Saturday, July 22
I did RAGBRAI alone for the first time this year, 2023. I have a former student who lives in Davenport, the end point of the ride, and I offered to pay her to haul me out to Sioux City. She had to work, but her husband was available. I got up early, drove to Davenport, and Matt drove me west. We saw a few team busses on the highway. We stopped in Cedar Valley and had a delicious burrito at Pablo's. When we got to Sioux City, there was a massive traffic snarl. It was hard to tell where we were supposed to go, and even when we found out, we typically chose the wrong lane. After about an hour, he dropped me at the campground. I found an area of open flat grass next to a parking lot to pitch my tent. Shortly, I saw that I was very close to the kybos, so the smell was not so favorable. I dipped my rear tire at a nearby launch ramp, and rode my bike over the the Bike Expo to explore the booths. I met Cathy Murphy (AKA Murph) from the Just Go Bike podcast, as well as Marley Blonsky, a recent subject of said podcast and co-creator of All Bodies on Bikes (https://youtu.be/JytAXpxmmQY). I saw Ryan van Duzer at the Priority Bikes tent, but he was backed up with people wanting selfies. I checked out a lot of the booths, picked up some freebies, and stood in a long line for the RAGBRAI merch tent. They were fairly wiped out of stock because of the crowd, but I managed to find a few bargains.
I took the goods back to my tent and returned with my chair. I got a hot dog for dinner and watched the opening band. They were a pretty good cover band. The Spin Doctors took the stage, and they did not disappoint. I don't know their work that well, so some songs were unfamiliar, but they also did their hits, of course. They had the most amazing sound quality I heard the whole trip. Very clear and free of distortion. I rode my my bike back to my tent with a headlight for the darkness. I'm not used to sleeping under street lights, with traffic and people walking by, or kybo smell, but I slept surprisingly well.
Sunday, July 23. RAGBRAI day 1. Sioux City to Storm Lake.
68.70 mi, 5:28:24, 2,972 ft of climb
I got up at 5, thinking that would give me a jump on the crowds. Not so. I was packed by 6, but I had to stand in the baggage drop line 45 minutes. I heard later that other people had 2-hour waits. Eventually, they stopped requiring people to weigh their bags (there's a 50-lb limit). My bag was 39 lb.
It was cool and overcast to start. I took advantage of the mild conditions to get as many miles behind me as I could while it was nice. The hills provided some great vistas, but were killers on my legs, and they sapped me. When I finally arrived in Storm Lake, I stopped at the campground for baggage pick-up and the first thing I asked the guy was "Is this the regular RAGBRAI pick-up?" He said yes, and we spent like 20 minutes looking for my bag. Eventually, I noticed all the bags had a white tag, which led to the realization that it was actually the baggage for the Pork Belly Ventures charter. I was pissed. I was hot, tired, and had wasted a bunch of time. Plus, I had stopped my bike computer, and it was another 5 miles to my actual campground. I should mention that the Pork Belly campground was right on the lake and had many large trees for shade. My campground was an open ball field at the high school. No shade anywhere.
I took the shuttle down to the lakefront and got a nice, fat burrito. I sat on the bank of Storm Lake, which is quite large, and watched people and boats while listening to the warm-up band. I went into the venue and got a beer before the Spazmatics started their set. Their nerd rock did not disappoint. I've seen them twice before. Very fun.
I walked back to the shuttle pick-up and saw two busses loading. I broke into a trot and soon as I got near I asked a volunteer which one was going to the main campground. He said the first one, which was then pulling away. I said, "Son of a bitch!" I think he was offended. If I had known, I could have run straight for that one and made it. So I waited like 20 minutes for the next shuttle to main campground (meanwhile 5 other busses came for the other campgrounds). While talking to another volunteer, I learned that 500 people had wanted to take the sag wagon that day. That far exceeded capacity, so they were stranded in the first town until later, when the ride organizers sent school busses to pick them up. Not sure how their bikes were hauled back.
Monday, July 24. RAGBRAI day 2. Storm Lake to Carroll
57.71 mi, 4:41:09, 1,526 ft of climb
I had breakfast at the nearby Hy-Vee. They had a nice breakfast buffet and almost no line. I sat with a guy named Patty who was going to ride RAGBRAI, then ride self-supported up to Winona, MN with a huge amount of climb. I don't think I would try that. I left an hour later than normal and that turned out well, as there was no line for bag drop.
The ride was relatively short and easy, which was quite a relief. The campground was another ball field, with no hope of shade. I pitched my tent next to a fence, which was handy for locking up my bike, but I hadn't noticed the generator-driven yard light that was running later that evening. When I was trying to sleep.
