Gene is a wise guy and a good sport. He does love his truck and he made us sit on towels so as not to get our sweat all over the place. Tash stuck a little chocolate between the towels and made fun of Gene's accident. The various drivers also kept mocking Gene by pretending to drive with the handbrakes on or driving with the rear detector beeping all the time. Gene is also Mr. 20 Questions. He asked me if I saw other ladies in the communal showers. Although he never said "naked", it was completely implied. He also asked 20 questions at dinner about how I met Rick. But at least he shared back by telling us the funny story of how he met his wife.
Ron is a sweetheart. He was always making sure that I felt as comfortable as possible being surrounded by macho men :) He taught me that I need to eat heartily before trying to ride for a full day. One egg and a slice of toast with a half cup of coffee just doesn't cut it for riding 50 miles. In the end, I learned to eat as much as possible before each ride. He also made sure I got my dark chocolate fix after the day of riding was over.
Pete is a funny guy. He was always making me laugh with his jokes...of which Rick was often the target. I also aspire to be like Pete on the bike one day. He makes it seem so effortless. When Rick and I sped past him down a hill thanks to the momentum on the tandem, Pete caught up to us in no time, slowed down and said hi halfway up the hill, and then just took off while Rick and I pedaled out of breath. Oh, and for someone who makes fun of me on my Crackberry, I think he spent almost as much time on his phone texting!
Tash, well I've known him since our Cooper Union days, so I know how sweet and funny he is. He was so nice to wait for me during the 75-mile biking day. Plus, he rode with Rick and I on a couple of days...which made the ride more enjoyable. Now, how to convince him to ride tandem with his wife for the next RAGBRAI?
And then there's Rick, my hero for the trip. I could have never finished RAGBRAI without him. Not only for carrying me while I was soft-pedaling, but also for constantly encouraging me that I can do it. While I wanted to kill him at the time I was riding the Trek, now that I reflect upon it, I'm glad I didn't kill him, and I'm glad I rode 37 miles on my own. Also, it was wonderful to spend one week with Rick without the kids. I tell people it was like a second honeymoon...except that the primary physical activity involved is bicycling. Too tired and in agony for anything else!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Memorable Moments
For the most part, I've written about my own journey. But there were quite a few funny moments with the guys.
There was a lot of bathroom humor, particularly with Gene who had this huge childish grin on his face when he told us he made a "donation" at the church where we had dinner. Rick always got up at 4:30am when we were camping so he could have private time in the port-o-potty. He even peed one night into a bottle, which I found particularly disturbing. I threw that bottle out ASAP! I had the full RAGBRAI experience by peeing in the cornfields. Times like that, I wish I was a guy. Corn is not soft and peeing in five rows deep of corn was not easy. But when nature calls, you have to answer it.
Rick cracked all of us up with his comment to Pete about the swim caps that covered our Brooks saddles when it rained. Pete gave us those swim caps. When Rick was covering up the saddles in Corning, he made a smart mouth comment that when he's riding with the swim cap on the saddle, it was like having Pete's head stuck up his ass. Normally Pete has a quick come back...but not this time.
Rick's loud snoring and ability to quickly fall asleep was a source of frustration and amusement. When we were camping, Rick and I had one tent, while the four other guys shared a larger tent. The guys tried to stay far away and I just tuned him out with my iPod. One night, we camped near another group. When they heard Rick snore, they asked the guys, "is that one of yours?" The guys didn't want to take ownership and told them to kick our tent. I heard all the guys laughing, even with my earbuds solidly lodged in my ears. That was the night of the thunderstorm when I couldn't fall asleep.
In the townsquare where we heard Hairball, Gene and Tash were hatching plans for their new business. The two of them are like two peas in a pod. Hmmm, perhaps I shouldn't say that considering that they shared hotel rooms together :)
We all made fun of the Chinese take-out/buffet restaurant in every town that we stopped at. We kept laughing that it's name is either Great Wall, Panda Garden or Golden Dragon. I think one day we actually found a restaurant called Great Wall.
We always made fun of Gene about food. There's some good steak dinners at HyVee (a supermarket) for $6.99 or an all-you-can eat Chinese buffet for $4.99. Or we laughed at him when he packed up some cookies/brownies from the church where we had dinner, and where he made a "donation".
There were a lot of other odd/funny moments too, like Tash running across the lawn when he heard Rick's name announced over the PA for karaoking or how Gene takes a questionable 5-minute shower. Or even worse, how Rick was joking around in the communal shower about soaping up the missing spot on Tash's back in front of several other guys.
It really was a lot of fun. I didn't necessarily get the guys humor in the beginning, but I got used to it in the end and actually started to find it rather amusing.
There was a lot of bathroom humor, particularly with Gene who had this huge childish grin on his face when he told us he made a "donation" at the church where we had dinner. Rick always got up at 4:30am when we were camping so he could have private time in the port-o-potty. He even peed one night into a bottle, which I found particularly disturbing. I threw that bottle out ASAP! I had the full RAGBRAI experience by peeing in the cornfields. Times like that, I wish I was a guy. Corn is not soft and peeing in five rows deep of corn was not easy. But when nature calls, you have to answer it.
Rick cracked all of us up with his comment to Pete about the swim caps that covered our Brooks saddles when it rained. Pete gave us those swim caps. When Rick was covering up the saddles in Corning, he made a smart mouth comment that when he's riding with the swim cap on the saddle, it was like having Pete's head stuck up his ass. Normally Pete has a quick come back...but not this time.
Rick's loud snoring and ability to quickly fall asleep was a source of frustration and amusement. When we were camping, Rick and I had one tent, while the four other guys shared a larger tent. The guys tried to stay far away and I just tuned him out with my iPod. One night, we camped near another group. When they heard Rick snore, they asked the guys, "is that one of yours?" The guys didn't want to take ownership and told them to kick our tent. I heard all the guys laughing, even with my earbuds solidly lodged in my ears. That was the night of the thunderstorm when I couldn't fall asleep.
In the townsquare where we heard Hairball, Gene and Tash were hatching plans for their new business. The two of them are like two peas in a pod. Hmmm, perhaps I shouldn't say that considering that they shared hotel rooms together :)
We all made fun of the Chinese take-out/buffet restaurant in every town that we stopped at. We kept laughing that it's name is either Great Wall, Panda Garden or Golden Dragon. I think one day we actually found a restaurant called Great Wall.
