Just got home from my first Ragbrai and I wanted to extend a heart felt thank you to all the people who donated their time and to the vendors who made the great food and drinks available to the tired and thirsty riders.
There were many positive and sadly a few negatives for my wife and I on the ride, but I am sorry to say the negatives stand out in my mind. There was one situation that has left me disapointed in my fellow bikers and and people in general. As semi truck was caught in Coralville going against the flow of bikes and was trying to make a right turn. Anyone who has pulled a trailer knows that you must make a wide turn to keep from riding up on the curb. As the trucker tried to ease his way around the corner a “race team, uniformed clad Lance wanabe” spat upon the driver and was congradulated by his fellow riders. When would it be OK to spit on another person? We were later passed by the spitter as he was in a pace line. Imagine that! FYI ….he did not have a wrist band.
The other situation involved the double pace line on the oiled road leading into Davenport conducted by the Balance Studio team. We are experience riders and also enjoy the beneifits of a well run line, but it has its place. The open road on Ragbrai is not the place and a conjested narrow road is stupid and shows self minded arrogance and complete disrespect for fellow riders.
Sorry for the downer after a fun week. We did it and sadly we won’t be back.
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Had a great time riding my first RAGBRAI. Most of my riding is on Missouri’s Katy Trail and, while I’m comfortable doing a century or more on it, it is pretty flat so I was concerned about the hills on the first two days. Apparently the limited amount of hill training I did was just enough – much to my surprise I didn’t walk a single hill all week. The part I found most amazing was seeing that many cyclists in one place. As my friend put it – “no matter how many times or how long you stop you always feel like you’re in the middle of the pack”. The only concern I had was with some of the pacelines. I was going around 17 and had a double paceline pass me pretty close on both sides probably doing somewhere in the mid-20s. They did announce just as they got to me. I’m used to pacelines and I ride in a pretty straight line for an old guy but it just seems to be a bit risky to pass someone whose ability you have no way of knowing that fast and that close.
My first RAG was a total kick! I live in KS, and the temps, while lower, felt like our 100’s for the last month with all the moisture. The organization and whole show of this ride was really fantastic. Makes Biking Across Kansas look like an rookie event. I loved the towns and the people in Iowa. Everyone was so nice, it was just a great experience. It was truly awesome to see such a massive ride! Mind-blowing at times. My friends have asked me what it was like. My response: One gigantic, 7-day, rolling party (and I’m not just talking beer gardens). The other response: the 3 H’s of Iowa: Hills, Heat, Humidity!
This traveling circus is not for everyone….so be it. I will say that if you let a few negatives (your own words) keep you away from anything you are going to end up doing nothing.
Truer words were never spoken.
JJDUBS- I set a personal best this year by drinking for free in 5 different places in one day (Tuesday). I wasn’t planning on drinking that day since I was doing the century, but you can’t break rule number one (never pass free beer).
One other thing that sticks out during the ride was the dorm cafeteria in Grinnell. Did anyone else eat there? It was crazy. People were loading up 16 cheeseburgers at a time. Anytime food was place on the buffet, people/savages/vultures would flock and within seconds the food would be gone. I think at the end the cafeteria people were just finding food in the back of the freezer to throw on the buffet.
My favorite memories (first timer)
1. I loved how, in the morning, small packs of riders would ride through parts of the city, then join up with larger and larger crowds of riders and then flow into the main Ragbrai route.
2. Sunrise over the cornfields. And the sheer pleasure of those first ten miles.
3. State troopers with boom boxes. Do they get to choose their own music?
4. My first century on the Karras Loop. It was hot and I was beat at the end, but that was a thrill of a lifetime.
5. Writing free postcards along the way.
6. The great small towns–like Oxford. I made me, a city guy from San Francisco, weepy to see entire towns come out for the ride–for example, in Lewis, which was a Norman Rockwell painting come to life.
7. The pride I take in surviving the ride, which was hard but so worthwhile.
8. All of the people I met both at PBV and on the road. It helps to ride with a jersey that identifies where you are from (I was in the Cal Berkeley jersey).
9. The way that the folks in the Davenport suburbs cheered us on and congratulated us on finishing our ride.
10. The admiration I felt for the riders with various disabilities, the cool guy on the skateboard, and everyone who said hello to me, a total stranger
I’ll be back.
