RAGBRAI is over for another year. It's nice to think of being able to sleep in a real bed tonight, but sad that the ride is over. There's always next year to look forward to.
It was very easy pedaling today and the weather was beautiful. Thankfully, the storm front that threatened us at bedtime last night turned into just a few rainshowers and not the violent winds and pounding rain that hit some of the areas near us.
Burlington is a pleasant town on the Mississippi River and gave us quite a welcome as we rolled into town. I got in fairly early and after getting my bike packed into the FedEx box ready for shipment, I had lots of time to look around and enjoy the sights.
The nearest major airport is in Moline, Illinois, about 75 miles away. I couldn't get a flight out late enough this evening so am spending the night at a motel near the airport and will fly out in the morning.
Thanks to all of you who have been thinking of me and praying for me this week. After thinking I might not even be able to do RAGBRAI this year, I'm so thankful that my hip has healed and I was able to do the whole ride and enjoy doing it.
This will be my last posting. I hope you've enjoyed the blog.
Until next year....
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Is Iowa flat?
Pedaling along this morning, I was thinking to myself that I would write to those of you who think Iowa is flat and tell you that I agreed with you--I was actually seeing some flat country. How nice it was to cruise along without all the hills to contend with. That is, after the hill we had leaving Ottumwa.
We were camped on the west side of the Des Moines River last night and I admired the picturesque bluffs that were the part of the town on the opposite side of the river. Little did I know that in the morning Ottumwa's parting goodby to RAGBRAI was to send us through the part of town that climbed straight up those streets on the bluffs across the river. Wow, what a climb that was.
Then, like I said, it seemed that the land finally was flattened out for a bit. It was a bright, sunny day and the pedaling was pleasant. The map showed that we had quite a few towns to stop in. As it turned out, though, most of the towns were so small that if you were following the route on a regular map you might not even see a town. One town, Germanville, that I meant to stop at in the afternoon I passed right by. I never did find out what was there that I missed seeing. We were in Amish country and someone had said something about there being good Amish pies so maybe there was a pie stand that I missed.
I did have the best pie of the week this afternoon in Lockridge--strawberry rhubarb and it was delicious. Of course, maybe that was because by that time in the day I felt ready to collapse. I had gone much further than I had planned on that stretch because of the town I missed.
Well, in any case, what we ran into today was some difficult hills again and, worst of all for biking, the howling headwinds hit us when the ride turned south for the last 25 or so miles. "Brutal day" was a comment that I heard from more than one person. I can tell you, I was sure glad to get here.
I probably won't see much more of downtown Mount Pleasant than what I saw as we came through. They have us camped on the far side of town in the Old Thresher's Museum park and there are many hills and dirt roads to contend with to get back into town. Everything we need seems to be here so I may just settle in here for the evening.
One more day to go and the last day is traditionally a short day--43 miles this year from Mount Pleasant to the Mississippi River dip site in Burlington. Hard to believe that another RAGBRAI is almost over.
We were camped on the west side of the Des Moines River last night and I admired the picturesque bluffs that were the part of the town on the opposite side of the river. Little did I know that in the morning Ottumwa's parting goodby to RAGBRAI was to send us through the part of town that climbed straight up those streets on the bluffs across the river. Wow, what a climb that was.
Then, like I said, it seemed that the land finally was flattened out for a bit. It was a bright, sunny day and the pedaling was pleasant. The map showed that we had quite a few towns to stop in. As it turned out, though, most of the towns were so small that if you were following the route on a regular map you might not even see a town. One town, Germanville, that I meant to stop at in the afternoon I passed right by. I never did find out what was there that I missed seeing. We were in Amish country and someone had said something about there being good Amish pies so maybe there was a pie stand that I missed.
I did have the best pie of the week this afternoon in Lockridge--strawberry rhubarb and it was delicious. Of course, maybe that was because by that time in the day I felt ready to collapse. I had gone much further than I had planned on that stretch because of the town I missed.
Well, in any case, what we ran into today was some difficult hills again and, worst of all for biking, the howling headwinds hit us when the ride turned south for the last 25 or so miles. "Brutal day" was a comment that I heard from more than one person. I can tell you, I was sure glad to get here.
I probably won't see much more of downtown Mount Pleasant than what I saw as we came through. They have us camped on the far side of town in the Old Thresher's Museum park and there are many hills and dirt roads to contend with to get back into town. Everything we need seems to be here so I may just settle in here for the evening.
