Tuesday, July 29, 2008
RAGBRAI Day 2
Yee haw! Big day today: 83 miles and over 5200 feet of climbing.
Once again, we rolled out around 7am to get a jump on the heat of the day. Although 83 miles was about double my longest ride of this year, I was excited and felt great after Day 1. This was a great day on the bike.
The hills were just awesome. Big ring climbs, granny climbs, they were all good hills. In fact, someone counted 51 hills in the first 45 miles, then they just stopped counting in disgust. Me, I was having a grand time.
Along the way, I jumped into a lot of pace lines and rode well. I met a lot of great people and a few strong riders that gave
me some great pulls.
I just loved this ride: not only the best ride of the year but probably one of the best rides ever for me ever. I just felt strong and fast and climbed better than I have ever climbed before. OK, its Iowa, but folks... these were great hills! :)
After losing Team Fohty at the first pass thru town (I think they ditched me at the beer garden) I rolled along until meeting up with some of the others at the lunch town. This is where I met up with my new hero Tom (more on him later). Tom and I stomped all the hills and got into Jefferson around 2pm. This included a 2 hour lunch stop at Coon Rapids (that's the town mascot: "Road Kill Raccoon" to the left) where I needed to get a spoke fixed at the bike tent. Even so we were making some good time today.
In Jefferson, Tom and I were greeted by our host family at the door Craig Hertel, his wife and daughter. Imagine my surprise when he said, go ahead boys and get cleaned up, then join us on the gazebo for snacks... and oh, there's a half keg of beer for you guys on the deck too.
Is this heaven? No, its Iowa, and its pretty good here.
Unfortunately, the bus did not arrive until 5pm so we had to delay showers, and instead we went straight for the keg and the snacks, reveling in beer, salty chips and our own filfth. ;)
Thank you Hertel Family. You are awesome and you were wonderful hosts!
Today's Metrics: - Mileage: 83 miles Climb: 5,239 feet
The ride into Jefferson will be a true test of cyclists' conditioning, with 5,600 feet to climb over 83 miles. The route resembles a pastrami sandwich: Imagine two pieces of bread, flat on either end, with mounds of meat in the middle. As riders approach Jefferson they'll see what looks like a grain silo on the horizon. It is not. It is a 162 foot bell tower. Anyone who's not too tired from the 14.5 mile Karras Century Loop can ascend the 18 flights of steps to the top. Me? I'll take the elevator.
I have beer, snacks and a shower. Has anyone seen the bus?
Passing through Kimbalton > Elk Horn > Exira > Larland > Coon Rapids and Scranton.
Once again, we rolled out around 7am to get a jump on the heat of the day. Although 83 miles was about double my longest ride of this year, I was excited and felt great after Day 1. This was a great day on the bike.
The hills were just awesome. Big ring climbs, granny climbs, they were all good hills. In fact, someone counted 51 hills in the first 45 miles, then they just stopped counting in disgust. Me, I was having a grand time.
Along the way, I jumped into a lot of pace lines and rode well. I met a lot of great people and a few strong riders that gave
me some great pulls.I just loved this ride: not only the best ride of the year but probably one of the best rides ever for me ever. I just felt strong and fast and climbed better than I have ever climbed before. OK, its Iowa, but folks... these were great hills! :)
After losing Team Fohty at the first pass thru town (I think they ditched me at the beer garden) I rolled along until meeting up with some of the others at the lunch town. This is where I met up with my new hero Tom (more on him later). Tom and I stomped all the hills and got into Jefferson around 2pm. This included a 2 hour lunch stop at Coon Rapids (that's the town mascot: "Road Kill Raccoon" to the left) where I needed to get a spoke fixed at the bike tent. Even so we were making some good time today.
In Jefferson, Tom and I were greeted by our host family at the door Craig Hertel, his wife and daughter. Imagine my surprise when he said, go ahead boys and get cleaned up, then join us on the gazebo for snacks... and oh, there's a half keg of beer for you guys on the deck too.
Is this heaven? No, its Iowa, and its pretty good here.
