Day -1
My trip started when Jerry and a cargo van full of BRAGers picked me up at the Chick Fila near my house at 6:15. Fourteen hours later we were in Galesburg Illinois. Along the way, the 12 of us in the van chit chatted and tried our best to be polite. Lunch was at Cracker Barrel, dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Galesburge, IL.Day 0
The next day was a bit more exciting. We left Galesburg around 6 and headed to Burlington IA where we were to meet up with Pork Belly Ventures, the charter company that carried our stuff. We arrived around 8 and boarded the Pork Belly Charter Bus to travel to the start of the ride. By comparison, the bus was first class travel. Some people wanted to grab beer but we didn't have enough time. Though we didn't start with beverages, the bus let off for a break at a Walmart along the way and we loaded up. I grabbed a 12 of Miller Lite and used all my college skillz to covertly transport it by the bus driver unnoticed. Two minutes later, Phillip came waltzing into the bus with a 12 on his shoulder and high fived various people as he walked down the isle to the back. The bus driver never blinked. We drank our beer, talked world politics, watched the movie Knowing (awful, awful movie) and generally loosened up. By 1:00, we were in Council Bluffs.Day 1: Council Bluff to Red OakCouncil Bluffs is a burb of Omaha NE that is packed to the gills with casinos. More square footage of that town is devoted to gambling than everything else combined. I set up the tent, had some beer from the beer truck and mounted up for a quick spin to the Missouri River for the traditional tire dip. Only it wasn't all that quick. As would become their M.O. this week, Pork Belly had setup shop as far from the river as possible. I and two of my fellow BRAGers went anyway. Afterwards, they returned and I ventured into Omaha to have a look see.
Omaha is a pretty little big city with wonderful landscaping and a hopping bar scene. I found my way to the "Old Market" part of town and had a burger and two beers (local brews). That, combined with what I drank on the bus, made it real hard to find my way back to camp. I circled Omaha for half an hour before I found the pedestrian bridge I had come over on, then zig zagged through Council Bluffs until I found Pork Belly. By the time I arrived I was zapped and decided to hit my tent for a nap. As soon as I got my shoes off a friend called and said to meet her at the expo. There went the nap. The expo was boring but I pounded a lot o gatorade and started to feel better. Got back to camp around 8, had some beers and then retired around 9.
Mileage: No Idea
Day One started off as a chilly morning. I had checked the weather before I came and knew that Iowa was expecting unseasonably cold weather all week but for some reason it didn't occur to me to pack any warm riding gear. I started at 6:15 and as soon as I left town I reached a big 2.5 mile uninterrupted climb. I was hungry and decided to eat at the first place I saw. Well at the top of the hill sat my old friends the Farm Boys. Now when you start your Ragbrai off with the Farm Boys, you're basically saying "screw that weight lose thing, I'm here to eat". I had their breakfast burrito with everything (eggs, sausage, beacon, potato, cheddar cheese, salsa, sour cream, onions and jalapenos). I just gained two pound while typing that.Day 2: Red Oak to GreenfieldAfter breakfast I continued on and hit the second town on the trip, Henderson, at 9:30 (first town was dead). They were just setting up the Beer garden so I cruised on in and had me a Miller Lite, milled around a bit in the town and then took off. I didn't expect it but this part of Iowa was very sparsely populated. I rode 10 miles without seeing much of anything so when I arrived at Pastafari at lunch time (10:30) I had to stop. Their gimmick is pasta served with reggae music playing in the background. I had some penne and sat under a giant maple tree. With the reggae and a cool wind blowing I got that island relaxation vide; it turned out the be a mistake. When I got up to continue my ride, I found that I had lost the will to peddle. Kind of a bad thing for the first day of riding.
It was a struggle to go on. I went for about 3 miles before I ran into a beer garden outside of Emerson and just couldn't resist stopping. I had 4 Bud or Bug Lites and watched a Redneck Rock band play for half an hour. They were replaced by a real rough looking dude who did Jimmy Buffet covers. I was to see this guy every day on the ride. He inexplicably had a way with women. I ditched the beer garden around noon and rode on into Red Oak after a quick stop and go in Emmerson. When I reached Red Oak I started to relax and cruise through the town all nonchalantly. Well that was a bad too. Our camp was on the complete opposite side of town and on the second steepest hill we'd see all trip. It took quite some effort to ride up it after lolly gagging through town.