We always made fun of Gene about food. There's some good steak dinners at HyVee (a supermarket) for $6.99 or an all-you-can eat Chinese buffet for $4.99. Or we laughed at him when he packed up some cookies/brownies from the church where we had dinner, and where he made a "donation".
There were a lot of other odd/funny moments too, like Tash running across the lawn when he heard Rick's name announced over the PA for karaoking or how Gene takes a questionable 5-minute shower. Or even worse, how Rick was joking around in the communal shower about soaping up the missing spot on Tash's back in front of several other guys.
It really was a lot of fun. I didn't necessarily get the guys humor in the beginning, but I got used to it in the end and actually started to find it rather amusing.
Guy Perspectives
Here's a list of things my husband learned this week:
1) Ron's an Iron Man for riding after his spill.
2) Gene loves his truck and has a year's supply of towels in it. Also, he's got himself a "sexy pose" that he uses on the ladies. Plus, he's very charitable to leave "donations" throughout Iowa.
3) Pete's a machine on his Felt.
4) Tash finished his first complete RAGBRAI with strong riding all around and was kind to stay with Kristine on that first leg of the 75-miler.
5) Kristine showed real grit and rode 400 miles this week after only riding twice on the tandem with me beforehand.
6) I really can't sing, but am happy to have tried in front of a live audience for your amusement!
Here's Pete's list:
1) Gene is a stud on the bike, 100+ miles without pie! Unheard of at RAGBRAI.
2) It's not fun to look back and see your brother going down on the asphalt at 25 mph after he touched your wheel! But he showed true grit by getting back on and biking 42 miles with 3 staples in his
head, unbelievable!-)
3) Kristine is stud muffin! 400+ miles, even more of an effort with the driver of the tandem having just eaten a burrito!
4) Tash hammers up hills like its the last one, on every hill!
5) Ricky can sing and believes he is the Asian answer to Johnny Carson! (comes close too!)
6) But probably the most important thing I learned is you can have a blast with good friends biking, camping, hanging out, living thru rain and more rain, eating and even sleeping, well trying to sleep thru bands, helicopters and the snoring machine of Ricky!
1) Ron's an Iron Man for riding after his spill.
2) Gene loves his truck and has a year's supply of towels in it. Also, he's got himself a "sexy pose" that he uses on the ladies. Plus, he's very charitable to leave "donations" throughout Iowa.
3) Pete's a machine on his Felt.
4) Tash finished his first complete RAGBRAI with strong riding all around and was kind to stay with Kristine on that first leg of the 75-miler.
5) Kristine showed real grit and rode 400 miles this week after only riding twice on the tandem with me beforehand.
6) I really can't sing, but am happy to have tried in front of a live audience for your amusement!
Here's Pete's list:
1) Gene is a stud on the bike, 100+ miles without pie! Unheard of at RAGBRAI.
2) It's not fun to look back and see your brother going down on the asphalt at 25 mph after he touched your wheel! But he showed true grit by getting back on and biking 42 miles with 3 staples in his
head, unbelievable!-)
3) Kristine is stud muffin! 400+ miles, even more of an effort with the driver of the tandem having just eaten a burrito!
4) Tash hammers up hills like its the last one, on every hill!
5) Ricky can sing and believes he is the Asian answer to Johnny Carson! (comes close too!)
6) But probably the most important thing I learned is you can have a blast with good friends biking, camping, hanging out, living thru rain and more rain, eating and even sleeping, well trying to sleep thru bands, helicopters and the snoring machine of Ricky!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
End of an Adventure
So marks the end of my journey across Iowa. It was a lot more fun and exciting than I anticipated and I would consider coming back next year, but riding on my own individual bike instead of the tandem. Most people I talk to can't understand why anyone would ride across Iowa. I didn't understand either. But now, I do. It's not just for the scenery...which is beautiful, but there's only so many cornfields and soybean fields you can look at before things get boring, not to mention the occasional attack on your olfactory senses with the natural fertilizer. For me, RAGBRAI was fantastic because for that one week, you don't do anything except for sleep, eat and ride. You ride at your own pace and just think, when else can you ride with 10,000 other people? You also get to meet a lot of great people you would otherwise never meet. Coincidentally, the cancer survivor, Jamie, we met on the plane coming into Omaha, we met at a couple of other towns and we also saw him at the FedEx area and helped him pack up his bike (photo above). He has an amazing story. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given 6 weeks to live. He was told that he would never do anything physically challenging again after chemotherapy. But here he was at the finish of a 442 mile bike ride...his first RAGBRAI. He told us he teared up as he rode into Burlington. I hope we end up staying in touch with him and maybe we'll see him at the next RAGBRAI.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
More Photos
All of these images were taken on the final day of the ride.
Our RAGBRAI team...done for the week. We all did fantastic. All of us cleared well over 300 miles.
That's Pete with his hand up taking a video of us riding.
Ron, Pete and Tash riding side by side next to soy...or is it corn :) I was a little scared taking this picture because I was still pedaling and not holding onto anything except for the camera.
Me, Rick and Tash in New London, the final meeting town before the final stop of Burlington. Check out my major tan lines on my legs. Tash's and Rick's arms were tanned even worse.
Check out our tandem shadow. The shadow in front is Tash.
Our RAGBRAI team...done for the week. We all did fantastic. All of us cleared well over 300 miles.
That's Pete with his hand up taking a video of us riding.
Ron, Pete and Tash riding side by side next to soy...or is it corn :) I was a little scared taking this picture because I was still pedaling and not holding onto anything except for the camera.
Me, Rick and Tash in New London, the final meeting town before the final stop of Burlington. Check out my major tan lines on my legs. Tash's and Rick's arms were tanned even worse.
