RAGBRAI 2016 Day # 2 Shenandoah to Creston 75.2 miles - 3994' of climb

Monday, Day 2

This was the "big" day. Big mileage and big climbing. 4000' of climb is nothing to sneeze at - especially for Iowans as most of Iowa (and therefore RAGBRAI)  is fairly flat and especially for me as I had very little training at all this year and next to no climbing...

On Day 1 of RAGBRAI, Tom and I did start out with the Moore-On group, them almost immediately became separated. (There are 20,000 others out there you know.) Belatedly it occurred to me that my Sacramento Moore-On friends (Paul, Tommy, Neal) did not start out with the group, so there was no chance to ride with them. Day 1 always feels a little jittery and awkward. Sometimes you just have to get out there and get going and figure it out as you go. On Day 2 with the big miles, Tom and I did start out with the larger Moore-On group, but stopped for coffee and again immediately lost contact with them. Which was fine as I was a bit nervous about the mileage and hills. I did feel bad that Paul had done so much to help me and I had hardly seen him since we started...

The hills on Day 1 were very nice and smooth. Some of them you could use your downhill momentum to roll up. Others were manageable as they weren't too steep or too long. So not so on Day 2. These wicked hills just kept coming and lasting. In short, they hurt. They were rude. The massive payoff of course was the gorgeous scenery. Hills = valleys and waterways. So beautiful all week long. I took some photos, but they just don't do the vistas any justice at all.

Tom got a lot of acknowledgment from fellow Californians when wearing this jersey.

We stopped for breakfast at Debbie's favorite, Farm Boys breakfast burritos. They follow the RAGBRAI group every day. Later in the week, they posted a sign that a southern Californian restaurant chain complained that they were infringing upon their name, so they were changing it to Farm Kids to avoid expensive lawsuits. This will work until someone named Farm Kids complains... I am familiar with the Farm Boys in So Cal. This is so different at RAGBRAI. So Cal Farm Boys should not be worried and causing a stink.

Here's a shot of my breakfast burrito. Full of goodness!

About midday, we encountered an open free swimming pool. Hardly anyone was there. It was hot and we had ridden 30-40 miles and climbed who knows how many rude hills. Tom said he was taking the plunge! He had the foresight of bringing his swim trunks with him (actually for changing into at the end of the day, should there be a long wait for the shower), so he was ready to go!

I ended up going into too, stripping down to my bike shorts and sports bra, as others were doing. It was phenomenal. So cooling and refreshing. Such a surprising treat. Tom was finding out the essence of RAGBRAI - each day brings delights to experience - you just don't know what they will be yet.

And the next delight for Tom was the free craft beer. The Californian Moore-On contingent launched a daily free beer seeking effort for the duration of RAGBRAI.

At the entrance to the towns, the townsfolk put in some effort to get the cyclists to stop and spend time (and $) in their little town. Here's a new one: horseback advertising.

And again, the search for free water happens in every town. This setup had quite a nice stream!

They also provide some nice festive decoration to welcome us. Here's me in front of the town entrance to Corning.

Tom got to experience is first Iowa sweet corn in Corning. He had 2 ears! I inhaled mine. So delicious.

And here's a RAGBRAI rider all decked out in her awesomeness.

Tom's first initiation of the corn! The rule is "5 rows back!"

Some of the towns offer water submersion vessels. I would not get in one of those for love nor money. Can you imagine the germ situation in there??? There are always takers. RAGBRAI is an extremely hot and sweaty experience.

I became huge fan of the salty juicy dill pickles while on a hot ride. Here's a station giving away free water and free pickles. They did have a donation bucket, so I dropped some $ in... I still like the idea of free!!!

At last we arrived at our host home. These folks were the best! They opened up 3 houses for showers and let me and Tom sleep in the enclosed porch (= no tent pitching today). Here's homeowner Bill and his prison rescue dog, Effie.

And the best yet - a cold margarita waiting for me after my shower.... Thanks to the arrival of the Colorado Springs contingent of the Moore-On group. Deb and Terrian (?) and their kids and niece were an excellent addition to the group. Especially Deb's goodies and margaritas.

I really enjoyed Terrian's t-shirt. A gift from his kids for Father's Day.

