It Only Takes One

I slept well last night and even despite more constant train activity it wasn’t bad at all. The rain stopped early and it was good sleeping temps. Even though I woke up early to write the blog it was nice to take my time packing up. Everyone was going a little slower this morning because today was only a 40+ mile day with two towns. 

I think it was 7:25 when we rolled out of camp!  By far the latest of the week. Mason City really showed up to cheer us out of town. They had people at all the cross streets stopping traffic and there were so many just hanging out and cheering us on. It’s always nice to see the people of the town excited to have us there. 

It was over 20 miles to the first town so we stopped for a Brewer breakfast brat and some homemade cookies. Breakfast of champions of course. We had good roads and a tailwind for quite a while this morning. When we hit Floyd county the roads went to crap. We went past a fossil dig site. I decided not to dig for fossils. Now that I think of it…maybe Floyd county considered the road a fossil and that’s why they haven’t repaved it!

Rockford was a fun little town. I ended up chatting with the Director of RAGBRAI for a bit. This is his first year directing the ride and honestly if the weather and wind is always like this he can be the director for life! He said so many more people did the century than they were expecting, but it’s because the conditions were so favorable. He also said he has warned all the first time century people that they don’t always go that way. 

The Catholics came through with some strawberry pie. This was fresh homemade stuff and delicious!  Their little town mascot was named Rocky so I got a picture with him too. 

I know I’ve said in the past that you can expect to see anything and everything. This year the “I’ve never seen that before” was the guy who has ridden every day in his cowboy boots. I’m not sure how or why he does it!

When we got to Marble Rock they had lots of things to see and do. Their historical society has an old jail, cabin, barber shop, etc. They had lots of photo ops and were doing lots of things on donation. So I got a root beer float and popcorn!  Popcorn for the second time this week…maybe it’s becoming a new RAGBRAI thing!  As I was riding out of town I saw the sweet corn stop, so you know I had to get some! 

H

Leaving Marble Rock I knew I only had 16 miles to go. Unfortunately I also knew some of them would be into the wind. What I didn’t know is that the wind was pretty strong and sucky!  If I’m being honest the ride so far as been pretty “easy” in terms of conditions. Today was a good reminder on just how challenging it can be and luckily it only lasted 8 miles. Of course the wind turbines were loving the wind xtra wind today!

I got to camp first and got lucky number 136 on the shower chart!  I think you’d have to get here by 10 am to be below 50. 

There was a kid walking through our camp with a T-shirt he wanted people to sign saying where they were from. Leland is 6 and going to be in first grade this fall. He was quite the character but we got him a few more states he didn’t have. 

The charter ordered pizza for everyone today so it’s been nice to have pizza in camp. Since we got done riding so early it was a nice to have a post ride snack. I’ll still need dinner tonight, but pizza never hurts!

New friends Christopher and Jason are killing it every day on RAGBRAI!  They did the gravel ride on Tuesday and the century yesterday so they are pretty much professional ragbrai’ers. They are riding heavy touring bikes and said that they would treat themselves to new road bikes if they finish RAGBRAI. I think they are well on their way to new wheels. Ron and Janine are doing well too. They finished the century yesterday and today they played with baby goats so I’d say they are doing RAGBRAI right. 

Tonight I went to the entertainment and downtown with Christopher and Jason. We had a good time chatting about jobs, travel, family, and dogs!  They are suu III per good people and I hope I can see them again the next time I’m in Chattanooga!  I may just need to do that race again after all. While we were down there they had a string band playing and they were really good. Based on what I’ve heard from the main act I would choose them over the main act. 

In case you need a little pick me up today watch this video: https://youtu.be/50_7Mz-pfmM This happened a few days ago and is a perfect example of what the people of Iowa mean to RAGBRAI and what RAGBRAI means to them. I didn’t get to see this in person, but all it takes is one person to change someone’s day!  Kindness, generosity, and positivity is contagious but so is negativity. You want to be spreading the right kind of vibes!  The minute you stop to talk to someone new or buy lemonade from a kid you’re leaving an impact. Make sure you are impacting people in a positive way!

