RAGBRAI - The 440 mile circus across Iowa.
July 19 - July 25 - Onawa to Dubuque, IA - 440 miles because I did bonus miles on Day 5.
Things we have learned in the past few days:
RAGBRAI doesn't have 50 thousand riders, as I had been led to believe by.....I don't know....the internet.
There are about 20K actual registered paid riders.
There are approximately the same number of support staff.
There is some unknown number of miscreants and ne'er-do-wells who ride along but fail to support the sytem....for reasons.
So what then is the actual number of bikes on the road? I'm not sure. I can tell you for certain from my own experience that it is very much like Seattle to Portland as far as the riding experience is concerned. With this one exception.
At least half of the food stops along RAGBRAI daily towns are RIDICULOUSLY good food. And I'm not talking about how a $1.50 Costco hotdog and coke is amazing after a 50 mile ride. More about this later.
Saturday was a no drama day. Though RAGBRAI claimed to have sent us our various wrist bands and documents, when we explained that I had been riding across the country since May or June, depending on how you count....they simply gave us all new stuff. And since we arrived at the moment Registration opened, there was no wait.
We weren't the only ones who had arrived early, but we would learn over the course of the day that really....RAGBRAI doesn't get truly started until Saturday evening. We left town at almost 5:00 p.m. after cruising the EXPO and hitting the food trucks. (Bunny had a shawarma salad, and I had 'Tastee Fries' which were somewhere between nachos and poutine, and both were totally delicious.
Day 1 - Onawa to Harlan - 60 miles
The day started moderately warm and just got hotter. There are a number of things one usually ends up doing during Ragbrai. Some people call this Ragbrai Bingo. In no particular order these things include:
Eat a porkchop at Mr. Porkchop - There is a big pink bus....and the smoke and smell can be seen for miles and perhaps smelled for miles if the wind is correct.
Have Ice Cream from Beekman's - It is slowly churned by these ancient single cylinder flywheel engines that make a distinctive popping sound. You know when you are near Beekman's.
Get corn....from lots of different places.
Eat a piece of church lady pie - This is available in most towns but the best seems to be right in the church parking lot.
Pee in a corn field. To be fair, there are a lot of porta-potties throughout the course and at campgrounds. If dropping trow (lycra?) in the edge of a cornfield isn't your thing, you don't HAVE to pee in a cornfield, but you totally can at pretty much any moment if the need arises.
Drink a beer - Again, you don't have to, but cold beer is being served just about everywhere. Even at 7A in the morning. If you stop at the Iowa Craft Beer tent (there are 2 to 3 along the routes every day) and buy 10 beers over the course of the week, you get a 'free' t-shirt. Yes, I have this t-shirt.
Fuel up at Casey's. Whether for breakfast or lunch, stopping at Casey's for a 'Slice and Ice' (my phrase) is a thing. Breakfast pizza here is a decent alternative to a breakfast burrito.
Meet strangers, strike up conversations, and make new friends.
Help someone out who has a mechanical or something happen to them.
Day 1 - Onawa to Harlan - 60 miles
Suffice it to say that I would accomplish all of these things over the course of Ragbrai. On the first day most of my energy was focused on finding the food things and I was not disappointed.
At Harlan things were a little whacky for Bunny. She was directed to a campground but it was in full sunlight and she had found another location that had no special markings but came with the same amenities (power/water) but which had shade trees. She moved the van and I arrived about an hour later.
Sometime after I arrived a local in a pickup truck informed us that we were not where we were supposed to be and that it would cost $150 to park where we were, but he could set us up with power for $50. We asked who he was and he said he was on the Harlan County Fairground board and that we were thieves and he would be calling the Sherrif.
This was confusing to us because Ragbrai is really well signed with what is reserved parking and what is not reserved parking and....given that there was no signage or indication of any exclusivity for our location....we kind of shrugged.
Truck guy returned a couple of times and became more irate/belligerent so I did some research and found that the sites that we are on were owned by the Harlan County Fairground. Oddly, if one tries to use their website to reserve a camping space on any other day than the day Ragbrai was in town, the cost to hook up is $25. On the 18th of July the required price was $150.
Stay classy Harlan.
I was in the process of paying for camping when 4 Sheriffs showed up. Friendly guys. I explained that I was in the process of paying for camping that we thought was included with our large support vehicle registration for Ragbrai. Bunny and I gave a report on the interactions we had with Truck guy, and I showed the sheriffs my paid camping receipt. Yep, I paid the $150....I sure as hell wasn't going to hand Truck guy $50 in cash. If I was spending more it was going to the community, not some testy power mad authoritarian.
The sheriffs explain that Truck guy runs the local speedway (which happens to be next to the Harlan County Fair Grounds), and he had a rough time with racers the previous weekend. That's fine and all, but as excuses for poor social behavior, it's thin at best.