Here's Logan and Libby in the house next door. Which gave us access to...wait for it... LAUNDRY!! This was an unexpected boon and greatly needed. Hand washing bike shorts is a pain and not terribly effective.

Iowans are the nicest people ever. They totally opened their homes to us... Here's the main host house.

And a neighboring home for sale. $80k is the going price. Tom was tempted.

We went into town for find some dinner. On Day 1, Tom expressed the desire to find some salad. I rudely laughed in his face at the thought of healthy salad at RAGBRAI. But here he is with a nice spinach salad in one of the town restaurants.

Here's the train museum in this town, Creston. I understand Creston is the highest peak (crest) in the state. That explains all those rude hills...

Later back at camp, it was a game of Mexican Train with Tom, Terrian, Deb, Sena, and Steve. Tom (who skunked me in a game of Scrabble on the plane heading home) is a ringer and whipped them all handily... Thus ended Day 2 at RAGBRAI.

RAGBRAI 2016 - Day # 1 Glenwood to Shenandoah 49.7 mile / 2614' of climb

Sunday is Day 1 of RAGBRAI

Our camp started stirring around 6:00-6:30 in the morning. The Moore-On group seemed to be around 35 people. It seemed were weren't all there all at the same time though. The point is, we were a nice small and quiet group compared to my prior RAGBRAI experiences. When camping out with the Ron Oman group, we were within a group of 150-200 people in a huge field. Sometimes a high school, a park, a fairground, or on one memorable occasion, the grounds of a mental institution. With those huge groups, you would start to hear people getting up and packing up their tents (zip, zip, zipping) around 5 in the morning. Sleeping in until 6:30 is a pure luxury!  With the 2-hour time difference, it should have felt like 4:30 a.m., but with the excitement of getting started, it is not difficult to wake up early and get packed up and ready to roll.

It was very good to see Tom again. As I mentioned, I met him on the California Dream Ride and found him to be a wonderful person in general and a great cycling companion. With the loss of my buddy, Debbie, Tom became my RAGBRAI partner this year.

 Here's me and Tom - ready to go!

Here's Tom and Jim Gee. Jim is the one who transported our bikes all the way from Sacramento. What do you think of the psychedelic Moore-On jersey? And how do I get one?

And here's my first glimpse of the legendary Moronosaurus! Jim drove a truck and trailer from Sacramento to somewhere in Nebraska where he exchanged the truck for the Moronosaurus. This impressive (somewhat vintage) RV and our trailer followed us through the state of Iowa and delivered us back to the other side at the end.

Here's Tom with some soybean fields. Soybeans and corn is the name of the game in Iowa.

Tom and I stopped somewhere along the way, searching for some coffee perhaps, and I ran into this fellow with half a shaved head. He had been drinking beer for a couple of hours already at this point and was having a ball!

I love the cycling jerseys: Not Dead Yet - we just smell like it...

Bad Choices make Good RAGBRAI stories.

We encountered the baby dolls early on and saw them almost daily. They perfectly embody the RAGBRAI spirit of fun and creativity. Toward the end of the week, I found them dancing their socks off during a rest stop on a 70+ mile day. Impressive!

It's also fun to see the different modes of transportation used for the 400-500 miles across Iowa. I have seen unicycles, modified tandems holding 5 people, penny farthings, skateboards, ellipticals, roller blades, and pure runners. I will stick to my road bike...

Here we are in Tabor, filling our water bottles at one of the free water filling stations. Each town has its own set-up. Some being more efficient that others!

Yikes! While walking through the park in Tabor, my back tire had a loud blow-out! No apparent reason. Tom the gentleman, helped me pump up my flat tire. Good thing Jett packed 2 spare tubes in my bike bag as the stem was broken on the first tube I tried. 

Tom and I were lucky the flat happened at the meeting town. Every day there is one designated "meeting town" where we can meet up with cars/RVs of the non-riders. They also have bike technicians available in the meeting towns. Here's one of the bike tech stations. We used their bike pump to get our tires properly inflated. Tom's ride is his Surly. I am riding Jett's "Ole Blue." My Lightspeed had to stay home for repairs. I rode Ole Blue at RAGBRAI a few years back. It is a great bike, even though it's about 20 years old!

I did not capture any photos of the water slide I enjoyed in this town. Nor the game of chicken poop bingo that was a main attraction. Evidently you put your money on one of the squares. Every 40 minutes they let  Rufus the chicken out. If he poops on your square, you win all the money! They assured us repeatedly that Rufus had been fed Taco Bell all week and was raring to go!

