16 miles to go. We had a headwind and it was starting to warm up. While the morning was enjoyable this afternoon was not as much!  But it wasn’t terrible. As we pulled into Waterloo there were lots of groups handing out big electrolyte  freeze pops and bottles of water. I even gave one lady a tip on how to properly hand out a water bottle to someone riding by. She was having trouble dropping them and not making the transfer. She now is ready to work a triathlon bike aid stations for Ironman!!  They were definitely prepared for us. We got to camp and out campsite was pretty big with lots of space to spread out. Definitely not Death Valley like last night. There were some trees but most of them had people crammed under them for shade. The sun had come out and the hottest part of the day was coming. I decided to walk around and see if I could find any crooks and crannies of shade and I did!!!  A ragbrai miracle! I got us a great spot in between two trees and close to the showers. A total win!!  

So all in all the riding of the day was not all that hot. It was beyond humid but we only had about 45 min of riding in the sun. Way better than we were expecting!  It definitely made today more enjoyable!

But we hadn’t escaped the heat for good. Have you ever tried to wrestle a bear covered in grease?  That’s what it’s like trying to put on a sports bra after taking a shower in a shower truck that really has no airflow. I know my female triathlon friends understand!!  You’re sweating and completely incapable of getting dressed because you’re in a hot wet confined spot. After our showers was by far the hottest from when we got to camp and I started to wonder if I really should have showered at all. Since we’re in a bigger town all the events are far from camp so you have to take a shuttle. Well this is when the peak of being completely hot and uncomfortable came. We ended up on a shuttle with no air and 30+ people crammed in with no windows. Imagine puting a tent in the Sahara desert and climbing in, inviting 10 of your not so closest friends, and zipping it up tight. That is what this shuttle ride was like. I sweat more in the shuttle than on the bike today. 

We decided to eat at Doughy Joey’s tonight because it had air conditioning. We got a table pretty fast and right after we ordered they said, “ can this guy join you?”  Sure…Jeff from Houston Texas come on down!!!  So Jeff said he maybe should have done a bit more research about RAGBRAI as he’d ridden about 300 flat miles in preparation for the ride!  We had a great dinner talking and learning about Jeff. He use to work in the oil industry but retired from that just before COVID hit. He is very intrigued with all the wind farms. As he said he spent several years in an industry that maybe wasn’t doing the best things for the environment and he found wind farms inspiring. As we talked is became very clear that Jeff is a ride through guy. He just puts his head down and rides and doesn’t take in the experience of RAGBRAI. For instance he left about 30-45 minutes after us today and got in about 3 hours before us. Jeff is not stopping for Thelmas, or lemonade, or popsicles. And he certainly didn’t do goat yoga!! So we had a little chat about him paying money to do RAGBRAI. If he just wanted to put his head down and ride in the heat he could do that in TX for free. So we challenged him to take in more of the experience. As he said when we all parted ways, “ I’m not going to say have a good ride tomorrow, it’s enjoy the experience!”  So I think we made an impression!  I hope Jeff really takes those words to heart and really embraces the RAGBRAI experience. You miss so much when you look at this as just a bike ride. Jeff was a very funny guy and I hope we can run into him again. Chris is in charge of texting him as he finds pecan pie along the route! 

After dinner we did some axe throwing!  You know it’s about the experience!!  Chris and Emily went head to head and then I played the winner. Chris beat Emily and then I beat Chris. None of us had the top score of the day, but it was fun regardless. 

The shuttle back to camp wasn’t much better than the way there. It wasn’t quite as hot but Emily and I both had sweat dropped on us from a guy standing in the aisle. He couldn’t help it, but dang….that’s just gross. 

Overall today was a great day. We could not have asked for better outcome!  The overcast skies were such a blessing and everyone knew it. People were afraid to even talk about it all morning because we didn’t want to jinx it!  But we got super lucky. Because we got luck with the overcast skies we were able to take more time and make more stops. We spent more time together today and we had a great experience!!  Today we rode 64.43 miles and had 15558 ft of gain. 

Rain is now predicted for tonight, so we’ll see what happens. Tomorrow should be a bit cooler but it’s a long day of riding!  Excuse me…it’s a great day for an experience!!