Fortunately, the high school was serving hot lasagna for dinner. Their showers were cold and communal though. I met a 1st year medical student in line for food, and we decided to beat the heat by sitting inside the HS, charging our electronics, and chatting. Then another guy joined us. He was a writer for MSNBC, and very interesting to talk to. I missed the Pork Tornadoes that night, but I had seen them before. They're good but not in my genre. After sunset I walked back to my tent for bed.
Tue, 7/25/2023 RAGBRAI Day 3: Carroll to Ames, century day.
101.13 mi, 7:51:29, 1,827 ft of climb
I tried to get an early start, but the bag drop was a long line that spiraled through a parking lot. Weird. Again, I tried to get miles in early while it was cool, and we had some overcast sky. I made few stops, as usual, and tried to listen to my body when it needed water, drinks or specific foods, such as ice cream. The route was very well designed, with relatively little climb, and the century loop was late in the ride, so you could more readily decide whether you wanted to attempt it. Plus, the ride was going to be 86 miles without the loop. What's another 15? My right thigh was complaining a bit, but when I reached the decision point, I decided to go for it. I'm glad I did. The route was pretty easy, with plenty of tailwinds. More importantly, I made a friend in Alton from Montgomery, Alabama. He's a real southern gentleman, and we made the miles fly by with our conversation. We picked up our century patches together and celebrated for a bit. We rode the rest of the ride together. There was a guy with a little dog in a box on the front rack of his bike. He also had wooden box panniers. As a woodworker, he had built them himself. The dog box was labeled "I bite!" A rare silky terrier, he was a rescue and "mean as a hornet." Nobody I saw tried petting him. Alton and I rode through Jack Trice Stadium at Iowa State in Ames. Their cheerleaders were lining the route, and boy do they have a lot of them.
The campground was Brookside Park, and I probably got my best camp site here, right next to the brook. I got pizza from a vendor in the campground. I took the "bum's shower" in the water jet area, which was intended for filling water bottles. I rode my bike downtown to Casey's to get some food and a beer. I rode to the venue, but they wouldn't let me take the beer inside. After consuming it, I went into the downtown mall area where they had set up a bandstand. The opening act was Burnin' Sensations, which struck me as awkward because the Burning Sensations had a hit in the 80s with "Belly of the Whale," but this was not them. They were actually a really good band, though, and played some unique covers, like "Fat-bottomed Girls" by Queen (and we all yelled, "get on your bikes and ride!" at the appropriate point). One guitarist had an unusual left hand with no obvious fingers. He could somehow hold a pick, however, and I thought he was just going to play chords and rhythm, but the guy could play lead. He sang too. They ended with Head East's "Never been any reason," which has a lot of keyboard parts in it. The keyboard player was dressed like a 1970s British rocker, with long hair, skin tight black pants and red lame' jacket with no shirt underneath. He came out with a keytar and was playing the solos with the thing over his head and absolutely killing it. I sure wasn't expecting that.
Since I was there fairly early, I was up in the front, near the right speakers. When Hairball came out, the volume was deafening. I felt near-field effects throughout my body, and when the bass hit the deep notes, I could feel it pushing and pulling the air in and out of my lungs when my mouth was open. I stayed there anyway. I haven't experienced that kind of loud in a long time. Probably won't again for awhile. The crowd was huge, estimated at 5000 filling the downtown. They played classic rock favorites, each time with one of the three lead singers dressed and made up like the original, such as Gene Simmons of Kiss or Dee Snider of Twisted Sister. They put on a hell of a show. They change it every time, and even though I'd seen them twice before, they did not do Alice Cooper or Queen previously, and that was a treat. They really should have done Queen's "Bicycle" though. Their encore was AC/DC and I took that opportunity to get on my bike and ride, beating the crowds back to the campground.
Wednesday, July 26, 2023. RAGBRAI day 4. Ames to Des Moines.
57.12 mi, 4:25:48, 1,227 ft of climb
They were closing a major highway for the route, but only for a fixed period that day. So if we got to Ankeny too soon, we would have to wait. I elected to sleep until 6. The late start was a plus, as there was no line for the bag drop. I think one of the themes was that people were trying to beat the crowds by getting up earlier, but that doesn't work when everyone does it. One thing I noticed was that people would ride out of town and get breakfast at the first stop. By eating in the overnight town before departing, I had no lines or crowds.
