RAGBRAI: Days 5 & 6

The smelly laundry is done. I finally got groceries. So, now I guess I can sit down and tell you about the rest of RAGBRAI. (Okay, I haven't vacuumed yet, but that can wait until tomorrow.)

First of all, Susan is amazing. On Wednesday, the day she crashed, we did 56 total miles at 15.7 mph. I was riding next to Susan most of the way to camp after she crashed, the protective mothering instinct having kicked in. We brought it down a notch, mostly because I was nervous.

But the next day, Day 5, my computer showed 86 miles at the end of the day with an average speed of 17.1 mph. Susan and Rick probably went a little faster. She was not tentative at all. In fact, I was busy biting my tongue, trying not to tell her to slow down and be careful. She is a strong rider with good instincts.

Turns out I should have given my "be careful out there" lecture to Rick. I was not with them, but according to Susan he made a spectacular and unplanned exit from the roadway.

He was trying to pass a recumbent on the far left side of the road on a tiny strip of pavement that just wasn't wide enough. He went off the road onto the gravel, couldn't recover, and rode wildly down into the ditch to where it flattened out below. He managed not to wreck and received some compliments on his mad skills from some of the other crazy RAGBRAI riders passing above.

Day 5 was also the day Joey joined us on RAGBRAI. He flew from Indy to Des Moines, where my sister-in-law gathered him at the airport. Herb and Amy brought him to Waterloo just as we were were about to finish setting up our tents on the grounds of Hawkeye Community College. I traded out my Klein for the Trek 7200 FX hybrid they'd been hauling in the truck and also retrieved Joey's Trek hybrid (a newer version of my bike).

Joey looked great. He took his backpack, threw it in our tent and announced, "I'm all moved in."

We had been locking all three of the road bikes together at night around a tree or streetlight with two thick wire cables and locks. Since the hybrids aren't as expensive (and the cable wasn't long enough for all four bikes), we just chained up Rick and Susan's bikes and I put the key in my change purse, as was my routine. Then, we were off to my birthday dinner, compliments of my big brother.

Day 6

We had many adventures and mishaps the first five days of RAGBRAI, but Day 6 was special in many ways, not the least of which was the rain.

For some reason, Susan had trouble getting up on Day 6. Then, she decided to walk to the college student center to use the bathroom rather than stop at the luxurious port-a-potties just steps from the tent.

Joey and I were dressed and ready. Rick told us to go ahead since he and Susan would catch us soon enough anyway. Just as Joey and I were mounting our bikes to head out of camp, it began to rain. At first it was a light, friendly, "good morning" rain. Then after a couple of miles it became a steady downpour.

We each ate a banana before leaving camp, and planned to stop at the second town for a larger breakfast, which was only about 8 miles down the road. We followed the plan and found some pancakes and a bike shop to fix Joey's front brake. On this rainy day, he definitely needed both brakes in working order.

We got back on the road and the steady downpour turned into a blowing, hard, cold rain. Joey kept asking if Rick and Susan had already passed us. We spent a good 15-20 minutes in town, so I was sure they were in front of us by this point. As you know, Rick doesn't like to lollygag in town.

The riding became pretty miserable. We were soaked to the bone and cold. Plus, the rain was coming down so hard, it was difficult to see. Joey didn't complain, but he did say once that he wished he was back in the tent inside his warm sleeping bag. Me too.

Then we turned a corner and not only did the storm ramp up, but we had a head wind which provided more difficult riding and more cold chills to go with it. At mile 27, I was in the pain cave, focused on moving down the road, not wrecking and trying to keep track of Joey. We turned another corner, blessedly getting us out of the head wind and Joey yelled, "There's Dad and Susan!"

He stood up on his pedals and caught up to Susan. I had no extra energy to exert at that point and was content to watch them converse from my vantage point about 20 yards behind. I was still very much encased in the pain cave. Susan left to catch her Dad, and Joey dropped back to tell me they would meet up with us at the next stop.

Now you may be wondering why it took Rick and Susan so long to catch us. I sure was. Turns out, when I left camp Rick and Susan's bikes were still locked to a streetlight ... and I had the key in my change purse ... in my bike bag.

Very, very fortunately for Rick and Susan, there was a building right across from where we pitched our tents that was marked "Physical Plant." When they couldn't reach me by cell phone, Rick and Susan walked over to the campus building and walked around inside until they found someone. He didn't have bolt cutters, but the guy he talked to on his walkie talkie did.

This set Rick and Susan back a good 45 minutes or so, which explains why they were so tardy catching us.

Okay, back to mile 27. The next stop was Turkey Tom's, which sells those giant turkey legs, and Joey had been craving one. We met Rick and Susan there and Susan was really cold. Joey got a turkey leg, I got a warm turkey fillet sandwich. Susan got a smoothy. Do you know what they put in a smoothy ? Ice.

So Rick and Susan didn't hang around long, as Susan was getting colder (imagine that). I ate my sandwich and Joey ate as much as he could of his turkey leg. He told me when he was done, "Man vs. Food. Food won."

We got back on the road and back into the pain cave. We passed a small town, but didn't bother stopping, because we knew we'd only be colder if we stopped. My shoes were squishing at this point and occasionally squeaking when I pedaled.

At mile 47 I spied a port-a-potty outside a gas station convenience store and stopped. Pulling down wet Lycra bike shorts with a soaking wet cushion in the middle is only slightly less disgusting than having to pull them back up.

We decided to venture inside the convenience store and met up with about 200 other riders with the same idea. The body heat warmed the space so that it was actually fairly pleasant. Joey found a machine with hot chocolate and drank his cup almost before I could pay for it.

We were tired of being cold and wet and decided to don the poor man's RAGBRAI raincoat, a garbage bag. The shelf was almost empty, but there were still two boxes of the tall kitchen size. As I reached for it, a guy asked if I just needed one for a raincoat. He already bought a box and generously gave me two.

We put on our black garbage bags, went outside, and it stopped raining. We rode for about 5 miles and warmed up considerably. When we passed the Beekman's Ice Cream truck at the side of the road, the sun was out. We were warm enough to stop and get some homemade creamy goodness. Joey observed, "Everything got better once we got the garbage bags."

By the time we rolled into Manchester, the overnight town, we were mostly dry, warm and had a much brighter outlook. Joey snagged a free freeze pop on the fly, and later we stopped at a table someone set up outside their house with a sign "Free snacks." We both got a Little Debbie oatmeal cream pie and swapped tales of woe with other riders who had braved the storm.

We rode 66 miles at an average speed of 10.8 mph, and 47 of those miles were in the rain. Rick and Susan managed to ride all 66 miles in the rain. Rick said it stopped raining just as he was putting the tent up. They were showered and well rested by the time we saw them.

I'm really proud of Joey not only for riding 66 miles, but for riding in miserable conditions and never once talking about quitting. That's my boy!

Tomorrow: RAGBRAI wrap-up: Day 7 in Dubuque!