RAGBRAI Day 2 - Atlantic to Winterset

RAGBRAI 2019 Day 2 - Atlantic RAGBRAI to Winterset, Iowa
So I took a little writing break and need to get started again. There are still some stories I want to tell from RAGBRAI. It is obvious that my concept of when stuff occurred is WAY off so I took some time to go through our photos, figure out when and where they were taken, and started to piece things together in hopes it would make these posts a little easier to write.

Oh the stories I still have to tell...

Walnut, IA had a theme & a big foot

So Day 2 started with more wind, approximately 68 miles, and 2000 ft of climb. I'm going to declare at this point that every day of the ride, for the entire week involved wind. It was Day 1, while riding through Walnut, Iowa (Walnut Fire & Rescue - best T-shirt on the route according to me) that I decided it was time for Iowa to, "Turn off all those field fans." Iowa never did turn them off. I laughed continuously all week when I thought about my "field fans" joke. Teresa stopped laughing after the 3rd time I said it. I digress.

Practice breakfast in Wiota, IA

We found cinnamon rolls in Wiota, Iowa and refilled our pockets with Milkweed Balls (Milkweed Matters) just outside of Anita. Monarch butterflies lay their eggs exclusively on milkweed, and monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed. We tossed milkweed balls across the state.

Then we rolled into Anita, IA. I'm going to try and paint a picture of what has become the most memorable experience of the entire week. I say this in a completely positive way. The hour we spent here that resulted in this particular story is OUR favorite to tell and we will forever love Anita (and the Huffy's Tavern) for it.

French toast in Anita, IA

We rolled into Anita, Iowa and I was hungry again. The earlier cinnamon roll was what we (I) like to refer to as "Practice Breakfast." A term we coined with other participants in Wiota. Anita was busy. A lot of cyclists were checking out the quaint, historic downtown. Many were in lines for food or other things. I had been eyeing signs for french toast all morning so we found it and got ready for breakfast. It was very satisfying. We enjoyed our food on the back of a big truck with a hydraulic lift as our table. As we were milling around, I heard cheering, so I investigated while Teresa was at her bike presumably getting ready to ride out.

I wandered toward the Huffy's Tavern and saw a fairly large group of people cheering, laughing, and generally having a great time. I walked closer. The cheers got louder. Truthfully, I was hoping for something involving puppies. Golden Retriever puppy Olympics? I hadn't seen a Golden since we left home. Again, I digress. Then I thought maybe wrestling of some sort...it is a bar, so maybe. Mud? Oil? Midget? It was only Day 2 and obviously I was a little loopy and maybe in a slight sugar coma from my breakfast. The crowd parted and I saw it. I blinked. Took it all in, turned quickly, and started hollering for Teresa. I was running in my cycling shoes and yelling for my wife to come quick...and bring a dollar.

My actions told her something was wrong. The plea for money told her I probably found more pie, beer, or cinnamon rolls. It was none of the above. I grabbed her hand, made sure she had a camera, and dragged her back to the side entrance of the tavern. I remained silent as we approached. She could not see through the crowd or glean what was about to take place. We stood behind the group while donations were requested and numbers were chosen. Then the crowd parted and we stepped forward. I smiled. Teresa laughed, pulled out a dollar, and requested a number. We both started laughing as the Vibrator Race began.

I'll let that sink in.

Each vibrator had it's own lane. They were all turned on and set to high. You could hear them raring to go, like race cars at Daytona -- only vibrators. Hot pink, Baby blue, Leopard...it was a battery-operated rainbow. The start barricade was removed and each one vibrated it's way to the finish line. Our chosen number did not win, but we will absolutely always remember the time in a small town in Iowa I stumbled upon Vibrator Races, and we had the time of our life cheering for a six inch juggernaut to beat the others down the track.

I'm not going to be able to top that story, ever. -- AND THERE IS VIDEO PROOF BELOW!

Teresa "was I flirting?" Hess,
climbing on top of a fire truck/pizza oven.

