98 degrees and the Tornado Shelter

I survived…let’s start with that. I’m writing this from the tornado storm shelter…so that should tell you how it’s going. Today was soooo hot and ended in a way I haven’t had on RAGBRAI before. Here’s the temp when I came into camp. The sun was full on from 9 am. No cloud cover or haze today. 

We left around 6 am and it is College jersey day. Ray and I got our annual picture and we said we’d have a competition for who saw the most jerseys between Villanova, Central, Purdue, and Gonzaga. Vince is wearing his Marine Corps jersey and Carlos doesn’t have a Villanova jersey. Emily has a distinct advantage with Purdue but we’ll see who wins. 

Before starting RAGBRAI my C26 triathlon teammate told me to look for this woman from his town. Now finding someone you know on RAGBRAI is VERY difficult. Finding someone you don’t know is nearly impossible!  Thankfully I knew she was on the West Point Women team, so I had a chance if I saw their jerseys. Yesterday I talked to some of them, but she wasn’t with them. Today as we coming into the first town I saw another one and it was her!  It was like finding a needle in the ocean…haystacks are way more feasible than RAGBRAI!  We chatted a bit and got a picture when we got to town so Brian had proof! I got a couple Kolaches (apricot and cherry) and then we headed on out. 

In Belle Plaine I had a great HUGE piece of watermelon. There was a place selling sausage and egg breakfast sandwiches so I hopped in line for that. Well…by the time I got to order they had run out of the biscuits. So they threw everything in the bowl and put it on a hash brown. It was tasty but extra salty…which I guess isn’t terrible for what was ahead. 

Leaving Bell Plaine I was on the struggle bus. I’m not sure it’ll it was the headwind or what but I just didn’t have much get up and go. I wanted something cold when I got to Marengo. I was thinking a smoothie, but I passed the root beer float stand first and went for that. I’m not sure ice cream was the best idea but oh well. They had a great city park with lots of shade and some good music. 

I still didn’t feel super awesome leaving there but I got my cold towel wet and left town. I ended up getting a little more steam and actually started to feel better. Maybe root beer floats are the magical ticket after all!! It was now officially hot and everything came down to getting water and staying hydrated. We rolled into Middle Amana and tried to get water, but the line was forever long. We decided to head the extra two miles to Amana. I knew I was going to need food and it is just a cool place to walk around. The Amanas are a historic German village and they have lots of cool places to visit. I would highly recommend you check it out when there aren’t 30000 bikes rolling through! I got zero pictures of the actually buildings and town….FAIL. I was more focused on food!

As we were about halfway to the town, Ray said I could really use an ice pop and I said I’d like a sprinkler. Maybe we can manifest things into existence!!  Then I saw it right as we came into town…a lady handing out freeze pops!  I grabbed one and had the biggest smile as I pedaled into town. We parked our bikes right by the Ox Yoke Inn (a famous restaurant) and they had a great mister/sprinkler. Ray said we should start manifesting lottery ticket numbers, but I’ll stick with sprinklers and popsicles. I needed some food and was hoping for pie or a hamburger. Instead I got a GIANT pretzel with cheese from the beer garden with Millstreet brewing!  It was good and hit the spot even though it wasn’t pie!

The temps continued to rise. There were 10 miles to the next town and the hills started coming back after some relatively flat stretches. We rode past a cool field of sunflowers but it was going up a hill so no pics!! Then we descended into Oxford and let me tell you it won for town of the day. I’m not even sure it was that great, but the fire department had huge cold pools you could get in, the fire hydrant spraying, and a water fill right as you came into town. They knew the goal of the day was hydration at this point and they nailed it. If that wasn’t enough they were serving basically all you can eat watermelon for a donation…we ate A LOT!  The Catholic Church was doing free will donation pie so I had cherry with a crumb top!  It was good but still not top for the week.  The Firestation was also giving away free ice cream for your pie, but I passed on that. To top it off, we got to sit inside out of the sun and they had big fans going. Oxford fire department wins the day. 

From Oxford we were told the hills would be the worst and it was 19 miles. Well that was a bit of an understatement. Those were brutal hills…not because they were that hard, but the heat and sun were tough. There was one hill where over half the people were walking up it…not because it was that steep but because we were just done!!  I stopped 4 times in the last 15 miles. I made it…that’s about all I can say. Oh wait…I passed up a slip and slide. I did stop at it but it was super muddy and gross and had very little water. You know it’s bad when I decided that the energy to go down a gross slip and slide was not worth it in this heat. 

I will give Coralville a D- on welcoming us to town. The only reason they didn’t get an F- was because they did have this cool archway. But they didn’t have sprinklers or fire hydrants. There was one kid with a squirt gun so he gets an A++. Our campsite is shaded and on a hill. Unfortunately that means not a lot of room for tents so it is super crowded and cramped. Definitely a tripping hazard going to the bathroom tonight. We are camped right by the Air Force team. I’ll have to fill you in on them tomorrow. 

By the time the guys all showered it was after 8 and we were going to go to dinner. Right as we were leaving camp the tornado sirens went off. The first time everyone pretty much did nothing. The second time people got more concerned. The third time a huge gust of wind came and then it go real. One pop up tent of Air Force went flying through the air and headed towards my tent. I wasn’t concerned about my tent but someone getting hit by it. Thankfully nobody did. We got evacuated to the local school storm shelter up the hill. I got my bike and one of Chris’s and Emily’s bags thrown in my tent before it got real bad. 

So here we sit…in the storm shelter for the past 90 minutes. They said we could go back out….BUT it’s still raining hard and lightning in the distance. Who knows what the tents look like!  Ray said his got blown over before we even went to the shelter so I’m sure it’s all wet now!  They guys all fell asleep, I’m blogging, and Chris and Emily are mad they didn’t get a chance to shower. Emily is thinking about going out in the rain just to rinse off. 

Who knows what I’ll go back to…I’m sure it will be wet! It’s 10:25 and we haven’t eaten. Tomorrow should be fun!! Ok headed to the tent….stay tuned tomorrow to see how it ends up. There’s a lot that need to happen before I sleep. Who would have thought the heat wouldn’t have been the main event for the day!?!?

Oh wait….we rode 82 miles and had 2500 feet of climb today! That seems so long ago now. Ok….to the tent.