For the day I covered 47.8 miles and 1211 feet of climb. The “easy” days are over and these next two days are going to be much longer with a lot more hills. 

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!!

Happy Birthday Elsie

It was a chilly night last night but I can thankfully report that we didn’t have any more helicopter landings during the night!  The siblings even got their tent down before we left. Kate has decided it is best for her just to remove herself from the equation!  

As we left Pocahontas we saw a sign that said Emmetsburgh 25 miles…that’s our overnight for tonight but they’re taking us 55 miles to get there!  We have lots of twists and turns today. Our first stop for the day was 7 miles out of town. I saw a sign that said Heavenly Pies and decided that 7:15 wasn’t too early for pie!  I had Berry Medley and it was great. Homemade probably fresh home grown berries. It was a free will donation to help local veterans so a double win!  

As we rode on to Rolfe I saw a family on the side of the road with signs that said “come to Elsie’s birthday party”. Elsie was turning 5 today and I couldn’t pass up an opportunity for some free lemonade and a celebration with the birthday girl. I gave her a nice birthday tip for the lemonade. Not many people were stopping so I started yelling out to the riders as they rode by telling them to wish her a happy birthday. She had lots of well wishes and said “Thank you”every time someone wished her a happy birthday. She had been in Pocahontas last night with her dad and they were giving rides to people on the golf cart. They told people that we’d be riding past their house and that she would have lemonade for her birthday.  One group stopped this morning with a birthday card and small present for her. That’s what RAGBRAI is all about!  Making a little girl’s day and getting some tasty lemonade. I got a picture with the whole family and then pedaled off. 

Rolfe also had a big freedom rock and something other different statues. I had seen a sign for a BLT so I decided I better not tempt fate and eat something and not be hungry for the BLT. Boy am I glad I did. Not far out of town was Wilsch Family Farms set up selling BLT, pork chop sandwiches, and brats. I think they were running a bit behind because they didn’t think people would come in that early, so I had to wait for my sandwich, but it was worth it. It was an awesome BLT with lots of bacon. Ray ended up getting a pork scoop sandwich and he said it was the best sandwich he has had on RAGBRAI. This family isn’t going to any more stops on RAGBRAI but said they may be there every day next year. It definitely would be a must stop for me. 

While I was finishing up Chewy and his parents came. I’m pretty sure Chewy was waiting for some bacon. Chewy has done a few RAGBRAI now and loves to bark at people as they ride down the road. I don’t know if Murray will ever be up for RAGBRAI but the lady said Chewy loves it!  

After the BLT I had awoken the beast that is my stomach and I was even more hungry than before, so you can better believe that I stopped for a breakfast brat at Brewer Beef and the beer stop. Gotta stayed fueled!!  I’m glad I stopped because I got to see Ralph and Grant!  Ralph has moved to Atlanta now and they brought along his son in law Mason!  They are all doing well and enjoying the route. 

I had decided that today I would eat all of Emily’s favorite foods, so I had a brat and then in Mason City it was time for my first Thelma’s ice cream. Who cares if it was only 10:45!?!  We spent some time at the Grotto as well. A few years ago we went through West Bend so I had seen the grotto already, but still walked through to take some pictures. It is a shrine that was built from rock and stone from all over the world. The priest started building the shrine to the Virgin Mary in 1912 and it took the priest 42 years to complete. It’s pretty cool to see all the little intricacies of it. 

A block from the Grotto was the Iowa corn tent, so my ode to Emily continued today. Had some great Iowa sweet corn. Never pass up the free corn tent!! As I was getting ready to leave the corn tent a guy yelled out go C26. I tried to find him once I got back on my bike but never did. When I made the last stop for the day at Backpocket for a beer I ran into another C26 teammate Matt Miller. We chatted for quite awhile and then a guy came up to us and said his daughter was with C26. Susan Cates we met your dad!  

