Saturday's child works hard

Greetings from Dubuque, first city in Iowa, but the last stop on this year's ride.
The last day's ride is traditionally shorter and easier - to accommodate riders linking up with their home-bound transportation (of various kinds). But this year, "Saturday's child" had to work hard, especially as we got closer to Dubuque - going up and down a series of steep hills, some even within the city limits, before descending to the Mississippi River shore. In particular, one of these hills was a deal-breaker: one mile long at a continuous grade of 19%. We're sorry to have to admit defeat on that one, surrendering our pedals to hike the bikes part way up (along with 90% of the other riders!)


So, instead of completing 454 miles across Iowa on our bikes, we must tell you, we only made 453.3 miles.
Many of the food vendors weren't in evidence this morning; the best food stop was a farmer on the outskirts of Dubuque selling peaches for 50 cents - YUM!


At the river, under nice sunny skies, we completed the RAGBRAI ritual, dipping our front tires into the Mississippi - as we had begun a week ago with dipping our rear tires into the Missouri River.


We'll send a link to more pictures from the trip - but they won't adequately portray the beauty of the landscape and the fun of meeting people from all over the U.S. (and even other countries) - you'll just have to join next year's ride!

Friday's challenge

Hi from Manchester,IA!

We were thankfully able to take down the tent and pack up our gear in the morning under overcast skies, before it rained. The day's ride was shorter (60 miles) but just as difficult as Thursday. It rained most of the morning, first just sprinkles when we were finishing breakfast, about 7 miles into the ride; then the real rain began, and continued, including some distant lightning and thunder. We kept on pedalling, with stops for coffee and hot chocolate and snacks at convenience stores along the way, which were generally unprepared for inundations of riders. It was nice to stand in long lines just to be in the warm buildings out of the rain. Many of the official vendor booths in towns left riders (and the vendors themselves) clinging to whatever cover was available. No photo opportunities.
But for those who presevere....the rain finally stopped and some blue sky appeared in the east (our destination). Unfortunately, the wind also increased and we had a 20-mile long finish over rolling hills, mostly into the wind. But the sky did clear and by the time we arrived in Manchester the sun was shining and townspeople were lining the streets to welcome us. And the sun dries out the dampness in our gear.

It was a tough day, but we feel fine and ready for tomorrow's finish in Dubuque.

Lee & Barb

82 miles conquered

Lee was worried about today's 82 miles, but we did just fine. We didn't set any speed records, but, remember - RAGBRAI is a ride, not a race! There were interesting towns along the way, things to see and do, people to chat with and food to eat and more food to eat. A helpful citizen of Parkersburg, Iowa, took our picture in front of a creative bike sculpture erected on the edge of town so you can see us both together enjoying our day.

The weather was perfect for riding (temperatures stayed in the 80's; cloud cover in the afternoon helped cool us off); roads were generally smoother with just a few rolling hills to negotiate.

We will definitely be sleeping well tonight.

Another gorgeous day

Hi everyone,
Wednesday started off with a mid-night thunderstorm. Fortunately, our tent stayed mostly dry on the inside, and we got our rest. As the day's ride progressed, the sky got clearer, ending with 85 degree sunshine. Keeping with our water theme from the lakes of previous days, we arrived at Charles City, along the upper reaches of the Cedar River with a nice riverside park downtown.


[Further south, the Cedar River joins the Iowa River, south of Iowa City, where we will visit Barbara's son's family after RAGBRAI].
Besides the turn of good weather, the wind MAY have shifted - coming from the north, which would give us a welcome tailwind for a LONG ride south tomorrow of 82 miles. In comparison, today's ride was a short one of only 59 miles, terrain still mostly flat.
One of the highlights of the day was a stop in Rockford, where this farmer has been inventing new (non-sensical)equipment.



We'll write again when we recover from tomorrow's long ride.
Lee & Barbara

Algona to Clear Lake

No shower necessary today in Clear Lake--we went swimming in the lake instead! It was a refreshing end to our ride and nobody minded that we went in with just our biking clothes--lots of other riders were doing the same thing.

The ride was shorter and hotter; a 5 mile segment headed south into the wind. Besides the yummy food vendors in Wesley and Britt, we also enjoyed a respite of visiting the Hobo Museum in Britt, IA. They have an annual Hobo Festival also to celebrate the tradition of hobo travel & camping in the 1930's and later. To clarify terms: "hobos" travel to work (like migrant laborers; while "tramps" travel to find work (they want to work); and "bums" don't travel and they don't want to work.

After taking a shuttle downtown to check out the sites, we have come back to our campsite which is a comfortable, roomy location at the local high school. Tomorrow is a shorter ride than usual and we look forward to that before the LONG ride ahead of us on Thursday.

Monday, a day of work?

Hi,
We left Storm Lake rested and marvelling at how nice our time was. We attended a free concert. The lake was anything but "stormy" - and we were treated to a nice sunset.

Because the day had been so sunny and dry, we woke with no dew, and packed our tent dry.
The ride today was another long one,79 miles, but easier than Sunday because of the long stetches of very flat road. The weather was mostly clear again, but with more breezes, but thankfully we never had to head directly into the wind and sometimes had a slight tail wind.

We met up with our friend from Oregon in one of the towns - he's riding with his girlfriend this year (her first RAGBRAI - which in RAGBRAI slang makes her a "virgin").She is accustomed to riding the steep hills in Oregon, so Iowa isn't a big challenge.

We've had our post-ride shower and gave Pizza Hut a run for the money on an "all you can eat" deal. Now enjoying some down time in the downtown activities / crowds at Algona - and then, restore ourselves with sleep,sleep,sleep.

