Tuesday, July 29, 2008
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?
