RAGBRAI XXXIX Day 2 Part 1 -- Atlantic to Manning

[caption id="attachment_100" align="alignright" width="225" caption="The street into Manning was VERY full of bicyclists."][/caption]

I have made it a little over half way through today's ride, and have stopped in Manning. So while I let my phone charge at the Windstream Internet trailer, I am going to begin blogging about today's ride.

This morning when I woke up, I felt much better than I did yesterday, so I decided to go ahead and ride. However, Mel was not feeling too hot, so she is riding the team bus instead. One thing that made this morning much nicer than yesterday morning was the fact that it was not sunny, and it was a little cooler. As I write this now at 11:30 am though, the sun has come out. That will definitely make the rest of the day much warmer.

Today's first stop was in Elk Horn where I stopped to check out the sights, including the windmill they have in town. Even though it was almost fifteen miles into the ride, I was not ready for breakfast. I ended up spending about half an hour there before I continued.

[caption id="attachment_101" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="Petey P. Cup and I got our photo taken as vikings.There were mermaids in Elk Horn!"][/caption]

My next stop was just three miles down the road in Kimballton. By this time I was getting hungry so I stopped for a Farm Boys breakfast burrito. The line was long but moved very quickly. In addition to the rather tasty breakfast burrito, I had a Danish. I needed to be sure I had enough to eat because the next town, Manning, was almost twenty miles away.

[caption id="attachment_104" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="The Farm Boys made some really good breakfast burritos in Kimballton."][/caption]

About halfway between Kimballton and Manning I made another stop. This time it was for Beakman's Specialty Homemade Ice Cream. I had a cup of half chocolate and half raspberry ice cream. With the temperatures rising, the ice cream was very refreshing.

[caption id="attachment_105" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="The Beakman's ice cream was a refreshing treat."][/caption]

I have about twenty-eight miles to go before I make it to Carroll, and from what I have heard, it is much less hilly than the first half of today's ride. That is a very good thing. While I have managed the hills fairly well so far today, I could really use a break from them.

I will try to blog about the second part of today's ride either this evening or sometime tomorrow. However my first priority is getting my butt across the state on my bike, so the blog entry will come when I get to it.

RAGBRAI XXXIX Day 1 -- Glenwood to Atlantic

[caption id="attachment_96" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Petey P. Cup sits by the side of the road as RAGBRAI cyclists ride by."][/caption]

Upon waking up this morning I was not feeling the best. My stomach had been hurting all night, probably contributing to my lack of sleep, but I figured it was just because I was hungry. Mel and I therefore set out on our first day of RAGBRAI XXXIX, planning on riding the 59.5 miles from Glenwood to Atlantic.

Our first stop of the morning was in Silver City both Mel and I were quite hungry so we decided to seek out some breakfast. We got in the pancake line, but even as I took my plate of pancakes, I was not sure if I was going to be able to eat them. I quickly drank my glass of orange juice, but after just a few bites of my pancakes, I could tell they weren't sitting well with me. Before leaving Silver City I found a banana. I thought that would help, but I couldn't finish that either.

Having finished the first nine miles of the day, we continued on our way to Carson. However, we would not end up making it there. My body continued to give me problems as I rode. At one point I was waiting at the top of a hill for Mel when I lost my balance. I had only unclipped one of my shoes from my pedals, so unable to balance on the uneven surface, I toppled over, cutting my right leg up pretty good with my gears.

We did continue going, but the extreme heat was beginning to get us despite the face that it was still early in the morning. Even as I write this, the heat index in Atlantic is 92°F. We ended up stopping about eighteen miles into the day. We waited for the Des Moines Register's sag wagon with a ham radio operator who was helping to communicate what was going on along the route. We, and the seven or so other people who were in need of transportation to Atlantic, waited over three hours. Every time a sag wagon passed by it was already full. The ham radio operator decided that he needed to do something about this. He called up his sister in Glenwood, and she and her husband brought a truck to haul our bikes, and we rode in the car we had been waiting by. We ended up arriving in Atlantic before 3:00. I have not decided yet if I will ride my bike tomorrow or not. That will depend on how I am feeling.

Mel and I did have a nice dinner at a locally owned Mexican restaurant in town. The food did help me to feel better for a while, but I am still not feeling my best. After I finish with this blog entry, I am going to continue to rehydrate myself with Powerade. Hopefully that replenishes all my fluids.