540 miles! Wow, what animals you folks are! Congrats! Great report -
thanks for sharing it with us stay-at-homes! Did you lose any weight on
this ride?

Sue

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Adams" <tla85258@...>
To: "BRAG" <brag-az@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2004 9:38 PM
Subject: [brag-az] RAGBRAI XXXII Ride Report (too long)


> I went to my first RAGBRAI last week, along with Tim, Paul
> & Jane, Bill & Nathan, Bill & Sharon, Lance & Janet and
> other Zonies. It's incredible to be part of it. It's a
> biking event like no other, with 10,000 bikes of every type
> and riders from all over the world.
>
> This year's route was 7 days and 490 miles between corn and
> soybean fields from the "Big Muddy" at Onawa on the west,
> all the way across Iowa to the "Mother of Waters" at
> Clinton on the east. Most roads were low traffic and
> paved, but we had a few miles of gravel and mud. Iowa is
> full of big rolling hills. We struggled up the hills at
> 5mph and screamed down the other side at 40mph. We were
> lucky with weather. It was like December in Phoenix, with
> 55° lows and 85° high temps. We had two rainy mornings
> that cleared up in the afternoon.
>
> RAGBRAI is a 7-day traveling party. Individual farmhouses
> along the way sell lemonade, Gatorade, cookies and water.
> Vendors like Mr. Pork Chop set up shop in farmer's front
> yards between towns. Every village throws a party with
> home-baked pies and food, beer gardens, "Kybos"
> (porta-potties) and water stops. The lunch and overnight
> towns are prettied up and provide campgrounds, hot showers,
> bike expos, food courts, church dinners, beer gardens,
> bands and other entertainment.
>
> "Ride Right" is the safety motto, but "Ride Wrong" is the
> practice. Riders constantly filled the oncoming traffic
> lanes, even while going up hills or around blind turns.
> With the constant dangerous riding, I'm surprised there was
> only one fatality.
>
> On the recommendation of Brison and Loren, we used the
> Porkbelly Ventures charter service www.pkbelly.com. They
> bus you and your bike to the start and back from the
> finish, carry your bags, provide campsites, water, showers,
> beer & sodas, a meal & parties, etc. Porkbelly's service
> was very good, but 370 riders was too many.
>
> I'll be delighted to go again, but probably not next year,
> because there are too many other rides to try.
>
> The Ride
> Wednesday Tim started driving to Omaha. He has a
> special bike trailer, and it was loaded with 5 bikes - Paul
> and Jane's uprights, Bill & Sharon's upright tandem, and
> two recumbent tandems, Bill & Nathan's Longbike and our
> DoubleVision. Friday evening the rest of us flew to Omaha
> where Tim met us in the lobby. As a team emblem, Bill
> Meacham gave us each an Arty the Artichoke (from Scottsdale
> Community College), so we zip-tied Arty to our helmets.
>
> Saturday: Omaha - Onawa - Missouri River - Onawa, 23mi,
> 134' climbing.
> We had breakfast buffet at the motel, then checked in
> with Porkbelly, loaded the bikes in trucks and people in
> buses and drove to the start town, Onawa. It rained a
> little on the way.
> We arrived about 12 and set up camp. It was cool &
> misting but it cleared up. We explored the bike expo for
> lunch, where we watched Lance win the TdF time trial on
> Alpe d'Huez. We ran into Loren and Brison there.
> We did our own "prologue" ride to dip a wheel in the
> Missouri. On the way back, we rode into town and had a Bud
> in the beer garden, then bought a six-pack of Amber Bock
> and rode back to camp.
> This is where we found that Iowans drink "every kind of
> beer you can think of - Bud & Bud Lite, Miller and Miller
> Lite." We had dinner at the expo, then walked to DQ for
> ice cream.
>
> Sunday: Onawa - Lake View, 72mi, 2685' climbing.
> We struck our tents, packed and threw our duffles on the
> truck, and were on the road at 6:50am. It was sunny but
> cool. About 4 miles down the road we hit a bump and
> dropped our rear light. When we pulled into the gravel
> shoulder, we crashed and suffered slight road rash.
> We stopped at Mapleton (21mi) around 8:30 for breakfast
> of Chris Cakes pancakes. On the way to Schleswig, we
> passed bad accident at the bottom of a big downhill. We
> found out later that a tire-eating crack between the lanes
> at that spot caused many accidents and killed one rider.
> Brison yelled at us as we came into Schleswig for lunch,
> where we also met Loren, Bill and Sharon, Jane and Paul.
> Only 4 miles later, we had a problem. The timing chain
> jammed between the chainring and the crank. Loren stopped
> to help, but we couldn't unjam it. We ended up breaking
> the chain with the chain tool, but we pushed the pins all
> the way out and were unable to reattach the loose ends
> together.
