Brent's Journal
Well, here's the scoop: I used my criterium bike (the one we got). Used
clamps to attach racks, and borrowed paniers from Scott (the guy I'm living
with now, who's actually quite a cyclist). Managed to get the bike very
well loaded, and it performed well throughout the week. The only trouble
I had with the bike was a small hole in the rear tire that kept making the
tubes go flat. I still like that bike, even if it was a little stiff for
touring. I really noticed the ride became more "brittle" when I removed
the load.
The post service gave out RAGBRAI passports, with a blurb for each town we
passed through, and space to stick stamps from every post office (like a
visa, except with postal stamps). I would have expected people would want
to use meters rather than stamps, but whatever.... Turns out I never even
opened my passport until the last day, so I didn't really use it at all.
On the last day I jotted some stuff in it to keep some memories.
Day 1: We flew into Omaha on Friday & took the hotel shuttle to the Ramada
Inn. Very muggy. We quickly learned to despise humidity. The next morning
we put our bikes together (we had boxed them for the flight). Had a great
buffet breakfast (guess I have a little bit of grampa in me), loaded all our
gear onto the bikes' racks, and rode on out. About a half-mile from the
hotel, we started to wonder about things like where we were going, how to
get there, and which direction was north. None of us knew the answer to any
of these questions. We ended up crossing the Missouri River (going from
Nebraska to Iowa) on interstate 680. It was a good introduction to loaded
bicycle touring.
Took 680 to 185 (184?)...stopped at a bar along the way for lemonade, and
I picked up some corn nuts...I deemed two of them "Cornholio's Nuts" and
carried them the length of the ride.
Arrived in Missouri Valley (see http://www.ragbrai.com/ragmap.html) later
that day, set up the tent went to the store, locked the bikes up, etc.
At the store, we met a woman named Marti, who was quite a lively, friendly
woman, and who had been on a few RAGBRAI's. Turns out we would see her many
more times throughout the ride.
Day two: Loaded all my gear onto the bike (Lonnie and Harvey put their stuff
on the RAGBRAI truck and rode unloaded bikes, which most participants do).
About a mile down the road someone stopped to make an adjustment, I slipped
out of my pedal and broke open the skin on my left shin. Between the humidity
and my sweat, I eventually (a few days later) had to superglue it shut to make
it heal. That was my only incident--on mile 1 of the official RAGBRAI route.
The first day had the densest bicycle traffic. It was crowded riding, and
when stopped somewhere roadside for breakfast (at a small vendor where I got
OJ and "breakfast pizza"), the cycle flow never ceased. A non-stop pack from
horizon to horizon.
We arrived in Red Oak that night, set up camp, and found a swimming pool.
After swimming, showering, and failing to locate a lasagna dinner, we got
directions from the person running the town shuttle for walking to a nearby
buffet dinner at a nearby restaraunt/inn. The food was good, and I ate and
ate and ate (the first day was the longest and most hunger-inducing ride).
By the time I finished, Harvey was the only person still waiting who hadn't
left. We walked back to the campsite & eventually went to sleep.
Early in the night, Harvey woke up because it was getting hot in the tent
so we took off the fly cover.
Day 3: I awoke way too early in the morning to the unpleasant sound of Lonnie
urging us that a rainstorm was rapidly approaching. We, the tent, and
everything else got soaked. None of it ever dried for the remainder of the
trip. When the rain slowed, we packed up our soggy belongings and hit the
road. It continued to rain sporadically, and I got 2 flats. I think they
were caused by a combination of grit on the road from the rain, and my
bike being severely load with very wet, very heavy gear. We got an
unpleasant biscuits and gravy breakfast. By lunchtime, Lonnie and I had
somehow lost Harvey, but it was a pleasant lunch. The sky had cleared--it
was hot--so we set up the tent to dry on a sidewalk, and walked the town
square sampling the vendors' foods. Had pizza (good), and Creole (bad).
Yelled "hi" to Marti, who was energetically talking to people in town.
We didn't find Harvey again until we rolled into the camp area that night
in Creston, and he was lying under a tree awaiting our arrival. We set up
camp near a softball field, showered nude with a garden hose, much to the
amusement of the neighboring residents, and took a shuttle to downtown, where
we had a spaghetti dinner in a little church-sponsored setup near some
railroad tracks. From there we went downtown to a "beer garden" where Lonny
and Harvey stayed while I went to the store to get band aids, superglue, and
razors. Some folks at a tattoo parlour let me use their phone to check my
voicemail.