But we did still have almost 60 miles left in the day to ride. Teresa convinced a guy with a Scottish(?) accent to let her climb on top of a firetruck (Dang Brother Pizza) and put her feet in a makeshift hot tub in Casey, Iowa. I had to stop and buy a bar-end plug in Stuart, Iowa (very minor mechanical).

I felt I needed to protect myself

We stopped at a petting zoo/adoption drive just outside Stuart. If they had had the polydactyl kittens out, Teresa would have probably taken one.

For the first 2 days my chain kept popping out of gears on climbs. It was getting frustrating so we stopped in  Dexter, Iowa so I could have a new bike chain installed and get my rear brakes adjusted (gravel ate those brakes alive). As the traveling mechanic checked my chain with his chain checker: "A new chain is recommended when this measures .5. Yours is measuring a .75 and I can actually still move it back and forth." Brad, the same mechanic that fixed Teresa's bike on Day 1, fixed my bike on Day 2. Thanks Brad and Bike World.


After another Iowa Craft Beer Tent stop we made it to the overnight town and enjoyed a fun Taco Night with the Swenson's (Kevin & Kelly) in a Methodist Church basement. Great Times!


 Side Note: I really enjoyed Winterset and their theme. However, I do also feel like they missed an opportunity to do a Game of Thrones theme: Winterset is Coming... Again, I digress.

Thanks for reading. There is more to come!

If you are able, please help us support the Navy SEAL Foundation.

Patrick's Donation Page for Tampa BayFrogman Swim 2020

Patrick & Teresa are actively raising money for the Navy Seal Foundation.   Supporting the Navy Seal Foundation-Frogman Swim 

We've been blogging for a while now. If you enjoyed this one, you may enjoy others. Look though the Blog Archive on the right, for more of our experiences and random thoughts. 

Thank you for your ongoing support of our adventures.  

Please feel free to share our blog.

The Thunder Rolls and the Lightning Strikes...Riding RAGBRAI Day 1

Day 1 of riding... across a state... with a bunch of strangers (and a surprisingly large number of Pensacola Friends)...

When you are not used to sleeping in a tent, on an air mattress, it takes a couple days to adjust. Night 1 in the tent was not great. I was startled awake in the evening by a fun fireworks show at Council Bluffs RAGBRAI. I was startled awake in the morning by a massive thunderstorm. Day 1 is really the best day for inclement weather. Everyone is usually at their best and most rested. Spirits, energy, and patience is all very high.

We meandered around the campsite, a harsh "field" the night before that had become a slick mud pit with the rain. Clay-based mud seemed to stick to everything, steal cleat covers (Kevin), and cake on the bottom of cycling shoes. Seriously, we scraped and wiped and cleaned our shoe bottoms for 40 minutes BEFORE we could start to actually clip into our pedals. With the majority of the storm passed, we took off. There was still rain, but the majority of the lightning seemed to be gone. It was supposed to be a 60 mile day with the optional 20 mile gravel loop.

SIDE NOTE: I'm going to say "supposed to be" a lot, because our mileage records seemed to be in direct conflict with what we expected EACH day.

This was our plan for day 1. Ride the first part of the day, including the gravel loop on our gravel tires. Take the time after the loop to change to our road tires, and push out the rest of the day with ease. For various reasons, the main one being Teresa's bike is able to have a rear rack and panniers (saddle bags), she was the pack mule for the week, so she happily carried everything except my snacks... who am I kidding, she carried my snacks too.

Roads were slick so we did see some people loose control and crash hard throughout the morning. We took it easy and chipped away at the mileage before the Gravel Loop. We don't really consider ourselves Gravel riders, but we had trained for a couple months on the closest terrain we could find, at home, in Florida. There were differences.

Pre-gravel beef jerky snack and selfie/groupie.

