DAY 4 - Rest Day (should have been 51.8 miles, 1,180 elevation)

After much discussion, Rick and I decided to just drive the support vehicle to the next overnight town of Charles City. We figured, let Dean, Carol, Pete and Mary ride the entire day and get the full RAGBRAI experience. It's the first time for all of them except Pete. If they like it enough, they'll join us the next time. I was also looking forward to a day off. I was sunburnt, my rear hurt, my legs had a dull ache, and quite frankly, I was just exhausted. We ended up staying at the hotel until just a little before check out time. I took another shower just for good measure. I was enjoying the indoor plumbing as much as possible. When we finally got to Charles City, we picked a perfect little place to camp, set up our little lawn chairs and just hung out waiting for the others. It was fun and relaxing. During that time, I was also mapping out how to drop our bags off on the baggage truck in the morning. I carefully read the RAGBRAI papers to make sure I knew when and where to drop off the bags. It was going to be a relief not to lug 60 lb of gear. The day was a perfectly crisp and warm day. The humidity had dropped after a rough overnight thunderstorm that included lightning touching nearby the campground. I'm glad we were in a hotel that night. While we were waiting for the others to arrive, Rick and I went to the HyVee to buy chips, sweets and beer for everyone. The group finished up around 2:30pm and stuck around talking about the ride and enjoying Shinerbocks and snacks until about 3:30pm. I was kind of sad to see them go. It was so nice to relax in a group setting and just talk about the days events. I really hope that if there is a next time, they will join in on the entire ride.

DAY 3 - 59.9 miles, 1,068 elevation

I forgot to mention before that Rick's lips were also sunburnt...much worse than mine. His lower lip was so swollen and fat that I started laughing at how funny he looked until I was in tears. He kept pretending to talk as if he had one of those dental novacaine injections. That set me off for another round of giggles. Anyway, I was really looking forward to today because of the support vehicle, plus we'll be staying in a hotel tonight. Hooray! Towing 60 lb of luggage is really not easy and as much as I like showering in a truck, a private hotel room is so much better. We started the day relatively early at around 7am. The reason for starting earlier and earlier is because the temperatures have been in the low 90s and the humidity levels are atrocious (somewhere in the mid-70s). Today's weather is supposed to be 94F with a heat index of about 102. It only gets worse when you factor in the heat coming off of the hot black asphalt. So off we went. Rick said we might be able to meet Pete at the first town of Britt, so I pedaled as hard as I could to get there. It was sweltering, but I kept pushing it thinking about unloading the luggage. Oops, we missed them, so it was off to the meeting town of Garner. This was still pretty far away, and I was wilting from the heat. I had to drink water every 15 minutes and I looked forward to passing any house with a kid on the front lawn willing to hose us down. When we finally made it to Garner, I was thinking, all right, I made it without suffering from heat stroke. We stopped short of the main town to try to reach Pete and to cool off a bit. We sat in the grass for a while enjoying ice cold lemonade and a banana. Rick was able to reach Pete. He told me that Pete was in the park area and that he had biked from the overnight town of Clear Lake to Garner. It took about 10 minutes for me to realize, hey wait a second, if Pete biked to Garner, there is no support vehicle to carry my freaking luggage. I was so mad, I was ready to push Rick in front of all the oncoming bicyclists. He actually knew about all of this in advance, since Pete texted him to let him know where he was. But, he wanted to keep me motivated. So, he claims he never lied to me. He just never gave me all of the facts. Really, if I weren't so darn tired, I could have killed him. When we met up with Pete, I felt a little better. The dynamics change when you're in a group as opposed to just being with your spouse. So onward we went to the final town of Clear Lake. I still thought I was dying from heat stroke, but we made it. When I finally got to the hotel, I took a very, very long cold shower. I felt like a brand new person after that. We ate dinner with Pete, his wife, and another couple, Dean and Carol, and then we headed over to the Expo & Beer Garden area. It was still a very humid night and you could see flashes of lightning all around, but no rain. We sat on a couple of benches to listen to a band sing cover songs from the Spin Doctors, but instead, there was a delay, and we were treated to a spectacular fireworks show over the lake. I forgot about Rick's omissions that day, and put my head on his shoulder and held his hand as we watched all the brilliant lights flash over us. When the fireworks were over, we decided we were all pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel. Tomorrow is supposed to be the easiest day of the tour. It's just a little over 50 miles and it's mostly downhill. Weather reports say that a nasty storm will pass overnight leaving us with cooler, less humid air. I won't be riding tomorrow. I'll be driving the support vehicle to the next overnight town of Charles City. I'm not going to complain. I could use a break. My legs are really sore and my rear is beginning to ache, but at least it's not nearly as bad as last year. Plus, my sunburn is slowly getting better, so rest is a good thing.

Waking Up In Algona

We fell asleep so soundly that we didn't hear the rowdies in the middle of the night climb over the fence of the Aquatic Center and cannonball into the pool. I guess Team BodyShop (or something like that) had a little too much to drink. Apparently the police came to break everything up. I didn't hear a thing :) When I woke up, I was sore all over, especially my "sit" bones. I also had a sunburn on my back. Apparently, the sunblock couldn't save me from being exposed from 7am-5pm. My lips are also all swollen from windburn. Who needs collagen when you could have windburn! It doesn't hurt, but my lips look quite plump. I started laughing at myself when I looked in the mirror. I also laughed at my tan lines, which are the same as last year's -- a straight white line down the back. Off we go to ride 59.9 miles and meet up with our friends Pete Royer and his wife, along with another couple. I'm looking forward to meeting up with Pete. He has a support vehicle. I can finally ride luggage free, at least for part of the ride.

