I Did IT!

What a wild ride, both figuratively and physically! I biked 450 miles from one side of the state of Iowa to the other side on what has become a tradition for Iowa. 38 years ago the Des Moines Register decided to ride across the state and interview people along the way. It has since become known as RAGBRAI (Registers Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.) It started with 10 people and this year broke records with 20,000 riders from all over the world! I saw and met people from Italy, Ireland, Australia, Thailand, and all over the United States. Really humbling experience.

Since Josh was fishing with his dad in Canada...my mom flew out to watch the kids. My journey started on Saturday. I picked my friend Chris up from the airport (he's from seattle and was riding as well.) Kathy drove us to Council Bluffs Nebraska where I was meeting Amy, the friend I was going to ride with. She had to work that night, and the ride started at 6am in Sioux City (an hour and half north of Omaha.) So, Kathy dropped us off at Amy's truck and we headed to Sioux City to meet Bridgot, Carrie and Larry (Josh's aunt, her niece and her friend who was driving us.) Then I dropped my stuff and Chris off, and drove back to Council Bluffs to pick Amy up. Her stepdaughter drove us back to Sioux City and we finally got to sleep around midnight.

Day #1:

Amy and I got up early anxious to get started on Day one! We had about 70 miles and it was definitely the day with the most hills with almost a 4000 foot climb in one day. Amy, unfortunatly, had not been training on hills, and brought a mountain bike! For those of you who are cyclists...you know that that is suicide on hills...not only that, but her cell phone was dead...so it made for an interesting day one :) She had a hard time keeping up, so we just decided that I would ride ahead and wait at the beginning of the next town. At one point I stopped and waited and waited and waited....no Amy. I waited for almost 2 hours. There was NO WAY she was that far behind me. And she didn't have a cell phone, and had no idea where we were going to end up camping. I panicked slightly, but realized that everyone there had a cell phone and she would eventually borrow one and call me.

Having no idea what to expect, I can say I was pleasantly surprised at the atmosphere, camaraderie, and overall sense of community that cyclists have! I quickly learned what to say/do when I needed to merge, pass, get on the path or off, it was so important to be safe with 20,000 people sharing one road!!! That day I realized how hungry you get when you are riding crazy hills, stood in line for 45 minutes just to go to the bathroom, met an 87 year old woman that was riding the whole thing, and a girl that road from houston to anchorage once a year on her bike....4500 miles in 70 days! Man, that makes my butt hurt just thinking about it!

--here we are before we left! We decided to wear our Best Buy jerseys on day one--

--the crowds were just indescribable...pictures don't do it justice--

--every city on the map was just shoulder to shoulder people, all trying to get something to eat and drink before they headed to the next stop--

--while waiting for Amy, I met this guy who road the pennyfarthing the entire way! No breaks, no gears...the guy must have no brain!--

I finally found Amy in Storm Lake. Luckily we were the only ones in Best Buy jerseys so I saw her sitting on the side of the road. We quickly decided that we would never go cell-phone-less again! After we met up we found where Larry had made camp, and found the showers. Luckily there are lots of options for showers. You can shower at schools, or pay a local shower "vendor." Normally they set up near the major campgrounds and you pay $5 to use the shower truck. Sometimes they are semis that have 8 shower stalls inside, or it is a truck that has 6 shower stalls with a common changing area. We usually managed to avoid long lines, and it sure felt good after a long day of scrambling to find Amy and crazy hills!

Day #2:


Amy woke up in extreme pain..both fanny and legs. She decided that she would take Day #2 off. It was one of the longest days at 80 miles. The nice thing about the day was that it was fairly flat with only a little over 1,000 feet of climbing. Since I was on my own for the day, I took the opportunity to talk to everyone while I was riding and on stops along the way. I met some amazing people. Some from Seattle, Atlanta, Canada and Chicago. It was fun because most people had license plates on the back of their bike that detailed their name, where they were from, and how many years they had done Ragbrai. It made it easy to strike up a conversation. Also, many were on "teams." The teams had jerseys that matched and it was easy to talk about where they were from. The teams often had a team bus, and a leader who organized where the team stayed, meals, and other logistics. May be beneficial for me to try something like that if I do this again!