We pulled up to a couple of guys looking out over the loose gravel rocks on the far side of the railroad tracks in Underwood, IA. It was overcast. I rolled up with apprehension. Teresa was SUPER excited. One guy was saying to the other guy, "I don't know, man." The other guy, wise beyond his bearded years says, and I quote, "Look, ask yourself this...in 10 years are you going to regret NOT doing this?" Apparently, the hesitant dude wasn't that committed, because shortly after Teresa and I started, only the bearded guy passed us.

We rode for 3/4 of a mile before we hit the first hill. We knew the loop added some significant elevation, but weren't worried before hand. I slowly climbed that first hill, crested the top, and went barrelling down the other side. HOLY F*!KING SHIT. I literally thought I was going to die. LITERALLY. I came to a stop 1/4 of the way up the next hill, white as the gravel, breathing hard, and cussing like a sailor. Teresa came up beside me grinning like a Cheshire cat as I'm spewing expletives. "There's no F'ing way we're doing this. We're going to die. This is a bad f'ing idea. Shit...." It went on for a couple of minutes. Teresa was visibly disappointed at the possibility of skipping the gravel loop, so I committed to the next hill. We slowly climbed again, crested the top, and went down the other side with me on my brakes with that earlier bearded guy's words rattling around in my head, "...in 10 years are you going to regret NOT doing this?"

I need new rear brakes on my road bike, now.

To be fair, Teresa checking on me after that hill and I was of the mood - now is NOT the time to try to talk to me. So we kept going. Up slow, down slow - repeat. My mood improved the further we got. Teresa pointed out that she wasn't sure there would be patches for the loop. We later saw signs that implied otherwise, which further improved my mood.

The earned PATCH

We hit the mid-town for the loop, McClelland, just before another storm hit, but they had patches, food, shelter, and good news. It was only 4 miles back to the main route (pavement)! We actually waited for a train to pass before we could venture back onto the payment. But it was worth it. We made the loop uninjured and without bike issues so it was a win. Ultimately, I am glad we did it, but maintain it was BAD idea.

We made it back to Underwood, and started changing tires for the remaining 50 miles left in the day. In the middle of a rainy (and now windy) Monday in a small town in Iowa, Bill found us. It's so much fun to have a familiar face in a crowd of strangers.

We actually caught up with Bill (again) and Laura multiple times on Day 1!
I think this was Neola or Midden.

Avoca, I needed this.

From Underwood to Marne was kind of miserable because of the constant head-wind, but we did it. We stopped for beer, food (Mr. Porkchop), cinnamon rolls, and pie repeatedly along the way. I was especially excited about water slides in the City of Avoca, of which, video exists. ;)

More pork chop, now... please.

 
 Teresa looked like she was carrying an octopus with the gravel tires sticking up on top of her rear rack. EVERYONE noticed and commented how bad-ass she was to do the loop. They were right. (I didn't garner as much attention).

To Teresa, by many: You did the gravel loop? And then changed your tires? Bad-ass!
(or Awesome!) (or Hardcore!) (or Impressive).

Marne was also a pass-through city in 2001.
I'm glad they kept the sign/photo op for 2019.

We made it to Marne, IA. This was the last town before our end-point for day one. We were about 10 miles from our tent and food and anything else that wasn't a bike saddle. We walked up the mountain into Marne and surveyed the Roadhouse Bar and Grill  and party. Good times, but we really wanted to be done for the day, so with another piece of pie we headed back to our bikes.

Now is probably a good time to let you in on a little secret. I, Patrick, have a hard time enjoying being on a bike. It baffles both myself and Teresa that I enjoy RAGBRAI so much. With that being said, at this point in our day one, I was over it. I HATE riding in wind. Period. And for the last 50 miles we'd been riding in a steady, signification head-wind, climbing up hill after hill. Seriously. Miserable. No more patience. No more understanding. No more compassion. How Teresa didn't kill me is still a mystery.

I picked up my bike and started pushing it toward the main road when I hear Teresa say, "My bike's not rolling."

ME -- "Is it operator error or mechanical?" - crickets....I'm sure a venomous stare was boring a hole in my head.

