Tailwinds and Monster cookies!

I was hoping to sleep until 5 am today even though I knew camp would be moving at 4 am. Well apparently Mr. Train Conductor wanted to make sure everyone in Emmettsburg was awake at 4 am. Now there are a lot of trains that come through RAGBRAI at night but this guy was overly aggressive. I don’t know how many times he laid on the horn or how long but it was plenty. The train was a topic of conversation in any line I was in today. 

Because of that I was packed and ready to roll out at 6:20. Everyone said they were going to ride their own pace today. I’m not sure if the siblings decided to ride together or not. It was a bit slow rolling out of town but it was cool to see all the shadows of the riders as the sun came up. 

There was a nice little tail wind to start out so it was a fast start that hopefully would stick around all day. I was 17 miles in by the time the first real breakfast option was available. The line was long for pancakes but it would be another 10 miles for food so I had to wait given that I needed fuel for the century. Hopefully you can see the curve of the line in this picture. The good thing is they are pretty efficient at making pancakes and it didn’t take too long. I mean look at this pancake set up!!

At the breakfast stop they were doing a fundraiser for GoServ Global that provides home Safe T Homes for areas like Haiti, etc. They survive strong hurricane winds and earthquakes. I also ran into my coworker Scott Trappe here. He is riding just today and we told each other last week we would meet up at some point. I never thought it would be during the first 17 miles. 

To ride into Algona you had to climb up this big hill but then there were kids selling everything for a $1!  The Algona dollar store if you will. I grabbed a banana and a bag of monster cookies. I didn’t really need the cookies now so I tucked them away for later in the day. I knew I’d probably need a little sugar and mental boost, so I saved them for later. As we left Algona there was a large group of kids just going nuts cheering for us. It was pretty fun. 

I ran into Scott again as we rode into Wesley. We rode together for a bit but then he ran into people he knew so I moved on. He is from Mason City where we are headed tonight. I made a quick stop at the Backpocket but I wasn’t super hungry for a brat so I skipped it. I can’t even believe it as I type that!  

As we got close to Britt they had us riding around all these road closed signs. The road wasn’t closed for us…it was actually closed because they are repairing a bridge. Well that was supposed to be done for RAGBRAI, but it wasn’t so we had to get off and walk a short stretch. It wasn’t bad and kept us from having to reroute to a really busy road. 

In Britt I supported the local football team by buying a water. They are coached by Mark Sanger a Central grad and the brother to my college track coach and brother to a Central classmate of mine. We talked for awhile and then I moved on to the First Lutheran church for some pie. The Lutherans pulled through with some good strawberry rhubarb pie….of course they had gooseberry pie earlier in the day but I was too late for that. I then grabbed a walking taco from the Kanawha reformed church. I ended up talking to some of the locals there and I was able to tell them my fun fact of the day….wayyyyyy back in the day I was in the Britt Hobo Days parade!  My mom’s college roommate was from Britt and we were there to visit. Somehow I ended up in the parade!  

Wait what….did you say Hobo Days?  Yes Britt is home to the National Hobo museum. As we rode into town I hear this very thick accent say does hobo mean the same in the US as it does Australia?  I told her it kind of did, but was more train hopping than homeless as that is what it means there. Anyway Rachel and Ash were riding here from near Brisbane Australia. I asked how they ended up here and they said they read about RAGBRAI in a magazine and decided to come try it out. They were worried that when they got here it would be lame and not as fun as they expected, but they said that wasn’t the case!  They are spending 7 weeks in the US before they head back. This is the start of their trip and they are going to Boston, NYC, Nashville, New Orleans, and a few other places. They are really hitting all the big stops!  I thought maybe they would be bike touring the US, but when I asked I got a big “oh no these bikes are being returned to Chicago and we won’t be sad to see them go!”

On a day where you focus more on the riding than the stops, you tend to see and hear a lot more conversations while riding. I talked to Anthony who is an ER doctor at a VA hospital on Florida. We chatted about his RAGBRAI experience, healthcare, athletic training, and collaborative practice. It makes the miles go by so much faster when you’re chatting with someone!

I also talked to Doug. He was riding a tri bike and had his running shoes on his aero bars. I asked him if he was going for a brick later?!?  We chatted up triathlon a bit and he said he was looking for a Fall 70.3 to do, so of course I told him Muncie was the obvious choice!  He’s another newbie and enjoying the week. 

I had a nice cold pickle in Klemme and then headed to the patch stop. In years past if you did the century loop they gave you a patch. But this year since it was the main route everyone got a patch. I heard later on the bus that they ran out of patches so I bet those people were made. Hopefully they’ll be able to get them sent out to those people. 

As I was leaving the patch stop, Scott pulled up along side me and we rode the last 16 miles together. We chatted about growing up in Iowa, his upcoming swimming reunion, family, and a little bit about work. Again it was nice to be able to chat with someone. We stopped at Backpocket for a beer and then rolled into town. Mason City pulled out all the stops and had people welcoming us on every street. Their theme was “Ride of the Century” and it was clear they put in a lot of time and effort to get ready. 

Today was the easiest century I have ever done!  The tailwind, flat smooth roads made a huge difference. A few years ago on the century I wasn’t sure I’d make it because it was so hilly and hot. Today was the total opposite. It was cooler but the sun was strong. A total of 103 miles and 1860 elevation gain. It was my fastest century ever!!

Ray got to camp well before any of the rest of us so he found a spot shaded by trees. My only complaint is that it is light years from the bathroom. When the siblings got here they decided that they didn’t want to be down in the trees so they opted for a spot way on the other side of our camp. Maybe we aren’t as tight as we thought. Ray had even brought some of their bags down to our area. We only saw Phil and Steve at first, but later I saw Kate and she “was having a moment of annoyance” with them!  Lol. She said I just need a break for awhile. They’ve lasted way longer than 36 hours but maybe a century riding together will be the breaking point!

Our camp is right by the Mason City pool. For our longtime readers we have been to this pool and camp before and it is a ton of fun!  I had to make sure I did a cannon ball off the high dive and took in a water slide. It was a bit on the chilly side but fun!  Our charter even paid for us so with our wristband we didn’t have to pay. What a nice group!!

You know a pool means pool shower and we so didn’t have to play the numbers waiting game today!  Gary, Ray and I headed into town. I had a sweet brisket sandwich from a local food truck and we sat in the town square listening to Don Felder who was formerly with the Eagles. It was basically an Eagles concert. It was pretty good. I was tired and it was starting to rain so we didn’t stay to hear Sugar Ray. 

Im actually writing this blog early on Thursday because I just wanted to sleep last night. Thursday is a short day so there is no need to rush out early today. We had trains through the night but nobody like last night!!

But wait….when did you eat the cookies??  When I got to camp, I was pulling stuff out of my jersey pockets and remembered those tasty treats were waiting for me. It was the BEST reward for a century ever!!