Unfortunately, the bus did not arrive until 5pm so we had to delay showers, and instead we went straight for the keg and the snacks, reveling in beer, salty chips and our own filfth. ;)
Thank you Hertel Family. You are awesome and you were wonderful hosts!
Today's Metrics: - Mileage: 83 miles Climb: 5,239 feet
The ride into Jefferson will be a true test of cyclists' conditioning, with 5,600 feet to climb over 83 miles. The route resembles a pastrami sandwich: Imagine two pieces of bread, flat on either end, with mounds of meat in the middle. As riders approach Jefferson they'll see what looks like a grain silo on the horizon. It is not. It is a 162 foot bell tower. Anyone who's not too tired from the 14.5 mile Karras Century Loop can ascend the 18 flights of steps to the top. Me? I'll take the elevator.
I have beer, snacks and a shower. Has anyone seen the bus?
Passing through Kimbalton > Elk Horn > Exira > Larland > Coon Rapids and Scranton.
RAGBRAI Day 1
We broke camp and I rolled out of Missouri Valley around 6:45am to get a jump on the heat. Today's ride was not too warm, a front seemed to have passed and the temps dropped by morning. Iowa in the early am is pretty sweet.It was good to get rolling.
I was really eager to ride hard right out of
town but just took it easy. I have 7 more days of this and I need to calm down. I rode a bit with some of the people in camp including some guys from Springfield MO that call themselves "Team Fohty". Good guys.As we rolled out of town we started seeing typical Iowan humor such as the rest stop to the right.
Today's Metrics - Mileage: 59 miles Climb: 3,797 feet
You can thank the founding fathers for locating the town of Missouri Valley on the downhill side of the Loess Hills, nestled in the Boyer River valley. However, it is still a river valley and the riders will eventually have to climb out. Climbing is the operative word for most of the day as the route winds its way through Beebeetown, Underwood, Neola, Minden, Shelby and Tennant on the way to Harlan. The good news is that there are only 59 miles to our first overnight stop in Harlan. The other good news is that this will be the fifth time that Harlan has hosted RAGBRAI, so the folks there are old hands at meeting riders' needs.
I arrived in Harlan around noon. Where's the bus?RAGBRAI Day minus 1
After a hot bus ride from Le Claire
(near the Mississippi River) across Iowa to Missouri Valley on the Missouri River, I was pleased to be off the buss. Original plans where to arrive early on Saturday afternoon, setup camp (in the yard of a local church) and ride 12 miles down to the Missouri River and back to dip our rear tire in the Miss. in order to fulfill tradition (like this guy from CO below). We forget tradition instantly. The guy to the left (that is not me) was on a cushy bus... and arrived early, unlike us. Our bus ride crushed us: it was hot cramped and it arrived around 5pm. Although we tried to sweat as little as possible setting up camp, we were drenched by the time we were done. The temps were mid 90's and sauna-humid and although pulling a tent from a bag, erecting it, and blowing up an air mattress (from a battery powered pump) should not cause perspiration, it really did. We basically ditched the 22 mile round trip to dip our tire for a Fat Tire Ale made on cool Fort Collins, CO.
After setting up camp and a beer, we walked down town for some BBQ and a beer or two, then hung out on the back deck of the bus and just watch the oddities of RAGBRAI pass us by.
Funny, there were a lot of people just tipping over on bikes in the street, I remember my first day in clip less pedals too., but I was sober when i tried them. Quote of the day (George Keller): setting: a guy just falls over, still clipped in. George asks with concern: "are you OK?". Rider replies: "yes". George retorts: "Are you embarrassed?"
Later that night, Missouri Valley serenaded us with sounds of freight trains passing by and fellows across the street with an affinity for late night drunken f-bomb. Well, we didn't really need any sleep tonight... Day 1 is an easy ride.