As I came into camp there was a bad bike accident where they closed off the road and made us all get up on the sidewalk. They were spine boarding the guy when I went by. I hope he is ok. Just another reminder to be very grateful every day you make it back to camp safely. Ray was the first one back to camp so he got all of us (siblings are now part of our family!) on the shower list…my number 160….serious am going backwards on this!  Ray set up his tent close to the hamburger guys from last night just in case they wanted to share again tonight!  Spoiler alert…we didn’t get anything!

Our camp site is small and we are packed in pretty tight. When I got to camp there weren’t too many places to go but a lot of people let to set up camp. I got my stuff and Ray and I thought we could squeeze in the Taj Mahal sibling tent too so we got one of their bags and spread stuff out so they would have a space. They were extremely grateful for that!  We even got their names on the shower list!  I think we may be moving up their list steadily since the first night they thought we were creeping on them. 

It was really hot this afternoon when we got to camp and no shade so it was bit rough waiting for the showers.  Phil and Steve started a game of Uno and I joined in too.  After beating them twice and causing them to feel shame for their family by getting beat by me it was time for my shower!  The other night I had said something to Phil about how happy their parents must be that they are doing this together. He said she was so happy and excited. She bought them matching socks and shirts to wear. Unfortunately….she forgot to give them to them!  Oh well. It’s the thought that counts. 

I ended up getting some Asian noodle stir fry for dinner. Emmetsburg is a cool city with a lake and some great park spaces downtown. We listened to some music and then it started to rain a bit so we headed back to camp. Thankfully it didn’t rain much at all. 

I ran into Janine and Ron tonight. Janine had a great ride but Ron’s seat rail broke 5 miles from the end. Unfortunately he had to get on the SAG to get into town but it didn’t come directly here. Instead it went on a “2.5 hour odyssey” before he made it to camp. He was able to find a new saddle but it’s a Women’s saddle. I hope it works out ok for him. 

Tonight is a quiet night in camp. Tomorrow is a big day and one that hasn’t happened in years. Tomorrow is century day. Normally the century is optional but this year they are paying homage to one of the founders who passed last Fall by going back to the original roots of RAGBRAI where a century was included every year. For the past several years there was just a loop you could add on if you wanted. I think a lot of people will be on the SAG wagon, but we are all in. I’m hoping to get out a bit earlier tomorrow, but we’ll see how the morning goes. 

Vince since I know you are reading this…Ray says hi!  He says he is crushing the hills and I can attest to him stopping at the fire stations!

Today was 55 miles of riding and 1700 feet of climb, so not bad at all. Temps were great and there was a decent tailor wind a lot of the time. I’ll leave you all with this bike parking picture from the beer stop! 

S’More Sibling Fun

It was a cool night in the tent but thankfully no wind or rain. I had to go full sweatshirt and pants though to stay warm. We woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning over camp. Unfortunately the cool night meant everything was soaked with dew. Packing up a wet tent is never fun. But what is fun is college jersey day!  Ray and I took our ceremonial jersey day photo before we headed out. I was hoping I’d be able to watch the siblings take down their massive tent, but we would have had to wait quite a bit so hopefully we’ll be able to see them again at our campsite tonight. 

The towns and stops were much more frequent today. The breakfast options in the first town were a bit limited so I opted for a blueberry muffin before we hit up the next town. Before the first town I saw 3 Central jerseys. I met Micah and her dad Mike who were both wearing Central jerseys. Micah is going to be a freshman at Central this fall and is studying vocal education. She’ll be living in Graham Hall which is where I lived my sophomore year. We rode together for quite a while. This was her first RAGBRAI but she said she was loving it. Shortly after the first town I saw another Central jersey. I’m up to 4 so that’s already more than last year. 

When I got the Schaller I opted for a tasty breakfast burrito from the youth football league. One of the boys really was trying to sell me a football T-shirt from 2016….but I took a pass. Especially since he didn’t know what position he played when I asked him. Sorry kid, you need to at least have your position down pat. Schaller is also the popcorn capital of Iowa…or something like that so they were giving out free popcorn. I think that’s a first on RAGBRAI, but it was good. 

