Today has been a challenge. I have been outside for the last week and have been feeling cooped up, so I went for a ride. You may think that i have lost my mind but I needed to get back in the saddle to see how it felt and it wasn't great. I physically felt fine, although my butt still hurts a little, but it wasn't the same. I found myself riding alone, which almost never happens on ragbrai. I was looking for a place to get some ice cream. It was a lame attempt at trying to continue ragbrai, I know, but I had to try. Not only was I alone but the stop just didn't feel right. While eating my cone I had nobody to talk to about what we had seen along the way. I don't mind riding alone normally but after last week I got used to having teammates around me to keep me company.
f you haven't experienced ragbrai first hand it is hard to comprehend. I have heard it called a week of excess. Excessive riding, excessive eating and excessive drinking. The riding is such a small part of the week. Mainly you are outside meeting people of all types. Whether it's the 20-something year old girl that has had too much to drink before the riding even started to the wonderful hosts we had along the way that opened their homes to a group of transient bikers with only the promise of a good time, a great meal and a clean house. People are what make ragbrai special.
Another thing that makes last week great is hidden ragbrai gems. In each small town we travel through, and this year there were many towns of 100 or less people, there is a traveling circus of food truck/vendors that set up shop. That's not where you find the gems. You need to go off the main square and find a local establishment. These places make the best stories. Whether it is the local diner that we had an incredible breakfast in, the local pizza/steak joint that served us a great lunch or the convenient store that was part gas station, part repair shop (that probably still has oil on the ground from a model t ford), part hose clamp distributor for all of town that served about a pound of soft serve ice cream for a $1.50. These are the places that you really experience ragbrai and the people of Iowa.
It is a real skill to find these little gems along the route and we are lucky enough to have the king of these gems on team cuisine, Red. Red is a ragbrai veteran of over 20 years and can sniff out a local treat from miles away. I always look for his bike in the towns and if I find it, I find him in the best places around. It's a real gift.
Another amazing part is the different experiences each person will have. While I was eating ice cream and guarding hose clamps with Red, Art and Christine, Tom was down the street in a church basement eating pie and watching 2 teenagers play the Band's "It makes no difference" on the piano. We were all amazed at what we experienced and we were just a short block away from each other at the time.
I am very lucky to have the chance to ride ragbrai and even more lucky to be part of team cuisine. I wish that I could write all of the great stories from all of the members of team cuisine, and I may still try, but I want them all to know that they are all great and I am already counting down to ragbrai 2017 just a short 357 days away.
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