This day was predicted to be the biggest. The news said 20,000 riders were registered for the whole week and 9000 had day passes. Probably several thousand more joined us for this fairly short route between two big college towns. I saw plenty of bikes and people without wristbands riding. And it was, indeed, crowded. Most days were, but this was the proverbial elbow-to-asshole ride. We had to wait for a train to get out of town. A couple on a tandem blasted over the tracks right ahead of the train. I would not have tried that!
The campground was another big park. I tried to guess where the sun was going, but apparently I was disoriented because my tent ended up being the last to get shade. So I went out exploring on my bike and discovered a secondary stage where a band was playing Living Colour's "Cult of Personality." Intrigued, I sat in the shade and watched them a while. They consisted of three young men. They all took a turn at the drums, and all sang except the bass player. The other two traded off guitar and drums and were quite proficient at both. They played of diversity of seldom-covered rock songs, including "La Via Strangiato" and "Working Man" by Rush. I think nobody covers Rush because their stuff is so difficult to play, but these guys nailed it. I was in heaven. Meanwhile, I got food and beer from vendors who were right there, and there were no lines. Oh, and the route trail ran right in front of the stage, so I got to watch bikes and people go by. The next band looked familiar, but they were a few songs in before I realized it was the Kris Lager Band, an excellent blues group that I'd seen before on a Big BAM ride. Kris said, "this is the most people that we've played for 10 seconds in front of," referring to the bikers streaming by. I went and took a shower at Joe's Wet Shack, then rode my bike down to the main venue. Lynyrd Skynyrd were only a couple of songs into their set. I got some pizza and a beer and sat down out in the middle of the crowd where it wasn't too loud. They played all their hits and sounded great considering all their original members are dead.
Thursday, July 27, 2023. RAGBRAI day 5. Des Moines to Tama-Toledo
94.78 mi, 8:28:55, 4,402 ft of climb
With everyone wanting to get an early start, it was a long line for baggage drop again. I have a photo of about half of it. It was cool weather early and I tried to get those miles in by skipping most of the towns, but it was a long hard day at eight and one-half hours in the saddle. Man, was my butt sore. It's hard to find a saddle that works well with the lower position that aerobars provide. It was almost certainly the hardest day of RAGBRAI ever for me, and for others that I spoke to who had done it more years. The hills were never-ending and fairly steep. Last year I changed out the cassette on my bike for one with lower gearing, but even the lowest is too high for my liking. Still, I never walked up a hill or took the sag wagon. I will have to change derailleurs to get some lower gears, and it's not that easy on an older bike like my Litespeed Tachyon. In Kellogg, I met a cute little white dog named Snowball. He was barking at everyone, but turned out to be friendly. The bank doorway in Grinnell was super elaborate, so I photographed that. I stopped in one town for a drink and a snack. The little grocery was wiped out of stuff, and one guy had bought a half gallon of orange juice. He walked out of the store and said, "Anyone want a drag off this before I put my lips on it?" I was about 4 miles out of the end towns, Tama-Toledo, and there was a biker down in the road ahead. Later I heard he had crashed into the ditch. They had called for a helicopter to evac him, but canceled that and took him out in the ambulance. I never saw him because I turned off when I saw a sign for Indian tacos. They were having a pow wow later that night, and I was able to get an Indian frybread taco, which I hadn't had in decades. I had to ride some gravel to get into their park, but there were no lines. I met some people from Ukraine, which made for interesting conversation. They had Ukrainian flag jerseys and olive branches on their helmets. I rode the short distance into town. At one point I could see a school and campers ahead, but there were no signs and most bikes were turning, so I turned and went another few miles (from Tama to Toledo, which are across a highway from each other). There I learned that I was now in the WRONG campground, and rode back to the first one, fuming with anger. So I had to ride an extra 6 miles at the end of an already difficult day because RAGBRAI has shitty signage. I picked up my bag and found a place to camp by the elementary school. When I checked my bike computer I was at 94 miles and I really thought about going around the block a few times just to notch another century, but I was just too dead to realistically attempt that. The line for Joe's Wet Shack was really long, so I took the bum's shower again in the water spray area, which was probably intended for cooling, rinsing clothing, and filling water bottles. I had plenty of company there. The water's cold, but it's free. There was an older couple there, and the guy was washing his wife's hair in one of the jets, and it was just an adorable moment. I found out the elementary school was open as a cooling center. I went in and charged my electronics. The air was really nice and cold inside. I chatted for awhile with a guy from California who lived in Redlands, not far from Riverside where I went to undergrad. I was in no mood to ride my bike, and the shuttle routes looked really goofy, so I decided to skip seeing Foghat. They have one original member left. We left when the school closed at 9.