As we went on the Nemaha they kept advertising a donkey show. Their advertising was on point, so much so that the line was super long and in a barn that I decided to skip the show. I’ll never know what the donkeys did. Maybe they performed a song or something. 

As soon as we rolled into Newell the Newell Fonda athletic boosters were doing a free will donation pie and ice cream. It was awesome!  So pie #2 for the week was cherry!  They had a watermelon theme here and even though I didn’t eat any watermelon I appreciated the effort to have some fun things to do around the theme. 

As I got my watermelon picture I noticed an older woman sitting by herself. I figured she was a local person just taking in the sights. I went over to talk to her and come to find out she use to do RAGBRAI but was just waiting to meet her son who was doing the ride. I asked her where she was from and she said she grew up in Iowa but now lives in Indiana. Fishers, Indiana to be exact! Her property backs right up to Connor Prairie, so maybe I need to go see Jill next time I go to Symphony on the Prairie. She was a teacher at Carmel HS and her husband worked at Eli Lilly for 40 years, and her son graduated from Ball State. Small world!  I tried to help her get a message to her son, but she wasn’t having luck. I hope she was able to find him eventually. 

While riding I talked to a guy whose wife went to Central. He was riding with his grand daughter. She was wearing an Iowa State jersey and he was repping the Hawkeyes! I bet those family Thanksgivings are interesting. Anyway he is from Iowa but moved to Phoenix several years ago for work. Then he tells me he retired at 74 and this may be his last RAGBRAI. Now I don’t know how old he was, but he didn’t look even close to 70, so he’s kicking really well!  He was enjoying the cooler temps of the day compared to Phoenix. 

The ride was overcast and “cool” most of the day. I guess it was in the low 80s most of the day but it never felt that way because of the cloud cover. 

I saw another Central jersey later in the day so we’re up to 5 which may be a record. I talked to a few others who went to Central but didn’t have a jersey. It was a great day to be Dutch and an even better day when I didn’t see ANY Simpson jerseys. Not a single one!  I think those people finally came to their senses that they shouldn’t advertise that they went to school there!  Lol. I saw jerseys from all the BIG10 schools…including the soon to be added UCL and USC. 

In Fonda I opted for a pickle sandwich and then headed to the Backpocket beer stop. I forgot I stopped earlier in the day…not for a beer but for the Brewer breakfast brat. It is soooo good!  We ended up staying at the beer stop for quite a while just relaxing and chatting with people. As we got up to leave it started sprinkling so that was probably a sign I needed to get going. 

There was a decent tailwind and some smooth pavement so I time trialed the next 6 miles at a pretty good clip. When we turned to head north for the last 10 miles the sky in the west looked pretty dark. It wasn’t raining that hard but it looked like it could. I really did not want to be setting up my tent in the rain. Which meant I had to make a decision that I now somewhat regret. There was church on the way into town selling pie. They had been advertising a lot and even though I had pie today, I could have gone for another piece. Since it was raining and somewhat ominous looking I passed the pie. If it had been dry I would have stopped for sure. Turns out it never really rained and I should have gotten pie. Oh well!  

When I was about 4 miles from the last town I here a woman behind me say, “hey Central I’m trying to keep up with you. I need some motivation so I’m challenging my self to stay with you”. Jen is from New Jersey and this is her first RAGBRAI. She came out with someone she knew but they aren’t riding together so she needed a little pick me up. We talked about her riding, NJ, and other things. She said her favorite part so far was all the people and how Iowa was so welcoming and nice. She kept right up and before she knew it she was making the turn for her camp. Congrats on your furthest ride ever today Jen. And for my friends, Stacey, from Jersey…she is from North Jersey in a town I thought she said was Goda….but I doubt that is it. Near Teaneck. Her Jersey accent was thick, so who knows what she said. 

