RAGBRAI Day # 6 - Ottumwa to Washington - 68.5 miles, 2,541' of climb

Day 6 of RAGBRAI is always the last full day of the week. It is always a little bitter sweet. You want to squeeze all the fun you can out of it - it's your last chance! Here's a shot of me and Tom in front of the Moronosaurus. Tom and I started this RAGRAI week as riding buddies, and this was how we would end our last full day. We are matchy-matchy in our 2015 Cal Bike jerseys. This is for my buddy, Debbie, who is our Cal Bike ride director.

And here's a shot of the beautiful gardens in the host home. This was host homeowner Karie's 3rd RAGBRAI hosting and she was a consummate professional! She had a whole spread of snacks for us upon arriving - and all the right foods: bananas, salty snacks, carbs... And she had printed menus of local restaurants and entertainment venues in downtown Ottumwa. So thoughtful!!!

After coffee at the host home (thank you Karie!), we rode a bit before stopping for breakfast. Tom had experienced Mr. Porkchop a few days back and needed to have one more go before leaving Iowa. I am not a huge carnivore, but a nice, juicy, calorie and protein-packed hunk of meat is a good base for cycling fuel. We did not have the pleasure of seeing the authentic Mr. Porkchop this time as he has retired. He was an unforgettable character. Check him out on You Tube. Only at RAGBRAI....

Here's a shot of the pink Mr. Porkchop bus in the back. They marinate these thick chops in some deliciousness, then smoke them over corn cobs. Tasty! And look at those threatening clouds overhead. We made it to Day 6 with perfect weather conditions. Now I get to start to worry about rain... It's another long day (~70 miles), which would suck to ride in. This is another reason Tom and I peeled off from the others - I wanted to put some good miles in before the heavens opened up!

Here is Tom with his favorite milkweed conservationist people. He loved this. And loved the Iowan grandmas...

Here is a bucket of milkweed balls. Tom and I loaded up!

Tom under the stormy skies. We were not cold at all, which is awesome. At one point, we started to fee the telltale little drops here and there, someone said, "It's raining!" Another RAGBRAI rider said, "No, that's just blessing upon you." Tom and I liked that positive attitude and adopted it for the rest of the day. And guess what - it never turned into rain! Perfect weather!!!!

Here's Tom checking out some bike art for his pad back home.

And we checked out another dive bar. This one had a shuffle board, which always reminds me of my dad.

This is Beekman's homemade, freshly churned ice cream. Here is a line of generators churning away. On RAGBRAI, Beekman's is always set up - usually about 3/4 of the way through. You can heard the familiar sound of those generators each day. For some reason, Tom and I had not done the Beekman thing, so today was the day! 

Close up of one of the generators and churns.

Beekman's sets up their site at a local home/farm. This home was beautiful and had their garage open to display their treasured family heirloom. A 1928 (???) something or other vintage car. Obviously I am not a car buff, but this was beautiful. Their grandfather brought this car out to Iowa way back when. True history!

Joy oh joy! Wine! Wine! Wine!  I am not a beer drinker. RAGBRAI is a beer drinker's paradise. Finally some WINE! 

Yes, I knew Iowan wine could not possibly compare to the Napa Valley California Cabernet that Jett and I drink on a regular basis, but I was game to go for some big Iowan RED! They gave me a tast of the two reds they offered. The Judge was drinkable. The Pvt. GW was not. I will not comment on the light pink stuff nor the white Tom drank...

Sweet little wine bottles. I was so happy to be back in winery land...

Adjacent to the winery (in their beautifully remodeled barn) was a lovely studio art exhibit. (See what I mean when I say there are constant delights to discover each day at RAGBRAI?) Here is a lovely Iowan artist (and probably a grandma, which Tom loves) who gave us a tour.

She designed the artwork for this wine bottle and created this gorgeous horse eye artwork. It was mesmerizing. I loved it. Not sure I could have it in my home - it was too haunting. But I loved experiencing it here.

Here's a view of the winery tasting room from the barn. Wine + Cycling = Perfection

Here's a shot of the converted barn. They did a beautiful job. It is used for events, weddings, etc.

Tom trying two new types of pie (he's running out of time you see, and must double up): raisin and raspberry peach 

I love love love these little quilt pattern signs that you often see on the farms and barns. I was told these were hexes that ward off the 'haints. I want one for our little bungalow in East Sacramento. It would fit right in, right??? 

This little  route town (West Chester) had a huge crane welcoming us. A bike was suspended. It was awesome.

