‘Mr. Pork Chop saved my life yesterday’ says Houston man who added his own challenge to RAGBRAI
- 22 July, 2019
ADAIR, Ia. — Just biking across Iowa wasn’t enough of a challenge for a Houston man.
Jesse Alston, 37, also decided to pull an extra 50 pounds behind him.
That extra cargo comes in the form of a small trailer filled with Alston’s camping supplies.
“I’m told that a first-timer’s mistake is going through everything too quickly,” said Alston, a rookie on the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.
If he didn’t have the trailer, Alston, an experienced racer, estimated he’d be going about 24 miles an hour, at minimum: “That’s there to slow me down so I can force myself to enjoy Iowa.”,,
And enjoy it he has. Unlike Houston, Alston said, Iowa has clean air, less traffic and lots of cornfields.
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There have been some ups and downs, though.
He called Sunday’s early rain demoralizing. But Monday’s sunny skies and late morning temperature of 72 degrees in Adair was more like the Texas weather he is used to.
The western Iowa hills and constant headwind have added a bit of an unplanned challenge for the 6-foot-5 Alston.
But the route has its redeeming qualities.
“Mr. Pork Chop saved my life yesterday,” said Alston, who’d gone a couple meals without protein when he came upon the popular food stand. “That gave me the second wind I needed to finish.”
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I’ve had the pleasure, at different times, to buy lunch at Mr. Pork Chop for my grandchildren. It’s their favorite stop on RAGBRAI. Always on the lookout for the pink school bus.