Day 4: My stuff was soaked again with dew (very humid weather over there)
in the morning. Laying it out to dry accomplished nothing. I loaded it up,
and this time put most of it in the truck with Lonnie and Harvey's stuff,
only carrying a few bags on the bike. Lonnie and I enjoyed watching an
attractive young woman in a bathing suit preparing for the day's ride.
We rolled out and our first stop was for pancakes at a roadside barn-turned
pancake house. The pancakes were all-you-can eat, which was good. We sat
at a table across from two girls from team Quadrabond (or so I thought) who
weren't particularly friendly. The girls left, and were replaced with some
guys who were more friendly, and then we filled our water bottles and left.
Riding along, we came across a small pack of cyclists led by a tandem with
a large radio in tow. The tandem was moving along at a good pace, so we
joined into the pack. As we went, more and more people joined in until
there must have been over a hundred people humming along. On one hill, we
came across one of the girls from breakfast, who had been dropped
by her group and was now struggling alone. (bummer) After stopping on
one hill, I launched to embark on the not-so-easy task of catching the
pack again. It took me under an hour, encouraged by every uphill because I
knew the tandem would be slower than me on the uphills. At the next town, I
got separated from Lonnie and Harvey again, and while I was looking for them
the girl from breakfast rolled in, still looking for her group. We walked
around town until we spotted her group, which turned out to be quadraBONG, and
which was absolutely undistracted by her absence. I escorted her through a
bar to their party location behind the building, and then excused myself to
catch up with Lonnie and Harvey. I left her one of Cornholio's Nuts in her
helmet so its mystic powers would help her for the remainder of the ride,
because I figured she'd need it. At that time, I thought for sure I would
not be seeing Lonnie and Harvey until that night's destination. That is,
until I came across team Barfly. As I was moving along at a brisk pace--fast,
but not so fast that I would wear out if I never found them--I came across a
guy in a recumbant with "Barfly" written down his right calf. We were
climbing up a hill, and I was barely gaining ground on him, so when I caught
up I asked him, "aren't recumbants harder to climb hills in than normal
bikes?" He replied yes, but they sure make up for it on the flats and
downhill. I guess he decided to demonstrate because as the uphill levelled
he took off at about 25 MPH, and another BARFLY came out of nowhere and jumped
in behind him. I jumped on this guys wheel and off we went, speeding past
everyone at a breakneck pace. As we zipped past other BARFLYs, those who
could jumped in behind us until at the peak we had about 7 people. This went
on for about a half-hour, with the recumbant guy leading the entire time at
an exceptional pace (a very strong rider). The second person finally
broke away on a downhill to go even faster by himself; shortly thereafter
the fast pace was too much for most of the paceline and it broke up on an
uphill. On the next smooth section, the recumbant, second-person, and I
were the only people left still together. The recumbant guy was totally
cool and for the remainder of the ride whenever we spotted each other he
called out "California!" He was from Des Moines. We got going again, but
only for a few minutes before, low and behold, there were Lonnie and Harvey.
So I dropped out of line and told Lonnie and Harvey how my day had been.
In the town before our destination, we stopped and talked to a group of 3 from
Canada. There was a large party in the streets, and Lonnie and Harvey had
a few beers before we continued on the final few miles into Des Moines.
Thus Harvey had his famous quote: the final stretch we rode with some women
from team Sorus Majorus, whom Lonnie had befriended, they were pleasant, and
we had a good conversation, but Harvey kept quietly to himself. As we
climbed a hill into town, finally one of the girls asked about "the quiet
one." Harvey quickly responded, without lifting his intense gaze off the
ground beneath him, not to distract him--he was concentrating
on the road. We pulled into Des Moines, and we knew we _had_ to do laundry.
Lonnie picked a rotten spot for the tent, and while I was moving it to a
better location we found a woman, Susan, from Mountain View. Talked to her
a bit and then finished putting up the tent. Des Moines is a large city, and
we were reluctanct to ride all the way into town to wash laundry. Lonnie
wanted Harvey and me to just buy new clothes, but we refused. So we loaded
up the bikes and rolled out. Found some local townspeople who directed us
to a laundromat very near the campsite with a resaraunt beside it. We started
our laundry and had dinner right next door. Dinner was fun--sat next to
other RAGBRAIers and made a lot of noise with the clickers that the US Postal
team had given out. After dinner, Lonnie fell asleep while Harvey and I
finished our laundry. We met Chris and Jody, two neighbors from Wyoming
in the laundromat. Chris was an easy-going guy with unkept red hair similar
in appearance to mine, and Jody was a cheerfully mischevious girl with vibrant
eyes. There was very little to do...we all ended up playing with dolls
while waiting for the laundry.
