2007-07 RAGBRAI Bike Ride (Part II)

Tuesday, July 24

Today was a beautiful day for bike riding. There was no wind to speak of for the first half of the day, and when it did start to blow, it was from the south and we were mainly heading east by that time. The route was a little shorter, only 72 miles, but we were only on the seat for 5-1/4 hours. We still didn’t finish until about 4:30 since we stopped quite a bit.

A lot of people decorate their helmets in various ways. One team from Minnesota had added loons on the top of their helmets. I also saw a helmet with an armadillo shell on it, and another with a giant ear of corn.

One of the traditions on RAGBRAI by one of the teams is to mark the road kill with beads and/or stickers. If the road kill was on the road before the ride, the RAGBRAI puts out a sign to warn riders of the road kill. Among the animals we saw an opossum, snake, rabbit, and a few unrecognizable piles of road kill stickered and necklaced.



One of the hardest working guys on the route had to be the guy riding the unicycle. He has to pedal every revolution of the run. He had a large tire to get a few more feet per revolution, but he can’t coast down hills. The hardest working woman would have to have been the gal on the rollerblades.

Breakfast today was at the country club outside of Eagle Grove, where they served sausage, and egg on and English muffin with hash browns with orange juice. They were also having a putting contest where you could win some money for sinking a long putt.

Eagle Grove had a 50’s old town theme with the Mayberry gang (Barney Fife, Otis the drunk, and Aunt Bea among others), Elvis, and the residential street was lined with classic cars. They had also lined the entry to the town with flags to create a very moving sight.

One family was on a bicycle built for 3 with a double trail-a-bike behind, so all five were on the same bike. It was quite a feet of synchronization to get them all going. Many people carry a lot of their gear with them, rather than use the gear transport trucks. They have trailers behind their bikes filled with their gear. Some decorate their bikes with streamers, bells, flags, etc.

Another interesting stop was at a farm that had about a dozen beautifully restored antique tractors on display in their front yard. They were also giving away some locally grown fresh watermelon and ice cold water. It really hit the spot.

Today’s highlight was the ultra light rides being given by 3 pilots at a farm just on the west side of I-35. Jeannie took a ride and said it was so beautiful and green all around. Due to the hot weather and limited lift, the pilots were limiting the weight of those that could go up with them. They were taking off and landing on a farm driveway.

As we entered our campsite, we saw a group of riders off in a mud puddle totally caked in mud. It probably felt great after the ride, but the cleanup must have been a lot of work.

We wandered downtown to see if we could get on line and update the website since friends and family back home were wondering if we were really riding our bikes or just making our way across Iowa in and RV and enjoying some good food. We saw a sightseeing tour being offered in a wagon being pulled by a tractor and narrated by one of the locals. The local telecoms would set up WiFi sites in each overnight town, so we were sometimes on the prowl for this service..

Wednesday, July 25

We had another good day of bicycling today. The wind was light and from the south, the trail was mainly heading south and east from Hampton to Cedar Falls. We did have a nice stretch directly out of Hampton that was running north, so we got our first 20 miles behind us very quickly.

A lot of the teams that run RAGBRAI have old school buses decorated with a theme or painted up with their team name. They usually have racks on the top for the bikes and then seating and storage inside. Teams will also hoist flags and banners to make it easier for team members to find the bus, RV, or tent as they come into the camp.

The ride was very crowded today, due in part to the nice weather, and also since we were headed to a large town, it appears a lot of people from Cedar Falls wanted to ride into their home town. One of those joining the ride was Shannon's sister, Bridget. Even with the large crowds, there are relatively few accidents. Most of the riders are good at communicating their intentions as they turn, slow or change lanes.

When we stopped in Dumont, they had an air inflated climbing wall which they could send 2 people up on at a time. I had never seen one of these before.

In the town of Applington, the locals had created a statue of old bikes piled onto an ancient rusted pickup truck. I was thinking how hand that would have been to get all the spare bike parts I use, or make some wild hybrid bikes.

The campground tonight is in the open fields around the University of Northern Iowa UNI-Dome. We went to the concert inside the UNI-Dome featuring the Blues Traveler band. Sitting up high in the bleacher seats, we found the sound to be terrible. The dome is all concrete and steel, so the sound is bouncing everywhere. We moved down to the floor level and were at least able to understand the words being sung. We then stepped out to the outdoor concert area and listened for a while before heading back to camp.

Today was supposed to be the last riding day for most of us, but after looking at the map and checking the weather, Mike and Ray decided to join Jeannie (who is riding the whole week) on the Thursday portion of the ride before heading back to the Twin Cities.

Thursday, July 26

The weather cooperated, as did the route making this the fastest day of the ride. We didn’t do as much stopping and sightseeing since we were anxious to get home and there weren’t as many towns along the way today.

As we were heading up to the route, Ray’s tire popped. Looking down, he saw a half-inch long slit in the side wall of the tire. He had just had the entire wheel replaced the day before since he had broken a couple of spokes. The tire could have gotten damaged during the change in wheels as he had a flat tire about 7 miles outside of town the night before. He headed back to camp to change tires and tubes, but ended up just changing wheels with Michelle to save time since she was not riding this day. He then pedaled on to catch up with Mike and Jeannie.

One of the interesting bikes today was a small wheeled bike, geared to get the most distance per pedal, but it took a lot of muscle to in such a high gear.

Mike’s brother Gary was also riding on the RAGBRAI. We would meet up with him various towns along the way. As you ride during a given day, you will see some of the same people many times as you get on a similar schedule. Sometimes you pass the same person 4-5 times a day. If you are riding faster, but staying longer in towns, you will pass people who are going slower, but have shorter stays. It’s a classic example of the tortoise and the hare.

We stopped at Pastafari for a pasta breakfast. They grill salmon steaks too which you can get with your meal. This was one of the few places we ate that wasn’t community based. They follow the route and set up their kitchen each day somewhere along the route. We enjoyed eating at places put together by the local communities to support the local towns and their churches and clubs. This is a huge fundraising opportunity for these communities to get this many hungry bike riders going through their town.

The afternoon brought us through Amish country. We first noticed some large draft horses in a farm yard, then the white houses, and finally some horse and buggies along with classically dress Amish men, women, and kids. Many were selling beverages and homemade food at their farms. One farm field was full of activity as they were gathering up the cut hay and piling it into their wagons.

We entered our final stop in Independence a little after noon, and packed up the RV for the trip home. After 360 miles of riding, lots of sun, music, characters, plenty of food and drink, and good times, we had many good memories of our ride across Iowa.

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=

2007-07 The Winners Circle at Canterbury Downs

We went out to Canterbury Downs in Shakopee on Friday for an evening of horse racing. When we got there, we ran into our neighbors, Mike and Nancy, who were out to watch Nancy's sister's horse, Dazling Danni, run. LeAnn's sister Sue and husband John were also out at the track, so we knew a lot of people.

It was a beautiful evening, although it was hot. Fortunately, the way that the track is situated, the grandstand shields the track level seating from the sun so it was not uncomfortable.

Before the big race, we were invited down into the paddock area to watch the horses parade and the jockeys mount the horses. Hailey got to shake hands with the jockey and wish him luck. As the horses approached the track area, we placed our bets and made our way to the track. Hailey went down to the finish line on the rail to get a good close up view.

Dazling Danni ran a great race and put on a huge burst of speed at the end to take first place. Everyone was very excited about the win and headed for the winner's circle where we got our photo taken with the winning team. We then went inside into celebrate with the proud owners.

Thanks to Nancy for the photos for this post as we ended up going there without our camera (a rare occurrence).