Check out our tandem shadow. The shadow in front is Tash.Day 7 - RAGBRAI - 43.2 miles
Today is my final day of riding! I can't believe I'm going to finish it. Since Gene (driving duty today) and Ron had to leave by noon to start their long drive back to Texas, we started the day extra early at around 6:15am. According to the route maps, today's 40+ miles was easy - relatively flat with one long uphill, but also one huge downhill. We were traveling north and then east to the final destination of Burlington, IA. The best part was that the winds that we fought so hard against the other day, were now our tailwind. While it was a bit nippy at the beginning of the day, once the sun completely came up, we were nice and toasty warm. The route was indeed flat and we were traveling pretty fast with the wind pushing us along. It was fun riding the rolling hills. We'd gain enough speed going down to make it up to the peak of the next hill relatively effortlessly. Up and down we went, but, I was still waiting for the big uphill to come. Since this was my last day, I was going to go all out and pump my legs until I couldn't take it anymore. I saw this huge downhill and expected it to be followed by the huge uphill, but then, as we flew down the hill at probably 50mph, Rick started to hit the brakes. I thought, what's happening? Is there another accident? I don't see or hear an ambulance. Nope, it wasn't anything bad. It just wasn't the right downhill. Rick had to slow down because we had to make a left turn. As we turned left, another rider came up to us and said "what a waste of good momentum!" Our friend Tash said he was drafting us down the hill. Eventually, we got to the big uphill and oh my goodness it was long. There wasn't a huge downhill for us to gain momentum, so we just had to spin through the whole thing. It was difficult, but I just let my quads burn until I couldn't take it anymore. Once we finished that hill, we knew it was all downhill or flat. We rode through beautiful Geode State Park and stopped at a huge Christian Church around 8:15am to meet up with Ron and Pete. The church was pretty cool. They were playing Christian rock music, and when I went in to use the bathroom, I noticed a nice drum set and guitars. Very modern!
We didn't ride all the way to the finish line because we had to get back to the hotel so that we could pick up our bags. We finished pretty quickly at around 9am, traveling an average of 19 mph. I was kind of bummed out because our pick up point was less than 42.5 miles. It was only 40.5 miles. I would be shy 2 miles from my 400 mile goal. So, rather than having Gene pick us up, we rode the final 2 miles to the hotel in traffic. Actually, the distance was only 1.8 miles, so Rick rode past the hotel and made a u-turn so that I could clear the 2 miles. Hooray, I made 400 total miles on this trip. In the end, I rode the most out of the entire group. I totally deserve my stud muffin title :)
This has been a great adventure for me. I came into the week-long bike ride with a lot of self doubt. I'm coming out of the trip feeling confident that I can do almost anything. Rick and my friends were right, my legs and body became much stronger after the third day. Heck, my quads are the strongest they've ever been, and I now see major muscle definition in my calves. I plan on upgrading my bike when I come home so that I could ride more regularly. If I come back to RAGBRAI next year, I want to do it on my own and not on the tandem.
Time for me to get some sleep. Our flight departs at 6am, which means we have to get into the airport no later than 5am. It's going to be good to see the children. I miss them terribly, even though I've been talking to them every day.
We didn't ride all the way to the finish line because we had to get back to the hotel so that we could pick up our bags. We finished pretty quickly at around 9am, traveling an average of 19 mph. I was kind of bummed out because our pick up point was less than 42.5 miles. It was only 40.5 miles. I would be shy 2 miles from my 400 mile goal. So, rather than having Gene pick us up, we rode the final 2 miles to the hotel in traffic. Actually, the distance was only 1.8 miles, so Rick rode past the hotel and made a u-turn so that I could clear the 2 miles. Hooray, I made 400 total miles on this trip. In the end, I rode the most out of the entire group. I totally deserve my stud muffin title :)
This has been a great adventure for me. I came into the week-long bike ride with a lot of self doubt. I'm coming out of the trip feeling confident that I can do almost anything. Rick and my friends were right, my legs and body became much stronger after the third day. Heck, my quads are the strongest they've ever been, and I now see major muscle definition in my calves. I plan on upgrading my bike when I come home so that I could ride more regularly. If I come back to RAGBRAI next year, I want to do it on my own and not on the tandem.
Time for me to get some sleep. Our flight departs at 6am, which means we have to get into the airport no later than 5am. It's going to be good to see the children. I miss them terribly, even though I've been talking to them every day.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Videos & Pictures
The $6,500 Trek carbon fiber demo bike that may have permanently damaged my derriere.
Pork, pork and more pork...an Iowa specialty!
Tash riding slowly with us on Day 6. We saw lots of corn fields (and soybean fields too).
The agony of Day 3, 77.1 miles. I thought I was going to need surgery on my bottom. I didn't pose for this picture. I really was in a lot pain. Rick thought it was funny.
The guys at the campground before leaving on Day 5, when Rick and I had driving duties. Left to right: Gene, Pete, Tash and Ron.
This is what I saw all week long, Rick's backside.
I forget where we are, but this was a common scene throughout the week. We were probably getting fruit smoothies.
Enjoying a 3-in. pork chop at Mr. Pork Chop. Poor vegetarian Rick has nothing to eat.
Hanging out in townsquare in Chariton waiting for the rock band Hairball to sing. Ron is in front and Tash is sitting next to me.
Hooray, we made it up this steep hill. It was definitely not easy. Check out the other tandems on the bottom right hand corner.
I love Mr. Pork Chop. I would look for the pink bus to get my 3-in. thick pork chop.
I think this is Mineola on Day 1. After a while, you lose track of which town you're in.
Day 1 - First 50+ day. I was feeling kind of ready.While riding on Day 6. Had to stop to hold grips to get ready for big left turn.
Day 6 - RAGBRAI - 75.5 miles
As of today, I have cleared 357.50 miles in 6 days. Tomorrow, I have the final 43.2 miles to ride, and I will have biked over 400 miles in a week. I really have to thank Rick for basically pulling me up the hills. When I had no more juice left in my legs or when I felt a cramp coming, he would keep pulling me along while I didn't pedal too hard.
Today's 75.5 mile ride started off very smoothly. We biked the first 40+ miles quickly making good time. Part of it is because I'm definitely getting used to riding with Rick. Part because we were riding with Tash, Gene and Pete, so we worked a little harder so as not to get left behind. And mostly because it was a pretty flat ride. But, once we made it to the meeting town of Brighton, things went severely downhill. I have some major chafing issues with my butt because I am not used to riding such long distances, and having been in the saddle for so many hours, it was really beginning to hurt (tomorrow I'm going to be using something called chamois butter to ease the chafing. I hope it works!!!). No matter how many times I stood up and repositioned the pressure points, it just hurt. When we reached the 60th mile, I thought I was going to cry again, but I kept it together until the end. We also encountered another problem...major headwind. We were heading south for 15 miles after Brighton and there was a strong 20-25 mph headwind slowing us down. This made climbing the long hills all that much more difficult. Add to that the high humidity and upper 80s temperature, and the combination could almost make any RAGBRAI rider pass out. In fact, Rick and I saw this poor heavy-set lady pulled over to the side with her head down. We were only half way up a long hill. The headwinds also stopped us from speeding down the hills and gaining momentum to go back up the hills. When we were heading east, the southern cross winds were so strong that they blew us around a bit. To try to alleviate the wind problem, Rick drafted a huge pack of riders, and that scared the daylights out of me I've never drafted before, so I never realized how close you are to everyone else. My God, if I swung my arm out, I would have knocked out all of the other riders like dominoes. It didn't last that long, but I was really quite scared. Probably more scared than flying down the hills at over 40 mph. We finally made it into the final town for the day of Mt Pleasant around 3:30pm. We started around 8:30am, which meant another long day for me in the saddle. Rick is constantly making fun of me by telling me that I broke in my Brooks saddle in, in just one week. Most people take a year to break in the saddle. BTW - biking fanatics will know about Brooks saddles. It's a leather saddle (no padding) with copper rivets. We got a lot comments about our saddles during this trip. Apparently, many people think Brooks are the best for touring.