One more day to go and the last day is traditionally a short day--43 miles this year from Mount Pleasant to the Mississippi River dip site in Burlington. Hard to believe that another RAGBRAI is almost over.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Crash of thunder
At 3:00 am this morning I was awakened by a crash of thunder and the spatter of raindrops on the tent. Quickly I managed to scramble up and make a quick run to the bathroom before it started to pour. And pour it did, for the next 2 1/2 hours. Towards the end of the storm there was even the sound of some hail.
And after this week it's time for me to buy a new tent. I suspected a leak somewhere last year but this morning I stayed awake throughout the storm and watched where the water was seeping in all around the floor of the tent on the outer edges. I dug the bag of dirty laundry out of my duffel bag and used T-shirts, shorts and socks to ball up and lay against the tent walls to keep the water out of the middle. I curled up in the middle of the tent and managed to stay dry until the storm was over.
When it was daylight, except for the standing water, you never would have suspected rain. It was a sunny day for pedaling, thank goodness. As I had been laying in the tent listening to the rain I was afraid we would have to pedal in it all day. Apparently, though, there were just isolated storm cells over the state. About 30 miles into the ride, coming up over hills approaching Rathbun Lake it looked like someone had emptied an ice chest by the side of the road. Ice piles kept showing up and then we noticed all the broken branches, leaves on the road, and stripped corn fields. Wow-this area really got hit with a bad hailstorm from the front that hit us in Chariton.
Rathbun Lake was beautiful. We got to go over a part of it. To really see the whole thing you had to take the part of the route that was an extra 27.8 miles--what they call the Karras Loop where, traditionally, every Thursday they give an opportunity for bike riders to do a 100 mile day by going on the loop. As much as I would have liked to see the lake, no thank you, 77 miles was plenty for me.
Gorgeous scenery today but GIGANTIC hills. One in particular I'll always remember. Approaching Unionville, 6 miles away, a sign said "Big up and then down and you will be in Unionville." They sure weren't kidding about that. But it was such an awesome scene. You came up over a ridge and there in front it was like a big, lush green bowl. At the bottom was tiny Sundown Lake and you could see the road up ahead curving like you were going up and around the sides of the bowl. Lee will know what I mean when I say the pedal up that hill was like Pickett Hill times three in that you did that breath-robbing push that went on and on and you thought you were never going to hit the crest. But I didn't have to walk up that hill or any of the others we encountered.
I got my tent set up and took a shower here in Ottumwa when another storm hit. I barely had time to gather up this morning wet clothes that I had spread on the grass to dry. Once again they had to be used to plug the water leaking into the tent. Someone who was looking at the weather radar said that there were only 2 storm cells in all of Iowa and one of them was over top of Ottumwa. But, luckily, it was a short storm. The sun is back out and the evenings fun is about to begin.
And after this week it's time for me to buy a new tent. I suspected a leak somewhere last year but this morning I stayed awake throughout the storm and watched where the water was seeping in all around the floor of the tent on the outer edges. I dug the bag of dirty laundry out of my duffel bag and used T-shirts, shorts and socks to ball up and lay against the tent walls to keep the water out of the middle. I curled up in the middle of the tent and managed to stay dry until the storm was over.
When it was daylight, except for the standing water, you never would have suspected rain. It was a sunny day for pedaling, thank goodness. As I had been laying in the tent listening to the rain I was afraid we would have to pedal in it all day. Apparently, though, there were just isolated storm cells over the state. About 30 miles into the ride, coming up over hills approaching Rathbun Lake it looked like someone had emptied an ice chest by the side of the road. Ice piles kept showing up and then we noticed all the broken branches, leaves on the road, and stripped corn fields. Wow-this area really got hit with a bad hailstorm from the front that hit us in Chariton.
Rathbun Lake was beautiful. We got to go over a part of it. To really see the whole thing you had to take the part of the route that was an extra 27.8 miles--what they call the Karras Loop where, traditionally, every Thursday they give an opportunity for bike riders to do a 100 mile day by going on the loop. As much as I would have liked to see the lake, no thank you, 77 miles was plenty for me.
Gorgeous scenery today but GIGANTIC hills. One in particular I'll always remember. Approaching Unionville, 6 miles away, a sign said "Big up and then down and you will be in Unionville." They sure weren't kidding about that. But it was such an awesome scene. You came up over a ridge and there in front it was like a big, lush green bowl. At the bottom was tiny Sundown Lake and you could see the road up ahead curving like you were going up and around the sides of the bowl. Lee will know what I mean when I say the pedal up that hill was like Pickett Hill times three in that you did that breath-robbing push that went on and on and you thought you were never going to hit the crest. But I didn't have to walk up that hill or any of the others we encountered.