Mileage: 52.6
Red Oak
Red Oak was a medium sized town. I showered and had the BBQ pork being served at the church where we were staying. After diner I had some beers from the beer truck that followed us. Turns out that this year Porkbelly included all you can drink beer into the price of their service. They had a pale ale and a wheat to choose from. I liked the wheat so thats what I went with all week. After the beers I rode the shuttle to the fairgrounds and it was dead so I headed back. Porkebelly had scheduled a blues band for the night so I sat in the shade and chilled until they quit around 8:30, then retired for the night. I was fried.
The first place we passed through on day 2 was the small small town of Stanton. Well small or not, these people were festive. It turned out that the town was originally settled by Swedes so they had the town kids dancing Swedish dances on a stage and all the food was Swedish themed. I had a sticky bun and some coffee. When I left the town, I saw their colorful water towers. These people were really peppy for 6:30 AM!Day 3: Greenfield to Indianola
The night before I was talking to Ken, a fellow BRAGer, and he said he saw gooseberry pie for sale but didn't get it because he had never heard of it before. Well I have been searching for gooseberry pie for six years now and never found any anywhere. I was mad and jealous. Nodaway would be the place where all that changed. I stopped to have pie at a roadside tent and sure enough they had The Pie. I was so excited to find it that I had two pieces. I would have eaten an entire pie but I was worried I'd leave it somewhere along the route.
Fortified with sugar and a quest fulfilled, I continued on and found the Iowa Conservation society. They were giving out free water, bananas and post cards. They even mailed the post cards for you and paid the postage so I wrote to Lauren and Penny. It would become a morning ritual.
Around lunchtime I hit the town of Corning. They had venders at the bottom of a steep hill so when people stopped to eat they made everyone else stop and there wasn't enough runway to get back on the bike and ride up the hill. I walked along with my fellow riders and by the time I got to the top I needed a break so I decided on the United Methodist Church since they did a good job of advertising their fundraiser along the route. They were serving chicken and noodles but when I got inside I saw that they were also serving The Pie. To paraphrase John Candy in Heavy Metal: Wow, nothing for (6) years and then twice in one day! Good to know Jesus likes gooseberries.
At the back side of town there was a beer garden that served Bud products. I had my fill of Bud so I decided on a cafe across the street called the Electric Burrito that served Iowa micobrews and had the Millstream Iowa Pale Ale (Yummy). By this time it started to look like it would rain and when I reached the next town of Fontanelle, it did just that. I cut out my usual milling around and hustled on into Greenfield. The only time I stopped was to do a jellow shot with some ladies partying by the side of the rode in a nascar trailer. They were jamming to gangsta rap.
Mileage: 72.6
Greenfield
It drizzled that night in Greenfield and that kept a lot of people in their tent but I ventured into town and had a look see. Since no one was there I was able to dash out from under a store front, grab food and then dash back -- all without any waiting in line. I had steak kabobs and a pork ball. They call it a pork ball because no one would buy a "spam mass" even though thats what it is. See, its all in the marketing. Since the square was dead I headed back to PorkBelly and took part in their all you can drink Margaritas and Bloody Marys night. Everything was watered down so I decide to switch back to beer. I spent the rest of the night under their circus tent gabbing with various people. Got into bed around 9:30
On day 3 I decided to ride in a group of some of my fellow BRAGers. It was raining that day and I had my yellow lenses in. It took me about two hours to figure out why every girl was shooting me such dirty looks. Nope, never occurred to me they could see my eyes with my rain lenses in. Had to behave this day. We stopped for french toast and coffee in a town called Orient. No joke, I kept seeing signs for "Orient Corn" and thought they were part of a free trade agreement. Turned out it was just the town name. We then stopped in the town of Macksburg where the locals put on a skillet throwing contest. The object was to knock a basket ball representing a head off of a scarecrow body with a skillet from 20 feet away. Not hard to see what would have inspired this game. While here I got a bit antsy and continued on alone.