This was one of my favorite days as I got to see some beautiful scenery, and just went at my own pace! I got to see the "grotto" which is a religious structure as well, quite pretty!

--this day was full of windmills--

--more small towns that were very welcoming!--

--the grotto, very odd, but very pretty!--

--I still can't believe some of the bikes people rode..who would ride this tall bike?--

--some more hills, nothing bad--

Halfway through the day I noticed that the alignment on bike was not quite right. I kept having to turn my handlebars more and more to the right to keep it straight. I stopped at one of the bike shops along the route to get it checked out. Apparently my stem was so loose that you could hold the tire and completely turn the handlebars...very dangerous!!!! Luckily they fixed it, but my shoulders were a little worse for ware. Having to hold one slightly ahead of the other made me very sore. Luckily in each overnight town there was a massage booth with 8-10 masseuses. It was the best 15 minutes of my day...luckily she rubbed the knot out of my shoulders and I was good to go! After I met up with Amy, took a shower at the school (brought back high school shower memories) and set up camp, we headed downtown to check out the vendors. Each town also had great entertainment with bands, booths, and fun shops. We walked around used the charging booth to charge our cell phones and ipods and really just enjoyed the evening. Amy spent the day resting, and helping Larry get the truck fixed (the battery kept dying?) But she was ready to go the next day!

Day #3:

Day 3 was definitely HOT! The morning was very nice, cool temperatures and clear. But as the afternoon approached it got to be in the 100s, with high humidity. The heat index at one point was around 115 degrees!! Luckily it was another shorter day with about 60 miles and only around 1000 feet of climbing. We both got a little sunburned, but Amy maybe a little worse than I ;) I stopped every town and sprayed with sunscreen!

--it was Ragbrai jersey day, so there were lots of us sporting them :) --

Clear Lake was the final destination this day. It was BEAUTIFUL! THe lakehouses were just amazing. This is where many Iowans go to vacation, just lovely. We rode through town anxious to find a shower as this was definitely our sweatiest day! After we got in and found our fellow campers, we contacted the Mason City taxi service. That night we had reservations at a dive hotel in Mason City, but we were anxious to get there, take a shower, and have REAL food! We were definitely tired of vendor food by day 3. We found a taxi that would come and take us the 10 miles to our hotel (I know we whimped out, but didn't want to ride 10 more miles that day!!) For $10 it was well worth it! We got to the hotel and each took a LONG shower! We washed and hung up our biking gear and found a GREAT bar and grill. I scarfed my beer, steak, broccoli and baked potato...was SOOO good! We got back to our room that night around 10 and crashed!

Day #4:


We both got up totally refreshed and happy that we missed the thunderstorm that passed through that night (what a night to stay in a hotel!!) We had to take a slightly different route that day to meet up with the Ragbrai route. Luckily we caught a tailwind and cruised along around 20 mph. We got to the route in a little under an hour. This was "hump day" with only a little over 50 miles to do. We took it slow and had just a great day. THe rain cooled it off and it was such a pleasent morning! The afternoon heated up a little, but nothing like the day before. We made it to Charles City early and really enjoyed the day!

--another crazy biker. He is known as banana-man and rides this covered recumbent bike--

--so many verterans, but this lady has ridden 35 out of 38 ragbrais!--

We listened to the band, slept in the park (huge 100 year old trees covered the city center), found an amazing Mexican restaurant, got another massage, and just enjoyed having a short day and a fun day in a small town!

Day 5:
Today was another long day, but not a hard one, just a lot of small hills all day. We were a little nervous that we would run into tough headwinds as we had had some HARD ones all week. And a good portion of our day was headed south. Luckily there were no winds which lead to a great day! By now Amy had completely remodeled her bike. She got street tires and a new seat and was in much better spirits! I was really surprised at what my body is able to do with a little determination. I really didn't have any problems the whole week....not sure how that is possible putting it through extreme weather and physical strains.

