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.

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