Here’s a quick summary of my RAGBRAI 2011. I hope to put more up later, perhaps tomorrow when I’m doing my excessively stinky laundry.
I loved RAGBRAI 2011. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. That doesn’t mean I’m going again next year, but I do think I’ll be riding it again at some point. BTW – not going next year has nothing to do with RAGBRAI as much as it has to do with wanting to try somewhere new.
Friday – Omaha NE
I arrived in Omaha, which has been suffering severe flooding, late on Friday afternoon. I checked into my hotel and then shuttled to Omaha’s “old town.” It was hot and humid, conditions which would continue, pretty much unabated for the entire week.
Saturday – Glenwood Iowa
On Saturday I was shuttled with my stuff to Glenwood Iowa, the host town for the start of RAGBRAI 2011. Glenwood is a lovely little town on the western edge of Iowa. There was a big expo set up for incoming riders and I admit to spending too much money on stuff I’ll never use. That’s okay though. I also went to the Grace Lutheran Church and had pie. I had lots of pie in Iowa but none better than here.
Glenwood is the kind of town you need to tour. It doesn’t take long on a bicycle. It takes slightly longer this way:
That night it was hot and humid in our camp, something that never really changed all week.
You can see my tent, it’s got the Friday next to it. I had trouble sleeping that first night, before we rode, but never, ever again.
Sunday – Glenwood to Atlantic
For me this was the worst day of all. I started the ride without enough sleep in the couple of days prior. I was definitely jetlagged. The temperatures topped 100F at some point during the day and the hills were numerous and painful. We climbed a total of 4298 feet over 59.5 miles. That may or may not sound like a lot depending on were you come from, but in heat and humidity it’s definitely a challenge. I came into camp absolutely dragged out and looking like death. I was pretty sure I’d made the worst decision of my life.
After a shower and a meal I felt much better. I had my first good night’s sleep in a while as well. The road was great though as you can see from this shot of relatively flat ground along the way:
Monday – Atlantic to Carroll
After Sunday you’d think I’d have been in bad shape for Monday, but in fact I felt great. Today’s ride featured even more hills for a total of 4,719 over 65.4 miles. I don’t remember much about the ride itself other than I made it without much trouble and came in looking much better, according to my neighbors, than I had the night before.
This ride took us through Elk Horn which, according the mayor, has a population of around 348. He said 350 to begin with, but corrected himself pretty quickly. Here’s the mayor himself…
Settled by Dutch immigrants, Elk Horn still shows its roots:
Tuesday – Carroll to Boone
Bad news day. About a dozen miles into the ride, plus an extra couple getting to the start from camp, my left knee starts hurting. I’ve lived with arthritis in my knees since I was 30 and let discretion be the better part of valor this early in the ride. I chose to catch the sag wagon into Boone.
This turned out to be a lot of fun. The driver, a former trooper and in some senses of founding member of the support teams for RAGBRAI, was chatting up front with another long time rider. The stories I heard made the fact that I wasn’t riding worth it.
Getting into town early was nice, though I did have to ride a couple of miles from the main site to our camp on a sore knee.
Later that day I rode the Boone train and had a great time. It was on the train that I met Tom, a veteran of 26 RAGBRAIS and as good a man as you’ll ever hope to meet. He’s one reason I’d love to ride RAGBRAI again. After this I ran into again and again on the route and he never failed to cheer me up, even when I was happy to begin with!
I missed the biggest hill on the route apparently and some really, really hot weather. A lot of folks were picked up this day, many simply couldn’t go on in the heat. Keep in mind there’s no reason to torture yourself on this type of ride, it’s not a race and, at the end of the day, you were supposed to have enjoyed it. I loved Boone.
Wednesday – Boone to Altoona
This was an easy day after yesterday’s heatfest. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember much about it other than the fact that towns were close together making a short day long for all the breaks. Getting into town was no treat though as our camp was set up at the edge of an expanding subdivision on super dry ground, no flooding here, with no shade. This camp became known as Afghanistan. Clearly it was not that bad, I’ve friends who’ve served there and would hate to make light of their sacrifices, but this was the worst camp of all for our group. The town itself was larger and really okay. I ended up eating in a Hy Vee, the employee owned chain, instead of in a church. This turned out to be a nice change of pace, beef instead of pork, and the only espresso drinks I had all week!
Thursday – Altoona to Grinnell
This day seemed easier on paper than it turned out to be in practice. It was a short day, 57.5 miles, with 3,202 feet of climbing. The problem wasn’t the distance as much as the distance between towns. After a day of relatively short hops, some of the stops were a dozen miles or more apart. And, though Colfax is a lovely town, it really is, they have a hill with a 14% grade on the way out. At least that is the calculation my, by then, riding partner Erich came up with. It was a pure bitch. My knee began to hurt within a mile or two of leaving and I wondered if I should keep on. I did and after a dozen miles or so of slower than normal riding it came around and I finished the ride in good shape.
I also had a mechanical problem on Thursday. My left rear brake broke off. I’m not exactly sure how, but the post that fits into the brake braze-on snapped off leaving very nothing to support the brake itself. Luckily a mechanic in an early down was able to find an extra long bolt which held it for the rest of the ride. I’ve got to do something about it though. Still only one problem, and a fixable one at that, in a week of riding this intense is a great thing.
Speaking of mechanical problems, I saw lots and lots of flats. Folks were riding some of the most inappropriate equipment possible out there. Actually almost nothing is inappropriate for RAGBRAI, from beach cruiser to high tech racing machine everything was represented. But here’s the thing…it’s not a race and wheels with tiny little high pressure tires and low spoke counts failed left and right. I never had a flat myself, but I was riding Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires at 20″x1.75 (think thick and plush). The racer types really paid for their equipment choice though with flat after flat. I also noticed that after any railroad crossing we’d see more flats than usual, probably pinch flats. I took five spare tubes and never touched them.
Friday – Grinnell to Coralville
This was the longest day I rode, 74.5 miles or so with a bit less climbing than Thursday at 2,681 feet. This was a long day. Everyone was tired and tempers flared just a wee bit all around. I was pretty calm and collected, but I did collect a couple of bruises and cuts I’d probably have avoided early in the week. In addition folks had pretty much given up calling out on the road so there were more close calls than normal. Exhaustion I think.
This was my last day of riding. I’d made the decision earlier in the week to sag into Davenport in the morning. The reason is fairly simple. I’m slow and I had to, I mean had to, be ready to board the bus at 2:30pm to get back to Omaha. Do I think I could have ridden 65.6 miles into town and made it on time? Maybe, maybe not. I could easily have ridden the distance, that wasn’t an issue. It came down to time.
So my RAGBRAI finished early. That night in Coralville Erich and I had a lot of fun touring the final expo. There really wouldn’t be one the next day. I had a lot of food and it was an excellent finish to the whole thing. I don’t regret missing the next day’s bit of torture. It was hot again and, from what I’m told, the towns along the way, knowing folks just wanted to get in, didn’t put on the dog as they might have had they been on the route an earlier day. If the route had been only 40 miles on Saturday I’d have done it for sure and I know an extra 15 miles doesn’t sound like much, but when you are dog tired, another 15 miles in the hills and heat of an Iowa summer can really make a difference.
Instead I rode the bus, took my time packing my bike and making ready for the bus journey back to Omaha, and thinking about what a great journey I had just completed.
RAGBRAI, I’ll be back!
Can you tell I’m tired?
Slower, cheaper, less useful…