Tom and I were very excited to see the crane lower and a woman strapping on all sorts of safety harnesses. What would happen??? Would she mount that bike? How far us would she be suspended?? We were all anticipation!

Okay, this is how far they lifted her up. It turned out she was a photographer. Expectations Denied!

Here's the pennyfarthing. This guy was amazing. He rode the entire way, hills and all.

File this under "wWe've never done this before - we must do it." Tom and I had our photograph taken int his amazing combine. It was deluxe, very tall, and had an amazing and commanding view.

One of the public safety officers, keeping us safe on the route. She was actually yukking it up with the locals. 

And this is the best bike parking ever. In my 5 previous RAGBRAIs, I have never seen the wonderful and ever present corn fields used as bike parking stations. Brilliant. I hope this catches on.

This was a new beer drinking game. The two poles each have a beer bottle balanced on them. The frisbee players were trying to knock them off. I think...

Here we stopped for free beer (Tom's favorite). They also had free sweet corn! Love love love this ride.

Here are the grounds of the next amazing host home we enjoyed. Fred and his wife were simply wonderful. They made us all (35 people) dinner this night. I love Iowans.

More views of the house. Gorgeous yards. Not sure how anyone has time for this upkeep. (I guess they are not cyclists.)

Here is the lake across the way. Notice the skies are clearing for us! Blessed weather!

We were able to park our bikes safely in the garage at most of the host homes. This is such a luxury to keep them safe from weather.

Here's Jim at dinner.

And Party Paul and Tommy. (Yes, they came in somewhat later than the rest.)

Not only did Fred and his wife (so embarassed I forgot her name) provide dinner the night before, they also had an amazing breakfast spread the next morning. Here's a shot of our Moore-On organization extraordinaire, Karen, partaking of some goodies. I am surprised I did not take more photos of the Moore-On women. I did not start to get to know them until the end of the trip, alas.

And here are the homeowners. Wonderful people. We shared our breakfast coffee together as she regaled us with tales of an Amish wedding reception they attended. Fascinating!

Tom and Paul getting some caffeine and revving up for the last day...

Oops. I just realized I have started Day # 7 in this blog! Yikes! Cutting off now! Will finish the tale in the next blog!

RAGBRAI Day 5 - Centerville to Ottumwa - 51 miles, 2,000' of climb

I really have not touched upon the cicada situation, have I? Those puppies are LOUD! But not annoying loud; they do not interrupt your sleep. Nor are they lulling. Strange creatures. One of them slept with me this night. Here he is attached to my rain fly. Below he is returned to the wild. Rather pretty creature, isn't he? 

Today the Sacramento Moore-On contingent rode out together! There were 5 of us. I had a blast keeping my eye on my 4 boys. Here is Tom, Paul, and Neil. When we started out, Tommy was behind me. With my rear view mirror attached to my sunglasses, I can see everything going on behind me as well as keeping an eye up ahead. Cycling purists (and you know who you are) mock me and try to shame me for wearing these dorky things. All I have to say to them is wait until I add my brand new Cat Ears noise muffling fuzzy things to my helmet straps! Wahahahaha!!

As I was saying, I really enjoyed riding with the boys. I felt like I had 4 brothers in my little RAGBRAI family. Having not grown up with brothers, I liked it!

Sometime mid-morning, Tommy pulled off and lost contact with our group. This was a bummer because today was a milestone birthday for Tommy. Trying to find one person in a group of 20,000 was going to be a challenge. I was keeping my eyes open for him, fore and aft.

It was a beautiful route today. We rode over Lake Rathbun. Simply gorgeous.

Here's Paul and Neil. This is the first day I rode with Neil. He's super. It was fun to experience Paul with his other buddy. Paul has a knack for male friendship. Experiencing these guys really enjoying each other's company, constantly chatting and joking and finding fun was so enjoyable for me. Maybe guys do this all the time? Like I said, I did not grow up with brothers. The major men in my life, particularly my father, did not have this ease with others. Or maybe just not around me. I loved being around this positive male energy. 

Our weather was holding up beautifully. In my previous RAGBRAI experience, we seem to have one ugly rainy day to contend with. Not so this year! The temperatures were cooling a little each day. Sleeping was very comfortable as we had a nice cooling breeze. The humidity was decreasing each day. Superb weather. Truly the best I have experienced in my 6 RAGBRAI experiences.

Another favorite jersey. I will have to keep this in mind the next time I am laboring up a wicked hill or hammering on the flats trying to keep my speed up - all the while my legs are in agony.... My scientist wife disapproved of this message as it is not medically accurate.

And here's where we found Tommy!

