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.

RAGBRAI XXXIX -- Getting to Glenwood

[caption id="attachment_91" align="alignright" width="300" caption="This is GeekAaron with the Superior Hawgs team bus."][/caption]

Mel and I arrived early to meet our team in Evansdale, Iowa, yesterday morning to be sure we would not be late. We were actually quite early as we were only the second ones there. This year we only had twelve people riding the bus from Evansdale to the start of RAGBRAI in Glenwood. We ended up leaving at 9:00, and after our traditional stop at the Casey's General Store down the street we were on our way.

This year the bus ride to the start of RAGBRAI was very uneventful. We made really good time, stopping in Stuart for lunch at the Burger King, and arriving in Glenwood by 3:00. Our campsite was located pretty close to the town square where food vendors were set up. It also was not too far away from the bike expo. Mel and I were able to find some RAGBRAI XXXIX T-shirts for ourselves.

There was a rainstorm in the evening, but it was not very severe. The town's sirens had actually gone off earlier because of the severe weather. It had been really hot before the storm came through, but the storm helped to cool things off a bit.

While our campground's proximity to the downtown area was nice there was one negative aspect about its location. We were less than half a block away from a bar's beer garden, and the music continued until around midnight! I do not think I got much sleep at all. The longest amout of uninterrupted sleep I had was from 3:00 until 4:30 this morning. Hopefully this trend does not continue all week.