Thoreau, I love all of those things about RAGBRAI too, except that I still haven’t done the century. I think that conditions would have to be ideal in order for me to do it, and it’s just not going to happen. For the most part, I think that people in the small towns of Iowa do a good job welcoming people to our state, and it makes me proud to be from Iowa. In addition to the things that you mentioned, I like it when they have some guy on a public address system asking people where they are from, and calling out states and countries as riders go by. I think that when the Iowa Highway Patrol guys provide music, it is something they do on their own, and the selection is their own as well. I am also in awe of the guys on the hand crank trikes, and the baggers. It’s enough for me to just get myself across the state. I also love the kids who stand on the curbs and high-five riders who go by, and the kids who squirt riders with super soakers.
AnnG: For me, the Karras Loop was now or never. I’ve got a family and a teaching job, so I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to be in as good shape as I was on Tuesday and I went for it. Also, I’m not a bike rider year round (and prefer open water swimming in the cold SF Bay) but I put in 900 miles in the two months before Ragbrai and figured I’d give the loop a try. Knowing that PBV was waiting with showers, beer, and food helped.
One more thing about the Ragbrai experience–it is a vision of how America could be–people of different ages, experience, and likely political differences talking and sharing life stories. As the rest of the country heard about the battle over the balanced budget and the schism between Republicans and Democrats, the Ragbrai riders just made their way eastward, hippies along side Marines and young kids along side senior citizens. Perhaps we should put congress on road bikes next year and send them across Iowa.
First day 5 people just with the skunks all got cramps in the same inner quad muscle, adductor longus. Maybe. None of us ever had that before. Got some electrolite tablets, drank 1 bottle of that,a lemonade, another bottle of water, and 2 glasses of gatorade while sitting in a town at a first aid tent. That night got a cramp in the back of my right knee that woke me up just in time so I could enjoy the coming cramp in the back of left knee. Another bottle of water with the electrolite supplement that night. No more cramps after that but did drink a bottle of that stuff every night/morning.
To the Balance folks, many thanks for the pulls! I had a great time riding in the back and when I offered to take a turn, was told that they wanted to stay in front and I was welcome to sit on their wheels. Very polite and I completely understand. Your leaders did a great job of announcing “OYL” because I could hear them from five back.
I did enough research that I knew what to expect. I still have to say that it was amazing to actually see it. Bikes 4 and 5 wide from horizon to horizon. I guess just watching them roll by just reminds why I enjoy this sport so much.
I had a blast, and I’ll be back. I’ve probably never had more fun on a vacation than I did on this one. I think it’s largely because I don’t feel a lot of guilt about the copious quantities of food that I consumed. I was enjoying the food, but I was really just taking on fuel.
I was prepared for the heat / humidity. I had 2500 miles of training rides behind me. I had done a 7-day, 400+ mile tour for logistics practice (last fall). The riding didn’t make me uncomfortable, so I was able completely enjoy the whole thing. For those of you who only trained your livers, I can’t imagine how you survived it.
I saw only a few instances of very sketchy riding, and most were on the last day. I was riding closer to the back of the pack that day (9:00 am roll-out with no drafting help), and there were some folks back there that truly had no clues about group riding etiquette. Fortunately, they are usually easy to recognize from a distance, and I am able to keep my distance.
I was lucky enough to survive the whole week without seeing a rolling crash. I saw a few people fall over when they forgot to unclip, but no real crashes. I had a close one when I was closing pretty fast on another rider, and she suddenly changed her line to run under a sprinkler. I don’t know how I avoided tangling up with her. After that one, I became a lot more cautious in the sprinkler zones.
The locals in the pass-thrus and the overnights were great. I enjoyed meeting a bunch of them. I never saw/heard a local give a harsh word to a rider. The food was great.
Thanks to the DMR, the ISP, EMT’s, mechanics, etc. I apologize to any locals who were inconvenienced for a day or two as we took over your roads. I hope you enjoyed the show as much as I enjoyed being part of it. I hope your various charities enjoyed a good infusion of funds. I know that my wallet seemed to have a continuous slow leak for the whole week.
See you in 2013 or 2014.