A Gratuitous Retelling of My First RAGBRAI

First off, I joined a bike club in Burlington, Iowa who takes a group of riders on RAGBRAI. This meant that they would haul me across the state to the starting point, haul my luggage across the state, find camping spots, and provide water, beer, and Gatorade in the evenings. Since the ride is popular and getting a general spot requires entering a lottery system, going with a club not only secured a spot, but also took a lot of hassle out of logistics planning. The following is daily recap, but if you want the short version: everyday I woke up early and rode my bike, I grazed throughout the day, and then I camped at night. The end.

-Saturday-

Sioux City, IA

Even through a six or seven hour bus ride west across Iowa I still hadn't realized that for the next six days I'd be on my bike all day. Visions of eating pie and home churned ice cream, stopping to take pictures, and meeting like-minded cyclists were as far as I got, never connecting pie stops with a way to get from one to the next. I was also having a hard time imagining 10,000 people.* When we got to Sioux City we were dumped in a park near the Missouri River where we rushed to set up tents, put together bikes, and then sat around. There was something called The Expo, which we went to and found out that it was essentially a bicycle-themed street fair. I got a free pair of sunglasses from the Trek booth.

-Sunday-

Sioux City to Storm Lake

Getting out of Sioux City was a nightmare. Everyone was nervous and riding close together and stopping at every food stand with a lot of getting on and off. A couple of people crashed beside me, but fell away, instead of toward me.
I made it through the first day, which was the test. I hadn't really trained for a week of riding and I hadn't ridden farther than 35 or40 miles at a time before leaving. The first day was a scheduled 68 miles, which I took at their word. Unfortunately milage is calculated from the generalized town edges meaning that by the time we got to our campsite we'd done close to 80 miles. I was exhausted and was barely able to lift the post-ride gel pack to my lips. Later, standing in a shower line with some older women, they told me after the third day everything would be fine. Getting to the third day, would be another matter.

-Monday-
Storm Lake to Algona

I think Algona was the town that ran out of food. We went to the Knights of Columbus dinner and I was, literally, the last person they allowed in the door. Our feelings of satisfaction were quickly wiped away when we realized we would get the last scrapings of the pans. And they were gross, not because they were the last bits, but because the whole meal started out bad. Anyway, we weren't hungry because everywhere else was running out of food around the same time. Like, the grocery store was out of food.

-Tuesday-
Algona to Clear Lake

It was really hot with the heat index around 105. But we had a great tail wind on a few stretches, which meant we were cruising fast. Fast is fun, fast without working that hard is beyond fun. But what we thought was a straight shot into town was actually a turn and another 10 miles to town, 10 miles into a horrible headwind in the afternoon when it was really hot. We ended up stopping and hanging out under some trees at a farm house. While taking it easy into town I over shifted and my chain popped off my front ring and got wedged between the crank and frame. It would not budge and the options were, fix it somehow, walk, or wait for the sag wagon. Waiting for the sag wagon would have meant a long sit by the side of the road while feeling pathetic. We were, after all, very close to town and I could have walked, but it would have been a long walk in cycling shoes, which are not designed for walking. It seemed like fixing it was the only option. Luckily, I have newer cranks that bolt on to the spindle. So we pulled one crank arm off and pulled the other one out to free the chain.

-Wednesday-
Clear Lake to Charles City

The rest of the week was a blur of food stands, food stands, and food stands. Towns would shut down the day the ride would go through them. Everyone from town would have at least a cooler of water to sell. The really ambitious had tents, friers, and PA systems. Going on the ride meant we were going to miss the county fair and were a little disappointed, until we realized we were a parade riding between fairs. The first pork sandwich was good, the next became a necessity, and soon the sight of smoking pork gave me heartburn. But you eat today so you can ride tomorrow, or whatever they tell you to keep you stuffing your face.

-Thursday-
Charles City to Waterloo

I can't really remember this stretch. Was this the one where we stopped at the corn stand? At one place there were farmers out shucking corn and boiling it as fast as people could eat it. It was good.

We stayed on a community college campus it was nice. Real toilets and unlimited food that wasn't fried, or gross.

-Friday-
Waterloo to Manchester

Friday sucked. It started raining as soon as we left the community college campus where we stayed the night. It was cold and the best way to beat the cold was to ride fast. I was really having a great ride despite the rain. I was going fast, being aggressive, and doing things like accelerating up hills. To stay warm we didn't stop much and hoped to out ride the storm. Somewhere between one small town and the next a woman rode up next to me and offered me five hundred dollars for my jacket. I looked down at my soaking sleeve, realized it looked dry, and agreed to the deal. But then I had to get honest and confess it wasn't a rain jacket. When we stopped for lunch we got insanely cold. Wet, skin tight clothes are no protection against a stiff wind. After huddling around for a long time and trying to warm up by the BBQ smoker, Stephen grabbed the last two trash bags the Tyson Chicken woman was handing out. Which meant I rode wearing a garbage bag to keep the rain off and the wind out. I was so cold.

This was the day I ruined my camera. Even though I thought it was save in its zip-lock bag, it wasn't. At the end of the ride when I pulled it out I could see water between the safety plastic and the LCD viewing screen. I hoped that when it dried out it would be fine (right? Electronics can get wet, you just have to let them thoroughly dry). It wasn't.

-Saturday-

Manchester to Dubuque

This was a fun, short day. There was a hill that had a 19 percent slope (that's really steep) that I walked up; even walking up left me out of breath. And while I was riding up another steep hill over shifted and popped my chain off into my wheel. This causes instant panic. Not only did I have to coast over to the side of the road dodging other riders and making sure people don't hit me all the while I can't pedal which also means clipping my shoes out of the pedals is awkward. Did I mention I was going uphill?

Anyway, this time I was riding alone and was faced with the same set of options as before, except walking was out of the question and I didn't have any extra fixing hands. I didn't want to wait, so I set to pulling my chain out of my wheel. But of course, it was wedged between the spokes and the gears and I couldn't pull it out. It seemed impossible and this time I couldn't take my wheel apart on the side of the road. While I was pulling and tugging on the greasy chain, telling myself that if it got on there was some way it could get off, a guy rode by. He didn't stop, but he had his hand out. He was holding ten dollars and said he thought I had dropped it back there. I stopped to counter him, saying I didn't think I had lost any money, but then realized I was getting ten dollars for fixing my bike on the side of the road. And then, somehow, the chain came loose and I could put the wheel back on, check the brakes, make sure it's shifting all right** and then ride. Then, of course, down the road I was confronted with the steepest, longest downhill I've ever ridden down. On the way down, I kept double checking my wheel fixing skills. -Really, how tightly did you clamp the wheel back on?- Is the rear wheel wobbling?- Did you close the brakes?- At the bottom the hill was fun, but not going down.***

Then we all got on buses and went home. Really, you stop riding, load up your bike, and then ride home. And on our bus someone smelled so bad near where we were sitting we had to chance seats.

So that was RAGBRAI, two months late.

*I'm still having a hard time imagining that since there was way more than the limited number of 10,000 riders.
**Obviously it wasn't shifting all right. I'm pretty sure I have a 10 speed derailleur on a nine speed cassette, blah, blah, blah.
***One of the people we were riding with said he hit 50-something on the way down without using his brakes. I was using my brakes and was going around 34 mph. At that speed, I can't help but think of the worst possible scenario.