Check back again tomorrow.
Lee

Is This Heaven?

No,it's Iowa.
It sure seemed like heaven today, though. Of the 8 RAGBRAIs that I have done, I can't think of one that had such a beautiful beginning day. Starting before sunup means that many of the mornings when we set out it is still quite chilly and you have to start the day wearing a jacket. Then as it warms up you don't need the jacket and it's a bother to drag it along the rest of the day. But it was warm enough this morning that a jacket wasn't required.

It was a bright sunny day with only a few clouds building up in the afternoon. The temperatures remained mild throughout the afternoon and what was also rare is that the wind did not kick in. Looks like rain is not in the forecast for tonight either.




Chatting with different riders throughout the day, I got the impression that there are more than the usual number of first-time riders. Comments I've heard were that some people were surprised at the number of hills we encountered. Still a lot of people out there who think that Iowa is flat. The information given out earlier in the year when the ride was announced did say that overall for the week this will be one of the flattest rides ever. But this part of the state has some hilly stretches in the area that's called the Loess Hills. So today was not one of the days with a lot of flat stretches. Of course, for me and Lee, having put in a lot of training miles this summer, we tackled those hills with no problems at all. And one of the benefits of going through hilly country is that the scenery is awesome. This has been a rainy summer in Iowa so with the bright, sunny day those green hills just shimmered in the light. Almost heaven.

Tonight's accomodations are in Storm Lake, which is a first time visit for me. But Lee said he did go through here one other year when he was sightseeing and RAGBRAI went close to here. As we pedaled into town we were routed through the local college, Buena Vista University. They have a beautiful campus.

Our campground is right along the lake. After getting set up and eating dinner we have pedaled into town to take part in the evening activities after a great first day on RAGBRAI.

Getting here

Getting here and getting set up can sometimes be more difficult than the whole week of pedaling across Iowa. This year was not as bad as last year's experience because we at least got our tent set up before dark. But you would think that a scheduled flight leaving Dulles this morning at 6:30am with an arrival time of 10:30am in Sioux City, Iowa, would have allowed plenty of time for all the logistics involved in the start of RAGBRAI.

But the bad news came at the waiting area about 6:00am when Delta airlines announced a 2-hour delay in our departure. Storms the night before had caused late arrivals and the crew that was supposed to fly our plane needed to have some rest because they had gotten in so late. I guess there's no such thing as substitute crews. With a 2-hour delay there was no way to make my connection in Minneapolis. The ticket agent said all flights after that one out of Minneapolis to Sioux City were overbooked. The only solution would be to schedule me on a flight from Minneapolis to Omaha, Nebraska, and then take a taxi to Sioux City. A 95-mile taxi ride! Thankfully, the airlines paid for the taxi but it made for a very long day with lots of frustrations.

Lee and I didn't coordinate very well with getting my bike from FedEx and then figuring out where to meet and how to get bikes and gear to the camping site. But we finally got set up and found something to eat. The campground is outside of town and the bikes were here in town so we had to come back to town to get the bikes. Then we headed back to the campground to get settled in for the night.
In the end, however, we did have time to dip our rear tires in the Missouri River at the Sioux City dip site.





The weather appears to be cooperative. It hasn't been that hot today and it doesn't look like rain. I'm sure once we get pedaling tomorrow all of today's frustrations will be forgotten and we can see what adventures await us as the ride finally begins.

Portents?

Hi everyone,
Hopefully the weather on RAGBRAI days will not exactly replicate that of the last couple of days during my drive to Dubuque: crossing Indiana and Illinois with strong winds from the south ALL day on Thursday; and Thursday night through Friday morning, on and off rain, and then more rain, and then torrential rain, causing near-flood waters on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River at Galena.



It was great on my way here, visiting with Kelly and the kids, and seeing Scott & Diane (with a boat ride on the Maumee River!) Thankfully and hopefully, the sun is out again in Dubuque. I'll be loading my bike this evening and in the morning riding on a charter bus to meet Barbara (flying in) at Sioux City, the start of the ride. Her bike, which we shipped ahead, is already waiting for her. Meanwhile, I have time to do some un-rushed sightseeing in Dubuque (founded in 1788 by a French fur trader) and getting a last, non-campground good night's sleep.
More to come.
Lee

How Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

My, how time flies. It's hard to believe that 7 weeks have gone by since the last great adventure of our trip to Europe. We knew that once we got back from that trip we would have to begin the work of preparing for our next adventure.

The Des Moines Register's Annual Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) is an adventure that we look forward to, but it is one that requires hard work if one wants to enjoy the week. I suppose it's possible to ride your bike for 7 days, average 70 miles a day, across Iowa without doing any training miles on your bike beforehand. But I don't think it would be an enjoyable week if you weren't in shape.

Lee and I plan to be in shape and we have done a good job putting in the training miles. It's not always fun to get out and pedal, especially after a hard day of work or when it's a sweltering 90+ degrees in the shade or when you know there's just a limited number of places to ride and you're tired of the same old streets and bike paths. But after doing a ride you always feel good that you made the effort and each ride that we take we can feel ourselves getting stronger.

For Lee, the RAGBRAI adventure will begin after church next Sunday when he will leave on his drive to West Virginia, Ohio, and on to Iowa. That gives him a week to visit family on the way. Me...well, I will need to keep working for that week and then July 24 I hop on a plane and fly out to Sioux City, Iowa, where Lee and I will meet up with each other.

Stay tuned. If I don't get a chance to post anything here between now and the first day of the ride I will definitely begin a daily posting once the ride starts on July 25--only two weeks away!