The last day of RAGBRAI 2013. I’m certainly saddened to see this wonderful week end, but on the other hand I cannot wait to get home and sleep in my own bed. Today we was 63 miles and 2427 feet of hilly hills. Even though I skipped the first 33 miles, it was a tough day for me with long miles, hills, sore muscles, body aches. Mainly because one of my front brake pads was slightly rubbing!
Would I do it again? You bet!
Here are the pictures from today.
I only stopped for the pie, no kissing pigs for me.
City built this cool thing where riders could climb and take pictures or be photographed.
Yes, yes, another food picture. A combo smoothly. Soooo good.
Let us not forget all those who gave their lives to protect our freedom. Things like Ragbrai might not exist with out such freedom
Ouch! That’s gotta hurt!
The end of the line….
Wait a minute, a fire truck with a fire pit in it? What’s wrong with this picture?
The mighty Mississippi river where riders dip their front tire in.
While waiting to be loaded on the truck my tire suddenly blew loudly. I think it was protesting, telling everyone it was done
Our high today, chilly and windy. Last year they had most days around 100 degrees.
And you thought I was a bit wacky for putting a troll on my bike!
Wooohooo, today was the least hilliest ride of the week with only 1,222 feet of vertical climb. We rode from Oskaloosa to Fairfield, total of 52 miles. Was a much easier day.
In one of the towns I ran across this cheery band of super heroes.
Sadly, I exposed more than I realized when I flipped the bike to fix the flat.
This is what is called a velomobile. It’s actually and ICE brand trike with an outer fairing which was made in the UK. The fellow in the orange shirt is the owner, a doctor in Ft. Wayne, Indiana (where I was born). Further conversation, he did his residency in Omaha where I live and we exchanged many names of physicians we both know.
Here is the inner view. Not much ventilation.
Near the end of this hot day we came across a huge water slide, maybe 200 feet, in a country yard that went down into their pond. A giant pump was keeping the water flowing. Riders would run and dive, shooting out at the end into the pond.
Even Super Heroes like to have fun (but I was worried about him cutting the plastic).
Here is pond they all come out into.
Enjoying a “Fire House” root-beer float.
This is in the town of Fairfield. Some vendor must have been giving away free plastic mustaches and someone climbed up and put on on the stature.
Today we rode 52 miles from Knoxville (Wyatt Earp’s childhood home) to Oskaloosa. Third hilliest day of the week, but my second hilliest since I took off riding on Monday. The old recumbent is performing almost flawlessly and no flats yet.
Another beautiful sunrise in Iowa. I woke up at 3:50, took my time packing up and was on the road by 5:30, still dark then so this sunrise was about 20 minutes out of town.
Above is Lake Red Rock outside of Pella, Iowa. Below are pictures of the very picturesque Pella, Iowa. A lovely Dutch themed community well worth the visit.
Visitors center (photo op)
Every street I saw was this quaint and beautiful.
The old opera house.
A mill, I think mainly for visitors but I did not have time to tour it to find out.
Some more of the beautiful views in Iowa (no, I did not mean the riders….look further!)
My next VW?
Unicycle rider and was he good. Went flying by me and had amazing control.
Typical gather of riders in our group after the ride. We get our tents up, shower, wash our bike clothes and go searching for places to eat.
Today we are riding out of the of Des Moines (206K population), riding to Knoxville today (7300K). Quite the contrast in town size. Along the way we passed the Iowa State Campgrounds and road over Lake Red Rock, which I have always wanted to see. A relatively short day of 50 miles, but the second most vertical climb (first for me since I skipped day two).
Despite oversleeping an hour (got 8 hours sleep), I did manager to get on the road by 7:00 for one of my hilliest days. It was a top 10 day, ride and weather.
At the fairgrounds today. Deposits only no withdrawals.
Monroe had a cool cool off activity.
I just could not get enough food today. The following are just the meals, not including the homemade ice cream and watermelon
And now out for an evening at the town square for the live band and beer garden, then asleep by 9:00!
The following is a picture of a tethered hot air balloon ride that started right next to our campsite before sundown.
And if you can see the image below, this is our little tent village in the middle of the night.
Another day, more hills, more people…..OMG it’s a constant sea of people!!!!