I like talking about food because this trip has really been eating my way across Iowa. Today, I couldn't hold out for the extra 3 miles to Tom's Tender Turkey, so I had a huge slab of pig again at Mr. Pork Chop. It really hit the spot since I was starving after eating a huge breakfast of oatmeal, banana, and an english muffin with butter and jelly. Since there was no vegetarian food at that spot, we stopped for a while in Brighton and Rick had a veggie burrito, 2 smoothies (and I had one too since it was so hot), and we split an Amish peach pie. A few miles later, I insisted that we stop at Beekman's ice cream for a huge cup of homemade peach ice cream. We never found an opportunity to stop by Beekman's this entire week, and I wanted to try it out before we left. We were pretty full when we finally got into Mt. Pleasant, but then after I showered, I was hungry again. Tonight, we ate at a place call Big Muddy's, which is a restaurant right on the Mississippi River. I had a huge steak and shrimp. Biking sure does make me hungry.
Some funny miscellaneous items...when I get back home and to the office, I don't think anyone will recognize me. I am at least 10 times darker than when I left. Even with all the sunblock I put on, I tanned quite darkly. Today, I tried to get the "X" off my back from my biking tanktop by wearing a different tanktop that has a different pattern. Instead, I still have the X on my back, along with a vertical line down the center of my back. So much for evening things out. And forget about the tan on my legs. The contrast between the bottom 2/3 of my leg and the top 1/3 is tremendous. Literally, I am white on top and brown on the bottom. My face is tanned in a funny pattern too because of my sunglasses, as are my hands, which tanned oddly due to my gloves.
Time for me to go to bed. Just one more to day to go.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Day 5 - RAGBRAI - 76.9 miles
Last night, I had a hard time falling asleep in the tent. Maybe it was because I was spoiled by the hotel, or maybe it's because Rick fell asleep before I made it to the second song on my iPod. Rick has a case of sleep apnea, so he snores extraordinarily loud. I finally fell asleep after 90 minutes of listening to the iPod, but at 3am I heard the pitter patter of rain. Nothing was covered, so I woke Rick up to make sure things didn't get wet too badly. He came back about 30 min later and promptly fell back asleep. I, on the other hand, still had difficulty sleeping. Another half an hour passed and I thought I saw a flash of lightning. I thought, it's probably just someone's flashlight, but then I heard a big boom of thunder. Oh no, we're in a park under a tree and there's a nasty thunderstorm brewing. For the next two hours, I just wanted to cover my head in the sleeping bag. The lightning kept flickering every few minutes and the thunder often felt like it was right on top of us. Thank goodness by 6am, things cleared up.
Bikewise, today was an easier day since Rick and I had support vehicle duty. We drove from Chariton to Moravia, which the biking distance was around 40 miles. The drive was nice. Just a lot of farm country. I did notice the rolling hills and thought, it's so much easier to drive than it is to ride on a bike. On a bike, you feel every hill, but at the same time, you get to appreciate your surroundings. In a car, you zip by everything, have AC and music to distract you.
When we arrived at Moravia, we looked for breakfast/lunch, but alas, there wasn't much vegetarian options. We had a cinnamon roll with coffee. Rick was still hungry and wanted a donut, but I yelled at him enough not to eat the empty calories that he finally listened. He eventually ate a cup of Italian bean pasta and two corn on the cobs dripping with butter. In the meantime, I had a huge grilled chicken sandwich. I figured I would need the protein for the ride. I think that thing was over 1/4 pound!
When our friend Tash pulled into town around noon, he told us that our other teammates, Ron, Pete and Gene, decided to ride the optional century (100 miles). Tash had the remaining driving duties, so off Rick and I went on the tandem for the 37 mile ride. With 250+ miles of riding under my belt, 37 miles was easy. Initially, the roads were flat, but then we ran into some serious hills. We spun through most of it. Only once did we have to get off, and that's because the chain fell off when we shifted to the smallest gear. It was tough to re-start from the bottom of the hill, but we made it. I just worked my way through the quad burn until we made it to the top. We arrived at our first stop, Blakesburg, after about 23 miles. All we kept thinking about were fruit smoothies and a vegetarian burrito (at the Garden of Eden). The signs posted every few miles gave us incentive to pedal stronger and faster. But, while we were enjoying our veggie find, we got a text message from Tash saying that our friend Ron had gone down and was in the hospital in Albia. Luckily, Ron was not badly injured. He's lucky. It could have been much worse. He sustained road rash on his shoulder and rear, plus a gash in his head that required three staples. He's doing fine, but he will have car duty from now on.
We quickly took off for the final stop of the day in Ottumwa, some 14 miles away. It was a quick ride since we wanted to make sure Ron was okay. We were originally going to camp tonight, but with Ron's injuries, we booked a last-minute hotel room. Rick, Tash, Gene and I decided to bike to the hotel since there wasn't enough room in the truck. Tash's GPS said to get to the hotel, all the roads were local for 3.6 miles. Oh boy, what a mistake. Those 3.6 miles were tough. Big hills with major traffic going at 55mph. We pumped through the whole thing thinking there's a hot shower coming soon. When we finally arrived, I was so sweaty that I left perspiration on the hotel counter. Yuck! I'm also quite tanned from today. The weather was in the low 80s and humid. The moment I walked into the hotel room, I stripped my sweaty biking clothes off and took a nice long hot shower. It was wonderful.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day at 70+ miles, so I best get some rest. It's my final long day and I can see the end in sight for this physical challenge. I'm happy and sad. Happy that I'm going to make it. Sad that it's going to end. I find it hilarious that Rick's friends call me a stud muffin. I guess if I think about it, I've come a long way in a short period of time. From almost no riding, to riding nearly 300 miles in less than a week.