I got my tent set up and took a shower here in Ottumwa when another storm hit. I barely had time to gather up this morning wet clothes that I had spread on the grass to dry. Once again they had to be used to plug the water leaking into the tent. Someone who was looking at the weather radar said that there were only 2 storm cells in all of Iowa and one of them was over top of Ottumwa. But, luckily, it was a short storm. The sun is back out and the evenings fun is about to begin.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
A break today
It was nice to have a break today--having to pedal for just 6 hours, rather than 10 hours makes a big difference in the day. We had sunshine, as well, and I was early enough in the day that the headwinds hadn't really picked up by the time I ended the day in Chariton.
A lot of the hills we encountered were the kind that are a long, curving upward climb where you see the top stretching way up in the distance. Different from the up and down and up and down variety. With longer hills and shorter miles that means we didn't have to do as many hills. We'll need this mid-week easy day to prepare us for a 77-mile day tomorrow and another 76-mile day Friday.
Our overnight town, Chariton is said to have the state's first rails-to-trails bike path, which was built 35 years ago. I couldn't tell you where it is, though. Most of the evening's activities are in the town square, one the many in Iowa towns I've seen that has a beautiful, old stone courthouse in the center. It's good to be here and good to be halfway through the week.
A lot of the hills we encountered were the kind that are a long, curving upward climb where you see the top stretching way up in the distance. Different from the up and down and up and down variety. With longer hills and shorter miles that means we didn't have to do as many hills. We'll need this mid-week easy day to prepare us for a 77-mile day tomorrow and another 76-mile day Friday.
Our overnight town, Chariton is said to have the state's first rails-to-trails bike path, which was built 35 years ago. I couldn't tell you where it is, though. Most of the evening's activities are in the town square, one the many in Iowa towns I've seen that has a beautiful, old stone courthouse in the center. It's good to be here and good to be halfway through the week.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
All Those Hills
Did I say something yesterday about things getting easier after all those hills that we did? Boy, was I wrong. I don't know where I heard that comment but it must have been referring to something else.
Not only did we have hills all day (77 miles worth today) but we also had a chilly, drizzly rain for most of the day. It wasn't until about 3:00 this afternoon with 22 miles left to pedal that the sun came out.
RAGBRAI riders are a hardy lot, though, and you don't hear any complaining. And when you get to one of the tiny Iowa towns that no one would ever think of visiting almost everyone takes the time to stop and see what the town has to offer. Each town is so proud of what they have and the surprises never end.
I saw a curious, handwritten sign by the side of the road as we approached Macksburg this morning: "Home of the National Skillet Throwing Championship." I thought maybe it was a joke but when I got to the city park in the center of the town I noticed a crowd of people cheering and laughing. For $1 you could buy the chance to throw 2 cast iron skillets and try to knock the basketball heads of 2 dummys sitting at the end of a fenced in area. It was a riot. Exactly the kind of comic relief that is needed when you're facing a long, hard ride on a cold, rainy day.
It took a strong wind from the north to blow out today's storm clouds. But, wouldn't you know, for the afternoon ride, the route turned to the north, which meant we got to pedal into a head wind on top of contending with the hills. I thought several times of giving up and flagging down the sag wagon.
But here I am in Indianola, camped for the night in a beautiful park on the campus of Simpson College. And I am typing this from a computer terminal in the college's library. We've gotten another friendly, Iowa welcome and are camped in style. And with 44 miles tomorrow I think I can say for sure that it should be an easier day.
Oh, one more thing. Here's a picture of me today in Truro, Iowa. They had a web cam set up there and I was able to call Lee and Ruth and wave to them on the web cam.
Not only did we have hills all day (77 miles worth today) but we also had a chilly, drizzly rain for most of the day. It wasn't until about 3:00 this afternoon with 22 miles left to pedal that the sun came out.
RAGBRAI riders are a hardy lot, though, and you don't hear any complaining. And when you get to one of the tiny Iowa towns that no one would ever think of visiting almost everyone takes the time to stop and see what the town has to offer. Each town is so proud of what they have and the surprises never end.