Our campsite is kind of far from the main part of town so we just stayed at camp tonight. Now here is a fun fact. The town we are staying at tonight is a town of 1900 people…we are 18,000+ riders plus all the support drivers, etc. What these towns do to pull off an event like this is absolutely unreal. Our campsite is a conservation park that has a huge fire pit and lots of trees. It’s a really nice site even if it is far away. 

When I got into camp I saw the siblings getting their bags, so of course I had to get a spot next to them just to keep up with the entertainment they provided last night. Gary was already in camp and he wasn’t too far either. When Ray got to camp he pulled up a front row seat too!  We were all joking around about this. They are taking this all in good stride for sure. 

Well as they were setting up their tent, Ray snuck over and stole one of their tent poles. It was pretty funny to watch him go all stealth mode. Well as they continued to set up the tent they were ready for the pole for their rain fly. That’s when the panic and sibling arguments started in…”I left the pole right here”….”no I handed it to you I don’t have it”….etc etc. imagine sibling bickering at its best…with a little bit of panic that a key tent piece was missing. Ray let it go on for 5 minutes or so and then revealed the pole to them. It’s probably good he stepped in when he did because it was starting to get heated!  The sister, who I now know is named Kate didn’t seem all that amused but Steve and Phil thought it was great!  We were all laughing and cracking up. They were good sports about it…but Ray may want to watch his back this week.  I’m going to guess that they try to camp as far away from him as possible tomorrow!

Yesterday when I put my name on the shower list I was 94 and I thought that was pretty good. Well today I was 154…yikes. That’s a long time to wait for a shower. Guess you can tell I stopped a few more times today. Don’t worry…I did shower even if I waited a while for it. 

Since we all had quite a bit of time to wait for the showers we started making friends with the siblings. it was then that I found out Steve went to Ball State. Phil teaches and coaches volleyball. Kate also teaches in California. We sat around and talked to them for a long time tonight and it was a fun time. So fun that I didn’t even start writing this blog until 9:30 pm. Usually I write throughout the day. Oh well…these are the fun nights of RAGBRAI.  Honestly last night I think they were kind of weirded out by us watching them, but it was just the way we needed to face to not have the sun in our eyes. Tonight I think they may be less creeped out and maybe even think we’re cool. We’ll see tomorrow!!

As we were sitting there we saw that this group of guys sitting next to us was grilling on a Coleman camp stove. They had burgers, salad, green beans. We were all so confused on how they brought all this stuff to cook. Well when they tried to take the picnic table by the sibling tent we said we’d bargain for it and they could have it if we were invited to the cook out. No dice…we kept the picnic table. But we did ask the guy how they planned this. Turns out of of them was supposed to be riding this week, but he had a heart attack a few weeks ago on a ride so he decided to come out anyway and just drive support. So he got all the food and gear. This group is funny. There are 4 guys who all graduated in 1973 from Syracuse and they played lacrosse together. It’s their first RAGBRAI as well. I’m not sure they have fully bought into the RAGBRAI experience yet. BUT later they came over and said hey we do have extra burgers if you want any so I got a nice cheeseburger from the lacrosse guys!  

At camp tonight the charter bought stuff to do s’mores since we had a fire pit. They had peanut butter and Reese’s and all the traditional s’mores items. The charter staff took your order and then roasted the marshmallow for you. It was awesome. It was a fun night all around. 

The only potential downside to our camp is that we are right next to the hospital and the medical helicopter has already landed there twice. You want to talk about wind…when that goes over your tent it is quite breezy. Hopefully there aren’t any during the middle of the night because it is also loud!  It’s going to be a cold chilly night tonight, but my C26 tights are coming handy. Alright I must sleep. 

For the day 71.7 miles and 1900 feet of climb. Most of the climb was in the first 20 miles then it was fairly flat. Until tomorrow!!

Newbies Everywhere

Well that was the craziest wind we have ever had at night. It didn’t storm but I wasn’t sure I would make it without my tent collapsing or tearing. Every time I got close to falling asleep I would get hit with my tent collapsing in on me. I thought about moving more to the center but figured me holding down the tent was better. Thankfully the wind got better around 2 am and I slept hard until 5!  

