Vacation day, Friday, July 27, Cedar Rapids to Anamosa

Jeff forgot his gloves.  It was a short day, only 42 miles, finished and at the tavern by 10AM, Guiness on tap.

We headed up north to retrace part of the Ragbrai route from two years ago, because I guess if you're not riding you may as well drive one of the routes.  We went to Dyersville to the "Field of Dreams" site and I'm still a bit teary eyed.  There were lots of families there, having a catch, running the bases, walking into the corn.  A little guy, about 10yrs old, was at bat and asked the dad pitching if his own dad could pitch to him.  His dad had one usable hand, pitched to his son, and the kid could really hit the ball.  The house, ball field, bleachers, corn field all just like you would imagine-really neat.

We drove through beautiful rolling hills, following as best the bike route up to Potter's Hill, a steep, nasty climb.  This was towards the end of the last day's ride two years ago.  A mean trick, in my opinion.  We wandered a little too far east, past a ski "resort", and then back to Cedar Rapids.  We're both pretty pooped.  I've driven over 1000 miles criss crossing through Iowa.   The temp is down to a chilly 87, breezy but not blustery, one last day to go.

Trivia question-what did Jeff forget today?, Thursday, July 26, Marshalltown to Cedar Rapids

Well, I guess I left you in suspense from last night's antics.  Jeff did have an extra pair of glasses with him so he knew he could ride the next day.  I dropped him off in Marshalltown, then back to the hotel in Ames, and there in the grass, in the morning dew, I found his lost in the wind lense. It was pretty scratched up but was probably in that condition before the glasses blew off Jeff's head. Jeff said the storm was the big talk, but no one was really freaked out.  I'd hate to get used to this kind of thing.


The bicycle ride is going well, but Jeff has forgotten something almost every morning.  The first day he forgot his WATER BOTTLES, the next day his do-rag (essential head gear for under a sweaty helmet), another day forgot his water again, but we remembered just a few miles from the hotel.  This is sad as we take inventory every night to be sure all necessary bike stuff is in order.  What's next?


Nothing else terribly exciting today.  I had a dandy map to meet Jeff in Cedar Rapids-most of the streets were closed for RAGBRAI.  I wandered through a subdivision with streets named Sue, Dennis, and Susan (really Sue AND Susan?!), got lost, gave up and headed to the hotel, and by accident ran into the park where the riders finished for the day.  Jeff & I had scanty phone service throughout the day, he saw me drive by, and Bob's your uncle.
Jeff had the wind at his back most of the day.  He rode almost as far as Tuesday but in 7 hours instead of 9.  He wished this day had offered the century ride, he could have gone on for another 15 miles to hit the 100 mile mark.  Nice to see he's having fun again!

Blow torch heat & a near tornado, Wednesday, July 25, Webster City to Marshalltown

Another hot day, another long ride for Jeff, another long drive for Jill.  I dropped Jeff off in Webster City to meet the pack and went back to the hotel to read, do a little work, whatever and ended up taking a nap instead.  I never nap, ever, and it was even funnier that my nap started at 7AM.  I checked out of the hotel the last minute possible and drive on down to Ames, our next over night town.  I got totally lost finding the hotel, which I also never do.  The hotel was right off the interstate, way to obvious, but I knew I was off track when I reached yet another corn field.

Jeff's ride was uneventfull, everyone bitching about the wind from the day before.  One guy said it was the worst day of his cycling life and I'm sure Jeff would agree.  The heat is close to unbearable to me eventhough the weather kid on the news says the temp is now down to the upper 90's-HA, I don't believe it one bit.

We lazed around a bit, caught some of the Olympic women's soccer games, and then off to dinner at the same brew pub we ate at last year.  All was well until we drove back to the hotel with a storm a brewin'.  It was getting dark but the huge dark clouds were obvious, scary, and dust swirling all around.  We made it to the hotel parking lot as the wind really picked up and the rain was pelting down by then. Almost to the lobby door, the wind knocked Jeff's glasses off his face, and I swear I was swept off my feet, and not in a romantic way.  My plus size t-shirt blew up, exposing who knows what, and for a few seconds I thought I was going to be like the flying cow in the "Twister" movie.  We got inside, settled for a few minutes, and then Jeff and one of the nice kid hotel employees went out to look for Jeff's glasses.  They actually found them, with one lense missing.  Lots of hubbub for a few hours.  I just prayed the air conditioning would not go out.  We were grateful to be in a hotel and not with the 10,000 campers in Marshalltown.   

  

The wind is not a bicyclist's friend-Tuesday, July 24, Lake View to Webster City

Long day ahead for the third day on the route.  Jeff took off from Lake View around 6:30.  I meandered my way to Farnhamville and got into town around 8AM.  I was surprised at the number of riders already at the meeting town.  Either they left Lake View at 5 or they ride really, really fast.  I had my annual piece of Iowa pie-strawberry rhubarb, buttery crust and all, and then plunked it down to watch the riders come in.  The weather was a bit overcast, fairly cool, everyone in great spirits.  Jeff rolled in around 9:30, we had mango smoothies with whey protein (to make us feel healthy before the afternoon beers), sat in the shade for a short rest, Jeff worried about the wind that was kicking up. 