We stopped in a little town where the  "Tom's Tender Turkey" vendor was set up. Tommy had discovered these turkey sandwiches the day before and was in absolute raptures over how delicious the turkey tenderloin was. He proclaimed, "This was worth the flight to Iowa!" We figured he would make a stop at Tom's Tender again. After we got off our bikes, we left Paul with the bikes, I went over to Tom's Tender, while Neil and Tom went off to secure the required beer. With no Tommy near Tom's Tender, I cast my eyes all around the town, looking for a cool, shady spot that Tommy would pick for relaxing. Some RAGBRAI riders have a gift for finding the best (or simply free) beer, some are always on the sweet corn look-out. Tommy, I felt, would be a connoisseur of some lovey shady, breezy relaxing point. From far afield, I spied an elevated oversized gazebo with a number of cyclists lounging on it. I made a beeline toward it and BINGO! There was Tommy, doing exactly as I imagined - relaxing in this comfortable spot with a fantastic elevated view of all the goings-on.

The day before, as I set off with "Party Paul," I was expecting (and was warned) by others a long boozy day on the bike. Not so! Totally denied. It was a great day, but not exactly a party day. Today, however, I did get to experience the Party Paul vibe. We left the gazebo and headed over to the beer garden. I am not a beer drinker, but found out they offered Mike's Hard Lemonade. I bought a tall can and in no time, felt rather nicely buzzed. Which was great because Paul and Tommy took me out to the dance floor. Repeatedly. (Where was Debbie when I needed a break?!)

Me and my brothers catching some shade by the beer garden. 

The dancing was a lot of fun. Here's a shot of a sexy, fun character! The best thing ever was when Paul and I were out there and the DJ played Meatloaf's Paradise by the Dashboard Light. Several of us on the floor (me included) knew every word of the lyrics and we belted out an impassioned rendition for all. I played the role of the girl who wanted the boy (Paul) to "Stop right there - before we go any further, do you love me? Will you love me forever?" Paul was cracking up, coming back with "Let me sleep on it - baby, baby let me sleep on it!" It was a hoot. And Meatloaf is brilliant. 

This good ole boy was letting us share some of his shade next to the beer garden. These locals in their overalls were priceless. His cap says, " I hate to wake up grouchy in the morning - I let her sleep."

And here we are back on the road. All except Party Paul, who opted to stay in the beer garden. Happily, I was not noticeably affected by the alcohol. The miles were short and the hills were gentle. Here's Tommy shortly after christening the corn. Shortly after this shot, I lost my other brothers too. Tom saw a sign for biplane rides and peeled off to add to his new RAGBRAI experiences. I am terrified of heights, so I said, "Have fun!" and kept on pedaling. Then Tommy and Neil found the free beer, so I lost them too. 

I rode in to the host home (above) all by myself, which was A-okay. There was a wicked steep hill right there in Ottumwa. My Garmin bike computer showed a 15% grade. I was hot. I was tired. I was alone. My legs were like putty climbing that wicked thing. No one was there. I was by myself. I got off my bike and walked it up the rest of the way. Typically this is the walk of shame, but since no one was there to witness it - it did not exist! Right?!? Well, had I known that every single Moore-On greeting me back at the host home asked me if I climbed that hill... My first response was "I'm here, aren't I?" But they did not fall for this lame answer. I cannot tell a lie and had to admit I walked up the hill. Humiliations galore...

Paul, Neil, and I took Tommy to the local country club for his birthday dinner this night. It was a swanky indoor place - we weren't used to such luxury. Paul convinced the manager to allow Tommy to order the special chicken dish, which they were not offering due to the RAGBRAI crowds. Tommy got his special meal, and we were all pleased to spend some time with the birthday boy. He looks so young - I bet you could not guess his age...

Neil, Paul, and I left Tommy back at the Moronosaurus and headed into downtown Ottumwa for the RAGBRAI entertainment main event - Rick Springfield in concert. We had lights for our bikes and windbreakers for the cool breeze that picked up. The concert started at 9... Such a long day! 50 miles on the bike. Out in the sun all day. Beer garden. Then out again to party at night. I can do this once in a while, but some hardcore RAGBRAI partiers do this every day. Amazing. Here are shots of Rick and me and the boys. It was crowded. We were on our feet standing on concrete for a couple of hours. We could not always see as taller people were standing in front of us throughout. Not the most pleasant environment. But every time I looked over at Neil, he had this big, broad smile on his face. He was really enjoying the moment, every moment. Being around these guys was awesome. We had another piece of excitement. We watched the police deal with an extremely intoxicated concert goer. It startled calmly enough, but when the guy lunged at the officer, he took him down quite efficiently!