The Iowa City Bicycle club happened to be camping on the other side of the fence from us and allowed as how they felt the interaction was rude. We laughed it off and took showers which happened to be noticed by said bike team. And since we had paid for water and power we offered them all showers. In retrospect I think this probably took some money away from Ragbrai proper, which was not our intent. I think Ragbrai moves shower trailers from town to town, and for $10 you can use said showers. Often you can also get showers from the local high school for the same price. Regardless, the Iowa City Bicycle Club members in some cases gave us money to defray our weird experience and we feel that we need to get that money to a charitable organization. We'll be reaching out to Rabrai directly to figure out where that money sDay 2 - Harlan to Guthrie Center - 57 miles
This day was notable for being the hottest of Ragbrai 53. A hilly day, but nothing someone who had ridden Chilly Hilly or the 7 hills of Kirkland short course couldn't easily manage. It got hot in the last 10 miles and corn sweat (the added humidity riding through cornfields generates) is a real thing though. Fortunately, the van was full on water and our solar setup kept up with AC usage. That said, I noticed that when the AC unit tries to keep up with 90+F heat and 70+ humidity....it gets a little weak AND it occasionally drips inside the van from condensation on the exhaust vents. But that's van life.
During the ride I ran into a local that people in Seattle might recognize.
Day 3 - Guthrie Center to Boone - 62 miles
Bunny had a little side adventure in the morning when trying to get the water tank filled. The van decided it wanted to be stuck in the mud and that created yet another moment where locals were a little less than gracious in their provision of assistance.
For me, things got easier in that the terrain flattened out significantly, but I had my own bit of drama in the morning as well when a rider on a recumbent bicycle took a fall about a 1/4 mile in front of me. By the time I arrived he was on all fours and still obviously struggling as were several riders who had stopped to give aid, but were unsure what to do.
I decided to stop and render at least minimally competent aid, and asked him to stop moving for a moment while I did a basic neuro assessment, and asked for someone to call 911. Jim definitely hurt his pride more than anything else, though it was apparent that his ride was over based on knee swelling and lacerations to his left arm and shin.
By the time he proved that he was AOX4 (look it up if you don't work in medicine). His bike had been moved to the side and someone had brought a chair. I had finished a cursory physical exam and determined that he was safe being moved further, so we got him into a chair. Multiple people confirmed that the real EMS were on the way so I continued onto Boone without further incident.
Day 4 - Boone to Marshalltown - 69 miles
Another flatish and long day. Frankly, I can;t remember anything of significance happening. Might update this as time progresses and I have an AHA moment.
Day 5 - Marshalltown to Independence - 108 miles
The fifth day of Ragbrai came with 2 alternative ride options today. If 87 miles wasn't enough, you could do a single small loop to do a century and get a patch for your jersey. Alternatively, you would opt to do 250km (you know....because the country is 250 years old) which would total about 165 miles.
I had every intention of trying to do the 250, but every time a paceline passed me on the way to Jesup (the last town before the loops began) they were pulling 23-24 mph and I just couldn't hang onto the pace. Had I made Jesup by 10:30A I would have done the additional 77 miles to get the cool challenge coin, but I got to Jesup at 12:30 and just couldn't see riding for another 5 hours.
So I took a break at the Iowa craft beer tent (strategically placed just before the beginning of the bonus loops). Then I rode my bonus miles to make a century and got a bonus beer the second time I passed the craft beer tent, and was into Independence before 3:00pm.
Day 6 - Independence to Dyersville - 42 miles
Today the action camera I have occasionally had mounted to the front of my bike made another attempt at freedom and jumped off my aerobars. The protective lens is cracked and will need to be replaced. As a result, the morning picture of riders climbing a hill in profile against the rising sun......well.....it sucks. Sigh. It was a beautiful sunrise. The ride was otherwise short and unremarkable except for multiple sightings of people doing Ragbrai in a fashion that makes it harder. Tandem or triple seat bikes are one thing. Towing a trailer with a beloved pet is also not exactly uncommon. Riding backwards the entire route. That's a little different.
On a positive note Bunny had been missing out on all the good food at the ride towns, but on this day Mr. Porkchop happened to be within 14 miles of Dyersville, and it was their last day so you could get 2 porkchops for $20. I turned into a bicycle based UberEats and she finally got to have a legendary porkchop.
Day 7 - Dyersville to Dubuque - 34 miles
The last day of Ragbrai started with a stop just outside the city of Dyersville at the set of the movie 'The field of Dreams'. The day dawned overcast and kind of chilly. But the people who started early avoided real rain.
Sitting on the bleachers where Kevin Costner watched 'ghosts' appear out of the field was kind of a magical way to start the end of the ride.
By the time I got to Dubuque the rain was your typical Seattle mist.
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