From Macksburg I went on and hit Mr Porkchop just outside of Peru. He serves a two inch thick pork chop cooked over dried corn cobs and stalks. Took a while to finish. I rode on and had water melon by a roadside stand and then stopped in a town called Truro. It was around 10 and I was itching for a drink so I rolled into a beer garden and saw a sign for vodka lemonade. It sounded good so I had one. Well not only did it sound good, it was good; fantastic in fact. Had one every chance I could the rest of the way. After Truro I found a guy selling pies by the side of the road and sure enough, he had The Pie. Ate one and moved on to St Charles.
St. Charles prides themselves on being the setting of the book The Bridges of Madison County. They had a good party going there so I stuck around a while. From there I went on to St. Marys. When I pulled into town there were some people cheering in front of a hair salon. I asked if they were open and if they would serve my kind. I saw that the owners daughter had on a shirt that said "The prettiest girls in the world live in Des Moines". This is a quote from Jack Kerouac's On the Road which is what inspired me to go to Iowa in the first place. See, Destiny and The Universe are one. Anyway the lady enthusiastically took me in and gave me a wash and fresh cut all for $10 (its a bit more here in the ATL). Across the street was a bar and I checked it out. They had Miller stuff and wine from the local winery so of course I opted for some chardonnay. It was fru fru but tasty. Outside the rough looking dude from Day 1 was playing classic rock and coaxing women on stage with frightening easy. I finished my chardonnay and powered on through to Indianola.
Mileage: 77.1
Indianola
Indianola was the only town in which Porkbelly set up shop anywhere near the action. I showered, had some beer and listened to an Irish band play while waiting for my fellow BRAGers. We hit the town around 6:00 for some fun. Everyone was anxious to go out after being rained on the day before so Indianola was packed with people. I cased the town square while my fellow riders ate and found that Indianola was trying to get in the Guinness Book of World Records by having the most hands stamped in concrete in one day. I went through and had my name recorded as "Father of Penelope Jane Nour". Met up with a friend soon after and dragged her in line too. I wanted us to go in as "Dragos & Ellen 4Ever" but she didn't go for it. If it ever makes in the book, I'm numbers 2008 & 2239. Later I had brats, a slice of pepperoni pizza with some beers and then played some fooshball. Ellen's friend destroyed me 10-1. The match was not as close as the score indicated. She crushed my spirit too so I retreated back to camp. The bad part about being close to downtown was that there was no bus driver to tell me where I was staying. Managed to make in safely in at 11:30.
This day would be our shortest mileage so I figured I'd stick with the pack and get some partying in. A group of seven started off that day (5 drinkers, one semi-drinker and a baby sitter) with breakfast in downtown Indianola where I had a sticky bun and coffee. From there we pulled into Milo around 9:00. Milo was having a M*A*S*H themed party for us called MASHED IN MILO. The townies were very welcoming. We posted up at the beer garden where I had a beer, a vodka lemonade, and a jello shot. Afterward I got inked with a Bruce Lee Enter the Dragon tat on the nape of my neck. If ninjas attacked, I was ready.Day 5: Chariton to Ottumwa
Five miles on the other side of Milo we found Pastafari. We stopped and I had the penne and roasted salmon this time. We relaxed next to a barn that I was sure would fall on us any second. After lunch we traveled on to Lacona. The town was about half way to the end of the ride and the last beer stop. We hit a convenience store and bought a 12 of Coors Lite and two malt energy drinks. We stashed most of it in my murse and then hit the beer garden with the rest in hand. It was a fun place and we ended up staying about two hours. They were giving out sun screen packets so I grabbed a couple for the next day's ride. When we decided to leave we all agreed that we would stop at the first gas station along the way and get more beers. Great idea only Iowa isn't flush with convenience stores. We went all the way to Chariton without seeing anything but we did happen to pick up free water melon and freeze pops along the way. I GOT PINA COLADA!!!!
Mileage: 44.4
Chariton
We rolled into Chartion around 5:30. It was the shortest day mileage wise and (at least for me) the second longest time wise. I was drained but hungry so I delayed my shower and went straight downtown in my riding gear to get some lunch. Had a gyro (awesome), egg roll (awful) and some curly fries - chips fusion thing with cheese on top (still not sure if I liked it). I also needed new gloves so I picked up a pair from one of the venders. After lunch we went back to Porkbelly and they were having that Irshish band from the night before play again. I showered and hit the beer truck but they were out of the good stuff and were only serving Miller Lite. I dumped mine in the bushes and hit the sack. I think it was around 9:00.
