RAGBRAI Day 6 - 50 miles - temps in the 90s

It is 5 PM and I am sitting beside my tent, showered, massaged, and waiting for the group to rejoin for dinner. The Anamosa State Prison is across the street and it is absolutely gorgeous.

Okay now it is 10:00 PM. In the last 5 hours, we toured the state prison. So interesting!!! First of all, the building and grounds are gorgeous. As we walked by, we could actually hear the voices of the prisoners within. Muffled noises - so creepy!!! We talked with the guard at the entrance (super nice and probably family), went inside and saw how beautiful the floors and woodwork were, and used the restroom. Cool radiator! We decided to do the museum tour, which was so so interesting. I bought a book about the history of the prison (which is still fully operational as a maximum security prison). After the tour (in which Brent fell asleep while they showed a 15-minute video - okay I nearly fell asleep too), Brent and I headed to town for dinner and souvenir shopping. Debbie and Steve opted for the nearby lasagne dinner (which ended up being sold out - they had to walk to town after all).

































Stripes were for the problem prisoners, checks for the middle, and plain for the good prisoners.


Now it's quite late and tomorrow we will have a long ride (70 miles), then a very hectic day of packing up and getting ourselves on an early bus out of town and to our hotel in Omaha.

Here are scenes from the ride today:


This big guy was hanging out on Brent's tent this morning. Yes, he tricked me into looking closely at it so he could flick it at me.


Steve and Debbie on the ride out of town. You should have heard all the moaning and groaning we were all doing. Those first few miles in the morning are quite painful. Everything hurts - a lot - until the muscles warm up and mellow out. Then it hurts in its normal fashion.


Here was the cutest band of seniors doing their thing! They were quite good!


This one's for you, Jettie. Go Obama 2012!!!


Some of the tens of thousands streaming by.


And a spontaneous polka dance breaks out! Brave souls to be working their legs at this stage in the ride!


Here is the beautiful chapel in Cornell. Love love love this college town. That's Steve and Debbie taking photos.


Finally, my first Elvis sighting. Last time I saw multiple Elvises (Elvi?).


Another beautiful church building in Cornell.


We cannot believe this guy on the high-wheller is doing this entire ride on this bike. One the downhills, he simply takes his feet off the pedals. He's quite the daredevil.


Brent, Debbie, and a thousand RAGBRAI friends.


Good Samaritan Debbie helped this guy (one of the adaptive cyclists) into the kybo on a steep section of the street.


Finally I found my cow people! I've been looking for them all week!


Save the ta-tas.


Steve got a little happiness going on! I say make this a permanent tattoo!


And I found my Red Merkins today! Don't know what a merkin is? Look it up.


Here's our fantastic cycling massage therapist, Dwight. He has saved my neck, Debbie's back, and Brent's legs today. As you can see, he puts his all into his work.





Dwight and his bride of 14 months, Mary.



Clearly, he fears nothing.



Handsome young public safety officials...

Time for sleep!

Location:Anamosa, Iowa

RAGBRAI Day 5 - 85 Miles and Finally Good Weather

Finally had the perfect RAGBRAI day today. Weather so much cooler. Miles so much easier. Today was our big climbing day. The elevation came in the form of a lot of easy rollers. Plus we had a great tailwind most of the day. The worst thing that happened today is I accidentally left my camera in my duffel bag, so no photos to upload.

We are about to head to town. The Counting Crows are playing. Plus I still had to find a good souvenir for Jettie... Will report more later.

We have checked off the RAGBRAI list for Debbie and Steve:

Mr. Porkchop
Chris Cakes
Farmer Boys breakfast burritos
Spaghetti dinner at the local church
Tom's Turkey Tenders
Sweet corn
Homemade Pie
Christening the corn
Showers at the local community center
Showers from the solar bag
Pacelines
Swag
Brent's booming voice

Okay, it is now the next day and below are photos from the evening in Cedar Rapids:



Here's a weird plant we could not identify.


The kids made a nice welcome sign for us at the entry to the middle school where they provided a spaghetti dinner.