But I love it. There is so much to entertain one on the ride. The imagination of the riders, the vendors, the city folk constantly amazes and surprises me.
Today we rode from Perry to Des Moines. I’ve zipped through Des Moines many a time by car, but never at this slow a pace so the view, the sites, the sounds of this wonderful Midwest capitol city, are quite remarkable.
Like I said, people really have enough imagination. Both husband and wife dressed alike and a basket for each of their little dogs.
I wanted to just push on through, but Ziggy was thirsty. I finally gave in to a beer figuring he was of age. What I did not know is that trolls get drunk very quickly. What’s worse is I discovered too that trolls have small bladders and we had to stop every 10 minutes!
To add to my problems, Ziggy wanted us to stop in West Des Moines to visit his cousins. Hmmm, I think I see the resemblance.
Can you believe this? What a beautiful day, but a bit windy the last 15 miles.
Taking a vacation day today from riding As much as everyone thinks I’m on vacation this week, it really is the most grueling of vacations in my life. It’s not just the long miles and endless hills, it’s the heat, humidity, bugs, flat tires, long lines at porta potties, searching for food, thunderstorms, lightening, sleeping in hot tent, getting up at 4:00 am, etc.
So today I took a vacation from most of that and rode in our charter’s vehicle today and they hauled my bike to our next overnight town, Perry. I know I could have made it here on bike, but I’d probably be in pain the rest of the week, I’ve saved my one temperamental knee and by not straining myself, I have a better chance of not doing something stupid and really hurting myself.
It really was fun to do something else today and I volunteered my services to help with the daily charter chores. But I’m ready to get back on the bike and do the rest of the ride.
Setting up camp (my tent is the yellow one)
Beautiful city!
Wonderful train murals above the booths of this beautifully restored hotel restaurant.
Another mural.
I was told the next morning by an older gentleman that Lance Armstrong stayed here. This fellow was outside when Lance pulled up in a Hummer and got out. He showed me the picture of him and Lance. And I must have just missed it, I was in the back of the lobby about that time!
This is the air conditioned theater where I outsmarted the heat gods.
Not sure what the theme of this city was, but they had these signs up and Kiss music playing when we rode into town.
Look! They still have a Ben Franklin Five and Dime!
Wish I could have taken a picture off the 20 riders sound asleep well before the movie started. Movie was R.I.P.D which I highly recommend.
Walking the mile back to your campsite from downtown spotted these birds on the water towel. Yep, turkey vultures again. It must be me they are waiting for. There were a couple dozen perched on the top of the tower, many more flying around.
Quite the storm rolled through that evening with high winds, rain, constant thunder and hail. It blew one of our campers tents away, but an extra was found so he could continue the trip.
Today’s route took us from Council Bluffs to Harlan, about 55 miles there with 2,500 feet of vertical climb. Unlike the BRAN ride where bikes are the minority on the road and one has to compete with cars and big trucks, on RAGBAI there really are no cars or vehicles. It’s just bikes, but Oh My, thousands and thousands of them. Most riders know the rules of the road and practice them, but on this ride there are hundreds of riders with just no sense! They can suddenly stop or swerve in front of you with no notice, they ride six across taking up the entire road, they are too busy talking to see road hazzards or other bikers, they are looking at their phone or have headphones on and not clue you are warning them of passing them.
The rules of the road state that one should pass on the outside, so it is practice to announce “On Your Left” as you approach a rider you are about to pass. I’m a good rider, and fortunately, as I am a slow rider, most people pass me and I don’t have to yell that all day. Even though, it can be tiring so I bought a cute little gadget that is a bell and also has my voice recorded on it. Bought it a couple years ago, never really used it, anxious to see the results on this long ride.
Took this picture while riding so it’s a bit blurry, but just had to capture the beautiful sunrise on our first day.
Typical view of the road at any time during the day on RAGBRAI.
View as I approach one of the many towns. It becomes a very slow moving procession and you have to get off your bikes to do it.
The town of Shelby went all out and even made this wonderful entry sign. Not sure if you cans see it, but they hung bikes (all painted in primary colors) across the street and up the poles. There was also a bike and planter on every pole in town.