> We were finally rescued by Roger. He pulled over to to
> help, making a siren noise. He had a pair of small vice
> grips that we used to unjam the short piece of chain. I
> was impressed that for the full hour and a half we were
> stuck on the shoulder, the stream of bikes stayed constant,
> and when we got going again, we were still miles from being
> last.
> We arrived in Lakeview and missed the Porkbelly
> direction signs, but eventually found the camp on the south
> side of Blackhawk Lake at 4:45pm. Tim rode off alone on
> the tandem to get the chain fixed, and then rode another 10
> miles around lake, while I took a hot shower and stood in
> line for dinner.
>
> Monday: Lake View - Fort Dodge, 72mi, 757' climbing.
> We were on the bike at 6:45 for another sunny day. We
> stopped about 13 mi out for pancakes next to a Lutheran
> Church along the way.
> We were stuck in line for about an hour, so we killed
> time by counting wedgies between recumbents as the stream
> of riders passed us by. I expected 100 to 1, but the
> sample we took was more like 20 to 1.
> They ran out of pancakes when we got within 20 of the
> food, but emergency supplies soon arrived and we got our
> breakfast. We had lunch at Rockwell City, and arrived in
> Fort Dodge at 3:30, where we camped at the High School.
> We had spaghetti dinner at the High School, and wouldn't
> you know it, they ran out as I was about to be served, but
> they soon had more and we ate our fill. My sun shower was
> scalding hot, so those things really work! Some local kids
> tried to disturb our sleep with lots of noise in the early
> morning, but I slept with earplugs and didn't hear a thing.
>
> Tuesday: Fort Dodge - Iowa Falls, 70mi, 1057' climbing.
> On the DV at 6:40, we pedaled 10 miles to breakfast of a
> breakfast pita at Badger. After Eagle Grove, I voted no on
> the Century option, and we headed straight to a lunch stop
> at Dows.
> We rode all the way through Iowa Falls before we arrived
> 2:30 at the rugby field campsite. We couldn't camp on the
> field so tents were set up in an O all around it. To
> support the rugby team, I stood in line for a $2 cold
> shower, the first of many.
> We took a bus into town where we had Methodist chicken
> dinner, the best meal we had on the trip. After dinner we
> listened to the HS drum band and watched a juggler who said
> "his daughter threatened to run away and join a family". I
> got back too late for free Margaritas and to watch the
> rugby match.
>
> Wednesday: Iowa Falls - Marshalltown, 65mi, 1535' climbing.
>
> On the road at 6:43, and passed an accident at RR tracks
> just leaving town. Some riders don't realize you have to
> cross tracks at a right angle. The crowded road makes it
> hard to do, but it's required for safety.
> The wind was from the South, right on the nose, but I'm
> sitting in Tim's wind shadow, so what do I care?
> At 19 miles, just before Cleves, we were 50 yards behind
> Bill & Nathan when their front tire blew. We heard the
> bang, and then saw the crash. They went down and had a
> little road rash. We stopped to help with a little first
> aid, then continued on. A little later an upright tandem
> stopped there and dropped off a tired daughter with Bill.
> Nathan jumped on her seat and was stoker the rest of the
> way. Bill sagged to Steamboat Rock and bought a 60psi BMX
> tire for $9, then rode the rest of the route sans stoker.
> The girl sagged all the way in.
> Misting rain started after Steamboat Rock, but it wasn't
> cold. After I got soaked, I learned to carry my rain
> jacket within easy reach. We stopped to eat at the famous
> Mr. Pork Chop as the weather cleared up on the way to
> Union. Then we had several dangerous and slow miles on a
> gravel road that bypassed the last town, so we had a final
> stretch of 26 miles before Marshalltown.
> We stopped at a watermelon stand in town, and yelled at
> Nathan when we saw him ride by on the back of an upright
> tandem. We arrived 3:15 at the Riverview Park campground.
> My shower bag had lost it's end and my fresh laundry was
> lost, so I wasn't having my best day. The laundry was
> found, but the showerhead wasn't, so that meant cold
> showers for me.
> We biked downtown for dinner, where they ran out of
> ribeyes as I was about to order one. I ate vegetarian
> lasagna but should have had the ribs. On the way back, I
> spotted Roger and he came over for a chat. He told us he
> had gotten to town at 4, but it took him 3 hours to make
> his way through all the free beer and food he found on his
> way to the campground.
>
> Thursday: Marshalltown - Hiawatha, 86mi, 1962' climbing.
> On the road at 6:35 on a misty, rainy morning. We
> followed the route signs for a mile off the main route to
> Clutier, pop 216, which had nothing but a near miss with a
> kid on a bmx bike who shot out from behind a parked car
> into our path. We missed the turn off to Elberon, but were
> rewarded at Keystone with pie & coffee for $1.