I really hope the wind doesn’t become a standing theme for the week. I had to laugh at this semi as we were leaving today. Normally in Iowa we say it’s not the heat it’s the humidity, but this trailer may some up the week even better. 

This was the most crowded start to a RAGBRAI I have ever experienced. The train going through town right as we got started didn’t help but I’m fairly certain all 18,000 riders left at once. For the first 4-5 miles it was a real easy soft pedal at a speedy 7-10 mph. I thought when we got to the first town it might get a bit better but the town was small and it just got even more crowded. 

Today was a weird day in terms of food and route. The route only had 3 stops on it and they were about 20 miles a part. Typically they are more like 10 miles between towns. To complicate things we were going through a county that does not allow any roadside vendors. So no craft beer stops, no roadside breakfast vendors, etc. which made everyone stop at the first town because we all knew we wouldn’t get another opportunity for 20 miles. I got all you can eat pancakes and sausage!!  The breakfast burrito looked amazing but the line was forever long and there was no line for pancakes so they won out!

You always see some good stuff on the ride and today was no different. I saw and heard my first dog on the route. This little guy was barking up a storm. There was also a guy pulling a cross.  Don’t know how heavy it was but I would hate to have to pull that with a strong cross wind. 

The route was rolling hills most of the way, but nothing unmanageable. We got to the midway point at 9:30 so that was really early. Decided I couldn’t pass up the Iowa corn tent today, so I had my first corn of the week. I was searching for pie and didn’t find any so I decided to roll on out of town. As we left town there was a HUGE freedom rock that was pretty cool. And then I saw it…St Mark’s Lutheran church had PIE!  I opted for the rhubarb peach because that isn’t a combination you see often. It was good but it won’t replace strawberry rhubarb on my pie list. 

There was supposed to be 19 miles to the next town and we had the biggest climb of the day in that stretch. I kept seeing signs for “High Point” but I wasn’t sure what that was except I figured it was at the top of the hill. Well when we got there it was labeled as the highest point we would reach on the ride all week. There were several vendors set up at this farm that were doing everything by donation since that county ordinance wouldn’t let them sell. There was a nice view, shade, breeze and a good vibe. I wasn’t planning to eat anything but then decided why not start the week off right with Mr. Pork Chop. The FFA kids were doing a pedal pull competition so I needed to do the Eastern Iowa Pedal Pullers proud and compete. Well let’s just say I maybe should practice with the tractors a bit more because I was embarrassing. It was fun though. This High Point was a great little stop that we didn’t know was  needed. 

When we got to Battle Creek I realized I had made a rookie mistake. They had been advertising BLTs for the last 20 miles and that sounded really good. But the moment of Mr. Pork Chop weakness meant I really didn’t need more pork just a few miles later. 

We had some really nice tailwind the last part of the day so that made some fast easy riding. We are staying in Ida Grove tonight and there are some “castles” and medieval like architecture throughout the town. I’m not sure why but it is there. We are camping on the outfield of the HS baseball fields tonight so the ground is soft and not rocky. Always a bonus. It sounds like I lucked out on my tent as the talk this afternoon  is that several people suffered ripped or broken tents last night from the wind. Thankfully minus it being annoying my tent held up just fine!  It was pretty breezy when we set up camp but we lucked out with it not being too hot. 

After setting up our tents we were just hanging out and this newbie group of two brothers and a sister were setting up their huge tent. It was comical to watch and listen to them. Now I’ve never dealt with siblings, but it is exactly what you would have expected to watch 3 siblings “work together” to get this done!  They realized we are watching them and started making conversation. The originally grew up around the Cincinnati area but now live in Michigan, California, and Ohio. The sister has ridden her bike across the country and according to her brothers…”she could kick anyone’s ass here”. They have 2 other siblings but said they were not invited on this trip because it would have ended very poorly. They said the “36 hr rule” is a real thing…meaning that you can only spend 36 hours with family before it all goes bad. I can’t wait to see them tomorrow because today they seemed to still be on speaking terms despite all sharing a tent. Steve is the oldest brother at 50 and Phil is the youngest at 42. We didn’t get the sister’s name, but she is in the middle in terms of age. 

