We came into RAGBRAI wrecked. Stayed in St Louis for a family funeral and drove all night just to arrive three days late and set up at dawn for the Tuesday 50 mile ride from Ames to Des Moines. It was brutally sunny and hot.
Did I mention our load?
Don't get me wrong, it takes a ton of support to ride RAGBRAI, especially with this contraption. First and foremost, thanks to my brother and his wife for inviting me and riding us and our trailer around. We can not possibly hope to finish each daily ride. We need help to catch up most days to stay with RAGBRAI. Our meager total off miles actually covered on our bike is below.
This week, my bike decided to come apart. First, sister in law spotted my bike trailer axle screw came off on the car trailer. Thank goodness, she spotted it. It would have been tough to replace that screw. A front rack also came loose too. Fortunately, I had spares on unused mounting points. We could ride.
Did I mention it was hot? And sunny.
How hot? Too hot to do this without the kind and generous support of Iowans. They provided drinks, often for free will donations, sprayed sprinklers on the street, welcomed weary bikers by the hundreds to rest and recuperate in the shade of their property, and all around supported us cyclists.
So pedal we did, giving our all, stretching our limits, and stepping up to help each other make a fantastic festival rolling through at anywhere from a slow crawl to 20 mph.
Busta got in his running miles too, as he could, mostly in the morning. Thing about morning is it's the best time to ride and the best time for Busta to run. So, we rarely go fast, and hardly make it to slow. He also stepped up to walk up some long hills in the blazing sun. Getting him a new cooling vest that locals kindly help wet was perhaps the best thing I did preparing for this.
On the fifth day of RAGBRAI, I helped as I could with the camp vehicle, while my brother rode the 90 mile hilly course in 8 hours, with breaks. Fortunately clouds cooled the route a little in the afternoon.
90 miles in 8 hours. Awesome ride, bro. Busta and I can only dream of 90 miles in one day until maybe I wise up and buy a motor for the bicycle to charge with my solar panel. Nice thing about the big group ride is seeing so many things people are doing with bicycles.
With my late start, I had only planned a 25 mile ride. About halfway, a gimbal screw fell out of my trailer hitch. You'd think I'd check all of the screws after the first few fell out. Luckily, I heard it and saw the screw. It took some time to fix the trailer, but i did it on the road. It was getting past noon, so I called for a ride after 15 miles.
Today, I got started early for day 6. It was a particularly beautiful ride through Central Iowa fields. And then the sun got high. It got hot and sunny. It was brutal, the route was over 80 miles and finished up hill into Coralville, between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.
This is the day that my rear tire, with it's super glued candy wrapper hole seal, finally gave out. I knew it was coming and carried a spare tire and inner tube. It didn't have to be today. I had covered 28 miles, the sun was getting high, and I had already arranged for my pickup. But then I decided to try to go 12 more miles through a scenic valley ride west of Marengo.
About 4 miles in, the tire gave out. It was hot and sunny.
Before even starting the repair, a member of the Air Force Cycling team, all of whom have been helping riders, stopped to assist. I had the parts and tools, and he gave me an hour of his time and effort in the blazing sun to get my bike back rolling.
Go Air Force
Here is the only picture that could be snapped from my overheating phone. Fortunately Busta's cooling vest had some moisture, but it was hot and sunny.
That's all I have time for. Tomorrow is the finale into Davenport. I am now two hours late for sleep.
My total miles are up to 97 or so. I almost made it over a hundred today. If you count the 35 we rode on Saturday back home, then it's about 130. That's a little low, but I'm happy about being able to repair and recuperate as we have. Tomorrow is one more chance.
Did I mention it was hot. And sunny.
Thanks to all for this great ride.