We rode into Waterloo knowing that this night was going to be very grand. We had a reservation at the Ramada and it had a HOT TUB!!! WOOHOO!!! Waterloo was very welcoming with the town cheering us in. They had tractors lined up with flags and cranes, quite the welcoming site! We rolled all the way into downtown and into the Best Buy that was there. We had to represent and show them our Best Buy jerseys. I said hi to a few people and we met up with Larry at their camp. We loaded my bike's pannier, and headed to the hotel. After a LONG shower, LONG soak in the hot tub and swim in the pool we went to the most amazing Italian restaurant. I had a greek salad and brushetta and it really hit the spot! After a glass of wine and some relaxing, we headed back to the room and passed out!

--posing by cool bike art--

--check out Amy's wicked sunburn!--

Day 6:

Friday was a tough. We slept in a little, but were still on the road by 7. We stopped by camp and dropped off our stuff and loaded up for the day. It started sprinkling and didn't stop raining ALL MORNING! Of course I didn't have a coat. So I was riding in my jersey trying to keep going in the pouring rain. I was soaked and cold. We got to about the halfway point (25-ish miles) and I couldn't go any further without doing something. I was starving so Amy and I got a pork chop (yes the vendor just handed it to us in napkin.) I felt like a savage eating it in a farmer's barn. It really hit the spot and warmed me up. Then I moved back to the rear of the barn and stripped off my shirt and changed into a dry one. I instantly felt a million times better. Then I dug out my poncho which I had been avoiding. Although I was dry, the poncho acted like a sail blowing me in the wrong direction! We had a slight headwind...so when I usually cruise along around 16-18 mph I was reduced to just around 10...and it was not fun!

Luckily, but the time I reached the midway town, the rain let up! I had a baked potato to warm up (and a piece of pie ;) I took the poncho off and really had a GREAT rest of the day!!

--everyone and everything was just soaked!--

--this is my favorite picture from the whole trip, sooo Iowan!--

We had another great night in Manchester. We took a quick shower, walked around downtown, and found another great little restaurant. We met a nice family that had great stories and we all shared a table because of the crowds! We got there around 5, and are glad we did because after they served our table, they ran out of food! (Almost every small town ran out of food early!) I had a great salad and baked chicken sandwich, was really great!

The family had the BEST stories. The older gentleman told us that he and his wife decided to ride their bikes across the US. It took them a few months, but they went ocean to ocean. I was really inspired to do something like that after this trip. You see so much more on a bike than you could ever in a car!! We'll see....

Amy had another massage, and I walked around checking out the sites! Again, we headed to bed early getting ready for the final push into Dubuque.

Day #7:

We didn't sleep well - anxious to get home...the last day!!! The mileage was short (only 50) but the hills were CRAZY! Never have I seen such hills. Potters hill is known as one of the hardest hills EVER on Ragbrai. It was over a mile long and 6% grade all the way up. QUITE a challenge! Going into Dubuque was all hills...and our legs were so tired, but we made it!

The first 20 miles were fairly uneventful. We made great time and I FINALLY got my home made cinnamon role. (I had been trying to find one since day one!) We just took it easy as we had plans to meet Josh and Chris around 1 o'clock.

--I can't remember what town this was in, but cool bike art!--

Amy and I never really rode together the whole time. We pace at much different levels. I usually rode ahead and waited for her at the beginning of the town. Dubuque was just nuts with thousands of people out on the streets cheering us in. I will never forget the sense of pride I had as I rode into the town. As you approach the end there is a giant clock tower and everyone was cheering, "you did it!" I would lie if I said I didn't cry a little. I was really proud of myself. I conquered 450 miles and the last day with the hills was really intense...I DID IT!

--Amy and I at the end...we made it!--

--the tradition is to dip your back tire in the Missouri river and your front tire into the Mississippi. Here I am at the end. I MADE IT!--

After we made it and navigated the crowds and used our cell phones to find Josh. As I saw the cross streets he said to meet on, I looked around and found him. I jumped off my bike and hugged him. It was SOOO good to see him! I hadn't seen him in almost two weeks and the emotion was overwhelming. I couldn't be more proud of myself!!! What an amazing experience!