Bikewise, today was an easier day since Rick and I had support vehicle duty. We drove from Chariton to Moravia, which the biking distance was around 40 miles. The drive was nice. Just a lot of farm country. I did notice the rolling hills and thought, it's so much easier to drive than it is to ride on a bike. On a bike, you feel every hill, but at the same time, you get to appreciate your surroundings. In a car, you zip by everything, have AC and music to distract you.
When we arrived at Moravia, we looked for breakfast/lunch, but alas, there wasn't much vegetarian options. We had a cinnamon roll with coffee. Rick was still hungry and wanted a donut, but I yelled at him enough not to eat the empty calories that he finally listened. He eventually ate a cup of Italian bean pasta and two corn on the cobs dripping with butter. In the meantime, I had a huge grilled chicken sandwich. I figured I would need the protein for the ride. I think that thing was over 1/4 pound!
When our friend Tash pulled into town around noon, he told us that our other teammates, Ron, Pete and Gene, decided to ride the optional century (100 miles). Tash had the remaining driving duties, so off Rick and I went on the tandem for the 37 mile ride. With 250+ miles of riding under my belt, 37 miles was easy. Initially, the roads were flat, but then we ran into some serious hills. We spun through most of it. Only once did we have to get off, and that's because the chain fell off when we shifted to the smallest gear. It was tough to re-start from the bottom of the hill, but we made it. I just worked my way through the quad burn until we made it to the top. We arrived at our first stop, Blakesburg, after about 23 miles. All we kept thinking about were fruit smoothies and a vegetarian burrito (at the Garden of Eden). The signs posted every few miles gave us incentive to pedal stronger and faster. But, while we were enjoying our veggie find, we got a text message from Tash saying that our friend Ron had gone down and was in the hospital in Albia. Luckily, Ron was not badly injured. He's lucky. It could have been much worse. He sustained road rash on his shoulder and rear, plus a gash in his head that required three staples. He's doing fine, but he will have car duty from now on.
We quickly took off for the final stop of the day in Ottumwa, some 14 miles away. It was a quick ride since we wanted to make sure Ron was okay. We were originally going to camp tonight, but with Ron's injuries, we booked a last-minute hotel room. Rick, Tash, Gene and I decided to bike to the hotel since there wasn't enough room in the truck. Tash's GPS said to get to the hotel, all the roads were local for 3.6 miles. Oh boy, what a mistake. Those 3.6 miles were tough. Big hills with major traffic going at 55mph. We pumped through the whole thing thinking there's a hot shower coming soon. When we finally arrived, I was so sweaty that I left perspiration on the hotel counter. Yuck! I'm also quite tanned from today. The weather was in the low 80s and humid. The moment I walked into the hotel room, I stripped my sweaty biking clothes off and took a nice long hot shower. It was wonderful.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day at 70+ miles, so I best get some rest. It's my final long day and I can see the end in sight for this physical challenge. I'm happy and sad. Happy that I'm going to make it. Sad that it's going to end. I find it hilarious that Rick's friends call me a stud muffin. I guess if I think about it, I've come a long way in a short period of time. From almost no riding, to riding nearly 300 miles in less than a week.
RAGBRAI Riders
Coming into this trip, I thought that you had to be in superior physical shape to endure 442 miles. But, as I've discovered, you don't have to be all muscle and no fat. At RAGBRAI, people come in all different shapes and sizes. Some look like Lance Armstrong. Others look like the fat lady singing in the opera. I've seen people whose legs look like they are longer than my overall height and I've seen short and stocky folks who can power up hills. Most surprisingly, I've seen a lot of children. Some riding on their own and others on a tandem. Most of them aren't doing the full week, but still, it's an accomplishment just to ride one day!
Onto the ridiculous. People know how to have fun on the ride. I saw one guy with just his underwear and a few dollar bills hanging out. I just thought OUCH, riding in just underwear for 70 miles has got to hurt. Then there was diaper guy. Drunk fanny pack guy. Banana guy. Keg and hot dog guy. The keg guy went down in one of the towns when he couldn't get his special biking shoes out and that kind of made me giggle. I wanted to say the keg took a spill! Lots of people dress up in all sorts of costumes. Some have bridal veils because they are getting married and some just want to be unique so they can be easily identified.
All in all, this has truly been a fun adventure thus far.
BTW - I made the halfway point (I35) on Day 3. I didn't even realize that I've traveled over 250 miles on the bike so far. Amazing!
Onto the ridiculous. People know how to have fun on the ride. I saw one guy with just his underwear and a few dollar bills hanging out. I just thought OUCH, riding in just underwear for 70 miles has got to hurt. Then there was diaper guy. Drunk fanny pack guy. Banana guy. Keg and hot dog guy. The keg guy went down in one of the towns when he couldn't get his special biking shoes out and that kind of made me giggle. I wanted to say the keg took a spill! Lots of people dress up in all sorts of costumes. Some have bridal veils because they are getting married and some just want to be unique so they can be easily identified.
All in all, this has truly been a fun adventure thus far.
BTW - I made the halfway point (I35) on Day 3. I didn't even realize that I've traveled over 250 miles on the bike so far. Amazing!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Day 4 - RAGBRAI - 44.4 miles
Sleeping in a hotel bed and taking a long hot shower makes a huge difference. Yesterday, I wasn't sure I'd be able to ride, but when I woke up today, I wasn't nearly as sore and I knew I was ready to ride...especially since it was only 44 miles. It's funny saying that, considering that I used to think 15 miles was a lot. But after finishing two consecutive 70+ days, 40+ miles is a walk in the park. That's exactly what it was. The weather was perfect, the scenery beautiful, and I had a great time riding. I didn't even feel the 44 miles pass and was actually surprised when we arrived at the final town of Chariton well in advance of what we expected. I think I'm also getting used to riding with Rick on the tandem. We had a good rhythm and communicated effectively, except at the very beginning, where he scraped a layer of skin off my shin when he pedaled before my second foot was up. In a way, that was a smart thing to do. It distracted me from the pain in my rear and quads, and focused it on my shin (which is now sporting a lovely bruise that matches the one on my inner knee).
