2007-07 RAGBRAI Bike Ride (Part I)

(Mike has set up a team website at http://home.comcast.net/~mtwagner/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html for the Minnesota mixed nuts)

Saturday, July 21

The Minnesota Mixed Nuts is a group of 6 people who are doing the (Des Moines) Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). The team included Shannon, Jerry, Michelle, Mike, Jeannie, and Ray. We rented an RV for the trip this year, so we could cool down after the ride and sleep in comfort. We loaded up at Mike’s house and then went down to Apple Valley to pick up Mike’s nephew who would be our driver. One more stop in Lakeville for the last 3 members and we were off to Rock Rapids, the start of this year’s ride. We ended up camping in the park around the baseball field.

We walked down to the high school where the main headquarters was and the bike expo was being held. We picked up our RAGBRAI patches and Mike ran into a high school friend of his who takes pictures of the RAGBRAI event..

I had a a pulled pork sandwich and then met the rest of the group at the local church where they had lasagna and chicken dinners and I had my dessert—apple pie ala mode. We waited in line for about an hour and half for dinner, as they had run out and had to wait for the caterers to bring more in. WE got back to camp about dark, and sat around for a while before heading off to bed.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

We all got up early and hit the road about 6:50. We stopped in George for breakfast and had a breakfast burrito which was very good. Food is plentiful at every town and every body sells pies, no matter what time of day. The beer gardens open up early too. The wind was out of the south, so was a cross wind most of the day. The few short legs we had going northbound were a treat to ride.

Many people who lived on the route were out on their driveways watching all the bikers go by. Some were selling pop, water, and Gatorade. Many of the community service groups, school groups and church groups would have food stands in each of the towns.

We saw many interesting teams and people with all skill and abilities on the ride. Most noticeably today we say a gentleman with an artificial leg pass us (he was moving), and a paraplegic pedaling a special recumbent bike with his hands and arms.

A group of 3 ultra light planes were following the route early in the morning. Also, we saw some old bi-planes and some small planes towing messages were over the campground.

When we arrived in Spencer at around 3:00, we went to the fairgrounds where Cory had set up the RV. Our first order of business was to get cleaned up and showered off. The showers were inside the cattle barn and were the cleaning stations that they use to prepare the cattle for shows. Everyone lined up and waited their turn. Despite the conditions, the showers felt so good after a long hot day on the road.

We wondered around the fairgrounds and ate dinner at the Jaycees building. We had pork sandwiches, corn on the cob, and potato salad. We then wondered down the grandstand to watch a skydiving exhibition. One of the skydivers got caught in the wind and landed in an open area about 100 yards from the target.

Monday, July 23, 2007

We started off again around 7:00 and headed out to find a good breakfast stop. On the way, we saw some of the very large wind generator turbines going done the highway we were crossing. This backed up the rider traffic as we waited for the truck to cross. Early in the morning, the riders are all bunched up and it gets pretty crowded. We found some huge breakfast burritos in Gillette Grove.

I saw some interesting bikes today, including a bicycle built for 3, and a recumbent with a large sail on it. He was heading south into the wind when I saw him, so he was fighting a large drag caused by the wind. The best stop of the day was in Larens, where they had a Hawaiian themed “Lei”over for the riders. Besides the Hawaiian decorations, they had a volcano where the mayor was being photographed with the riders. All the local town folks were in Hawaiian shirts.

Just outside of Laurens, a family had set up a slip-and-slide out in their yard. Many riders (including Mike) stopped and took a ride. As we made it to Rolfe, we saw the banana man, who is riding the entire ride in a banana costume (it must be really hot). Rolf had decorated their street lights with hanging bikes.

When we were in Bradgate, we saw a lady who was carrying her dog in a front pack for the ride. The dog would ride in the pack when she was riding and place his feet on here padded cross bar.

As we entered Humbolt, we entered holiday land, as that was their theme for the overnight stay. We ended up with about the best site in the campground at the fairgrounds as we were at the top of the hill overlooking the whole campground. We discovered that Mike's picture even made it into the official RAGBRAI site. He is in the background watching and waiting to fill his water bottle: http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=D2&Date=20070723&Category=OPINION04&ArtNo=707230804&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=7&community=/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=D2&Date=20070723&Category=OPINION04&ArtNo=707230804&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=8&community=