> After taking a break in Van Horne, we found Dad's
> waffles just outside of town as the rain started in
> earnest. An hour of waiting in line and eating waffles
> saved us from riding in the rain. When we came out, two
> girls came up to have their pictures taken with the Arty's
> on our helmets. By Palo the skies were clearing, and we
> could see the steam plume from Iowa's only Nuke in the
> distance.
> We had a big town greeting at Hiawatha, with fake palm
> trees lining the street for the Hawaiian theme, and people
> handing out goody bags. We camped on a hillside at a park
> and took another cold shower. It was Porkbelly grill
> night, so Tim & Nathan rode to Super Walmart to shop for
> steak & Guinness. Steak didn't sound good to me, so I had
> African peanut chicken stew on rice. We got a little rain
> at night.
>
> Friday: Hiawatha - Maquoketa, 80mi, 2357' climbing.
> On the bike at 6:55 in overcast, fog and occasional
> mist. We turned onto Lead Mine Road and had 5 miles of mud
> which got into the brakes and shifter cables and ruined
> shifting. Two 'bents - a BikeE and an EZ 1 - crashed in
> the mud and were taken to hospital.
> We washed off the bike in Olin, but didn't eat. I think
> we stopped for a beer in Elwood, and got into Maquoketa at
> 5:45. Had a hot shower in the High School Gym, and came
> back for a Porkbelly margarita.
> We rode downtown to party central w/Jane & Paul for
> dinner. It was very crowded and we didn't have much time
> before dark, so we ate fast. I tried a ribeye sandwich.
> When we got back we stopped at the bike expo to get the
> shifting and brakes worked on.
>
> Saturday: Maquoketa - Clinton - Omaha, 55mi, 1632'
> climbing.
> Got an early start at 6:35 for the last day of the ride.
> Had breakfast burritos in Preston. At the meeting town of
> Charlotte, we had pictures taken by and with the Mayor.
> As we approached Clinton, I was disappointed to see two
> bikes upside down only 9 miles from the finish - a gal had
> crashed and was hospitalized. On the outskirts of town we
> stopped for a free beer. Roger came pedaling along a few
> minutes later so we flagged him down to join us.
> After that it was all fast downhill into town in a
> single lane restricted by traffic cones. We almost crashed
> in when a rider wouldn't move right as Tim tried to pass.
> We hit traffic cones and Tim lost his Recumbent Central
> water bottle.
> We arrived right at 12:00 noon and dipped our front
> wheel into the Mississippi. We had our picture taken by
> guy who rode the whole 500 mile route with no seat on his
> bike!
> We found the Porkbelly trucks, dried out our camping
> gear, took showers at the local pool, and changed into
> civvies for the bus ride. We loaded the bikes on the truck
> and our bags on the bus, and grabbed a quick pork chop
> sandwich & watermelon for lunch.
> The bus to Omaha left at 3:30, stopped in Des Moines at
> 6:30 for dinner at Burger King, and arrived at the Omaha
> Airport Ramada 10pm, and the ride was over except for the
> flight home on Sunday morning.
>
> We did a total of 540 miles (50 extra) because we added 23
> miles for Missouri River wheel dip, had several trips into
> town, and Tim did an extra 10mi loop around Blackhawk Lake.
>
> The Bikes
> You'll see every kind of bike on RAGBRAI. Most are
> uprights, but we saw a large number of tandems, trikes and
> recumbents - about 1 in 10. Here's what I remember seeing.
> Many upright tandems. Saw 1 triple, heard of a quad.
> Many Trail-a-bikes and Burley 2-wheel trailers and a few
> BOBs.
> Many Vision R-40 short wheelbase types, Tour Easy/GRRs, and
> Rans models.
> Seven Double Visions and several Screamers.
> Several EZ1s, EZ Sports and BikeEs.
> A few Bacchettas, both Giro & Strada types.
> A few Trice, Greenspeed, Cattrike, other tadpole trikes.
> Two Leitra velomobiles, one all the way from Denmark.
> Two Vision Sabers and 2 Volaes.
> Two Bilenky tandems with a recumbent front stoker, upright
> rear captain.
> Two handcycles and 2 single speed cruisers with "Gears are
> for Whimps" signs.
> One or two EZ tandems, a BikeE-2, and a cyclo with a
> paralyzed front rider.
> One ActionBent, a Barcroft Virginia, and an EZ Trike.
> One medium-wheelbase Vision R-40 and an R-30 "wiggler".
> A few home-mades, including Tour Easy clones, a high racer
> with 700c wheels, an erector set trike, and an R-40 clone.
> Saw one "Boneshaker" penny-farthing going the other
> direction.
>
> tom adams
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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