Speaking of pain, I've seen a surprising number of accidents in the last 4 days of riding, I have seen at least 6 bad ones where people have been placed on stretchers and then whisked away in an ambulance. Some I've seen with neck braces, and others I've been so close as to hear that the guy couldn't move his legs. You just hate to hear someone screaming "rider down!" It's hard to want to get on the bike afterwards, but you have to go on.
Now for the not so serious. At the town Milo, Rick amused the crowd with his karaoke rendition of Neil Diamond's Cracklin' Rosie. It was a riot listening to him sing it. He wasn't too bad, but think, here we are in Iowa, and this Asian guy is singing a Neil Diamond song while a guy dressed up in an 12-ft Army doll suit is bobbing to the rhythm. The karaoke was sponsored by the National Guard. Another rider stopped Rick when we were going to the showers and said she caught him on video too and will include him in her family video!
Now for some miscellaneous items. I found a different type of music these last four days. No, it wasn't someone's stereo blaring out tunes. It was the sound of gears clicking. I noticed it most when I was riding the Trek. I would hear the clicks going up the hill and then down the hill. With so many riders, there are just so many clicks at different times.
Going back to food, I thought cow was the animal of choice, but maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's pig. There's my favorite Mr. Pork Chop (only on the road though), but then there's also pork on a stick, jumbo deep-fried pork loin sandwiches (I think the diameter is close to 0.75 ft), and I'm not sure if this counts, but jumbo foot-long corn dogs. I can't handle that kind of grease, so I laid off and ate pasta and chicken curry with rice. Such a New Yorker! I also saw a team called Ride for Pork with pigs all over their jerseys.
I can't hear myself think anymore sitting in the townsquare listening to a band called Hairball sing 80s rock songs. I'll try to write about the various people I've seen over these past few days...from the large to the small and from the way overdressed to the nearly naked.
Speaking of pain, I've seen a surprising number of accidents in the last 4 days of riding, I have seen at least 6 bad ones where people have been placed on stretchers and then whisked away in an ambulance. Some I've seen with neck braces, and others I've been so close as to hear that the guy couldn't move his legs. You just hate to hear someone screaming "rider down!" It's hard to want to get on the bike afterwards, but you have to go on.
Now for the not so serious. At the town Milo, Rick amused the crowd with his karaoke rendition of Neil Diamond's Cracklin' Rosie. It was a riot listening to him sing it. He wasn't too bad, but think, here we are in Iowa, and this Asian guy is singing a Neil Diamond song while a guy dressed up in an 12-ft Army doll suit is bobbing to the rhythm. The karaoke was sponsored by the National Guard. Another rider stopped Rick when we were going to the showers and said she caught him on video too and will include him in her family video!
Now for some miscellaneous items. I found a different type of music these last four days. No, it wasn't someone's stereo blaring out tunes. It was the sound of gears clicking. I noticed it most when I was riding the Trek. I would hear the clicks going up the hill and then down the hill. With so many riders, there are just so many clicks at different times.
Going back to food, I thought cow was the animal of choice, but maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's pig. There's my favorite Mr. Pork Chop (only on the road though), but then there's also pork on a stick, jumbo deep-fried pork loin sandwiches (I think the diameter is close to 0.75 ft), and I'm not sure if this counts, but jumbo foot-long corn dogs. I can't handle that kind of grease, so I laid off and ate pasta and chicken curry with rice. Such a New Yorker! I also saw a team called Ride for Pork with pigs all over their jerseys.
I can't hear myself think anymore sitting in the townsquare listening to a band called Hairball sing 80s rock songs. I'll try to write about the various people I've seen over these past few days...from the large to the small and from the way overdressed to the nearly naked.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Day 3 - RAGBRAI - 77.1 miles
I woke up today thinking, if it's raining, I'm just going to ride in the support vehicle until the meeting town, which is about 50 miles out of 77.1, and maybe ride the remaining 20+ miles. But, it was only overcast and while my rear and legs were sore, they weren't to the point that I couldn't pedal or sit on the saddle. So off we went on the tandem at around 7am. At first it wasn't so bad. I told Rick to go easy on me and for the most part he did. He, in fact, had to pedal harder since I was occasionally "soft" pedaling up some hills that were over one mile long. Maybe 30 minutes into the ride it started to rain, and the headwinds were pretty strong. I was a little scared going down the hills on the slick road because Rick believes in keeping momentum to go up the next hill. Sometimes I would just close my eyes and pedal. Other times, I'd stare at his back or my feet so that I wouldn't realize how fast we were going. Hearing Rick yell out "on your left" always scared me because I felt that we were so close to the other bikes. I'm sure that in some instances, we were going at least 40 mph. On a dry road, that's fun, but on a wet one, I was definitely scared. But, we made it one piece.
Because it was such a long ride today, we stopped in many little towns. First, we had breakfast at Orient (10 miles). I had a super greasy sausage and cheese biscuit, followed by gooseberry pie, and washed down with coffee. Rick had the same, minus the sausage. Biking must burn up a lot of calories because 13 miles later, we stopped at Kelly's Pies (co-located with Mr. Pork Chop, but at 10am, it was way too early to eat a pound of pig) and had a slice of strawberry and raspberry pie. Then, 2 miles later, we had pasta. This was a little too much food all at once and I nearly threw up on the bike. We rode in to several smaller towns, all of them welcoming us warmly. We watched a skillet throw, which is exactly that...someone throwing a skillet at a dummy with a basketball for a head. I suppose you get a prize if the skillet knocks off the head. Another town called Peru was in the worst place ever. It was at the bottom of a steep hill. There were no signs for it, so a lot of people had to hit the brakes pretty hard to not run the town folks over. I was hurting pretty bad in my legs and rear after 20 miles, but I kept going. By the time we reached Martensdale, our meeting town, I was so sore I didn't think I could walk. There was so much lactic acid in my legs and my shoulders hurt from being hunched down a good portion of the day. The pain in my rear was just extraordinary. But I thought, I only have less than 20 miles to go. I can do this. Tonight, we're staying in Des Moines instead of Indianola, the reason being we wanted to stay in a hotel instead of camp for a third straight night. This forced us off the route and onto a 16-mile stretch on a rails to trails path (for which I was grateful since this path only has a max 1% grade). I almost made the whole distance without crying, but around the 70th mile Rick hit three consecutive potholes on the path and didn't warn me. I absorbed the bumps and that put me in tears. We had to stop for 10 minutes for me to deal with the agony. With less than 7 miles to go, I got back on the bike and we made it to the end. Our friends picked us up and took us to the hotel. I took a really long and hot shower, and it felt wonderful. But, it didn't wash away my pain. My entire body feels like it's pumped full of lactic acid. I'm just sore all over. I'm not sure I'll be able to ride tomorrow. The distance is shorter at 44.4 miles. Everyone jokes that it's all downhill. The cumulative elevation is 2,182 ft. Today's elevation was 4,470 ft. Iowa is definitely not flat.