We continued down the hill toward the main road. She didn't say anything else so I assumed it was operator error. I hopped on my bike and merged into bike traffic in time to look back and see Teresa try to follow and hop off her bike. "My bike's not rolling. It's not operator error - asshat."

Broken spoke. Nice.

We headed back up to Marne and met the traveling bike mechanics at Bike World. They were very quick and friendly which always helps. We actually ended up being on a first name basis with them as the week progressed - because Karma I guess.

So far as I can remember, it was smooth sailing into Atlantic RAGBRAI.

If you are able, please help us support the Navy SEAL Foundation.

Patrick's Donation Page for Tampa BayFrogman Swim 2020

Patrick & Teresa are actively raising money for the Navy Seal Foundation.   Supporting the Navy Seal Foundation-Frogman Swim 

We've been blogging for a while now. If you enjoyed this one, you may enjoy others. Look though the Blog Archive on the right, for more of our experiences and random thoughts. 

Thank you for your ongoing support of our adventures.  

Please feel free to share our blog.

On to Council Bluffs RAGBRAI...

On to Council Bluffs RAGBRAI...

As far as travel days was concerned, this one was about the easiest. The most frustrating part of getting from the East side of Iowa to the West was trying to stay connected to internet so I could finish some work tasks (and Teresa could finish school assignments).

We woke up early and started exploring Keokuk. Truthfully, I was on my hunt for an Official Keokuk Ragbrai t-shirt for my 2019 collection. I eventually found one at the YMCA :)

We really noticed things seemed familiar. The Hampton Inn and the Walmart gave strong feelings of deja vu. Interestingly enough we did our first RAGBRAI in 2013 and it occurred on the same days so Facebook started showing Teresa some very applicable "Memories from 6 years ago." Apparently, our meeting place for our Charter was Keokuk, IA in 2013.

Breakfast, charter check-in, bike & luggage drop off, and onto the Charter Bus. We saw a lot of wind turbines... and that was about it. After a disappointing lunch at Taco John's, I fell asleep.

 

Teresa and I have a very specific track record with buses. Seems that whenever we are on a bus (charter, race, school), it gets lost. Once at the Disney Marathon, our bus from the Animal Kingdom, onsite hotel, missed the turn to the bus drop off, made a U-turn across 9 lanes of traffic, back-tracked, and cut across another 9 lanes of traffic to make the turn. This happens more than it should, really.
So, while deep in a much needed slumber, I was violently shaken and I hear my lovely wife whisper, "We're in Nebraska...giggle, giggle, giggle." Begrudgingly, I was awake for the the remaining 45 minutes of navigating BACK to Iowa and through RAGBRAI traffic.

The group eventually made it to our overnight camping field, found our tent, luggage, and bikes and headed to the Expo.

Again, I was on the hunt for the Official Council Bluffs RAGBRAI t-shirt for my 2019 collection. I had been able to pre-order many of them but missed the ordering cut-off on a few.

I want to be kind of specific with this part. This is not an exaggeration. The 1st stop we made was the ONLY indoor section of the Expo - Registration. We walked in the door and someone in my group said, " This is registration. There is no way those shirts are in here."


We immediately left, looped the outdoor expo twice with no luck and regrouped. I found a group of friendly volunteers wearing the shirt and inquired. "Yes, we got our shirts today. Yes, they were selling some. Yes, we'll show you." WE HEADED TO THE INDOOR SECTION OF THE EXPO. No more shirts.

That was our excitement the day before the riding start. It was nice to have a relatively un-eventful day. We retired to our tent and settled down for some sleep. About 30 minutes later, the fireworks started.

If you are able, please help us support the Navy SEAL Foundation.

Patrick's Donation Page for Tampa BayFrogman Swim 2020

Patrick & Teresa are actively raising money for the Navy Seal Foundation.   Supporting the Navy Seal Foundation-Frogman Swim 

We've been blogging for a while now. If you enjoyed this one, you may enjoy others. Look though the Blog Archive on the right, for more of our experiences and random thoughts. 

