The morning was starting off with a bang! It was a cool foggy morning as we left camp. We had just 6 miles to the first town and it was flat with a bit of a tailwind. Honestly we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the day. We got to Lytton and their big thing was pie and goat yoga. This little town of 300 made over 2000 pieces of pie. Some people baked 40 pies. That’s a lot! But I’m getting ahead of myself. We needed breakfast! I mean it was 7 am after all. Thankfully the FFA was serving up all you can eat pancakes and sausage for a donation. These kids weren’t the best pancake flippers but they said “the worse the pancakes look the better they taste”. Let me tell you, they were delicious…and ugly!!
Lytton was hopping and I was afraid if I waited until after goat yoga the pie would be gone. So I polished off my pancakes with pie. AND I experienced a RAGBRAI first!! They had pineapple pie…I’ve never heard of pineapple let alone ever eaten any. Well today that ended and I had my first and hopefully not last pineapple pie. It tasted like a little piece of Hawaiian heaven!
After pie it was time for goat yoga. Now the last time I did goat yoga on RAGBRAI they gave us all a goat. But this time we just did yoga with goats running around us. Some people actually had more interaction but it was mostly just yoga. Still fun though.
We hit the road and as I was riding I saw Larry Gallo who is the director of the Air Force Cycling team. He retired from the Air Force in 2019 and 2020 was going to be his last RAGBRAI with the team. But since he didn’t get to ride he came this year for one last time in Iowa. He will no longer lead the Air Force team. He is the one who does all the posts on their Facebook page. Anyway I thanked him for his service and told him to enjoy his last RAGBRAI. He asked how I knew that, and I told him that I read the Facebook page. I have tried to find him in past year but no luck. I told him I had made it my mission this year to see him and thank him. As we were chatting he reached in his pocket and gave me an Air Force coin. I’m not sure I’m that deserving of it because it is a big deal to get one, but I’m incredibly grateful to get it!
There were some bomb sprinklers today too! I think the people of Iowa are well aware that this is the hottest week of the year this far and they want us to be happy. As evidenced by this sweet dinosaur sprinkler! There were several ride through sprinklers, kids with squirt guns and hoses. It was a great day in that regard. 
At the meeting town I had some sweet corn and introduced Chris and Emily to their first Thelma’s ice cream sandwich. I think they are fans!! We headed out of town and stopped at Backpocket for a Brewer brat. They are sooooo delicious!
While riding I saw this couple pulling a small trailer. Way too small for a child, and low and behold it was Chewy the dog! He was just loving life and every now and then he’d bark a little. That happened to coincide with when they were going slower to talk to me! Basically Chewy was telling his parents to pedal faster!!
Today’s riding was much more enjoyable. The route was flatter, there was a bit of a tailwind, and it was shorter! That all made for happy people and fast pedaling. Don’t worry it was still hot but because were were moving faster we got a lot done earlier in the day.
I thought meeting Richard yesterday would be the highlight of my week, but Shari may take that spot. As we were approaching the last couple miles into Fort Dodge I rode up along side a woman who said “is this next town Moorland?” I said nope, we went through that about 6 miles ago. That water tower is the last town. We’re almost done. We chatted a bit more and I think I asked her about if this was her first Ragbrai. She said “Yeah and I’m a one and done. This was my husband’s thing not mine!” Then I find out that her husband passed away at their home on Dec 14th of a pulmonary embolism completely out of the blue. Shari and her husband Terry are from Phoenix, AZ. They had signed up to do Ragbrai together last year because Terry wanted to do it. Shari is a runner and prefers to go faster on her bike by pumping her arms. A true runner at heart!!! Anyway, because of covid they didn’t get to do RAGBRAI together last year so here she was pedaling away in honor of Terry. She was crying as she told me this. I was crying talking to her! We talked some more about me doing a triathlons, her running, but mostly we talked about Terry. Terry sounds like he was a very fun yet badass kind of dude. He was a retired Marine and then he worked for the ATF. Shari is pretty confident that he would not be pleased that she put pink stickers all over Terry’s bike and she then named it Sweet T! Yes she was riding his bike and it’s a nice bike. I’m just impressed they were the same size and could use the same bike!! We stopped to take a picture together and capture the Fort Dodge water tower. She has a picture of Terry on the front of her bike! Talk about an inspiring story! I am so incredibly proud of her for being here and following through on this commitment. I can’t imagine how difficult it has been but I’m praying that this week is cathartic for her and that she finds joy in riding the bike. We ended with a good hug and a few more tears. But before we parted she asked for my blog address and gave me her phone number so I could send it to her! She worked in journalism…yikes! I told her not to expect Pulitzer level writing. Her friends Marvin and Pat pulled up and we chatted a bit and then we went on our ways. An encounter like this is one I will never forget! I hope I run into Shari again this week! She is one inspiring lady!!
We took the long winding road to camp tonight! It was a trek but well marked!! We nailed the shower routine tonight. Put our name in when we got to camp and then put up our tents and then got right in the shower. Well I did….don’t talk to Emily about her shower fiasco!
Our campsite has significantly upgraded from previous years. Private shower/ and bathroom with flushable toilet and sink, there are clothes lines to hang up clothes, no more uncomfy white plastic chairs. We’ve upgraded to 30+ big folding bag chairs with cup holders. Free beverages and even some free food! I like this new set up!!
There was a bit of a bummer today. The pump to inflate my air mattress was DEAD. So that’s not cool! Will I be sleeping on the ground tonight?? Just wait to find out!! I mean if the worst thing that happens to me today is that I have to sleep on the ground, I’m doing pretty dang good!
We took the shuttle into town for some food and to check out the sites. It was at this point I made the decision to walk to Target to see if I could find a pump. I checked with the volunteers to make sure it was safe…they assured me it was but they said it was far. 1.8 miles is never far when you’re talking to an endurance athlete!! So I trekked off to Target while Chris and Emily ate at the YWCA. I made it to Target and they had one pump left!! The guy told me it was battery operated and you just charge it! Perfect!! I decided to Uber back home and got an amazing driver who just came to town to drive for RAGBRAI. Keith got me back to town and food in no time! I got a Jerk chicken rice bowl. The chicken was a bit dry by overall the bowl was tasty.
I met up with Chris and Emily and we headed back to camp. I had to charge my new pump so I could inflate the mattress before people in camp went to sleep.
On the bus back I sat next to Robin. She is doing her first RAGBRAI with her husband Rick. They live in Washington state but she grew up in Minnesota. They both are cancer survivors and riding to support cancer research. After Ragbrai they are going to ride across America. They had planes to ride Europe but because of COVID they decided to delay that. She also was a ski race instructor and her son is a world level ski racer. She was an EMT and her husband a paramedic but now they are retired. She was very delightful to talk to but our shuttle stop came and we had to cut in short.
Emily made me wait 40 min before I could try my new pump. So I anxiously counted down the minutes. Only to bring it to my tent and it didn’t work. It isn’t battery operated at all! You have too plug it in to use. So off I went carrying my air mattress to the charging station and hoping that when inflated it fits in my tent! I got some funny looks but I’m happy to report that when plugged in the pump works like a charm! And it fit in my tent!! Back in business people. I’ll be sleeping like a baby tonight!
Today’s ride was 69.25 miles with 1171 feet of climb, but honestly it felt flat as a pancake!! Tomorrow should be another great day!!
Great blog. Shari is my sil. Terry is my baby brother. I miss him everyday. Thanks for the ride Shar. I was there in spirit. Linda
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