In the school cafeteria, getting our dinners on the school dinner trays.


Yummy power food for the RAGBRAI cyclist.


Post-dinner, we all crashed for a much needed rest before the Counting Crows concert.


I did some laundry and McGuyvered a clothesline using Old Blue as an anchor.


This is downtown Cedar Rapids, totally set up for tens of thousands of cyclists and locals for the concert.


Beer garden.


Weird Captain Crunch mascot.

Location:Cedar Rapids

RAGBRAI Day 4 - 77 miles; temp 104; Night of Raging Storm

Holy shit - I am sitting in my tent at 9:38 p.m. The storm is raging like mad. Crazy winds! Tents blowing everywhere. Debbie's tent almost took off. She had to get out in the rain and reset her stakes. We were enjoying the free outdoor concert at 8:00, and were told the rain was expected by 9:30 or 10:00. I had a funny feeling, so I left Steve and Debbie at the concert to catch the shuttle bus back to camp. I kept thinking about my iPad in my tent with my rain fly not attached. Luckily, Brent was not with us and I phoned him (thank heavens we have phone reception here) to ask him to put our rain flies up. It began raining 5 minutes later. When I arrived at camp, almost everyone's tents were being secured by wonderful RAGBRAI good Samaritans.

Okay - back now. It is 10:00 now. We had a wicked crazy bout of rain, thunder, lightning, and wind. The authorities came through and announced a severe weather warning. Most people are staying. Except the ones with collapsing tents, like Brent. He bailed out. I am ready to bail. All of my stuff is zipped up in its waterproof bags. This is some crazy shit. Steve and Debbie are in their tents. I have no idea how they are doing. This has been such a tough RAGBRAI. I hope they won't hold this against me. They'll have stories to tell.

Now I am wondering if one should be using an electronic devise during a thunder storm.

Okay, back now. I actually got myself a little freaked out and powered down my iPad. Now the storm seems to be moving on, so I will plow ahead. No sleep will come anytime soon with this thunder.

Sights from earlier today


Here we are, starting our day off at about 6:00 am or so. We were all a bit toasted from yesterday's 110-mile day. No pace lines today!


Breakfast at Chris Cakes. These guys have got this production business down to a science.



Here's the flip! See the pancake in front of that guy's face?


And Debbie makes a clean catch! Cannot say the same for Steve. Brent ended up stepping on some dead Chris Cakes. Not good with his mountain bike shoe treads.


After a long lunch stop, we had a tough, hot haul in a lot of head wind. As usual, I hung on to Super-Brent's wheel, but we were all so hot and tired. Then a super fast tandem came speeding by. It was our friends Dwight and Mary. They slowed down and we hopped on their wheel. It was a nice pace, but I pooped out after a while. I hung back and Steve waited for me. We ultimately had to stop for cold water. My bike computer read 114. Someone reported the temperature on the pavement was 128. Steve and I took this water stop opportunity to get a photo with a massive John Deere.


We soon caught up with Brent and Debbie, who were also pouring water on their heads, down their shirts - anything to try to cool down.


At this point we were told there were 6 miles and 2 hills to go. Here were the hills. Little baby things. We also had a tailwind. It really didn't matter. This heat made everything so extremely hard.


I thought Brent's tent looked rather comical hours before the storm. Now you can see why he had to bail. Brent: Time for a new tent!


Here's Marshalltown's beautiful courthouse. Debbie and I were quite taken with it.






Okay it is now 10:30. Most of the storm has blown over. It is calm enough for me to holler over to Debbie to see how she rode out the storm. Debbie is okay now, but did say she was just about at her breaking point when things got crazy. Our tents were rocking and rolling like a freaking roller coaster. I have never experienced anything like it. Just checked in with Steve. He's fine too. We just learned that Brent took refuge in one of the trucks. I'm sure he'll have a good story to tell omorrow.

Now for some sleeping aids and an attempt to sleep after all this excitement. What in the hell will tomorrow bring????

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