 

Thank you for your ongoing support of our adventures.  

Please feel free to share our blog.

It's only 8 hours to Keokuk Ragbrai, he said...

It's only 8 hours to Keokuk Ragbrai, he said...

We ate way to much in Memphis and crashed at the hotel. Our idea of sleeping in was 6:00 a.m. Yes, we are bad at vacations. I decided to take care of some work things, and Teresa decided to complete some school items before we got started with our 2nd travel day. It was only going to be an 8 hour drive so we weren't in any hurry.

As we debated on whether or not to U-turn and head to the Bass Pro Pyramid, we crossed into Arkansas and decided to save that Pharaoh sized adventure for the next time we were in Memphis. Onward North ish!

After about 10 minutes I pulled out my little blue Passport To Your National Parks book and started looking for cancellation stamp locations we could stop at along the way. Sure, we may have to detour a little bit, but YOLO, right? I also took the time to determine the possibility of stamps within the U.S. Forest Service - Mark Twain National Forest. We've noticed that while a lot of National Parks have these stamps, the National Forests may or may not. Given there are many, many visitor and Ranger Stations in any given National Forest, the chances of stumbling on the right one, with the stamp, is really a gamble. Regardless, I made my pick and Poplar Bluff Ranger Station would be our first stop on our way to the Ozark National Scenic Riverways Visitor center.

Going off the interstate. 3/4 tank of gas.

I chose well from the 20 or so options for Mark Twain National Forest Ranger Stations and the Poplar Bluff location delivered! It ended up being on the outskirts of the forest and the employees were very eager to help with the stamps and provide some additional recommendations for places to stop. I love the US National Parks & U.S. Forest Service employees/Rangers. They really enjoy the outdoors and are eager to share and help!

With my book stamped, more maps in hand, and a couple of brochures we were back on the road headed to Ozark National Scenic Riverway. 1/2 tank of gas.

Again, the Ranger was extremely helpful. I got my stamps and we walked around the little museum/visitor center. "Someone" wanted to swim so we got a recommendation that was only 5 miles away at Big Spring along the Current River. We headed down the road. 1/4 tank of gas.

The plan was to take a "short" walk and a "quick" swim. We kind of got lost because of a closed bridge, but we found it. Our walk was longer as we were looking for a secluded area to swim. We found a nice spot along the shore and started making out, like teenagers. Aw. Then some boats came so we moved on. Then we found a very romantic overlook viewing the area where the river and the spring met and kind of started necking, again. Aw. Then we realized we were in direct line-of-site of the main (only) road. Cars came so we moved on. We finally jumped in the river and frolicked for a little bit. It was a fun side trip, but we had more to do and headed toward Elephant Rocks State Park. 1/8 tank of gas.

So there aren't many options for gas stations in the Mark Twain National Forest. At this point in the day, the low fuel light was on and the needle was reading "E." We're winding through two lane, desolate roads, when we saw a sign: "Highest Point in Missouri." YYYYYAAAAAASSSSS. So I made the turn and we started driving up. Fuel for our vehicle could wait. This impulse stop wasn't even a possibility of a stamp, but how often do you drive by the highest point in Missouri? Pavement ended and we entered the gravel road to the Taum Sauk Mountain State Park. We got out and saw the "marker." It's not a typical peak. We just as quickly jumped back in the car and ventured to a close Taum Sauk Lookout Tower. From the top we could see the Taum Sauk Reservoir. It was pretty cool!
Back in the car. Mission Alpha: Find a Gas Station. Low fuel light on for 20+ miles. There is exactly 1 gas station between the highest point in Missouri and the Elephant Rocks State Park and we JUST made it on tank fumes.


Breathing a sigh of relieve and realizing it was getting kind of late, we continued to Elephant Rocks State Park. We obeyed the no swimming signs, but it was increasingly harder to keep Teresa from removing clothes and jumping off the big boulders into a spring fed lake. The pink granite rocks were impressive and EVERYWHERE. It as a great stop.



