We've now arrived back in Altoona after our week-long adventure on RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) 2008. It was the 36th time that the ride has been organized and sponsored by the Des Moines Register newspaper.
Mandy and I did the ride with Jack and Judy, our good friends from Yuma, while Mark and Sue were our support crew. We loaned our tandem to Joe and his daughter Patty for their ride, and caught up with them several times along the route. Tom, another member of the Foothills Bike Club in Yuma joined up with us several times during the ride. We ran into a number of other friends from Texas and Yuma as we pedaled along, as well as meeting all sorts of new friends pursuing the same goal as us -- traveling the 471 beautiful miles of Iowa on this year's hilly route.
We started in Missouri Valley and rode west to east, stopping overnight at Harlan, Jefferson, Ames, Tama, Tipton, North Liberty, finally ending up at the Mississippi River at Le Claire. Rather than go into detail of each day -- which Mark has covered in his blog, we'll just recap the highlights that we observed and captured on the ride . . . . . . . just drag your cursor over the picture for a description, and double click on any picture for a larger view.
Our one mechanical issue (and unsolicited advertisement for Tiffin)- - - - - - when we woke up in Ames on Wednesday morning, one of the valves in the toilet in our motorhome had broken. Mark and Sue detoured to Des Moines and spent all day trying to get parts to fix it, but the eventual solution was that Tiffin Motorhomes (our manufacturer) Fedex-ed -- at their cost -- a brand new toilet to us at our next stop in Tama. Mark confirmed with them at 3:00 in the afternoon Wednesday, and we had it by 10:15 the next morning. Mark and I installed it in 20 minutes and we were on our way. Talk about great service and support!! -- it's the reason we bought a Tiffin!
The RAGBRAI crowds - - - - with 12,000 to 14,000 people riding, supporting, and otherwise involved with the ride, there were crowds everywhere as we traveled through the small towns of central Iowa -- on the roads, in the towns, waiting to get water or to go to the bathroom, pitching their tents or parking their RV's. . . . . .
The RAGBRAI food - - - - - with that many hungry bikers pedaling 60-80 miles per day, there were all sorts of opportunities to replace lost calories. Many of the towns look forward to being on the route (which changes each year) because of the money that their stores, organizations, and churches can make from the influx of riders and support crew.
The RAGBRAI "teams" and their support busses and names were a never ending source of amusement and and laughter -- here are some samples . . . . .
Of course, the blog would not be complete without some shots of our own RAGBRAI "team" and crew as we pedaled, ate, and partied our way across Iowa . . . . .
All in all we had a wonderful time and look forward to doing it again some year. We learned some lessons about doing the ride and look forward to a flatter route. Many thanks again to Mark and Sue for their help and support for all of us, and to our friends who rode with us as we realized one of our cycling goals.
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