I've been accustomed to day 4 being century day on week long rides so this RAGBRAI was a bit of a change. With the little training I did, that extra day of riding before the biggie helped me. I was so excited about this day's ride that every little noise woke me that night. The last to do so was the sound of hail falling on my tent at 5:00. I can't describe how demoralized I felt. Well hail turned into thunder and rain which then turned into just plain rain which by 5:30 piddled out and became your average every day misty morning. I threw on my gear and jammed my belongings into my duffel bag and with little delay started my century ride at 6:15. My plan was to get out quick, do the extra loop, then meet up with my fellow BRAGers. I did some math and figured that I had to do the first 45 miles before 10 to meet up with them.Day 6: Ottumwa to Mount PleasantThis week we had a steady wind to deal with but today there wasn't any so I was able to throw down a good pace coming out of Chariton. About 7 miles outside of the city I came across an Amish family selling pies out of the back of a buggy. Breakfast was at hand! I got me a raisin pie (interesting pie, still not sure how much I liked it) and some coffee from an vender camped next to them (any fan of Kingpin would know the Amish don't do coffee). I ate without loitering and was off again in about 20 minutes.
I pushed on a couple more miles until I ran across the Iowa Conservation Society again in Bethlehem. I stopped to write to Wife and Baby and see the church there. It was a quaint little chapel to get married in. If you can only seat 20, the reception can't be that expensive. Got going again and powered through all the way Iconium. This was about mile 30 of the ride and I figured a man can only get so far in life on raisin pie alone. I stopped and had a sirloin sandwich and a cup of pasta salad. The pasta was bad but that sirloin burger was the best thing I ate on my trip. Just fantastic!
Left Iconium and went on to the century split. Those wanting to do a full 100 + miles had the option of turning right and looping around a lake back to the route at a junction we had passed about 5 miles back. If you do so, you pass Iconium twice. Most people that reach the option route at 8:30 AM are there to do the century. I mean why else would you be this far out at 8:30? Almost all the people on the road with me turned and climbed the hill to Rathbun Lake. There was a girl riding in front of me who was playing some good 90s rap and I tried to stay with her so I could listen but she dropped me. I think I might have wigged her out with my dancing.
The route wasn't overly hilly and there was no wind to speak of so the ride turned out to be very pleasant. I stopped twice for pictures and was done with the loop in a little over an hour. As I approached Iconiumn again I saw this bar on a hill that had some action going. Two hours ago this place was dead but 10:30 on a Wednesday was prime drinking time for RAGBRAI. I pulled on in thinking I would surely find my friends. While waiting I had two beers (Moose Drool from Montana and 312 Chi Town) and a vodka lemonade but no one showed so I went on my way. On the second pass by the century loop, only 3 people broke off to do it.
I rode all the way to the outskirts of Moravia where I found a barn converted into a bar (I saw several of these actually) and figured I could use a drink. Had me a rum and coke and from there I traveled to downtown where I had 2 vodka lemonades and an ear of corn. I only managed to go this far before my first corn because the lines for it were always so long. Its good stuff.
From there I rode on until I came to right outside of Blakesburg were I saw another sign for Amish Pies. Well I love pie so I stopped and walked up to order my piece only these Amish were selling their pie out of the back of an 89 Camry. I knew I'd been taken but since I stopped I figured I might well have some pie. Pie is pie no matter how Amish a person might be. As I pulled in Blakesburg I noticed the sky had darkened so I only made a quick stop to look around and then got back on my horse.
Really, I thought I made it. As I passed under a giant sign that said "Welcome to Ottumwa" I felt a few drops of rain hit my face. Hey no problem, I'm in the town now right? Wrong, Ottumwa was a pretty big place and Porkbelly (as was their practice) was on the complete opposite side. The rain turned to a downpour and I didn't stop to put on my rain jacket because Porkbelly was just around the next corner. After a while I lost Porkbelly's markers because they had put up signs for the camp ground with masking tape; not good in the rain. While lost I ran into some of my fellow BRAGers who were lost too. We all asked around, got separated and somehow made it to the camp ground in one piece. I pulled in, jumped off my bike and huddled under the Porkbelly tent. The rain stopped 20 minutes after I got there.
