RAGBRAI: More Pictures and a Few Other Thoughts

This is my last post on RAGBRAI.  I had a few other random thoughts about the experience:

1. The food was awesome.  We had more pie and ice cream than I can possibly count.  We also had great breakfast pizza, pork chops, church dinners, and cinnamon rolls.  We basically ate our way from town to town.
2. Training for the Savage Century made the first two days of hills and Twister Hill on day 3 a piece of cake.  I arrived at the bottom of Twister Hill and thought, "oh, well, you can see the top, so it isn't that bad." Riding Skyline Drive was time and effort well spent. 
3. It was hot, especially the first few days.  We did 100 miles on day 3.  We found out later that it was 97 degrees with a heat index of 109 while we were riding.  The first two days were at least as hot.  It cooled down marginally towards the end of the week.  I coped with the heat by making sure to drink at least a mouthful of water at the top of each hill, which seemed to keep dehydration at bay.  We took breaks in the shade and dumped water over our heads to help stay cool.
4. You are never alone on RAGBRAI.  Every mile on the ride was filled with cyclists, who would all have to crowd together when there was an oncoming car.  It was most crowded in the mornings and would thin out some in the afternoons.  The quietest, least crowded section of the route was the Karras Loop - the extra miles to make a century on day 3.  Towns were crowded, too and there were lines everywhere.  I'm not complaining.  We weren't in a hurry and it was a chance to chat with people, both other cyclists and locals.   
5. The creativity of some of the cyclists never ceased to surprise us.   We saw all kinds of helmet decorations, clever jerseys, and crazy bikes. 
6. As I said yesterday, the hospitality and generosity of the people we rode with, the people who provided support vehicles, and the people who provided accommodations, food, and/or showers continually amazed us.  We wouldn't have had nearly as good a time without all of them. 
7. Bike touring is fun and I think we might try more of it at some point.  

Pictures (click to enlarge):

 Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower).  These were all over the roadsides in western Iowa.

 Sign outside the Methodist Church in Glenwood, Iowa.

 Another sign in Glenwood outside the Methodist Church.

 A tandem bike dressed as a banana on day 1.

 A bike ferris wheel at a welding shop in Carson, Iowa.

 Most towns would use two tractors to stretch a cable or rope to create bike parking.  This one was in Carson, Iowa.

 A Penny Farthing in Griswold, Iowa.

 Beekman's homemade ice cream at a farm on day 1.

 Cyclists heading into Lewis, Iowa.  Click to enlarge to see all of the cyclists on the road.  This also shows the rolling hills in western Iowa.

 The windmill in Elk Horn, Iowa on day 2.

 Our bikes taking a break while we eat cinnamon rolls.

A funny team jersey on day 2.

 Cornfields along the way.

 The grain elevator in Lidderdale, Iowa (I think.  I'm actually not 100% sure that is the right town).

 A barn quilt block along the road.  We saw a few of these (with different blocks) along the way.  My impression is that there are more of these in northern Iowa. 

 Sunrise on day 3 outside of Carroll, Iowa.

 Wind turbines on the Karras Loop (the extra 30 mile loop) near Dana, Iowa on Day 3.

 An 1895 Fred Spaulding safety bike in Grinnell, Iowa.  This bike had wooden rims, weighed 14 pounds, and the original box is behind it, according to the sign.

 One of the more unique bikes on the ride in Grinnell, Iowa.

The tent city on the lawn at Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa.

RAGBRAI: Finishing and Pictures

We finished RAGBRAI on Saturday afternoon by dipping our wheels in the duck-weed covered, flood-stage Mississippi.  The last day's ride was much more business-like than the previous six days.  There were fewer places to stop and fewer people stopping at them.  People had finishing on their minds. 

Overall, we really enjoyed the ride.  We finished with a total of 494 miles, according to the odometer on my bike computer.  We ate ourselves silly with all the pie, homemade ice cream, church dinners, and Mr. Pork Chop.  Iowa, particularly western Iowa, was beautiful - and far from flat.  We were overwhelmed by the hospitality of those who hosted us and of the towns we visited. A big thank you to the organizers, support drivers, and hosts for our team.

I have a lot of pictures from RAGBRAI, so I thought I would just post some tonight and I'll post more over the next few days. 

Pictures (click to enlarge):

 At the finish on the Mississippi River in Davenport, IA

 494 miles on the bike odometer

 An antique fire truck in Oxford, IA on Day 6

 Sunrise on Day 6 on the lawn at Grinnell College

 Bikes rolling into Victor, IA on Day 6

 Brooklyn, IA on Day 6

The water tower in Mitchellville, IA on Day 5

 A "banana tree" in Mitchellville.  Apparently, this is the only "banana tree" in Iowa. 

