RAGBRAI 2016 Day # 3 Creston to Leon - 58.5 miles, 3,318' of climb

Day 3 and I am finally getting in the RAGBRAI rhythm. I'm able to pack up my belongings efficiently and am no longer forgetting some essential item to bring with me for the day (such as money, bike bottles, sunscreen...).

Here's another favorite jersey. If it came in orange, I would have brought one home for Jettie!

And awesomeness, we are now entering into Amish territory. I love the seeing the Amish farmers and their buggies. It is fascinating to be so close to such a different lifestyle. And that black sign in the background is for the "United Baptist Presbyterian Church." We were told the Sunday school class was too small in each church, so they decided to combine them. Words fail me - what if we all took this approach to unite instead of fight over scarce resources???

We rode through the town of Diagonal (Tom was tickled with this name), then spent some time in Mount Ayr (not sure where the mountains were, but okay). At the Princess Theater (delightful old fashioned movie house), they had a display honoring their hometown hero, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. Her story is remarkable! She is going up into space again (she's been many times) this November and will again be the flight commander. The sweet ladies in theater were so happy and proud to share information about this remarkable Iowan.

And I learned some nuggets of information about my friend, Tom. He likes to visit both dive bars and Catholic churches. We began to create a pattern of looking out for both. After a quick visit to the church (where Tom was able to "bend the knee"), we happened upon Lefty's. It was just the right kind of bar. Roomy, but not too large. All sorts of things on the walls (including deer heads), but not dirty and dusty. The gal behind the bar was awesome and the daughter of Lefty, who had passed away. Tom enjoyed his beer, and I had my first ever Sex on the Beach cocktail. In a word, yum.

Post-Sex on the Beach photo. I'm looking a little (a lot) wrung out, while Tom is fresh as a daisy. Grrr.

Another super favorite new RAGBRAI thing - the distribution of milkweed balls. The Iowan conservationists are trying to repopulate the Monarch butterfly population, which is being decimated by pesticides (all those farms...). They gave out thousands of milkweed balls during RAGBRAI, asking the cyclists to distribute these along the route. Brilliant! And really fun.

I do not know this plant to be a milkweed, but I decided to designate it as such. I saw these all along the route.

And here is Tom's first close encounter with the Amish. Note the girls in the background wearing the dresses and white bonnets. They were selling homemade pie. At this point, Tom and I agreed to always order food that we never tried before - in this case Tom went for the gooseberry pie. The girls were very sweet and had a lilting, pretty accent. I found out later that these Amish speak German at home.

And here we are in the meeting town that evening, stopping at the local market, which turned out to be owned by an Amish family. It was totally like going back in time! Deer heads on the wall and Fuji film for sale - real film that must have been decades old... I am at this point hitting all the shops I can find as I cannot find my ear plugs, which help me sleep at night. No ear plugs here unfortunately, but we had some soft serve ice cream.

Here are some shots of the local entertainment that evening. Tom, who is musical (played? plays? in a band), was uninspired so we moved along.

The cycling on this day was very nice. Although we had 3,300' of climb over less than 60 miles, the hills were nice rollers. Pleasant climbing, not rude like the day before. I am finally getting really happy and joyful to be in Iowa and enjoying this amazing weather and gorgeous route. And thrilled to be experiencing RAGBRAI through Tom's fresh eyes. It is super fun to introduce someone to this unique experience, and Tom's just the right kind of sport - very positive and very enthusiastic. I still miss Debbie, but am now having a ball. And thus ends Day # 3.

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.