This is my companion on the trip, a one foot tall troll named Ziggy Stardust (Google David Bowie if you don’t get the name).
Just had to stop and check out this VW as I have a 1983 one similar to it.
The good news is the rain from this missed us!
Today is our meet up day for RAGBRAI. I’ve again signed up with the Lost and Found Adventures charter groups (about 100 riders) and we are meeting up in Council Bluffs today at 4:00 for a reception and meet and greet. This will be my second RAGBBAI, having done my first in 2010 and missing the last two years. I’m quite excited!
Conditioning and proper equipment are key to completing (and enjoying) this ride. The last two years I just was not ready and I knew it. Even this year I’m not quite where I want to be, but know I can do all of the days except have some concern about day two, which is 83 miles and 4239 total feed of climb. Just to be on the safe side, I’m skipping that day and utilizing our charters transportation services that day.
Doing something new this year, I’m going to try and blog here at my site totally using my smart phone. There’s a great app that allows me to do so, the only problem may be the miniature keyboard, getting internet service and keeping the phone charged. In any case I’ll try to keep you all updated and upload as many pictures of this wonderful adventure. The above picture was taken today with my smartphone and uploaded, so it appears to work. I’ve got way more clothes than I need, but forecast is for rain and I discovered one year you can’t expect to wash your clothes out if they won’t dry because of the rain. I like to start the day in dry clothes! The bulge in the left red back is spare tires. I bring everything! Sure, I can buy some of it on the trip, but why pay those marked up prices. Just come prepared.
I had hoped to get my aluminum recumbent trike done and ride it this year, but it’s not quite there yet and needs a lot of fine tuning plus lots of road hours to know I can trust it. Instead I’m riding my trusty Burley Canto recumbent, which has carried me over 5000 miles so far. Not using the wind fairing this year. It’s heavy for one thing, and this ride has a lot of hills, but mostly removed for better visibility. Speed is sometimes dictated more by the congestion of 10,000 riders than anything else, so in the long run I feel it will not provide that much help.
Please feel free to comment each day. I love to stay in touch and I always appreciate the encouragement.
Newbies are appropriately branded.
Charter welcome party.
Tents as far as you can see
And these as far as you could see.
Hmmm, a bike with no seat and no place for one. He got ripped off!
Looking forward to biking with Lance Armstrong next week on RAGBRAI.
Okay, okay, I’m the slow recumbent rider at the end of the pack so I probably won’t see Lance, he’ll probably be at the end point well before I hit my first town. But hey, I can still say I rode with him. For that matter, so can 10,000 other folks.
I read Lance’s book, It’s Not About The Bike, the year I started riding in 2009 and I so agreed with what he was trying to say, how the bike is just an instrument to a melody of life that you can only find through dedication to a sport, such as biking. At least that is how I interpreted it. Regardless of his process for getting where he did, he was still an inspiration for me and I found his book very education and helpful to a newbie rider like myself. Although I don’t condone what he did, after reading about his earlier years I can understand what brought him to where he is today. And let’s not forget about all the positive things he accomplished with LiveStrong.
If I have the chance to ride with him next week, I would gladly take it and thank him for his inspiration. Biking is the only athletic endeavor I enjoy and am dedicated to.
Taking a break today while training for RAGBRAI at Chalco Hills recreation area in Omaha. Thought it might be nice to show everyone what it looks like from my perspective, from the reclined position of my recumbent bike.
I have what is called twist shifters on the handlebar ends, which are very easy to use. From the left you can see my mini bell, in such a position I don’t have to remove my hand from the grip, simply flick my thumb. Next to it is my rear view mirror on a adjustable post. Extra large to see as much as possible. Next to that is my Garmin bike computer which, via GPS, tracks everything including my speed, distance, time, calories burned, altitude, climb and descent, cadence, heart rate and records this data for my review and comparison to other rides. (Check out ebay as I did, much better deals than buying new)
At the center is my water bottle on the handlebar post. In front of that is my can of pepper spray in a leather pouch. It’s there in case I ever need it for one of those farm raised four legged furry ankle biters. Never had to use it, hope I never do.
I’m thinking that empty space to the right would be perfect for a remote control holder so I’d feel right at home. But hey, look at that view! Who would want to change channels on that!!