I'll make up my mind if I want to ride tomorrow based on how I feel in the morning. Right now, I just want to hibernate for a month or two.
Because it was such a long ride today, we stopped in many little towns. First, we had breakfast at Orient (10 miles). I had a super greasy sausage and cheese biscuit, followed by gooseberry pie, and washed down with coffee. Rick had the same, minus the sausage. Biking must burn up a lot of calories because 13 miles later, we stopped at Kelly's Pies (co-located with Mr. Pork Chop, but at 10am, it was way too early to eat a pound of pig) and had a slice of strawberry and raspberry pie. Then, 2 miles later, we had pasta. This was a little too much food all at once and I nearly threw up on the bike. We rode in to several smaller towns, all of them welcoming us warmly. We watched a skillet throw, which is exactly that...someone throwing a skillet at a dummy with a basketball for a head. I suppose you get a prize if the skillet knocks off the head. Another town called Peru was in the worst place ever. It was at the bottom of a steep hill. There were no signs for it, so a lot of people had to hit the brakes pretty hard to not run the town folks over. I was hurting pretty bad in my legs and rear after 20 miles, but I kept going. By the time we reached Martensdale, our meeting town, I was so sore I didn't think I could walk. There was so much lactic acid in my legs and my shoulders hurt from being hunched down a good portion of the day. The pain in my rear was just extraordinary. But I thought, I only have less than 20 miles to go. I can do this. Tonight, we're staying in Des Moines instead of Indianola, the reason being we wanted to stay in a hotel instead of camp for a third straight night. This forced us off the route and onto a 16-mile stretch on a rails to trails path (for which I was grateful since this path only has a max 1% grade). I almost made the whole distance without crying, but around the 70th mile Rick hit three consecutive potholes on the path and didn't warn me. I absorbed the bumps and that put me in tears. We had to stop for 10 minutes for me to deal with the agony. With less than 7 miles to go, I got back on the bike and we made it to the end. Our friends picked us up and took us to the hotel. I took a really long and hot shower, and it felt wonderful. But, it didn't wash away my pain. My entire body feels like it's pumped full of lactic acid. I'm just sore all over. I'm not sure I'll be able to ride tomorrow. The distance is shorter at 44.4 miles. Everyone jokes that it's all downhill. The cumulative elevation is 2,182 ft. Today's elevation was 4,470 ft. Iowa is definitely not flat.
I'll make up my mind if I want to ride tomorrow based on how I feel in the morning. Right now, I just want to hibernate for a month or two.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Day 2 - RAGBRAI - 72.6 miles
Now that you see me post, you know I'm still alive. The day started out strong. I was doing great on the Trek. I climbed the first hill with ease thanks to the lightweight bike. Let's just say I almost fell off the bike a couple of times getting off because I'd accidentally lift the bike up while swinging my leg over. The downhills scared me a bit, but by the second downhill, I didn't bother hitting the brakes. The first 10 miles were great. The gearshifts were fantastic. So simple. But the roads were really bumpy and I wasn't used to the bike. I was really tense riding, so my rear and other parts in the region, along with my shoulders and hands were so sore by the 20th mile, I didn't think I would make the midway point to meet with Rick to ride the remaining 35 miles with Rick on the tandem. In fact, I was looking for a SAG wagon, but it never came. So, I persevered. I made it to the town of Corning in one piece, but really sore. My husband's friend, Tash, was a good sport and made sure that I was okay all during the trip. He stopped whenever I needed to. I only walked once up the final hill to Corning, the rest of the time I was just spinning slowly. Even then, I only walked part of the hill and then got back on the bike to ride the rest. Why you may ask? Because it's faster to ride than walk and I really wanted to get into town.
The remaining 35 miles were much easier on the tandem. I took it easy as stoker while Rick did most of the pulling. I should mention that Rick drove the first half, so his legs were fresh. Although, I did have a minor breakdown around the 50th mile. My eyes started tearing because the pain in between my legs was so bad. I swear, it was easier to give birth to 3 kids than riding the bike. The pain of giving birth is shorter than sitting on a saddle for 9 hours. Yes, 9 freaking hours! I started at 7am and ended around 4pm.
We met a lot of interesting people along the way and the food was fantastic. No Mr. Pork Chop today. We had a little reggae-themed Pastafari.
I may feel like I need to replace parts of my body, but today, I was so happy just to finish. I had a lot of self doubt going into today, but I told myself to just do it, and I did. The longest distance I've biked by myself was 12 miles. Today, I tripled that. The longest distance I've ever gone in total is 53. Today, I cleared 72.6. Cumulative elevation 5,096 ft.
Tomorrow is another 70+ days. I'm not sure how my body is going to handle it, but the guys I'm with say I'll be stronger when I wake up tomorrow. I hope they are right.
Time for dinner.
The remaining 35 miles were much easier on the tandem. I took it easy as stoker while Rick did most of the pulling. I should mention that Rick drove the first half, so his legs were fresh. Although, I did have a minor breakdown around the 50th mile. My eyes started tearing because the pain in between my legs was so bad. I swear, it was easier to give birth to 3 kids than riding the bike. The pain of giving birth is shorter than sitting on a saddle for 9 hours. Yes, 9 freaking hours! I started at 7am and ended around 4pm.
We met a lot of interesting people along the way and the food was fantastic. No Mr. Pork Chop today. We had a little reggae-themed Pastafari.
I may feel like I need to replace parts of my body, but today, I was so happy just to finish. I had a lot of self doubt going into today, but I told myself to just do it, and I did. The longest distance I've biked by myself was 12 miles. Today, I tripled that. The longest distance I've ever gone in total is 53. Today, I cleared 72.6. Cumulative elevation 5,096 ft.
Tomorrow is another 70+ days. I'm not sure how my body is going to handle it, but the guys I'm with say I'll be stronger when I wake up tomorrow. I hope they are right.