After we got showers Ray, Gary, and I headed into town for dinner and to see what was happening. When we were looking for food I spotted Ryan Van Duzer and his girlfriend Amelia Boone. Ryan is a You tuber and has vlogged about RAGBRAI before. Amelia is an obstacle course racer and ultra marathoner and a total badass. I talked to them for awhile and got my picture with both of them. Unfortunately Ray has the pic with Ryan but it did happen!!

I got an acai bowl for dinner and a pork jerky stick. As we waited for the shuttle a guy asked if I had done the Chattanooga Ironman race (I had my race bag with me)…Christopher was from Chatt and had volunteered for the race. He and his partner Jason were with QCBC and newbies too. It was fun talking to them and hearing about their first day experience. 

As we sat at camp we ran into Jim who was walking  around camp with an actual camera. We ended up taking to him about how much cameras and photography has changed from film to digital. Jim is from the Quad Cities and is on his 18th RAGBRAI. He was an interesting guy who ended up taking a picture of us at camp. Who knows where that pic will end up!!

We talked to Phil and Steve some more. They are cool guys and hopefully we will hang out more with them this week. I also ended up talking to Ron and Janine who are from Seattle. It is their first RAGBRAI too. So many newbies I have met today. Ron is originally from NJ and went to Keane University. Stacey would have been so proud. Janine grew up in the Quad Cities and went to Wash U in St. Louis. They were a fun couple to talk to. Janine rides an e-Bike so we talked about that and charging them so you can get through the route. 

The wind calmed down and tonight should be a much better night in the tent!!  The concert is rocking and I can hear it perfectly from my tent!!  I think it might get pretty cool tonight. 

For the day I rode, 55 miles and 2600 ft of climb. Despite what people were saying it wasn’t bad at all. Tomorrow is a much longer day but not the climb so it should be fun.  Here’s hoping for more tailwind!!

Money Well Spent - Wet & Windy

It’s RAGBRAI time!  I’m on the bus and even though I have my bus snacks I am anxiously looking forward to our stop so I can get out and stretch my legs. I’m ready to not be crammed in this seat!

Loading the bus stop was pretty uneventful. Ended up on bus three and we are stuffed to the brim!  Ray and Gary from Philly are back this year. They drove out together and are ready to take on the hills of Iowa again. Murray came to see me off and he got to meet some new people which he loves. Unfortunately there was lots of goose droppings all over so eventually he got relegated to being carried around. He’s going to have a great week at farm camp. He tries to keep up with the big dogs but sometimes he just can’t hang!! 

The weather this week looks like it is going to be pretty nice so I hope that’s true. Better than the excessive heat last year!!  

Finally…the stop!  I made it quickly into McD and got to the bathroom way before there was a line. Which was great…but then that meant all the lines were for food. I opted for some gas station yogurt parfait instead of the 30 min wait in the McD or subway lines. 

There appears to be a lot of newbies and first timers here this year. Which means that experience will be in my favor for getting campsites, showers, etc. We even outsmarted them loading the bus as everyone were lemmings following each other to load their stuff on the bus. Well we just walked around the bus and loaded from the other side. Easy peasy while the majority were waiting in line. Yesterday I met Todd from Purdue who works in performing arts/student life. Then I met another couple who lives in Indy. So maybe Indiana has taken over the QCBC charter!

After our stop we started hearing rumblings of strong storms, wind, rain, hail for later today in Sergeant Bluff. Here’s hoping we can at least get our tents set up before that happens. I upgraded my tent this year so I have some more room…I just hope it handles rain well. I’d be real upset if I got flooded out on day one. 