From 7 to 95

This morning was another cool crisp start to the day. We got out a bit earlier today and not planned, but it was nice to get rolling early! Last night I got a text from a college friend who wanted to ride with me today. We made a plan that he would meet me on the route out of town. Well I quickly realized that he was nowhere near the route. So I got him to where I was, which just happened to be the Floyd of Rosedale statue!  
Mark and I were going to ride together and then pick up his boys and Jen in Blairsburg.We cruised into the first town of Duncombe and had a breakfast burrito that hit the spot. I quickly realized as we got closer to the next town that riding with Mark was going to be a narrated tour of his life. He grew up in the area and told me all the people that lived on the route, the new grain elevators, and anything else you would want to know. When we got to Webster City he started talking to everyone!  He was a local celebrity. I got to see where he opened his first bank account, where he got his haircut, his optometrist, the redemption centers…you name it, we saw it!  

As we got into town, we both said we weren’t super hungry but wanted to eat something. And then that’s when I saw a guy dressed in a pickle costume. That sealed the deal!  The Boy Scouts were selling huge pickle pouches with extra juice!  My timing was perfect because right as I was buying the pickle a reporter for the Des Moines Register was there and asked me why I was buying a pickle. So for the 2nd day in a row I made the paper!  Yesterday was a picture for goat yoga. If you want to read you can check it out here. There may be a picture in the gallery too, but I’m not sure!

Des Moines Register Story

We headed out of Webster City and continued on the “this is my life tour”!  We headed into Blairsburg and he saw old teachers and neighbors and people from church. When we got to Blairsburg I needed some sugar. I could tell I was in need of a pick me up. It was still early and a smoothie sounded amazing!  So a tropical cold smoothie hit the spot. But as I was in line for the smoothie I saw they had pie. And honestly pie has been kind of hard to find this year, so I couldn’t pass up a pie stop. Mark had raspberry pie and that is a rare find on ragbrai so I went to get that and wouldn’t you know it…he took the last piece!  Dang it!!  I had to settle for cherry, but at least it was homemade cherry and not cherry pie filling!!  After we stocked up on all the sugar, we headed out of town to meet up with Jen and the boys. But first we had to take a little detour to see Mark’s former high school….which like many small schools in Iowa has consolidated with another district. I wish I could have gone in because I’m sure there is a Mark Phillips shrine somewhere. 

Riding with Mark was fun this morning!  We cruised along at a good clip. It’s surprising how much riding with someone else makes the time go by so much faster. Thanks for the morning chat Mark!  We covered all sorts of topics from family, to triathlon, and even the disbanding of the Big 12 conference. Of course that was in between the times I wasn’t getting the history tour of his life!!

We met up with Jen and the boys and Mark’s sister Liz just outside of Blairsburg. Teag is 11, Rhys is 10, and Crue and Penn are 7. The big boys were riding their bikes and Penn and Crue switched between pedaling on the pull behind with Jen and their own bike. Grammy and Grandpa would meet us every 2-3 miles to see if anyone was going to tap out. We made it about 5 miles and we stopped at Backpocket so the boys could get some brats and burgers. The boys did so awesome riding. They knew all the lingo. They were thanking police officers, saying on your left and all the things. It was so cool to see them take on their first big ride. Most of the time we kept the kids on the right side and we adults acted as a buffer  to the other riders. The other riders were also awesome giving them so much encouragement to keep riding. 

On today’s route we crossed I-35 and that is always a fun time because it’s kind of the unofficial halfway point. It’s fun because the semis usually honk and give support to the riders as they zoom underneath. The boys thought it was cool, so we stopped for awhile and did the honk sign. Pretty soon we had more and more adults stopping to do it too!   

The boys all said they wanted to keep going so we kept right on pedaling into the last town before the end, Alden. Penn was riding with Jen for awhile and the three of us were moving. She can really get going when he pedals too. At one point some riders were talking to him and pretty soon he started trash talking Jen!  “Mom stop making me do all the work!”  He was really getting into it and we had pulled away from the big boys. We did a kid switch and Penn went to the van for awhile while Crue finished into Alden. He didn’t want to wait for the big boys, “because we had to keep our lead!”

