RAGBRAI 2016 Day 2: Shenandoah to Creston, 75.2 Miles

After a quick rain shower, we had a nice night of cool temps for sleeping. This made up a little for the worst night of tent camping EVER the night before.   We were ensconced in a brewery eating brats and tacos when it rained, so all in all we lucked out. 

Now to start our second day of RAGBRAI, we woke up at 4:30, to get on the road at 6.  The mileage today was 75 miles and it would be pretty hot and sunny again. the early miles would be nicest. 

At 4 miles we stopped for coffee, but still managed a fast pace on the rolling hills. Breakfast was pork chop at the famous pink bus of Mr. Pork Chop.  Yum. A second breakfast followed in Villiasca where I had my first piece of cherry pie. 

In fact today there was more pie than I had ever seen on RAGBRAI. I did my part and had three pieces of it:)    

The hills got a little longer today along with the mileage.  The cornfields disappeared for a while and we pedaled over and through pastures dotted with trees. Close your eyes and you could be in Germany.  A couple of towns broke up the day, and the friendly folks in each little village rolled out the red carpet for us.  

We couldnt help but notice the successful vs failed food/drink stands which could be found almost each mile of the route.  Shade and convenience were king, and trees and a portapotty went a long way toward selling whatever could be found in the coolers.  Being at the top of a steep hill also helped:). Some of them sitting in the hot sun on a speedy downhill just watched as we all flashed by. I drooled over homemade ice cream but it was never the right time to stop for it. Tomorrow. 

We finished at about 2:30 and the town was still quiet. Most people were still out on the route, and would trickle in for the next 5 hours or more.  Our charter company Bike World had a nice spot above a lake in Creston. We nabbed some shade with a nice view, and found a place to take a shower. Life was suddenly very good!

Here's some interesting facts about todays route from the official RAGBRAI Pre-Ride back in June:
http://ragbrai.com/2016/06/06/ragbrai-route-inspection-pre-ride-day-2-shenandoah-to-creston/

Monday’s Route:Shenandoah to Essex – 6.2 miles
Essex to Bethesda – 10.7 milesBethesda to Villisca – 14.6 milesVillisca to Nodaway – 4.8 milesNodaway to Corning (Meeting) – 13.0 milesCorning to Prescott – 9.2 milesPrescott to Creston– 16.7 miles

Total Mileage: 75.2 milesTotal Feet of Climb: 3,994