7.25.2007

RAGBRAI XXXV: The First Three and a Half Days

I haven't been blogging much this week because I have been riding my bike across Iowa on RAGBRAI XXXV. Today is the fourth day of the ride. Our trip to Rock Rapids on our team bus on Sunday was fairly uneventful. We actually made it all the way without anything on the bus breaking down.

The first day of riding on Sunday wasn't too bad, although it was pretty windy, and of course, we were riding into the wind for a good part of the day. There were some small hills, but overall they weren't too bad. The wind really picked up for the final third of the day, so that wasn't too good. We had a good camping location in Spencer that night, so we were able to get some good sleep, unlike the previous night in Rock Rapids when the bad playing downtown kept me awake until almost 12:30 in the morning!

Monday's ride from Spencer to Humboldt went alright, but we did have an hour-long wait in line for breakfast at the Webb fire station. On top of that, Mel's bike needed repairs not once, but twice! We did stop at Mel's parents' house a few miles out of Humboldt, so we didn't make it to our campground until about 5:30.

Yesterday, we rode from Humboldt to Hampton. It was a bit hillier than I expected it to be, with this year's RAGBRAI route being one of the least hilly routes ever for the ride, but the headwinds were not nice, especially since we were riding into the wind for almost half of the day. We did have a delicious spaghetti dinner at a Lutheran church in Hampton, complete with corn on the cob that was picked fresh that morning!

As I write this, I am sitting in the Iowa Telecom trailer in Applington. We have about 25 or so miles left on the route today. Mel was feeling a bit sore and still tired from yesterday, so she is riding the Superior Hawgs bus today instead of her bike, so I am riding with my sister Rebecca and her friend Janelle. The route hasn't been too bad today, although there have been some hills. After the hills, Janelle and I have to wait for my sister to catch up, since the hills tend to slow her down a bit. Anyway, I better get back on the bike so I can get to Cedar Falls.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ya know, I thought of you when we were in Bellvue last week on our little family outing. Have fun!

Later!
Anna

Anonymous said...

Sorry I missed you ;). Although I don't see where Bill o'Really has a damn thing to do with it.