Riders try to stay dry, but mostly fail

Riders try to hide from the rain.

Gilbertville, Ia. — What’s a little rain to a bunch of hungry RAGBRAI riders?

It certainly wasn’t keeping them from stopping for breakfast in Gilbertville, though most took their pancakes and quickly found a roof to huddle under with fellow riders.

“We just stand here and yell, ‘Five dollar breakfast,’ and they turn and come over,” said 19-year-old Corrie Betts, of Gilbertville, standing under an umbrella behind a table.

The smell of pancakes was obvious as people rode past.
The stand was also selling eggs, sausages, and drinks.

Up and down the street, riders squeezed under awnings, into the lobbies of businesses, and onto people’s porches.

Down the street, Thomas Carter, 40, and Arlene Willman, 50, stood under the awning of a business, looking out at the rain.

It’s their first year on RAGBRAI, and they joked about why Carter, from the St. Louis, Mo., was more comfortable riding in the rain than Willman, of Bellville, Ill.

“We were kind of hoping it would stop,” Willman said.

“We were hoping it would wane,” Carter added, looking into the street, where rain showed no sign of letting up.

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