When the laundry was done, Harvey and Lonnie headed straight back to camp,
and I picked up some snacks at a grocery store. Headed back to the tent,
and then we showered in some underground, broken and cracked cement prison-
like showers. There were even bars on the windows.
I ate my snacks while watching the lost people wandering back and forth
searching for their tents, and then went to sleep.
Day 5: The next morning I fell behind somewhere, and when I caught up,
Lonnie and Harvey were riding along talking to Jody. Chris' leg was hurting
and he was taking the sag wagon that day.
Chariton - I picked a campsite at the top of a hill near at the corner formed
by 2 chain-link fences. An airplane was flying overhead dropping out balloons
containing certificates for free dinners. One of them floated into our camp
but as it came down some jerk came running threw and snatched it from right
in front of us. We didn't put up a fight.
Jody had found Chris, who had already set up camp, and got directions to her
site. Then she had headed into town to replace her travellers checks, which
she had apparently left in a Kyvo. After setting up our camp, Lonnie, Harvey
and I followed the directions to their site, and along the way we came across
Jody, just returning from the bank. She had gotten lost in town. She took
a while to get ready, during which Lonnie fell asleep on a hillside, and then
we all headed downtown in search of dinner. Finally ate at a church dinner,
where the food was good and came with a check made out for eternal life.
Lonnie and Harvey went straight downtown to investigate the night
life; Jody and I went back to our respective campsites. Jody wanted
to meet up to head downtown after she'd gotten a massage later for her
various pains. Chris and I found each other, and ended up meeting her at
the massage tent later. Since my bike was locked up & Harvey had the key,
I walked and was to meet everyone at the "beer garden." When I got there
Lonnie and Harvey were not to be found, but Chris and Jody were talking
to some people. They turned out to be Jody's friends from Wyoming, who
Lonnie Harvey and I happened to have seen in drag the previous day,
and they were now wearing leisure suits. We talked for a little while
and then started walking back to the campsites. The streets were littered
with drunken cyclists in spandex, and thunder/lightning was booming in the
sky. Suddenly, it began to downpour, and we stopped for shelter under the
overhang of a movie theater. When the rain subsided, we moved on briskly,
but had only gone a block when the downpour resumed, more violently than
before. We were now on a residential street under a tree, and the rain and
lightning were really coming down. Jody was petrified of lightning, it turns
out. After a few minutes, the tree became saturated and we were in a
predicament. I pointed out a house with a covered porch, and we fled to it.
The house had its lights off, so we just sat there on the porch quitely...
occasionally commenting on the nearness of the thunder/lightning. Chris and
Jody started to doze off, and finally the rain subsided. We wandered through
the wet residential neighborhoods of Chariton until we found the campsites.
I walked with a soggy, happily drunk cyclist into my camp area, and found
Lonnie and Harvey asleep in our drenched tent. It rained all night long.
Day 6: Woke up with my feet in a puddle. Actually, my feet were just in
the tip of a puddle that was consuming all of Harvey. Lonnie was dry.
I sifted through my drenched possessions, feebly attempting to drip some
of the water out by hanging everything on the fence, while joking with the
black man on the opposite side of the fence. His group was in good spirits
and was joking around.
Jody's birthday. The day started off with Jody's rear wheel out of
true. We all whispered about it on the road, but didn't tell her for fear
of panic. When we passed a repair van we told her and she was
incredulous we had kept it a secret. Broken spoke. The repair van fixed
it with the wheel on the bike, and called it a birthday present. Free water
bottles along the way. Jody wanted to dance and party so we stopped for
awhile, but I soon decided to move on to Bloomfield. I latched on
to a string of people doing a choo-choo dance in hopes of making my way out
of the crowd, but I ended up deeper in the crowd than I started.
Along the way to Bloomfield, I flew by Jody's friend who had been in
the leisure suit. Lonnie & Harvey decided we should set up camp in a
fairground under a roof structure, which happend to be next the campsite of
two women who turned out to be sisters. We finished setting up camp &
showering, and then headed off to look for the OOS campground (where
Chris & Jody stayed).