DAY 2 - 79 miles, 1,083 elevaton

After a pretty restful night, we woke up around 6am and started to get ready for the long day of biking. My legs were sore, but not so bad that I couldn't ride. We were out on the road by around 7:30am. Unlike last year, where we had a group that helped us out with food, we had to go ride to the first place for breakfast. The first stop was the Farm Boys breakfast burritos. The line looked like a mile long, so we skipped it thinking we'll ride to the first town, Varina, which was 16.5 miles away. But, we missed the turn off, so onward we went. We had to stop to share a half a protein bar and some water, but we finally made it to K&K for a delicious and needed PB&J along with ice-cold OJ and a banana. That fueled us forward to the big meeting town of Pocahantas, which was a beautiful town with a lot of friendly folks. This was another 17.1 miles away, so when we stopped, I was pretty tired. I took a short snooze on the grass in the park after eating a veggie pizza lunch. Then off we went to West Bend, another 27.4 miles away. This took us a while, but it was nice and flat, so the ride wasn't so bad. At West Bend, there is this incredible grotto. It's the world's largest grotto, so we stopped for about 20 minutes to walk around it (and to use the indoor plumbing -- port-o-potties, as you can imagine, are kind of yucky, especially when it feels like it's 100 degrees in there. As my friend would call it, a poop oven). We rode the last 18 miles into the overnight town of Algona. After a day of riding flat roads, getting into Algona was a challenge...steep and steady uphill, but we made it and set up camp by the Aquatic Center. Since we arrived pretty late, it was once again a veggie curry and gyro dinner. But it was nice just sitting on the curb leaning on Rick, chatting about the days events and sharing another nice night out.

DAY 1 - 68.5 miles, 3,687 elevation

Unfortunately, Rick didn't finish his projects, so he brought his laptop and files with him. He also stayed up most of the night working. This carried on into the morning, so we got off to a late start around 10am. It was hot and humid and our baggage weighed the bike down -- total weight, about 50-60 lb. I was doing okay for the first half of the day, but then my legs started cramping badly during the final 23 miles. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it and once again, I cried from the pain. I wanted to SAG it, but Rick wouldn't let me. I don't know why my legs cramped so badly. After all the running I've been doing, I thought I'd be fine. Maybe I didn't eat enough or drink enough water. Maybe I didn't realize how hard it is to ride self-supported on a hilly route. Probably a little of everything. We finally pulled into the overnight town - Storm Lake - by around 9pm. Luckily, Joe's Shower Shack was still open. Showering inside a trailer never felt better! We ate veggie curry and gyros for dinner and strolled along this beautiful little town. We pitched our tent right by the lake and fell asleep underneath the bright moon and stars. A lovely ending to a rough day. Tomorrow is going to be a long day of riding with nearly 80 miles. At least it should be pretty flat.

The Day Before RAGBRAI

Today, Rick and I made it to the starting point of RAGBRAI, Sioux City, Iowa. It wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. After weeks of sunny days with very little rain, our day started with severe thunderstorms. Luckily Rick's flight out of LGA was on time and while the connecting flight out of Chicago boarded on time, we were stuck in the airplane for 90 minutes. When we finally made it to Omaha, we had to hop onto a 90-minute shuttle to Sioux City. I was expecting a nice and peaceful ride. Maybe get a little sleep. Instead, I got to listen to a loudmouth, pompous ass who was so full of himself, I was tempted to smack him in the face. Rick kept making fun that he should take his biking helmet and smash it over his head...that's how annoying he was. I felt like I was on the LIRR where you can't get the person to stop talking so loudly on his/her cell phone. This guy was talking about how smart he is, how he is superiorly physically fit, how he dates rich and beautiful women. Luckily, the day got better once I got off the shuttle. We had lunch at the RAGBRAI Expo. To continue last year's theme of "I love pork," I had a pulled-pork sandwich. After lunch, we assembled the bike (about 90 minutes) and then we rode it down to the Missouri River, and in RAGBRAI tradition, dipped the back wheel into the river. And then, we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Luciano's, where I flushed a lovely shade of red after having a watermelon martini. I can hardly wait for tomorrow. Distance 68.5 miles, total elevation 3,687 ft. This will be one of the hilliest days, so I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Running Update

My friend invited me to run a 5K with her next weekend. Unfortunately, I had to turn her down since I will be on a business trip in Chicago. I wanted to do the run with her to test my speed at 5K. I know my body is trained enough to handle a nice and easy 3.2 miles,but how would I feel if I pushed the pace. It's hard for me to push myself to run faster when I'm alone. There's just no incentive. But, when you're with a pack of people, the competitive spirit kicks in along with a rush of adrenaline. I'll try to find another event near us between now and the Sept 19 half marathon I signed up for. While I'm in Chicago, I'll go run by the lake. I'll be staying at a hotel right next to the lake, so why not. It should be lovely, but I can't overdo it since the following week is RAGBRAI.

In number news, the running log I've been keeping surprised me when I scrolled down to the total distance I've run since April. I've passed the 100 mile mark! To be exact 112.35 miles. Amazing for a person who has never really exercised regularly until a year and a half ago. I forget how many points I've accumulated, but I'm pretty sure David's far behind me :)