We made it to Sergeant Bluff our home for the night. We are camping at the local high school around the football field. Unfortunately that meant the dropped us off in the parking lot and we had to lug our bags at least a half mile. As we set our bags down there was lightning in the distance. The race was on to get the tent up before the rain. It was actually overcast with a slight breeze so it wasn’t unbearably hot. I managed to set up the new tent relatively easily. It’s much bigger than my old one and I think that’s going to prove to be beneficial as the week goes on. 

After I got my tent up I walked to find my bike. Right as I picked up my bike the rain drops started. I made it back to the tent before it cut loose. New tent….CLUTCH. I was able to get myself and my bike in the tent while it was raining. I got it all put back together while standing in my tent. It’s already proven to be a great investment and it’s only been up 30 minutes!

Fortunately the rain and yes lightning/thunder didn’t last very long. Unfortunately that meant the sun came out and it got hot!!  There was a very strong breeze….downside of new tent…it catches a lot more wind. I’ve had to re-stake my tent 3 times in 3 hours. Hopefully wind will die down tonight.

We decided to head up the expo area and check it out. After waiting in the shuttle line forever without a shuttle in sight we decided to walk. It wasn’t that far. I feel like there were less vendors than normal, but it was still packed. Did some obligatory pictures and then I needed food…real food. I got some very delicious nachos from a taco food truck. A sat down to eat them across from a lady who was eating taco salad from the same truck. They must have looked good because many people came up to ask what they were. One lady came up 3 different times to ask more questions. But my favorite was…which one is better the taco salad or the nachos?  Well….I hate to tell you lady but it’s really hard to answer that question when you’re only eating one of the items and I’m not about to ask a stranger to eat off her plate just to help you make a decision. She must have missed class the day they talked scientific method and basic research design. I was talking with a lady while eating who is returning to RAGBRAI after her knee replacement surgery. She said she kept looking at my shirt which said “practice not quitting” and would remind herself of that several times this week. I think it is something we all need to remember. Forward progress is progress just keep moving forward. 

We saw a guy riding a very tall unicycle that was a “unicorn”. Well then he started juggling a sword, a flame, and a selfie stick with his iPhone on it. He pedaled around and juggled. He didn’t last long but I he didn’t fall or drop anything. 

As my faithful readers know, I appreciate a good sprinkler or hose. Well Sergeant Bluff fire department didn’t disappoint with one of their fire hoses set up for us to walk through. It hit the spot on this feels like 97 degree humid day. 

We headed back to camp fairly early because I needed to get my tent more organized and find everything I need for tomorrow. I grabbed a couple waters when we got to camp and I saw Paul who I ended up camping by a lot last year. I’m told him he was my inspiration for me putting contact info in my wallet in case I lost it. Then a little kid asked if I wanted to have a water gun fight. Normally I’d be all about that, but my hands were full so I turned him down. Maybe tomorrow kid!

I have also discovered another downside of my new tent…there are at least 4 others exactly like it in our camp site. Here’s hoping I don’t lose my tent or go in the wrong one later in the week.   I’m a LONG way from the bathrooms tonight and I sure hope I don’t have to navigate through the tent mind field in the dark. It could be treacherous. 

Clouds have finally rolled in and it has gotten a bit cooler. There still may be storms tonight so we’ll see. Tomorrow will be a harder day. Lots of hills and lots of heat, so it will be a challenge even though it’s a fairly short day. Less than 60 miles. We don’t do these things because it is easy, so bring on the challenge. 

I did a RAGBRAI first tonight and took a quick shower once I got my tent organized. I’ve never gotten a shower on day 0 before and it felt nice to rinse off for a brief bit. Of course as I walked back to the tent it started raining. So I’m sitting in my tent with it pouring outside and the wind is whipping my tent. But I’m dry…it’s just steamy in here. Hopefully this passes soon. I don’t know what I need to do to get my tent stakes to stay better but it’s safe to say they are no longer holding my tent down. My stuff and I am holding it down. My little tent never had this issue. 

Murray seems to be having fun at farm camp. It was really hot today so he had to test out the air conditioning vent.