Mileage: 100 +
Ottumwa
Since I was soaked and cold, I figured paying $5 for a shower was overkill and everyone else seemed to agree -- this was the day of the "Shower Thingie". The Shower Thingie is part hose, part shower, part endurance trial. Afterward, being somewhat clean and sporting fresh nail polish, the BRAG crew ventured to Ottumwa. Ottumwa was having a concert and laser light show in their arena parking lot so we went in to catch the action. I had a rib eye sandwich and mooched some of those curly fry chips before we hit the concert. Since I had enough of Bud and Miller, I went with some Mikes Hard Cranberry but I only got down two before they started burning a hole in my stomach. There was goofy givaway going on there where you had to throw your empty plastic bottle through a hoop to get a prize. We all went and got rave accessories (I ended up with a purple glow stick). The band there played classic rock covers. The light show lasted about 20 minutes and was moderately entertaining. Two of the guys made friends with some locals girls and then noticed it was a bad idea so we ducked out. I made it in the tent about midnight.
On day six I stuck with the pack again and the pack was having breakfast at Mama Rafael's. I had me the breakfast burrito with chocolate milk and someone didn't want their drink ticket so that chocolate milk was actually 2. Most of the people were worn out from the day before's riding and/or after hour events so we took it slow to start. The terrain was flatter than what we had traveled over earlier and we had a nice back wind to help our pace. After everyone got warmed up we started riding hard and attracted a serious peleton of about 30 or so riders behind us. I felt all professional and stuff.Day 7: Mount Pleasant to BurlingtonLunch was at Tender Tom's who serves turkey products. One of the things you learn in Iowa is that a Tom is a male turkey. Who knew? Well this Tom knew his cooking. I had a turkey breast sandwich and half a turkey brat -- all yummy. From there we went on to Packwood where we stopped to have some drinks and play bean bag horseshoe. One of our members forgot her stuff at Tom's so she headed back and our resident baby sitter went along to pull her. That left five of us to play horseshoes and drink. I was having Mikes Hard again.
After half an hour or so we slowly continued on until we came to Germanville. I guess Germanville is a town but it looked like the middle of nowhere to me. There was only a rickety old bar along the side of the road with a beer garden in back. This was the last stop for alcohol on the last day for partying so we stopped and set up shop. It happened that our fellow riders caught up with us as soon as we arrived so we all went in together. At the bar I had 3 Vodka Lemonades, 1 Bud, 1 Bud Light, 1 Bloody Mary, and three ears of corn. We all chillaxed for about 2 hours under a pine tree listening to a band play classic rock. The bars on the route all close at 5 to scoot the riders along and let local traffic back on the roads and...well it was now five. We all mounted up and got going.
I normally take a while to warm up but I felt especially stiff after this outing and gosh darn I'll tell you those vodka lemonades give you the sensation of hydrating -- until that feeling of hydration is replaced by the feeling of someone punching you in the stomach. I had to make it 20 miles back to camp and all that flat terrain we had seen this day turned back into rolling hills. The first hill almost brought up my drinks and corn, the second hill was surprisingly manageable and when I hit the third hill something inexplicably clicked and I felt good. I decided that I'd better push hard while I could so I kept my distance from everyone and just pedaled hard. We all made it into camp about 6:30. This would be the latest I rolled into any town on this trip.
Mileage: 75.5
Mount Pleasant
Porkbelly's camp site was out in the sticks again but this time I was really digging the location. They had a vintage trolley running for a shuttle to God knows where. I wanted to take it but my fellow riders would be ready "any minute" and wanted to go downtown. That "any minute" I spent listening to two guys play acoustic 70s folk songs and drinking the free beer. Some people didn't like the band but theses guys were right in my wheel house. Hary Chappin, CSN, The Eagles, Dylan, they did it all!
At around 9:00 we boarded the bus shuttle to go downtown and right before we were to leave this guy comes on and tells us that we can go downtown and all but that there's a tornado warning and that the best place to go is really this building somewhere or other near by that can fit 500 people (there were 600 staying at our campsite alone). Six of the seven of us stayed on and pressed our luck. When we got downtown people were fleeing for safety so we just went right on up to the venders and got our food orders. I had a corn dog and ice cream.