 The high school pep band in Mitchellville.

 SSW Spouse (in white) helping another rider fix a flat on Day 5.

 Getting a chair massage on Day 5.

 Mr. Pork Chop's bus on Day 5.

 They burn corn cobs to grill the pork chops.

 Pork chops on the grill at our lunch stop on Day 5 at Mr. Pork Chop.  We liked them enough to eat there twice.

Loin Cloth Man proves that there are less modest outfits than the average road cycling outfit.  Yes, he rode in that (hopefully, he didn't park his bike in the sun when he stopped).

RAGBRAI Day 6: Coralville and One More Day

We are in Coralville, IA tonight, after about 60 miles yesterday and 75 today. Yesterday, we rode from Altoona, IA to Grinnell, IA. The route was hillier than the day before, but nothing as bad as the first two days. A lot of people really struggled with the end of the route because the hilliest section was there. Grinnell is home to Grinnell College, which graciously opened it's lawns to thousands of cyclists for camping. A tent city filled most of the open spaces on campus, but our group managed to find a relatively quiet spot (or at least it seemed that way until the train came right through the middle of campus in the night). Grinnell College also opened their dining hall for anyone who wanted to eat there. I have to say, my memories of campus food in college do not include edamame succotash and artisan bread, but that was the type of food that is served at Grinnell. After a week of eating (very good) fair food, fresh vegetables were a nice change.

Today's ride started out flat, but with a headwind. RAGBRAI's route always goes from west to east because the prevailing winds in Iowa in the summer are out of the west. For the last two days, those prevailing winds were absent, leaving us with cross and headwinds. SSW Spouse and I took turns in front, pulling for each other, so the wind wasn't too bad. We stopped for lunch, pie, ice cream, and lemonade. I can't say that we've lacked for good food this week. The only challenge at this point is that my legs need a recovery day. They aren't sore, but they are pretty tired and they are tired in the morning.

Tomorrow is the last day, which will end with us dipping our front wheels in the Mississippi River in Davenport.

RAGBRAI: Day 4 Update

We are in Altoona, Iowa, near Des Moines, tonight. We did 100 miles yesterday between Carroll and Boone, which included an extra, optional 28 mile loop. The optional loop was nice because there were far fewer riders on it (which might be an indication of our lack of sanity). It was 97 degrees yesterday, so we rewarded ourselves with homemade ice cream in the shade from one of the vendors along the road.

Today's ride was only 57 miles, so we rode quickly, but lollygagged at lemonade stands,snow cone stands, and in towns. The road was flat and it was very sightly cooler than yesterday, so we had a good ride.

I am writing this on my phone, so I will post a longer entry later.

RAGBRAI: A Quick Update After Day 2

We have had little or no cell phone service or internet access for the last couple of days and I am on a shared computer right now, so this will be a quick update.  We have finished Day 2 of RAGBRAI, so we have covered about 130 miles so far.  The route yesterday and today wound through southwestern Iowa, from Glenwood to Atlantic last night and on to Carroll, Iowa tonight.  Both days have been pretty hilly, with over 4,000 feet of climb each day.  Fortunately, all of the training we did for the Savage Century paid off.  We finished each day feeling like the climbing wasn't too bad.  It was not a sentiment shared by our fellow riders.

This is, by far, the most crowded cycling event I've ever done.  Ten thousand riders do RAGBRAI each year, so there is never a point where you are alone on the road, in town, or in the campgrounds.  In the mornings, the road is particularly crowded, but it thins out as the day goes on and people take breaks.  Every town we pass through has a festival, including great food.  Every organization in the pass through and overnight towns is out there selling great food to raise money.  All of the churches sponsor lunches and dinners.  We have sampled a wide variety of pie, cinammon rolls, pork chops, and lemonade, among other things.  Today, I had a huge pork chop straight off the grill and gooseberry pie for lunch.  We are eating our way across Iowa.

I will try to update more later and add pictures when I have better internet access. 

RAGBRAI: 4 days and Counting

We are four days out from the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI).  Ten thousand cyclists will descend on Iowa to ride for seven days.  The ride is 454 miles, with an additional 30 mile option loop on the third day.  Our shortest day will be 56 miles.  If we do the extra loop, our longest day will be almost 100 miles.  We've been training and, hopefully, are ready. 

We leave for Iowa tomorrow and I will try to make updates from the road and the ride.