(near the Mississippi River) across Iowa to Missouri Valley on the Missouri River, I was pleased to be off the buss. Original plans where to arrive early on Saturday afternoon, setup camp (in the yard of a local church) and ride 12 miles down to the Missouri River and back to dip our rear tire in the Miss. in order to fulfill tradition (like this guy from CO below). We forget tradition instantly. The guy to the left (that is not me) was on a cushy bus... and arrived early, unlike us. Our bus ride crushed us: it was hot cramped and it arrived around 5pm. Although we tried to sweat as little as possible setting up camp, we were drenched by the time we were done. The temps were mid 90's and sauna-humid and although pulling a tent from a bag, erecting it, and blowing up an air mattress (from a battery powered pump) should not cause perspiration, it really did. We basically ditched the 22 mile round trip to dip our tire for a Fat Tire Ale made on cool Fort Collins, CO. 
After setting up camp and a beer, we walked down town for some BBQ and a beer or two, then hung out on the back deck of the bus and just watch the oddities of RAGBRAI pass us by. Funny, there were a lot of people just tipping over on bikes in the street, I remember my first day in clip less pedals too., but I was sober when i tried them. Quote of the day (George Keller): setting: a guy just falls over, still clipped in. George asks with concern: "are you OK?". Rider replies: "yes". George retorts: "Are you embarrassed?"
Later that night, Missouri Valley serenaded us with sounds of freight trains passing by and fellows across the street with an affinity for late night drunken f-bomb. Well, we didn't really need any sleep tonight... Day 1 is an easy ride.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
RAGBRAI 2008 Day minus 2
The Bobbit Bus made it to Iowa! After a long hot bumpy bus ride (just kidding Paul it wasn't all the bad!) we pulled into Davenport IA around 6pm local time. We docked up to a long in the tooth Motel 6 for the night, had a decent meal and a beer across the street (where I was able to get the last 15miles of the TdF on TV then hit the bed. Meeting us here were about 8 people from various places like Philaedelphia, PA, Milwaukee WI and a few other places I can't remember.
Davenport, Iowa
This morning, we're up and almost ready to depart Davenport. We're heading down Route 80W to pick up a few more stragglers in De Moines then heading straight across Iowa to the RAGBRAI start in Missouri Valley.
Russ (Portland, ME) and I are itching to ride, so if we get into Missouri Valley at a decent time, we're planning on doing the 12 mile ride down to the Missouri River tonight so that we're able to dip our rear ties in the river properly and fulfil the traditonal starting ritual.
Time to catch a bus!
Davenport, Iowa
This morning, we're up and almost ready to depart Davenport. We're heading down Route 80W to pick up a few more stragglers in De Moines then heading straight across Iowa to the RAGBRAI start in Missouri Valley.
Russ (Portland, ME) and I are itching to ride, so if we get into Missouri Valley at a decent time, we're planning on doing the 12 mile ride down to the Missouri River tonight so that we're able to dip our rear ties in the river properly and fulfil the traditonal starting ritual.
Time to catch a bus!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
packing for RAGBRAI 2008
On Thursday July 17, 2008, I'm departing NJ for IA in the Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across IA, aka RAGBRAI.
RAGBRAI is a bunch of roadies converging upon IA and putting on a rolling party across IA.I am meeting up with a group from CT, called Team Schmooze, (or is it Team UstaBe now?) who've done this ride numerous times in the past. Its basically an annual pilgrimage for them. In fact, Paul who appears to run the team has converted an old school bus into a luxury motor coach.
I'm eager to see the engineering marvel and anxious to get started on the ride out. Now I have to go and start packing. Golly, I have a lot of lycra now... who would have thought.
If all goes as planned I'll do daily updates here. For now, here's more about the route:
Break out the Burma Shave signs. RAGBRAI is heading down the old Lincoln Highway.
A fair portion of this year's edition of the trans-Iowa ride will follow the country's first coast-to-coast highway. The 471-mile route will also take riders along other officially designated stretches, such as the Iowa Valley Scenic Byway.
The route is virtually the same mileage as last year's -- 477 miles last year and 471 miles this year -- but the amount of climb is dramatically different. Last year riders climbed 13,600 feet. This year they'll face 22,500 feet of climb.