Off he went & I headed up to Fort Dodge, our next overnight.  It was a short drive for me, a little early to check into the hotel, so I stopped to read at a Perkins and have an iced tea.  Jeff called, laughing, said the head wind was terrible and he had only ridden about 10 miles in an hour and a half, and to plan on a long day.  By this time the clouds were gone and the temp was headed to the upper 90's.  I called Jeff around 2:30 to see if he was still alive and to find out where he was on the route.  He was still laughing somewhat, or he was delirious, said he really didn't know where he was and they were just pushing ahead.  That was my cue to have beer on ice and a fresh jar of peanuts by the time we met in Webster City.  The wind was really rocking the car as I drove east.  I can't even imagine how hard the ride must have been.  Town was all jazzed up with roads closed for the riders, train tracks, and one way streets.  I wound my way around town to find where the riders were coming into town, and by God, I had just gotton out of the car to a shady corner, and there came Jeff down the hill.  We have a very uncanny way of finding each others.  He appreciated the cold beer.  9 hours and 85 miles of riding today!  His new bike monitor (we're calling it the GSP because we don't really know what it's called) has calculated that Jeff has expended 11,500 calories so far on the ride!  I've driven over 400 miles and have expended 0 calories, if anyone is keeping track.   

Rolling corn fields and barn quilts-Monday, July 23, Cherokee to Lake View

A nice morning start for Jeff.  He picked up the pack of riders in Arelia, cutting off a few miles of the day's trip.  We had planned to meet at the meeting city, but Jeff was in Schaller by 8:30 and I was still lounging around the hotel, so that didn't work out for us today.

I headed on down to Lake View a few hours later.  The route this year is very rural, no big towns (or any small towns either) for me to stop and poke around in.  So far, none of the pass through towns can claim to be the birthplace of anyone famous-no trivia questions this year.  What is cool is that Sac County is the barn quilt capitol of Iowa.  Barn quilts are approx. 4' X 4' painted quilts on the front of the barn, all bright, beautiful colors in all sorts of quilt patterns.  I might paint one on the side of our house where the flickers are pecking away at the siding.

The heat was turned up by the time I arrived at Lake View.  I found a great spot to watch all the riders come in to town-good vantage point but no shade.  I was sitting on the side of the dusty road in the camp chair, my hair pulled back, wearing my straw hat, pink faced, sweat dripping-what a welcoming site.  Easy to find Jeff and we headed to the beer tent, another 60 miles down.  The RAGBRAI officials say there are 21,000 riders this year.  10,000 that can register.  Twice as many sure is crowded, especially in the smaller towns, but everyone sure is having fun.

And he's off-Sunday, July 22, Sioux Center to Cherokee

5am comes really early, especially when Jeff is a morning guy, fired up for RAGBRAI, fidgety and raring to go...and I am not.  We had mapped out our route for the drive from  Sioux City to Sioux Center, crossing the Little Sioux River, (everything in this area is named Sioux something which can be a bit confusing) the night before.  This was smart because every wrong turned landed us back in Nebraska.  Jeff was lost in the crowd within seconds of joining the ride and I headed back to Sioux City.  Jeff had 60 some miles on the road to look forward to, I had a nice breakfast and a good book to read at the Hilton-easy to tell who's fit and who's not.

Jeff arrived Cherokee about 10 minutes before me, found me driving up, and we headed for the celebratory beer at the bar.  Nothing like a good old Midwest tavern, smoky smell, locals and all.  The bar "maid" was so short, she could barely set the cans of beer on the bar and collect the cash.  Her helper had to have been in her 70's, skinny, wearing a tight black t-shirt with a silver glittery "Bitch" on the front.      

It's stinkin' hot, a bit windy for a long bike ride, but Jeff said the ride was good.  His ticker is just fine!  The characters are out again this year-one rider dressed like a French Apach with a pencil moustache, striped shirt, beret, and strands of garlic, another rider in dress pants and a button down long sleeved shirt, the really old folks, the really unfit riders, and the riders smoking along the way.  It's truly hard to believe that many of these guys can ride even one day (unless they start a few blocks away from town so they can ride in looking cool).  Jeff looks great-probably more tired from getting up so damned early rather than having just spent 6 hours on his bike.

The weather cools off nicely to a balmy 90's in the evening.  No Hilton for Sunday & Monday nights.  The motel is reminiscent of Mr. Patel's hotel from last year but the AC works and we're close to the next two departure towns and Storm Lake, decent restaurants so we can avoid the Pizza Ranch for a few more days.

pre-blog test

Just a preview today, I'll title this one "Hanging by a Thread".

Early February, just on a whim, Jeff & I had heart scans.  Most of you know the story of the past five months.  Last Wednesday, Dr. Sharma, the cardiologist, was honest and told us when he saw Jeff for the first time, Jeff was hanging by a thread.  And now Jeff is off to RAGBRAI 2012, the first day's ride is Sunday, July 22nd.  I find this quite a miracle.