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

RAGBRAI 2016 Day 1: Glenwood to Shenandoah, 49.7 Miles

I won't brag about the great sleep we got last night. The heat and humidity were crushing, and overnight temps stayed above 80.  Hopefully that will be the worst weather of the week.

Today's ride had a lot of rolling hills. After our monster training hills in Utah they felt very small. Other may have had other opinions judging from the people walking. 

Jim and I, his sister Judy and partner Abby got off to a good but late start about 7 am.  The road was choked with bikers and finally we were actually riding RAGBRAI!  

After walking through the crush of people in the first town, Jim got a flat several miles later. Unfortunately he ended up walking back to town for a fix. I went ahead but then rode back to make sure he got back in the saddle. Our phones weren't working much because 10,000 people tend to mess up normal bandwidth usage!  From there it was a delightful day, with some tailwinds, and nicer weather than the previous days.  As always the people watching was the best, and we saw skateboarders, a dog and other crazy bike setups.  We cooled off in a fire hydrant and drank cold smoothies for lunch. 

Jims best few miles of the day were drafting off a tandem in a crosswind. I could barely keep up.  Soon we were coasting into Shenandoah, very happy that there were showers next door!

Here's some interesting facts about todays route from the official RAGBRAI Pre-Ride back in June:
http://ragbrai.com/2016/06/05/ragbrai-route-inspection-pre-ride-day-1-glenwood-to-shenandoah/

RAGBRAI 2016

Well, it's the last full week in July, which means it's time for RAGBRAI!   And this year, we get to ride it, which we are very excited about.  Yup we are going to join 10,000 or more people crazy enough to ride a bike across whole state of Iowa over 7 days, battling heat, wind, rain, bugs, and maybe even a tornado.  

This is Jim's first time on RAGBRAI, so he is in for a treat.   My goal is to see "loincloth" man again, but I'm sure we'll run into some very interesting characters and costumes over the next week.   I'll do my best to keep you posted with blog and photos every day, as long as I can get enough cell service to do so.  

If you aren't sure what RAGBRAI even is, it's a bike ride across Iowa with 10,000 of your closest friends.  You sleep in tents, shower in Army trucks, eat delectable homemade pie, and try to keep pedaling to the next town.   Here's a bit more about this iconic event which has been held every year since 1973.    http://ragbrai.com/about/ragbrai-history/   The route changes every year, but it's never boring.  The small towns of Iowa go all out to provide entertainment, beverages, and food, and if that's not enough, try watching the never ending stream of riders passing by all day long!  

Mt. Timpanogos Backpacking

No time to write much, we are on to our next adventure in Iowa; RAGBRAI! More about that later. But last week we gave out bikes a rest and went backpacking over Mt. Timpanogos, the highest peak near our house in Utah. At 11,752 feet it was definitely cooler at the top.  We were glad to escape the heat for a while, but descending back to the valley put us back into 90s again, hard to believe there was still snow at the top. 

We found a nice campsite near Emerald Lakes ( which do look very "emerald" when seen from the summit).  There was a whole herd of mountain goats around the lakes. Watching them while making dinner with NO mosquitos was very nice. 

Camping in the Uintas

Heat, bugs, and the dog learned to SWIM!

Our lightweight backpacking weekend plans went through a few small changes the week before we set out.    To say the least.  First we were going to hike near Timpanogos Peak.  Then the forecast looked like it would be in the 100s in the valley, which would be way too hot in that area to enjoy it.  Then we decided to bring the dog.  As in 11 month old energetic cattle dog Spot, who had never camped before and was sure to walk his sharp claws all over our delicate, expensive, weight-measured-in-ounces-not-pounds air mattresses and down bags.


So the backpacking trip, ostensibly to see if my gear was ready for a longer backcountry hike, became a car camping trip.   The Uintas seemed like a place to escape from the heat of the valley.  Unfortunately, we didn't really know where to car camp, with our stringent requirements of great views, no bugs, water nearby, easy to get to, hiking trails, and no one nearby.  Hah.  I'm sure such a thing exists, but it is (and should be) hard to find.  After driving down a few bumpy gravel roads, we finally passed the point of no return on one (as in there was no way I wanted to turn around and drive it again for nothing), and decided we would continue on until we came upon a camp site.   Amazingly, we did.  It was isolated, with a little stream, nice views, and close enough to a place to hike the next day.  But the bugs...yuk.  Luckily we brought head nets is all I can say.



Aside from mosquitos it was nice, and Spot managed to be polite in the tent and not pop our heavier and more comfortable air mattresses.  The next morning we took him on a hike down the road/trail, which dead ended in about 4 miles so we saw only a couple of people all day.   We did find a few nice small lakes, and near the end of the hike, we finally found Echo Lake, where Spot jumped in and swam around of his own volition.  It looked inviting, so we jumped in too.   Even at above 9000 feet, temperatures were in the 80s and we had been carrying our packs for training.  It was nice to cool off and chase the dog by the lake.

Spot was exhausted by the time we got into camp, and ate more for supper than I've ever seen.  Luckily being tired meant he was very good in the tent that night!   I guess if we want to use our lightweight gear we need to make sure he is good and tired before we hop in the tent :)