When we got to Alden we had to have boys experience their first RAGBRAI town experience. Teag, Rhys, and Penn all had cherry pie. The rest of us had Rhubard crisp and homemade ice cream from the United Christian Church. Let me tell you…that was the best dessert of the week so far!!!  It was sooooo good!  Grandpa and Grammy had some too!!  The boys also got some mini donuts…because they know the rule…never pass up mini donuts on RAGBRAI!!  There was a guy singing in the park so we listened to him for awhile before heading out. But not before we rode through the misters. These kids know a good thing when they see it!!

We had 5 miles until the end and the boys were committed to it!!  Crue went to the van but the rest of us pedaled on. I rode the last 5 miles with Rhys. Since our names sound alike it only made sense. He did so well!  We passed cyclists, he drank from his bottle while riding, he even grabbed a sticker from a guy while riding!  He’s a Ragbrai veteran. I was so impressed with all the kids today. It was getting hot and they did amazing! I don’t know what I was expecting, but today went way better than I thought it would. They worked hard and did great! 

They all rode with me to our camp site and the Grammy and Grandpa picked them up. Teag even helped me set up my tent. When I asked him his favorite part, he just said..”riding my bike. It was just so fun riding today!”  It made my heart happy!  I wish everyone understood the joy you can find from simply riding your bike. We all need to be more like Teag!!  Crue missed the group picture, so I’ll have to get him another time!

Speaking of finding joy in riding you bike. Let me tell you about Clarence. Clarence is riding this week and the sign on the back of his bike says “Sakes Alive Doing Ragbrai at 95”!  Yes you read that correctly!  Clarence is 95 years older and this is his 9th RAGBRAI. I hear a lot of people say that could never do Ragbrai…take a look at Clarence and then throw your excuse away!  What an inspiring day. To ride with young kids on their first and to then see Clarence!!  

When we got to camp I realized we were camping at Death Valley. No shade, on hard rocky ground. Setting up the tent was brutal. Not to mention the ground was so hard that I bent a couple tent stakes hammering them in. It’s a 1 star, would not recommend kind of campsite today. We got in pretty early which meant from 2-4 we basically were baking in the Valley. They did set up some pop up tents for shade but it was still hot. I think the temp was mid 90s today with feels like temps over 100. 

Since we got in early…Chris and Emily beat me in today… we decided to hit up the Elks lodge for a baked potato bar. Well I can say that the organization was not on point, but the potato was delicious. They had chili, taco meat, chicken, bacon, cheese, broccoli, butter and sour cream to put on the potato. We all decided that while none of it would really go together that we were putting all of that on our potatoes. It didn’t look appealing but it tasted amazing!! They also had air conditioning so we milked that for all we could!! That’s when I met new Emily who is an athletic trainer in grad school at Pitt. She was riding with her dad Gary who lives in NJ!

Since we were in Iowa Falls we had to walk down to see the falls and the River. It was at this point we started playing the only take the shady route game. We would intentionally only walk in the shade if possible. At one point I was trying to get into the shade and then realized the shade I was trying to walk in was my own shadow!!!  Have I told you it’s hot…we have reached the delirious stage!!  We got back to camp and sat in the small slivers of shade made by our tent. It was funny to see so many people being “anti social” because you could only sit in the shade slivers. 

After it cooled down some we went back to town because tonight was the last night for the açaí bowl truck. I had to get it at least once before I couldn’t for another year!  So I introduced Emily to it as well!!

There are rumors we may have some storms tonight but I’m not believing it! The temps are supposed to be over 100 tomorrow so the storm can’t be that big!  We have decided to leave earlier in the morning to beat as much heat as we can. And yes we are drinking lots of water and electrolytes and using lots of sunscreen. One guy said to me today…you don’t have much tan!  That means the sunscreen is working!!

Today’s ride was 57.12 miles and only 1001 ft of climb. It was a great day of riding!! 

I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a little Farm Camp update from Gabby. She was busy checking cows yesterday and today she had a pool party with Boomer and Bria. I hear that she appreciated when the lawn guy came to spray and that meant she got to spend more time in the air conditioning!!  She doesn’t like being hot either!!