Friday, July 28, 2023, RAGBRAI day 6. Tama-Toledo to Coralville.
82.04 mi, 6:56:24, 2,497 ft of climb
I had seen the Kwik Star convenience store on my unfortunate trip to the wrong campground the previous afternoon, so I went there first thing in the morning. Almost no one was there. I got coffee and a cholesterol-infused sandwich. I sat with a couple of guys from San Francisco, so we talked about California a bit. One guy had bought a half gallon of chocolate milk. I jokingly asked if he was planning to drink it all. He said no, and offered me some. I finished my coffee and drank 2 cups of the stuff. It was college jersey day, and I wore an old QU Women's Soccer Team jersey that I had found in a pile of freebies on campus a few years ago. Though lacking rear pockets like a proper bike jersey, it was remarkably cool and comfortable.
Coming into one of the towns, the bottleneck was so great that we had to get off our bikes about a quarter mile out. Normally, that doesn't happen until you're in town a bit. I took a side road past some goats and bypassed most of the happenings, though I was tempted to stop and get a better look at the live reindeer and camel. It got hot later in the day. I stopped in a town, listened to a band while sitting in the shade, and had a soda. That helped for awhile, and later in the day I stopped at a farm and did their slip 'n' slide just to cool off. There was a pool of soapy water at the bottom, where I was completely submerged. It felt great, but I never did get it all rinsed off.
It was another long, hard, hot ride. When we rolled into Coralville I went to the information booth to ask where the baggage pick-up was. It was right in front of me. I found my bag and was walking out when I ran right into Alton. What luck! We surveyed the surroundings for camping, and he said most of the area was too far to carry his bag. I told him I'd carry his bag for him, and as far as necessary. I went back with him to help him find his bag. He described it and I found it. Fortunately, it had backpack straps and I carried it a short distance to a flat spot we had picked out not far away. In fairness, Alton is 72 and I'm only 61. We set up our tents and sat in the shade awhile to rest. We chose well this time, as the shade gradually crept up and covered our tents. We got showers at another pay trailer whose name I can't remember (Million Waters?). It was much nicer than Joe's Wet Shack. A couple of his friends from Alabama joined us for dinner at the Methodist Church, and Alton paid for all our dinners. The food was great and abundant. I rolled out of there, stuffed. I ran into Josh Mittelberg from my area, pretty much the only person I knew on the whole ride, as Julian was unable to come up and join me. We walked out of the church and were crossing the street when I saw a large, black dog running in a yard ahead. I couldn't have been more pleased to find a giant schnauzer. She was young, friendly and beautiful. She really made my day, which was about to get MUCH worse.
Alton wanted to buy a fresh T-shirt so we went down to the venue and vendor area. There were no T shirts to be had. Alton left, and I went to the ID line to get my age confirmed, which is required before you can buy a ticket, which you need to get a beer. A police officer went to the mic on the stage and announced that a huge thunderstorm was coming and the band (Bush) was probably not going to play, and we were going to have to take shelter in the nearby rec center and school. I quickly bought my beer before they cut off sales. The air raid sirens went off and the roadies started pulling some equipment off the stage and covering the rest of it with plastic. Then I saw the ominous shelf cloud coming in from the north. Everyone was heading for the exit, but when I got there, the security guard said I couldn't leave with a beer. Great. I walked back and downed it as fast as reasonably possible. I hoofed it back to my tent right when the gust front hit, and it was a doozy. I secured my tent and headed for shelter. I wanted to go into the rec center because my phone was charging in there but the line was too long and police were motioning us to cross the street to the school. I did so, with dust blowing in my eyes. The wind was fierce and already some tents were blown down. At least I had my chair, so I didn't have to sit on the gymnasium floor. The only reading material I had was the maps of Coralville and Davenport I had gotten at the information booth. I can look at maps for a long time, but 1.5 hours is a stretch. The side doors were open in the gym, and I could see the lightning, wind and rain were ongoing. Finally, people started drifting out. I briefly talked to one guy who had been trying to sleep on the floor next to me. He had been unable to get the fly on his tent and had just taken his sleeping bag out of its waterproof bag when the storm hit. It was going to be an ugly night for him, with presumably all of his stuff soaked. I deployed the little poncho-in-a-plastic bag that I had been carrying in my fanny pack all week and ran across the street to the rec center. I found my phone and was able to start contacting people. I let everyone know I was OK. I found out one of my former students who lives in Iowa City had come down for the concert. He wanted to meet, but the storm canceled that. He said if my tent was down I could stay at his place, which was super nice. The rain let up a bit and I went out to my tent. It was still up and fairly dry inside. I had left the air vents on top open in my haste, but not much water got in. Sadly, Alton had collapsed his tent to prevent it blowing away, and it was full of water. I helped him re-erect it and hammered in his stakes. He sopped up the water with his towel and eventually got to bed. I got in my tent and went to bed with the sound of raindrops on the fly. In the morning, the tent was soaked on the outside, but I I shook off the fly and packed it up anyway.
