Ragbrai 2012 !

I thought all week what I should write about this years Ragbrai. You know you think of one thing when you are ‘in the moment’ but then when the next thing happens – you think about that. OK, maybe it’s just me, but that’s what was happening this week, so I think I’ll just give you an overview of the ride.

The first couple of days it was hot. Now I’m not talking … ‘it’s hot’… but IT WAS HOT! One of the bicyclist thermometer on their bike was reading 109 degrees and someone said the road heat was 138 degrees. By 8:30 a.m. the road was heated up and the tar was starting to stick to your tires. Yea, not a good thing. One day we only had a few miles to ride into the overnight town and I can’t guess how many times I had to stop to catch my breath and cool down. It was the first year that in this one stop you picked a partner and then you sprayed each other down on your backs to try to cool your body temperature down. But I made it into the town and after talking about the ride, into the lake we went to cool down before hitting the showers. We were lucky this year that we were able to stay inside houses or hotels all week, which was just wonderful! We started to do this the past couple of years and it would be hard going back. There is usually a storm brewing on the ride sometime, and this year was no exception. With a tornado warning for the town, the campsites were evacuated when the 70 mile an hour winds hit. As for us? We were visiting inside our host families garage. Yea, so much better than tenting it.  As the week went on the temperature eventually cooled down, and by the middle of the week I was able to stand the heat much better. It was still in the high 90’s, but for some reason it didn’t feel as bad as those 100 degree days. It’s funny because when the temperature got better to ride in, so did everyone’s attitude and the towns had more people in them looking for a good time.

One of the first towns that we went through was the home to the Worlds Largest Popcorn Ball. The town was Sac City, Iowa. The popcorn ball weighs 5000 pounds and is over 8 feet tall. I found out that the town had made three balls total. The reason for making three was  because they were outdone in the Guinness Book of World Records, so they had to build a bigger and better one. When I stopped to take a picture, the local people were sure proud. They made sure that I took the time to sign their guest book and then also where to stand to get the best picture on a sunny day.

Next on the list? Lake View, Iowa. This town is home to the southernmost natural glacial lake in the United States, Black Hawk Lake. After a long and hot ride during the day, into the lake we went and man did that feel good! The lake was down 3 feet because of the drought, but honestly – who cared? Certainly not us. We really had fun swimming and had some drinks to celebrate that the hot day was over and then it was time to get cleaned up and eat again!

The band, Three Dog Night was in Webster City, Iowa. We made it to town early that day and was able to get to the concert that night. Sometimes we don’t usually get to the towns early enough to hear the main band, but luck was on our side. The beer garden was huge! I don’t know exactly how many blocks it covered, but take my word for it, it was one of the largest ones that I’ve seen so far in 13 years riding. We talked about going into it, but then saw how crowded it was and no one was able to see. So we stood on the side of the fence and had probably one of the best spots of the crowd. We really had a good time at the concert. I think the band started recording songs back in the late 1960’s (see I told you that they were around for a long time)but the songs they played at the concert everyone knew and seemed to be singing along with the band.

From there we went to Story City, Iowa. This town has Iowa’s only operating antique carousel. It was built in 1913 and when you’re riding it there is a 1936 Wurlitzer Military Band organ playing. It honestly feels like you’ve stepped back into time. I have no idea the last time I rode a carousel and we all sure laughed. Even the ones who thought it wasn’t the best idea at the time, changed their minds as we rode the ride.

The weather was turning nice and out came the people. I’m not sure how many rode the one day, but trust me.. it was a lot! With all those people on the ride, everyone rode pretty well and watched out for each other. Sometimes when you get new people, they just ride and forget that there is over 10,000 other people with them. And this day they were expecting over 20,000 people on their bikes!

We stayed in Anamosa, Iowa and after eating a huge meal that night we decided to go for a walk. Our driver got to the town earlier that day and checked out the museum at the State Penitentiary. So we decided that we’d go and work off some of the food and headed for the east side of town to take a look at it. Since it was dark I wasn’t able to get a good picture of the outside, but I’ve included one from the Web. I would love to go back to see this in the day time because it was really cool looking. It was established in 1872 and pretty overwhelming with the huge stone walls and almost Gothic type of architecture . When we were there, we talked to one of the Captains when he was leaving after his shift and it is really amazing how with over 1100 inmates in there, they can get along most of the time. I hope I can go back sometime and see it in the daylight and visit the museum. Because it is so old and outdated, we were told that within 10 years they will have to replace it with a new facility.

We did see other things along the way, but you’re probably pretty tired of reading about all of this by now.  But I do need to add one more thing that I’ve been thinking about ever since it happened. On the last day that we rode, we were riding pretty high up on this one rode and the one side had a higher ditch and then other side looked over the country side. I saw a girl stop and take a picture and I was trying to figure out just what in the heck she was doing. All I could see was farm land, some cows by a lake, and some steel bins on this one farm. OK, maybe she never saw farmland before? I wasn’t sure. Then further up the road another person was taking a picture and I was still trying to figure out just what was going on. It was a nice area and we were where Grant Wood painted his famous picture, ‘American Gothic. But it looked so much like what we see everyday, that I just couldn’t understand why this one area looked so unique to so many riders. Then I overheard two guys talking by me and they said that they’ve rode in Italy before and this area looks just like it does there. Now I’ve never been to Italy, and to be honest I probably won’t ever get a chance to get there. But if rolling farm land and steel bins is what it looks like, man we’ve got a gold mine here!

What’s next? When your’e on Ragbrai you eat about every 1 to 2 hours because your’e working and it burns off the calories. Then when you stop you know what happens? Bad news!! You’re body is still wanting to eat and my stomach hasn’t stopped growling since yesterday. You have to wean yourself off the food and for me it takes at least a couple of days. I went and got groceries today, and I bought tons of vegetables and yogurt. It’s not necessarily the pasta dinners and homemade pies with ice cream that I’ve been eating, but then I’m planning on sitting on a riding lawn mower tomorrow instead of doing any kind of bike ride. Another weird thing that happens to me is that I start to retain fluids now that I’ve stopped riding. I usually gain about 10 pounds starting within the first couple of days when we get home, and it’ll take about a week to get rid of it. My eyes get puffy and so do my legs and hands. Not really a good look do you think?

I had some trouble with my feet so I used duct tape. It worked pretty good!

So this years’ ride is over and we’ll put away our bikes again for awhile. And I’m sure there was some records broke for heat and ambulance calls. But you know when it’s all over and you look back, it sure is a good time. You get to hang out with your friends, you might get hot – but then you go swimming or go on a water slide, you can take time to have a cold beer with a group of your friends or meet a new group of friends, and the only thing that you have to think about is what can I eat now and where should we take a nap?

We made it! My brother, myself, and Daryl