I saw a curious, handwritten sign by the side of the road as we approached Macksburg this morning: "Home of the National Skillet Throwing Championship." I thought maybe it was a joke but when I got to the city park in the center of the town I noticed a crowd of people cheering and laughing. For $1 you could buy the chance to throw 2 cast iron skillets and try to knock the basketball heads of 2 dummys sitting at the end of a fenced in area. It was a riot. Exactly the kind of comic relief that is needed when you're facing a long, hard ride on a cold, rainy day.
It took a strong wind from the north to blow out today's storm clouds. But, wouldn't you know, for the afternoon ride, the route turned to the north, which meant we got to pedal into a head wind on top of contending with the hills. I thought several times of giving up and flagging down the sag wagon.
But here I am in Indianola, camped for the night in a beautiful park on the campus of Simpson College. And I am typing this from a computer terminal in the college's library. We've gotten another friendly, Iowa welcome and are camped in style. And with 44 miles tomorrow I think I can say for sure that it should be an easier day.
Oh, one more thing. Here's a picture of me today in Truro, Iowa. They had a web cam set up there and I was able to call Lee and Ruth and wave to them on the web cam.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Hills to climb
72 miles today and at least that many hills to climb. Up and down and up and down and just keep on pedaling. One sign I read said "Hills make you stronger" and that's certainly true. I wasn't sure I could do the whole week this year but after today I feel ready for anything. And they say that it starts to get easier after this.
The weather did a major switch on us. It went from clear and sunny yesterday to overcast, cool and light drizzle today. I've got my tent set up and my rain jacket on so let it rain. One benefit of the storm front is that it blew in some winds that were in our favor for a good part of the day. With all those hills to climb any help from a tailwind is a blessing. I've been on RAGBRAIs where we had hills and headwinds and that's no fun.
Well, time to sign off and see what Greenville, Iowa, has to offer.
The weather did a major switch on us. It went from clear and sunny yesterday to overcast, cool and light drizzle today. I've got my tent set up and my rain jacket on so let it rain. One benefit of the storm front is that it blew in some winds that were in our favor for a good part of the day. With all those hills to climb any help from a tailwind is a blessing. I've been on RAGBRAIs where we had hills and headwinds and that's no fun.
Well, time to sign off and see what Greenville, Iowa, has to offer.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Iowa--It's flat, isn't it?
When you tell people that you are planning to do a bike ride across Iowa a common response is: "Oh, Iowa. That's flat, isn't it?"
Short answer: No, it is not flat. If you've ever ridden a bike across Iowa you know that it's not flat. And today was a day that, once again, was proof that Iowa is not flat.
It was a relatively short ride at 52 miles, but there were many hills throughout the day. Of course, not like riding in the Rocky Mountains, but something that gives a workout, nevertheless.
The Loess Hills are a unique geographic formation in Western Iowa.
http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath.cfm?ounid=ob_000236
Besides giving a workout on a bike, there is the benefit of the beautiful scenery. Miles and miles of rolling, lush green hills to gaze at as you pedal along. And we had gorgeous weather today. Sunny and not too hot and absolutely no wind at all.
We are spending the night in Red Oak, a friendly, small town, nestled along the Nishnabotna River. As always there is lots going on this evening and being refreshed and set up for the night is a great feeling after having worked hard all day.
Tomorrow brings more hills and has additional miles--72 miles to be exact. There are a lot more towns that we pass through tomorrow, so plenty of opportunity to take breaks. It should be another wonderful day.
Short answer: No, it is not flat. If you've ever ridden a bike across Iowa you know that it's not flat. And today was a day that, once again, was proof that Iowa is not flat.
It was a relatively short ride at 52 miles, but there were many hills throughout the day. Of course, not like riding in the Rocky Mountains, but something that gives a workout, nevertheless.
The Loess Hills are a unique geographic formation in Western Iowa.
http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/mypath.cfm?ounid=ob_000236
Besides giving a workout on a bike, there is the benefit of the beautiful scenery. Miles and miles of rolling, lush green hills to gaze at as you pedal along. And we had gorgeous weather today. Sunny and not too hot and absolutely no wind at all.
We are spending the night in Red Oak, a friendly, small town, nestled along the Nishnabotna River. As always there is lots going on this evening and being refreshed and set up for the night is a great feeling after having worked hard all day.
Tomorrow brings more hills and has additional miles--72 miles to be exact. There are a lot more towns that we pass through tomorrow, so plenty of opportunity to take breaks. It should be another wonderful day.
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