RAGBRAI - - I DID IT!!!
I'm back from one of the most amazing trips of my life, besides my honeymoon!!
RAGBRAI was amazing!! It was a week I will never forget and I'm already planning to ride next year. This year's route was beautiful. Tons of hills, pretty countryside, miles and miles of corn and beans, cattle, horses, rivers and little towns opening up there part of the state to 10,000+ plus nutheads who loved the ride as much as I did.
The week started off with the bus ride to Mo Valley (Missouri Valley). It was fun despite being tired, having a sinus headache and hotter than haties on that bus. The bus tops out at 50 mph, no A/C and has a rocking radio. Our first "major" stop enroute to Mo Valley was in Marnae where they were all ready for a pre-Ragbrai party. We were one of a handful of buses and cycling groups that made the trip to Marnae. My Team on Tap buddies were in the bar while I was trying to catch a nap on the grass next to the bus becuase I thought the bus was locked. The only thing I caught on that nap was over 40 chigger bites discovered in Harlan the next night that stayed with me the entire week. So after deciding the grass was not cutting it for me, I went to the bar and was promptly told the bus just looks locked. So back to the bus I went to continue my siesta. I rallied and 45 minutes later when Michelle and Suzi showed up to check on me, I really was miserable before since my head was killing me and NO I hadn't been drinking or hung over! I joined them in the bar and got my first "Shag" by team Shagbrai. Shag is getting a sticker from one of there team members.
After our pitstop in Marnae we found our way to Mo Valley, found a spot for the bus across from the fairgrounds and set-up camp for the night. It was a fun night sitting around hanging out, not such a fun night sweltering on the bus but we were up and getting ready to roll out by 6 AM and were on our bikes ready to ride for the day by 7:30 AM after the ceremonial dip in the Missouri River.
I was SO excited riding thru and out of town in the early morning sunshine with 10,000 other nutheads. My family and friends all think & thought I was nuts for doing Ragbrai. No one could understand why I'd want to spend a week riding my bike across Iowa, I'll tell you why: because I can and did!!! I rode every day, only not riding 53.7 miles the entire trip. There was one day the IA State Patrol wouldn't let us on the route out of Coon Rapids enroute to Jefferson because of a thunderstorm. The IA State Patrol shut the route down but we were able to get off the bus in Scranton and ride the last 10 miles of the day into Jefferson. The entire ride was 471 miles, I rode 417.3 for the week.
More stories later it's time for me to get some sleep and finish unpacking. After a week of riding, eating, drinking and averaging about 5-7 hrs. of sleep on a bus all week I'm beat!
E
RAGBRAI was amazing!! It was a week I will never forget and I'm already planning to ride next year. This year's route was beautiful. Tons of hills, pretty countryside, miles and miles of corn and beans, cattle, horses, rivers and little towns opening up there part of the state to 10,000+ plus nutheads who loved the ride as much as I did.
The week started off with the bus ride to Mo Valley (Missouri Valley). It was fun despite being tired, having a sinus headache and hotter than haties on that bus. The bus tops out at 50 mph, no A/C and has a rocking radio. Our first "major" stop enroute to Mo Valley was in Marnae where they were all ready for a pre-Ragbrai party. We were one of a handful of buses and cycling groups that made the trip to Marnae. My Team on Tap buddies were in the bar while I was trying to catch a nap on the grass next to the bus becuase I thought the bus was locked. The only thing I caught on that nap was over 40 chigger bites discovered in Harlan the next night that stayed with me the entire week. So after deciding the grass was not cutting it for me, I went to the bar and was promptly told the bus just looks locked. So back to the bus I went to continue my siesta. I rallied and 45 minutes later when Michelle and Suzi showed up to check on me, I really was miserable before since my head was killing me and NO I hadn't been drinking or hung over! I joined them in the bar and got my first "Shag" by team Shagbrai. Shag is getting a sticker from one of there team members.
After our pitstop in Marnae we found our way to Mo Valley, found a spot for the bus across from the fairgrounds and set-up camp for the night. It was a fun night sitting around hanging out, not such a fun night sweltering on the bus but we were up and getting ready to roll out by 6 AM and were on our bikes ready to ride for the day by 7:30 AM after the ceremonial dip in the Missouri River.
I was SO excited riding thru and out of town in the early morning sunshine with 10,000 other nutheads. My family and friends all think & thought I was nuts for doing Ragbrai. No one could understand why I'd want to spend a week riding my bike across Iowa, I'll tell you why: because I can and did!!! I rode every day, only not riding 53.7 miles the entire trip. There was one day the IA State Patrol wouldn't let us on the route out of Coon Rapids enroute to Jefferson because of a thunderstorm. The IA State Patrol shut the route down but we were able to get off the bus in Scranton and ride the last 10 miles of the day into Jefferson. The entire ride was 471 miles, I rode 417.3 for the week.
More stories later it's time for me to get some sleep and finish unpacking. After a week of riding, eating, drinking and averaging about 5-7 hrs. of sleep on a bus all week I'm beat!
E
posted by Erika at
5:14 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home