Saturday, July 29, 2023. RAGBRAI day 7. Coralville to Davenport
73.20 mi, 5:19:09, 1,535 ft of climb
In the morning I heard Alton and his friends outside. I dressed and packed in my tent, thinking I'd see them before they left, but when I got out, they were gone already. The wind had blown over two kybos. Fortunately, nothing leaked out. A number of tents and things had been thrown in the dumpster, but I could not find anything worth salvaging. I got breakfast at a Kum and Go just outside Iowa City. Again, no lines. I bought some cheap sunglasses, as I had dropped mine somewhere that morning before I left. A couple of miles down the road we had the option of going through Kinnick Stadium at University of Iowa. It was pretty cool, and I read later that the option was cut off at 8:00 a.m. Although over 70 miles, the ride was comparatively easy, as it was fairly flat with a modest tailwind. I bombed through it, seldom stopping. I talked to people that had slept in the school the previous night because their tents were destroyed. It was awful, as people were up all night making noise and walking around. I dipped my tire and took the obligatory photo in Muscatine, as I knew the tire-dipping line in Davenport would be long. At one point I fell in behind three riders because I wanted to draft the last guy, who was pretty big. After a few miles I lost them, but found I had gained about 5 riders who were drafting ME. That seldom happens. I didn't mind and pulled them for quite a few miles. Outside Muscatine, someone was giving away drinks and snacks. I got a Coke and some pretzels. When we rolled into Davenport a train was coming through, blocking us from entering the riverfront parks where all the event stuff was. I made my way to the luggage pick-up, found my bag, and went back to meet Matt, who had driven down to pick me up. I got a shower at their place, and it was absolutely fantastic. I drove home, but I stopped for sunflower seeds because I was falling asleep at the wheel.
Final thoughts
This was definitely the hardest of the four RAGBRAIs I have ever done. I don't think I was in any worse shape, as I had trained fairly hard this year. The length and hills made it brutal. 534.68 was my mileage total, plus probably another ten for unrecorded miles. I don't think I will do it next year unless one or more of the following occur: the route is more southern and easier, and they cap registration at a reasonable number.
It took about 3 days for my legs and butt to feel normal, but that's typical. My resting heart rate has gone down to about 54, which is super low for me. Probably didn't get below 60 last year. I lost 2 lb on RAGBRAI and have lost 2 more since. Usually, I lose 10 lb or so, but they don't come off until the weeks following the ride.
I met a lot of interesting people, and found that conversation helps pass the time. I talked with one woman for about an hour, and when she pulled over I found that we had gone 16 miles without noticing. Meeting Alton on the century loop was the best though. We talked each other through it. I met another woman who had a vacation home in Lake of the Oaks, which is in my county. Crazy. I got a lot of comments on my bike. One guy was riding a Litespeed that he claimed had 75,000 miles on it. Another guy said he had one, but it was too precious to take on RAGBRAI. My jerseys initiated some conversations, including my Ped Jam jerseys, but mostly the Mount Diablo jersey. Anyone who had lived near it wanted to talk about it.
I want to record some of my strategies here for reference. I ate breakfast in the overnight town to avoid crowds. I ate flexibly and in out-of-the way places to avoid lines. I used cornfields, and defiled a few, to avoid kybo lines. I got up at 5 and was ready to go by 6. This did not help avoid crowds, but I put more miles in early when it was cooler. Any earlier and it's dark out, requiring lights on the bike. Usually, I rode past the first few towns without stopping unless there was something really interesting. I tried to listen to my body to understand what it wanted in terms of food or drink. I wore a different (old, unwanted) T shirt every night and threw that and my underwear in the trash every morning, so my bag became lighter and emptier each day. I brought a battery bank so that I could charge my phone without having to compete for limited outlet space every night. I downsized a lot of my stuff, such as tent, pillow, sleeping pad. I used a bike light as my tent flashlight. Extra space adds up.
Next time, I would carry fewer shorts and jerseys, maybe 3 each, and attempt to wash them periodically.