We rode downtown & locked up the bikes (I climbed a fire exit while Harvey
put the bike lock on). We ate a spaghetti dinner in a senior center...the
seniors at the center were nice, and we had cookies and pie. Then we
went to the beer garden, where we'd agreed to meet Chris & Jody for her
swinging birthday festival. I bought $10 of beer tickets for everyone but
we didn't use more than half of them. Lonnie and Harvey headed back to camp
and sleep early; I hung out just long enough to see Chris & Jody off to their
campsite (they were walking because the shuttles stopped running). It was a
long walk, in the opposite direction from my camp, but I felt guilty about
not seeing them all the way to their site. The return trip carried me back
through the town square, where a shopkeeper originally from Canada was just
closing up. He had some pastries that looked good and he raved about them,
but I had no money. He insisted that I had to experience one so he let me
have it for free. The next morning I bought all of them that he had left
to bring for everyone to have with breakfast.
Day 7: The plan today was to meet Chris and Jody at Chris Cakes (a travelling
breakfast vendor supplying the riders with pancakes and entertainment).
This was the only day of RAGBRAI with no Chris Cakes. Too bad because I had
purchased delicious pastries to share for breakfast. The day was HOT, and I
was restless all day. Riding into one of the town squares (in Lebanon?
Pittsburg?), they had a hose hooked up to a mist system spraying the riders.
We hung out there for a bit...we knew Marti was near, because we could hear
all the men shouting hello to her as they rolled into town.
Lonnie and Harvey napped while I looked for socks. Big party in Bonaparte;
we hopped in the river and had some steak sandwiches. 14 miles from the
day's destination (Fairfield), we finally spotted Chris and Jody in
Stockport's beer garden. They had rolled out earlier than us, and we had only
caught them because they had stopped in town for 2 hours. Anyway, we
decided to hit the road for the last 14 miles...Lonnie, I and Harvey would
go back to get our bikes and then catch up with Chris & Jody on the road.
After a bit, it wasn't looking like we were catching them so I went off
ahead of Lonnie and Harvey to catch up. Raced at full-boar for over 10
grueling, hot miles before I gave up. Pretty soon the whole gang--Lonnie,
Harvey, Chris and Jody--came rolling along from behind. Guess I had gotten
ahead of everyone somehow. Apparently they had sent Chris after me but he
had given up.
We arrived in Fairfield, and as we strolled through the hilly but cool
neighborhoods, I stopped to hop in a wading pool some girls had set up
in their front yard for the riders. I gave them some delicious pastries.
In camp, we three guys were the life of our site. We were giddy and joking
around with everyone. Two sheriff's deputies came through and we told them
the guy in the next tent over had illegal guns in his tent. We also found
out the deputies couln't arrest us for streaking through camp, but they would
kick us out of the pool if we went skinny-dipping.
We ate at a concession stand because we were too late to catch a shuttle into
downtown. It was a relaxing evening, actually.
Day 8: Harvey took off early to beat the heat. Lonnie and I caught Jody &
Chris in the first town. Lonny was time-stressed, so he took off and I rode
with Chris and Jody the rest of the day. It was a nice, relaxing day--free
lemonade, beer slip-n-slides--but I barely made it to the Mississippi in time
for the shuttle back to Omaha. Finding the shuttle was a stressful hassle,
but eventually I made it. Dashed off and didn't get a chance to say goodbye
to Chris and Jody...I still have Jody's waterbottle.
Fort Madison was festive, but a bittersweet melancholy pervaded. The ride
was a powerful burst of intense experiences which bonded a new circle of
friends, and all in an instant it would all vanish.
What started out as a letter describing my vacation ended up as a
journal more for myself than anything else. I left out a lot of details
and neat things I'll still have to add later, but I got down all the
little events and sequences I didn't want to forget. Lonny and I will
probably do the ride again at some point; Jody and Chris are already planning
their next one. All of us are experiencing the post-RAGBRAI let-down trauma
of losing the brief life we had all built during the week. Harvey turned
out to not be accustumed nor endeared to the adversities of camp life. On
the plane home I was sitting, reflecting over my own thoughts, when I turned
to him and asked if he was sad to be leaving everything behind.
He smiled broadly, and said gleefully, "it will be good to be home."