I knew I had that wicked hill to climb on the way home. And climb it in the dark, mind you. We set off and guess what? That hill was a breeze. I must have been really hot and tired and over it earlier in the day to have walked my bike.. Shame... Thus ends day # 5. Only two (really one and a half) to go! 

RAGBRAI 2016 Day 4 - Leon to Centerville 65 miles, 2,708' of climb

Day 4 was finally the day I was going to spend some time with the Sacramento Moore-Ons, Paul and Tommy. For the first 3 days, they always left a little later than the rest of us, and definitely came in a lot later than the rest of us. I learned Paul's nickname was "Party Paul" and understood Paul and crew really wrung out the best fun RAGBRAI had to offer each day and spent the day experiencing it, rather than coming back to camp to relax like the rest of us.

Here is the host home where we stayed in Leon.

Here is Paul's Colnago. I love love love the beautiful paint on these older Colnagos. Gorgeous.

Here's me and Tommy getting ready for the day! It turns out Tommy is my neighbor back in Sacramento - he lives only a couple of blocks away from me.

And here's the Party Paul crew starting the day out. Paul, me, and Tommy. Tommy was amazing- he only started cycling in February. He is one strong guy!

I was so happy to see my banana people!

And I found some pandas!

I enjoyed Team Fart - their motto is "draft at your own risk."

Here's Paul cruising along.

 Here's Ole to greet us at the meeting town.

This is Bill and it is his birthday. He was passing out thousands of bottles of free water to celebrate. This came in mighty handy because I was never able to locate the water fill station in the prior town.

The weather was simply gorgeous.

Paul had a boo-boo (splinter in his hand). I had tweezers in my saddle bag. Paul initially wouldn't let Tommy work on it, but after I botched in my digging work (I think I pushed it in further), Tommy took over and got the job done. Actually these two were a joy to hang out with. They are clearly dear friends and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. Love a good bromance!

A little history of the Midwest.

And look who whizzed past us - it's Moore-On Jim! (I'd recognize that jersey anywhere!)

This is a poor shot of a human foos ball game. It was fun to watch the kids play. Paul and Tommy, both whom have the entrepreneurial mindset, assessed the potential profitability and came up with a break-even point on the fly. Impressive! (They decided it could not pay.)

Here are the Sacto boys in front of the Ritz Hotel.

And our host home for the night. Check out those solar panels. This home owner's yards were the size of a park. And beautifully groomed.  There's my little tent in the foreground. And my nifty miniature camp stool. Loved that thing.

More gorgeous park lands.

And our faithful Mooronosaurus always there to greet us. Once back at camp, I reunited with Tom, who put in a 100-mile day due to the bonus "Karras loop" offered. I usually take the century ride option at RAGBRAI, but not this year. I preferred to stay with the Sacto boys. And yes, my legs were pretty tired from all this climbing. (Okay I admit it - I wimped out!)

Here are some cool looking buildings in downtown Centerville.

And wonderfully decorated kybos - the theme was the Wizard of Oz.

On our way to dinner at the Methodist church, we encountered Miss Pancake. This is evidently a big think in Centerville. Go Pancake girl!

This church supper was the best meal ever. For a mere $8, we got: 2 ham balls (another "never heard of these before, we must eat them" item - they are like meat balls made with ham and some richly sweet spiciness); a baked potato complete with sour cream, butter, and some bacon bits; green beans (deliciously prepared); a slice of tomato; a huge dinner roll. After this gut bomb, we headed over to the dessert table for pie and a scoop of ice cream. It's amazing how much food we can put away on these cycling trips. (And I have the RAGBRAI belly to prove it.)

A beautiful church.

Some more local entertainment along with their pre-teen groupies.

Here's a cool display in the book shop.

Tom and I headed into the "Good Times" dive bar. The offerings were minimal and the vibe was no bueno. I told Tom I could not hang in there. Too scary for me!

One should never regret not participating in RAGBRAI craziness, but I regret not joining JR to go see "Hair Ball," a hair band cover concert. As you can see, JR dressed the part. This was the first day I started getting to know JR. He was cool and quirky and smart and fun. He slept in a hammock strung between two trees each night. More often than not, he wore a cape. He sported a kilt in the first few days. He likes to party and I wish I hung out with him more. Net year, JR, you shall be mine....

At the end of Day 4, we had completed 249 miles and climbed 12,634 feet. I am happy and tired and looking forward to another day of RAGBRAI adventures.