Another RAGBRAI favorite - the cycling team "Red Merkins."  I had Tom go up and ask this fellow what a merkin was. He came back a bit red in the face. Look it up.

And here are some shots of our 1st overnight town, Shenandoah. It was charming. Tom loved these Iowan towns. We rated them each day and Shenandoah stood out among the nicest all the week long.

Once we found our host home, we immediately signed up for the shower rotation and set to pitching our tents. If we were lucky, we quickly got our showers and tents set up, then headed back into town for some dinner. Although there were some clouds in the sky, I decided I did not need to attach the rain fly on my tent. Later in town, while waiting in line for some food, big, fat, raindrops started to fall... Then they started to fall faster. I know how weather can turn on a dime in Iowa and I knew my tent was totally exposed to a potential downpour. I told Tom to go ahead and buy my pulled pork sandwich, then took off at a run back to the host home and my tent. Luckily it was only 3 blocks away, but running in flip-flops for 3 blocks after 50 miles on the bike was not fun at all. I was totally soaked through by the time I got to my tent. My air mattress was wet, but nothing else suffered much damage. All the Moore-Ons had gathered under the big porch and seemed amused at my wet-rat state. Dear Tom delivered my food directly to me in my tent. Here's a shot of my vantage point from my tent, waiting for the rain to subside.

Here's a shot of the host home, front and back. It was gorgeous! We had full access to 2 bathrooms (= 2 showers), the garage for our bike (= they stay out of the rain), and indoor electrical outlets for our phones and bike computers. Bliss!

Thus ends Day 1 of RAGBRAI. I was super lucky to have Tom to ride with, but to be honest, I missed my buddy Debbie something fierce. I also missed my Jettie. She does not care for RAGBRAI, which is why we decide the best thing for me to do is go without her. But still I miss her when I'm out cycling and she's not with me. That night I was feeling a little forlorn and lonely. I did not sleep very well even though the weather had cooled and was quite comfortable at night.

RAGBRAI 2016 DAY 0 - Travel Day

I have been home for a full week now and am going to try to recreate my 2016 RAGBRAI experience because it was so AWESOME!

As I may have mentioned in a prior post, our Southwest flight was cancelled. The best we could do was take a late flight that landed in Omaha at 1 in the morning on Sunday, Day # 1 of RAGBRAI. Here is a photo of my Sacramento Moore-On brothers: Neil, Paul, and Tommy.

While we were waiting for our ride to the host home, who do I see at 1:30 in the morning, but my favorite charter person Ron Oman! In 4 of my previous 5 RAGBRAI experiences, I used Ron Oman's charter services to support me through Iowa. This is my first year with the Moore-Ons.

Anyhow, at 1:30 in the morning, one of the friends of the Moore-Ons came and picked us up from the airport and drove us to the starting town, Glenwood. It was a 35-minute drive. This fellow (forgot his name!) got up in the dead of night to do this for us. Iowans are the best!

So we arrived in Glenwood around 2 in the morning. Luckily for me, my buddy Tom from San Diego (whom I met on the Cal Bike ride last October and invited to join us for RAGBRAI) arrived in Iowa earlier in the day and was able to pitch my tent. I had flashlight and was able to pick my tent out among the 8 tents already pitched in the host home's back yard. Tom was thoughtful enough to also inflate my air mattress. Score! We had access to a bathroom through the back door of the host home. I quietly changed into my pjs, used the toilet, then crept into my tent to try to get some sleep before the first riding day. Alas, it was hot and humid. I was too worked up from all the travel and stress and strain of the start. I laid there for a long time before falling asleep. I think we all started stirring about at 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. I would not say I had even close to 4 hours of sleep that first night...

Here is a photo of the view from my tent the next morning.

Here's a shot of my tent in the process of being packed up.

The gray bag is my bike bag. It contains all items needed for cycling. Clothes, equipment, energy bars, topicals, Motrin, sun screen... I could go on. The navy blue bag on the left is a huge duffel that holds my tent, air mattress, sleeping bag, pillow, camp chair, bike pump, clothes bag, etc....I could go on. I was mocked by most Moore-Ons for the size of my bag, which became known as the "body bag." Yes, I over-pack.  It cannot be helped...

