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!
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!”
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!
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!!
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