When we got back in the car, the GPS indicated we still had 6 hours to Keokuk. I truly thought it was lying. It was not. We were still very much south-west of St. Louis. Kevin Swenson heroically waited up and flagged us down in front of a Middle School Gym. He then showed us the place he and Kelly saved for us to sleep, helped us set up my hammock and Teresa's sleeping bag, and immediately and impressively fell fast asleep on his air mattress. I don't know how Kelly slept through all Teresa's beating and banging.

Pro-tip: Sleeping in a gym with a bunch of strangers is not as glamorous as it sounds. I was to sober and my ear plugs didn't help a lot.

Regardless, we had made it to Iowa and that's how an 8 hour driver turned into a 13 hour adventure. As far as the story telling goes, I'm still 2 days away from the actual cycling on our cycling trip!

You'll notice there was no mention of a food stop. I don't think we stopped for food. I managed to keep Hangry Patrick at bay with a cooler full of snacks - this was a miracle in and of itself.

If you are able, please help us support the Navy SEAL Foundation.

Patrick's Donation Page for Tampa BayFrogman Swim 2020

Patrick & Teresa are actively raising money for the Navy Seal Foundation.   Supporting the Navy Seal Foundation-Frogman Swim 

We've been blogging for a while now. If you enjoyed this one, you may enjoy others. Look though the Blog Archive on the right, for more of our experiences and random thoughts. 

 

Thank you for your ongoing support of our adventures.  

Please feel free to share our blog.

(Travel To Keokuk, IA) - Memphis Here We Come.

Well, we are already 1 week past 2019 RAGBRAI, and finally picking up a little physical activity again. While Teresa is working on one very long blog post, I've decided to tell some of my stories. People laugh when they hear EVERYTHING that happened - I hope you'll get a chuckle from these posts, which I plan to be a multi-part series, based on each day.

(Travel To Keokuk, IA) - Memphis Here We Come.

We really enjoy Memphis. Specifically, we really enjoy eating all the food in Memphis. The city is a convenient stop half way to our first Iowa destination, Keokuk. 

We really like to eat when we travel. As such, our trip planning for this particular day was, "What time do we have to leave home to be able to eat lunch AND dinner in Memphis? (because we wanted Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken, Memphis TN. and Blues City Cafe).

News flash, we left late, and it took us until mid-way through AL to determine that YES, our GPS picked a different path this year. No problem.

Recently, I've also started collecting Cancellation Stamps in a little Passport To Your National Parks. We also try to find stamps in National Forests if an opportunity presents itself. (Sidenote, this is ME on a trip these days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPLxEwqL4Wg).


So somewhere on Interstate 65 in AL, I decided to see where we could stop and get me some stamps! The answer was Tupelo, MS so we rerouted and got to the destination with the stamp(s) about 15 minutes after it closed. Not be be deterred we explored the Natchez Trace Parkway and a few other National Park areas in Tupelo before we continued to TN.

Lunch in Memphis was now well behind us and we pushed to be able to have dinner at Gus's. Luckily we made it there about 15 minutes before they closed. I hope someone from Gus's reads this because BOSTON (a fellow trail runner/athlete) was an awesome host/server/conversationalist. We ate, a lot and then walked up and down Beale Street enough to eat, again, before we crashed at the hotel.

Hey Teresa, can you take a selfie of me in front of this cool sign? J/K...kind of.

If you are able, please help us support the Navy SEAL Foundation.

Patrick's Donation Page for Tampa BayFrogman Swim 2020

Patrick & Teresa are actively raising money for the Navy Seal Foundation.   Supporting the Navy Seal Foundation-Frogman Swim 

We've been blogging for a while now. If you enjoyed this one, you may enjoy others. Look though the Blog Archive on the right, for more of our experiences and random thoughts. 

 

Thank you for your ongoing support of our adventures.  

Please feel free to share our blog.