RAGBRAI part deux

So I completed RAGBRAI for another year, much to my surprise.  I hadn’t planned on riding again this summer – once was enough (or so I thought).  I came away with a sense of satisfaction after completing the ride in 2014 and figured I could cross it off my list.  And so  last summer turned into fall, which turned into winter, which turned into me riding RAGBRAI again. How did this come about?  Last January, while in Florida for a business trip,  the RAGBRAI route selection party was underway in Des Moines with the route for 2015 set to be announced.  Our support vehicle driver from the previous year was hell-bent on driving us on RAGBRAI again, even though we didn’t commit.  She was poised and ready to pounce on lining up hotels for us the minute the route was announced (just in case). The announcement was delivered and she immediately started booking hotel rooms near or close to all the overnight towns for 2015.  She succeeded and the texts started flying between all of us on the ‘Moving Tassles’ team…”just in case I booked hotel rooms”,  “this year we won’t have to camp” and “oh come on life is too short”, “let’s do it again” …And so it went, and so we rode again this summer.

For a little bit of background history on the actual selection of the route, the RAGBRAI route is different every year.  There is an annual selection party in January held in Des Moines, where with big fanfare, the route for the upcoming year is announced.  The RAGBRAI route averages 468 miles and contrary to popular opinion, is not always flat.  The ride begins somewhere along Iowa’s western border and ends along the eastern border on the Mississippi River.  The route changes each year with 2014 being one of the”easier” rides and this years ride one of the more challenging.  Just to compare mileage, in 2014 I logged in 452 miles and this year, the total mileage for me was 519.  What was the difference?  A few things.

I rode the optional Karas loop again this year ( an optional 25-mile loop dedicated in honor of John Karas, one of the founder’s of RAGBRAI)  but this year, just for fun, they threw in an optional gravel loop for cyclists brave enough to add 15 bumpy miles to their trek.  The special loop — in honor of Steve Hed, a wheel innovator and founder of Minnesota-based Hed Cycling who died in November — was tacked onto the 68-mile stretch from Storm Lake to Fort Dodge.  Not too many cyclists rode this stretch, but after a rather uncertain start, I settled into the rhythm of biking on gravel and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The ride was quiet – hardly any bikers – and the vibe was one of serenity with nothing but miles and miles of corn, billowy clouds, blue sky and the wind at your back.  Along the way, the local farm implement dealer who had tractors dotting his front lawn, served us cold lemonade. Halfway through the loop ride, we had a stop at the host town – Pomeroy.  Population 646, this little community threw one of the best parties in Iowa that day.  Locals dotted the sidewalk in their lawn chairs, watching the cyclists streak by.  The owner of the only bar in town, “Bryons” is known for booking great talent and he outdid himself with the blues band he lined up for the day – one word – AWESOME! Word got out about this one, as RAGBRAI’ers always seem to find the great parties, and state troopers had to close down the bar by 3:00 that afternoon due to over capacity. Byron’s had that great old smell – just like the scent you get from a really old book.  It was like going back in time.  The musty smell still resonates with me.  The beer flowed, it was a beautiful sunny day and everyone seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Another addition of mileage to our route was the location of our hotels.  Yes, we scrapped camping and lived it up at the local Holiday Inn Express and Fred’s Motel.  The Moving Tassles (or ‘Team 1%’ since we were the upper crust of lodgers) logged in additional miles each day biking to our lodging at the end of the day, and then back to the route at the beginning of the day.  The last and most important difference maker in the ride in terms of difficulty was the feet of climb.  A ball buster.  The first day in 2014 was 1,771 feet of climb compared to 3,941 in 2015.  What a way to start the ride!   The total average feet of climb in 2014 was 1,616 and in 2015 was 2,180 – quite different terrain.

Each year is different and if I ride again next year, there will be something new along the way. Just in the mere two years of doing this, we have all new stories and new adventures.  We had two new riders on our crew this year.  This year we threw in a “search for your family roots” theme.  One of our teammates spent the winter on ancestry.com researching her family tree which happened to originate near our starting point of Sioux City, so we visited a few gravestones along the way for a photo-op.  My husbands grandfather owned the Standard Oil gas station in Wilton, which happened to be a rest stop town, so we cruised into the gas station and talked to the current owner, and lo and behold, he had pictures on the wall of Jim’s grandfather – turns out he was a legend. The Iowa Craft Beer Tent could be found along the way, and on day one, upon stopping for a delicious brew, we received a punch card and if you got 10 punches (1 for each beer), you received a t-shirt on your last day.  I think that was the longest any of us rode for a lousy tee-shirt.

Why did I really ride again?  There is something about this ride that gets under your skin without you even noticing it.  As the months dwindled after the first ride, I found myself looking back on those warm Iowa days longingly, remembering pedaling through truly pretty country, the unique farmhouses, barns and windmills.  The smell of the dew in the morning, fresh-cut hay and biking through the morning mist as it slowly rises above the fields is a truly special experience.  Riding along without a care in the world to accomplish something, chatting it up with a friend or a total stranger is a great way to spend a week. Hearing about people’s lives and what the road does to change lives for them are conversations I will always remember.  From towns surrounded by rolling farming land to charmers set along the banks of rivers and villages there is a distinct cultural heritage along with beauty that comes in all varieties in Iowa. Did I ride solely because of those text messages I received in January?  I think not.  I think it was the alluring call of a misty covered corn field in the morning, of silos and farm houses speckling the landscape, of crazy dressed up people, of food, beer and camaraderie.  The people of Iowa truly make RAGBRAI the special event that it is by opening up their towns and communities to participants and the riders are the icing on the cake.

Hopefully – here’s to another year!