RAGBRAI Day 2 – Harlan to Jefferson (83 miles, 5,239 feet of climb)

Mondy, July 21st - Knowing it was going to be a long day with lots of hills, we were again up at 5:00 am and on the road around 5:45 am. There was an optional century loop just a few miles into the ride which didn’t even temp us! Our first town/stop was at a cute little town called Kimballton. Obviously we were in Danish territory as they were having an aebelskiver breakfast. So even though we missed Danish Days in Viborg just a few days earlier, we didn’t miss out on the aebelskiver! It was good but not near as good as what the ladies in Viborg make. I could tell this wasn’t an original recipe – it was made from pancake batter and they didn’t serve the special homemade strawberry jam with it.

On to Elk Horn, another Danish community with a Danish windmill. And the hills kept getting longer. Heartland Tower was a water spot furnished by the Air Guard and greatly appreciated after that especially tough climb. They also had some mighty fine strawberry-rhubarb pie with ice cream, all for $2.00! Now if someone would have cold water, pie, and ice cream for me every time I climbed a big hill around here, like the Frog Creek hill off the Bluff Road!

Coon Rapids was our next stop and a fun town. It was a meeting town – this is where riders could meet up with their SAGs, so there was always a lot of action in the meeting towns. The town played up the “coon” theme and even sold raccoon tails which we saw many people wearing on their helmets or the back of the cycling shorts. This was probably the warmest day of RAGBRAI and we were glad to find an air conditioned building where they were serving pork sandwiches.

We ran into Tim in Coon Rapids. Seems like the line for the port-a-potties or Kybos (as they are called on RABRAI – some say that stands for keep you bowels open) is a place where one will frequently find others you know! Tim of course had done the century loop and still managed to catch us!

Leaving Coon Rapids the hills flattened out more and it was just 27 more miles to our destination, Jefferson, with one stop in between.

We were camped at the Knights of Columbus building in Jefferson, a very nice spot, and very handy as they were serving a beef & noodle supper complete with pie and ice cream of course! We were close to the downtown and entertainment and Ashley and I walked down there a couple of times. Otherwise we were content to sit around camp and talk with every one about what they saw out on the road and commiserate about the hills!

RAGBRAI – Day 1, Missouri Valley to Harlan (60 miles, 3,797 feet of climb)

Sunday, July 20th – We left the campground shortly after 5:30 am as it was just starting to get light. I had a headlight and we both had our blinky red tail lights. As soon as we got to the main route we were following a sea of red blinky tail lights. The only time we needed a map for RAGBRAI was to find our camp site – otherwise, you just follow the pack!

About 10 miles out we stopped at BeeBee Town for a delicious breakfast buffet at Mama Rafiel’s, one of the vendors who followed RAGBRAI all week.

We rode at a leisurely pace and stopped at all the towns: Underwood, Neola, Minden, Minden, Shelby, and Tennant but we still arrived in Harlan around 11:00 am and were the first into our camp. I think this is when we came to realize that RAGBRAI is a way more relaxed ride than what we have experienced before!

We were camped with a host family across from a park and the swimming pool. With showers so close by we decided to use the pool showers rather than wait for our solar shower bags to warm up. We had a nice shady spot to sit and chat with the others in our camp as they arrived throughout the rest of the day and into the early evening. And it was nice to have time to explore Harlan with its court house square.
Everyone in our group was off to bed early to get a good night’s sleep before what we knew would be our hardest day of the week – 83 miles and 5,239 feet of climbing. Unfortunately, it was an interrupted night’s sleep when we were awakened to a public address system at 2:00 am telling us to take cover as a storm was coming in.

Our host family (a couple in their 30’s or 40’s?) was up also and brought their radio out. They indicated the storm was well to the east of us. Ashley and I opted to go back to our tent and try to get back to sleep, which we did. While others, who have probably seen the movie Twister a few too many times, stayed up for a couple of hours waiting for the F-5 tornado. I’m not sure it was the smart thing for us to do to go back to bed, but we were only 20 feet from our host family’s brick house and brick garage where we could take cover if needed. The other thing that topped off the bizarre night was that our “hostess” obviously spent quite a bit of time in the beer garden earlier that night – she was completely snockered but trying to comfort the campers by telling them not to worry, that it would probably only be an F-2 or F-3 tornado! Did I mention, the radio had thunderstorm warnings – NOT tornado warnings! But we were lucky as the campers in the main camp grounds were evacuated to storm shelters around town and the only that happened was a brief period of wind and a couple of sprinkles. But with a death that occured when a storm hit Spencer during RAGBRAI a few years back, I'm reassured to know that the RAGBRAI are very careful of everyone's safety.

RAGBRAI – Arriving in Missouri Valley

This lttle doggie gets to go to RAGBRAI!

Saturday, July 19th – Charlie drove Ashley and I to Missouri Valley. We arrived around 4:30 pm and the vehicle and bike traffic made it hard to get around but we finally located our ShuttleGuy service and quickly unloaded and got Charlie back on his way home away from the mayhem!

Ashley and I took the shuttle to the Expo where I stocked up on chamois butter, a necessity for the week! Surprisingly, among all the thousands of people, we managed to see the Biking Viking group on our way to the Expo and on our way back from the Expo!

Returning to camp, who do we see, but Tim from Sioux City! It was nice to have a familiar face in camp!

It was a hot, sticky night and there was quite a bit of lightening off in the distance but luckily we didn’t get any storms that night.
I originally thought we would wait and leave after 8:00 am the first day to avoid the biggest mass of people, this was advice from the Siouxland Cyclists. But knowing it was going to be hot and muggy on Sunday we decided to get up at 5:00 am and try to get out of town early.

RAGBRAI Pictures

Wow, an experience! I've been immersed for a full week into a culture I've never experienced before - RAGBRAI!

Too tired and too much to do to give much of a detailed report but here are some pictures and a few of my impressions:

Glad I had the experience - it's so unique and hard to explain until you have been there. And what is better than riding bike all week long!

RAGBRAI may have a circus like atmosphere but it is a bike ride to be taken seriously - the official route was 471 miles and I think we had a few more than adding the miles getting to and from our camp each day. And IOWA IS NOT FLAT! Lots of climbing, especially on day 2 which was also a long day (around 80 miles).

All sorts of riders; from CAT racers to those who dusted off their Huffy 10 speed to join the ride for a few miles.

A million different bikes!

Solar showers work well!

The route was gorgeous; winding roads along some very picturesque farm land and river valleys. Going through the Amana colonies has a totally differet feel from visitng them by car.

Did not see any naked-beer-slip-and-slides. Not saying they weren't out there but there are all sorts of RAGBRAI experiences and my RAGBRAI experience was early to bed, early to rise!

RAGBRAI - Doing Great!

No mishaps, great weather except for about 60 miles of head winds today - but not so bad. Been doing lots of climbing. Iowa is NOT flat!! Lots of people having lots of fun. Full report when we return!