RAGBRAI 2016 DAY -1

Well I am sorry to say this year's RAGBRAI is not starting out at all well. My very dear cycling buddy, double-century training partner, bike tour director extraordinaire, and goofy fellow RAGBRAI fan, Debbie Brubaker, had to bow out and will not be joining me on this year's Iowan adventure. Her wonderful mom was hospitalized last week. Debbie is staying behind to help her now that she's back home. The very good news is that mom is doing much better. Continued healthy thoughts go out to her!

The next small blow has to do with wretched Southwest Airlines. Last night they inexplicably cancelled today's 7AM flight. Well, the explanation (if you can call it that) was they did not have a flight crew for this flight. What??!! My sister flies SW quite a bit and has reported similar fishy, phoney, f-ed up SW flight shenanigans.

The very good news is that my fellow Moore-On Paul was on it in finding another flight, contacting the Sacramento Moore-On contingent (there are 4 of us), and arranging a 2-phone/3-way phone call last night with me and Southwest to ensure I successfully changed my flight. What a great guy. Very good in a crisis. I do not know any of the Moore-Ons well, but so far Moore-On Jim (bike/bag transport) and Moore-On Paul are wonderful so far!

Here are photos of Moore-On Jim and his trailer. Also how our bikes are packed up in nice cushy egg crate. Jim left Sacramento on Monday and is waiting for us in Iowa. Our original flight would have landed us there at 3:15 today, but alas our rescheduled SW flight will land at 1 AM on Sunday, which is Day 1 of RAGBRAI. Not ideal, but when doing RAGBRAI, one must be flexible and chill. As they say, "If you are not having fun, lower your expectations!" So I am going to use my newfound hours today to perhaps catch the new Star Trek movie! Making some lemonade from lemons here. (I will not worry about pitching my tent at 2 in the morning, then getting up early for a 50-mile/2614' climb ride...)

I'm quite pleased with my new $15 backpack which I will use for RAGBRAI. It is smallish, but still holds everything I want for the plane tonight and all the little things I forgot to pack in the duffel bags I gave to Jim for the road transport. Plus camping life in Iowa roughs up one's bags and such. This little $15 special can take some beating and I won't mind. Plus it will be easily recognizable! 

That book is also coming to Iowa. It's an upcoming selection for my neighborhood book club. I'm told it's a fun read!

RAGBRAI 2016 Day # -13

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Today Jett, Debbie and neighbor Tom did a 71.5-mile training ride for RAGBRAI. We intended to climb Cantelow, but realized out mileage would have been closer to 90 miles, which is too far for us. Today was actually the most miles any one of us have ridden in 2016.

I usually have many more base miles under my belt by July, but this year due to work (too much), weather (too many heatwaves) and visitors (Janie/Dan and Stacy), it just has not happened...

Here's me and Jettie at Steady Eddie's in Winters. We always share our favorite lunch: turkey/cranberry/cream cheese on a croissant. Delicious!

Here is the view from the Causeway between West Sacramento and Davis. Nice to see water so late in the summer. The egrets were awesome.
  

RAGBRAI Day 1

Such a  busy and fun crazy day. I will try to recount the day...We had a short night's sleep after camping last night - our first night of camping. We were unfortunately too near a generator and the band in town played awesomely loud rock and roll until midnight... Then the tent zippers started up at 5:15 a.m.

We rolled out of camp before 7, which I think is good time considering the too much crap we brought. We found glorious coffee at the school next door. We rode to the first town, Hull, and had arguably the best pancake breakfast ever from the local church.

We were still a bit groggy, so things didn't pick up until the next town, Boyden. They had a pig theme (Hull had a starts and stripes motif). They had flying pink pigs, huge hay rolls painted pink and decorated with pig ear, eyes, nose, and tail. We took photos, Debbie bought us pig snouts, and we had in general, quite a blast. 

The rest of the day feels like a blur. We had Mr. Porkchop for lunch, 5 trips to the cornfields, lost and found Debbie's Garmin, bonked at mile 60, ate amazing ice cream at mile 65 and found the will to confinue. Lastly we ended up at Brent's uncle's house, so no camping tonight. Will post photos later. It's 10 PM and we are exhausted. We are having a wonderful RAGBRAI.