A nice day in Iowa

After a few brutal days and the thoughts of hating the state of Iowa I have made it back to being in love with this beautiful state and its people again. The hills were a little large but the weather was back to managable and the scenery was incredible.

Inspiration

Inspiration comes in many different forms for many different reasons. Last night we stayed with my wife's aunt & uncle in Marshalltown and hung out with their sone Derrick and all of his RAGBRAI budies.  Having grown up doing RAGBRAI they know all of the tricks & have a great deal of advice for relative newbies like me.  After discussing many years of riding and some really funny stories I got the best advice yet, SLOW DOWN!  What was said is that I am missing so much by blasting through the ride and getting to the overnight town by 3 o'clock, so today I have gotten to the first town and had some pancakes, found a shady spot under a tree and decided to write this post. I have to tell you, so far this has been a good day, although the sub-90 degree temps & lack of headwinds helps too.

To SAG or not to SAG

SAG (support and gear) vehicles are common on rides like RAGBRAI and they are there to assist riders. When you take one of those, or any other ride, you are conisdered SAGing. Today we are having our support team drive us to the halfway point to start today because the high headwinds are back today but only with 105-110 degrees temps. Plus like I said in the last post, this is supposed to be vacation.

So right now I write this in our 62 degree room shivering without a blanket (really, who needs a blanket in this heat unless you find the last hotel room in Iowa) but am thrilled at the idea of riding only 45 miles in these conditions rather than 75. This may make me love Iowa again after yesterday's debacle.

Vacation?

So we are done with day 3 and today was a rough one.  Iowa showed us her worst today with heat bad enough to make the news on the west coast, headwinds blowing at least 15 miles per hour and hills that just about made me cry. I did not make the 100 miler today because I chose to take a quick nap instead, I am, on vacation afterall.

With Matt on IR he drove with "college kid" today and they found us a motel room and we are now sitting in a 60 degree paradise with a pool and a hot tub, this may make tomorrow quite a bit better.

Speaking of tomorrow, we get another break from the heat at night due to the hospitality of my wife's aunt & uncle, the Henrys. I really hope they know what is in store for them!

I will again try to keep up my posts tomorrow because it seems we have left the cellular vaccum that is northwest Iowa and we have service again, I know, such 21st century problems.

Hotter than....

At one point today my bike computer said 106 degrees and i thought it might be broken  could it really be that hot? Around the next corner, the bank in the shade said 104  Man its crazy how hot it is 

Along with the heat today we had some other challanges  The battery on the car was dead but "college kid" was able to get a jump  After that we had Matt get into a bit of an accident on the road and ended up with a chip fracture in his knee.  He will be/is fine and may still get some more riding in but his day really sucked.

Overall trip has been good but I reaaaally can't believe that its only Monday.

Is it Saturday yet?

Patience is not one of my virtues. I am packed and ready to go. Car is ready to go, maps are printed, bike is ready and I am pacing around like a caged animal.


After looking at the maps on the Ragbrai website I see some challenges in the week ahead, along with the heat, but it will all be worth it for a week on the road under the Iowa skies. 

Is it time to ride yet?

This last week is making me nuts. There's a lot to do but i can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Things are starting to fall into place but the thoughts of not enough training loom.

Team met yesterday and we are going to have a GREAT time!  Our new driver "College Kid" is a welcome addition to Team Fear and Loathing in Iowa.  After last year's issues with the driver we had (aka the Invalid Buddha) we have set the bar low but I foresee no issues at all this year!!!