There was an ever so small drizzle starting and I saw some action at one of the bars on the square so I ventured out for some recognizance. One of my fellow BRAGers accompanied me and as soon as we entered the bar the drizzle turned to a light rain. This place was packed with people and they seemed to be having a good time so I figured that if the BRAGers who didn't follow us didn't realize we weren't coming back, too bad; I wasn't going back out there.
Said bar in downtown Mnt Pleasant (forgot the name) had this band playing and they all had wireless instruments. They were kind of in the back of the place and you had to walk through them to get to the outside beer garden but they encouraged this and really interacted with the patrons. My cohort and I were both music fans so we jammed out there and drank rum and cokes. The entire place had a "If I die tonight I'd better get in some good partying" atmosphere. We left the place around 12:00 and looked for the shuttle buses. There were three of us waiting for the shuttle when a local offered us a ride back to the campsite. I described where we were staying and she said it was no problem. Indeed it wasn't; despite my directions we got back with no problems. From start to finish, this was my favorite day of the trip.
This was the final day of Ragbrai and I didn't want it to end so I stayed curled up in my sleeping bag until hydraulic pressure got me going. We had but 43 miles to go this day and word spread that we were supposed to hustle through so that we can load up the van and start our journey back. The west side of Iowa really misses out on the event. As I rode with the group, we only stopped once for Mama Rafael's and once for Ice Cream. There were no beer gardens and some of the major venders set up shop at the finish instead of along the route so the feel is really different on the last day. We just rode thought this day without any fun stops.Day 8One of the Ragbrai traditions is that you start the ride at the Missouri River (or Big Sioux River depending on the town) and dip your back wheel in the water, then you ride across the state and dip your front wheel in the Mississippi River. That way you've traveled "all the way across Iowa". Some people insist on including the century option and calling it "riding the entire way". Well my fellow riders were either not that big into tradition or just depressed about going home so out of seven riders only one other decided to ride to the Mississippi and he didn't even tell me -- he just took off.
When everyone turned off to go to the Porkbelly meeting site I continued on to downtown Burlington. It was all down hill and the wind was at my back so that final 4 miles was rather pleasant. The site of the Mississippi gave me renewed enthusiasm as I climbed the final hill before the end point on the river. Quick side note here, I never use my granny gear (easiest gear) on a ride. When I start to train I try it out on the steep hill leading into the Atlanta Country Club just so I know that gear still works but during all my rides before I had never used it. Well at the top of the last hill was an optional hill they called the Snake. It was as steep as the ACC hill that I practice on, only with switch backs every 10 feet. If not the granny gear now then when? I just had to do it if I was going to tell people I "rode the entire way". I made it with no problems and continued on to the River where I met up with Phillip who was already mugging for a picture. We took some shots of the place and soaked in the scene for a few minutes before we turned back. On the way back Phillip decided he wanted a video of him climbing the hill so we stopped and I filmed him climbing "The Snake".
Now remember when I said that the way there was all downhill and the wind was at my back? Well the flip side of that is that the way back to Porkbelly was all uphill and the wind was in my face. About half way back to Porkbelly I started to get bad stomach cramps. While everyone else ate Mama Rapahels that morning I held out for something else to materialize. The only other thing to materialize was raspberry ice cream. Yummy, but not all that filling. When I finally creeped into the high school parking lot where Porkbelly had set up, I was hurting bad. I managed to collected myself, eat some bananas, drink some fluids, shower, eat a BBQ pork sandwich from the cafeteria and climb aboard the bus.
Mileage: 43.2 +
Van Ride
We mounted up in our van and drove 6 hours to the Illinois - Kentucky border where we stayed the night in a town called Paducah. We ate at a Texas Road House where I had a New York Strip and baked potato. Some of the folks stayed at the bar there because this was the last last day of the trip but I didn't feel right so I retired. Its two weeks later now and my abs still cramp when I do crunches at the gym. The BRAG Summer Ride is this weekend; lets hope for the best.
The final ride back to Atlanta had no adventures. The wife picked me up at Micky D's and I introduced her to all my new friends. I was used to people lining the streets cheering my arrival but the only person cheering now was little Penny. I'm starting her on the bigwheel as soon as she can sit. We're hitting Iowa together!