RAGBRAI Day 1 Continued

Hello All,

I am back in the Internet bus after dinner. It is 8 PM and I am tired! Must finish and head back to camp to turn in early. Tomorrow is our 100-mile century day. Today's ride was supposed to be 58 miles, but our camp is quite far from the Expo and food locations, so I am officially at 70 miles for the day with more to go to get "home." For those who are interested, my ride time was 5:35'46, my average speed is 12.4 mph, maximum was 37.5 mph, and average cadence was 49 (with a max of 129). You gotta love cycling computers!

Here's a pic of my favorite cow people. Love the tail (must get one, me thinks).

Brent on his fixed gear. (I am having total deja vu as I write - I was having massive computer problems earlier and wrote a blog entry that I had to ditch. If you have read all this before, my apologies...)

Here I am, happy in Iowa. You may see Elvis in the background. Wonder where he's been all this time? Hanging out in Iowa!

Elvs certainly had all the right moves. He could wail too. Loved watching and listening to him.

So much so that Brent and I had to get up on the stage and groove with The King. (We have no shame.)

What is it with RAGBRAI guys and Barbie dolls?

Madatory rule: You must wear a helmet whenever your butt is on a bike. I am following the rules (though I cannot say the same for Brent)...

He does wear his helmet during his naps. I will say he did not wear his helmet to the pool or the Expo today. Go figure.

I am a dirty girl. This is a typical leg decor for me whenever I am on a bike. A perfect representation of my crankset... I'm told this is a sign I use too much oil.? I'd really love to have a personal bike technician to take care of my bike chain maintenance (and the dreaded derailler).

Here's Cathy and Brent, rolling along towards the end of the day.

The shame of it all. Brent is going to ride a Schwinn tomorrow. Obviously, we cannot be seen with him. And don't think he's being all burly and super-human. This Schwinn Peloton weighs only 15 pounds!

Okay, that's all my photos for the day. I must say that Day 1 this year was a lot more mellow that last year. Not nearly so many crazy people. No Lance at all. :(

But the weather was wonderful. We had cloud cover and lovely breezes to cut the heat. Lots of rolling hills and beautiful countryside. Last year's RAGBRAI route had 5 straight days of flat corn and soy bean fields. This was totally different. This is one of the great things about RAGBRAI - the route changes every year, so you have a new experience each time.

Okay, off to head back to camp and pass out. Tents will start unzipping at 4:30 AM and we'll be up and off for our century ride. Until tomorrow...

Love to all!