Time for dinner.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Vegetarians in Iowa
I didn't have time to post this yesterday, so here it is today. Co-located with with Ragbrai is the 4th Annual Ribfest. The aroma was so good I had to have some, especially since I didn't have lunch. But poor Rick...it's awful to be a vegetarian in middle America. Even when we went to a nearby restaurant, everything on the menu had meat, meat and more meat. All the salads and pastas had meat. And the portions were humongous. It's no wonder there's an obesity problem in America.In the end, Rick had a special order grilled vegetarian sandwich, and even that was huge.
I just can't believe how much meat people can eat. Plus, the roasted corn we had at Ribfest was delicious, but maybe because it was submersed in butter. Yum, turning healthy food into unhealthy food :) It's no wonder people gain weight on Ragbrai.
On today's ride, I already mentioned I had Mr. Pork Chop. I could have also had turkey or steak...the motto is "Beef, it's what's for dinner." Rick's options were much more limited, pasta or a veggie burrito. In the end, he skipped lunch and had two pieces of famous Ragbrai pie. We skipped the veggie food stops so we could finish by 3pm. Dinner for me tonight was a turkey sandwich and Rick had two plates of veggie curry. He was real happy!
I just can't believe how much meat people can eat. Plus, the roasted corn we had at Ribfest was delicious, but maybe because it was submersed in butter. Yum, turning healthy food into unhealthy food :) It's no wonder people gain weight on Ragbrai.
On today's ride, I already mentioned I had Mr. Pork Chop. I could have also had turkey or steak...the motto is "Beef, it's what's for dinner." Rick's options were much more limited, pasta or a veggie burrito. In the end, he skipped lunch and had two pieces of famous Ragbrai pie. We skipped the veggie food stops so we could finish by 3pm. Dinner for me tonight was a turkey sandwich and Rick had two plates of veggie curry. He was real happy!
Day 1 - RAGBRAI - 52.6 miles
Now that I'm showered and clean, I can blog without complaining too much. Only one complaint - I had to wait on line for 90 minutes to take a 5-min shower! The day started with getting a little lost for maybe a mile or two. But, once we found our way, I was really excited. It's amazing to see the sea of bicyclists in front of us and behind us. It's even more amazing to see town people just come out to cheer all the RAGBRAI riders on. The beginning was pretty flat and we were going at a pretty good pace. But then, we hit steep bluffs, and on a tandem, that's just killer. It wasn't extremely steep, but it was a very long uphill. In fact, some guy came up from behind me and touched my lower back to help push me along. My NYC training almost made me straighten up my back, release my hand from the grip, and smack him in the face. But, then he said encouraging words and I knew he was trying to help me. Once we reached the top, we saw the downhill and wow, we were flying. The computer said we hit 72mph, but I don't think so. Probably more like 55+mph. It was fun and scary at the same time. I kept hearing Rick scream out on your left to warn riders we were coming. Iowa, I have discovered, is definitely not flat. There were a lot of rolling hills, and it was really nice to gain enough momentum from the downhill to easily go up some of the uphills. One scary point of the ride was when we were 3 miles away from the finish city. Apparently there was a pretty bad accident between two bicyclists. Either one bicyclist touched another from behind on a downhill, or it was a head-on collision. It wasn't a pretty scene with one bicyclist on the ground and the other trying to get up but having to sit back down. One of the better moments of today was meeting Mr. Pork Chop. He makes these heavenly bbq pork chops that are 3-in thick and slathered in butter. That one pork chop is probably more meat than what I eat in a week. I followed that up with a slice of homemade pie and a lemonade slushy. I'll talk about food options later. It's been interesting to see what people eat. One other interesting item...what people listen to on the ride. I heard gangsta rap, heavy metal, new age music, songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s, and even God Bless America.
I'm so glad I made it through Day 1. Tomorrow, Rick is driving the luggage truck, so he convinced me to ride a demo bike. I'm terrified! It's $6,000 carbon fiber Trek. I don't even know how to shift the gears yet. I better go practice.
I'm so glad I made it through Day 1. Tomorrow, Rick is driving the luggage truck, so he convinced me to ride a demo bike. I'm terrified! It's $6,000 carbon fiber Trek. I don't even know how to shift the gears yet. I better go practice.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Travel day to Iowa, Part 2
Checked in and showered. The haze of waking up at 3am is temporarily gone. So, about the people here...apparently, RAGBRAI is quite the national event. We met a guy on the plane who is a cancer survivor and riding on the Live Strong team at RAGBRAI. He was coming in from Maryland. As we were waiting for the hotel shuttle, we met another guy who was unpacking his bike to ride from the airport to the campground (good luck to him trying to ride with his overstuffed duffle sack on his back). And then, at the hotel, we met a few other folks from different parts of California. All of them were friendly and nice, well maybe except for the one guy who left us stranded at the hotel, but that's a long story. And then there was this family from Sacramento, but the husband and wife grew up in Iowa. Too bad their son broke his collar bone in a bike accident a week before RAGBRAI. Oh well, there's always next year for him. The common thread among all, passion for adventure. We talked about bike cases, riding, pie, unusual characters at past RAGBRAI rides and more. The first question is usually, so, is this your first time? Virgin talk is very popular.
There's a RAGBRAI expo where vendors sell their wares. As we were strolling through there, many people were riding their bikes. There was someone on those old-fashioned bikes with the front wheel very large and the back wheel very small. There were recumbents and tandems, and then of course the usual bicycles - some carbon fiber, aluminum and steel. What was noticeable about walking through the expo was that there weren't a lot of minorities. In fact, I think we were the only minorities in that we are Chinese. My husband told me that last year, it was very similar. There was only one other Chinese guy, and he sought Rick out. I found that pretty funny. I'll have to see what the crowd looks like on the first day of the ride. The plan is to go to the river and dip the front wheel and then start the journey. Day 1 is supposed to be 52.6 miles with a cumulative elevation of 3,864 feet. Hope I make it!
There's a RAGBRAI expo where vendors sell their wares. As we were strolling through there, many people were riding their bikes. There was someone on those old-fashioned bikes with the front wheel very large and the back wheel very small. There were recumbents and tandems, and then of course the usual bicycles - some carbon fiber, aluminum and steel. What was noticeable about walking through the expo was that there weren't a lot of minorities. In fact, I think we were the only minorities in that we are Chinese. My husband told me that last year, it was very similar. There was only one other Chinese guy, and he sought Rick out. I found that pretty funny. I'll have to see what the crowd looks like on the first day of the ride. The plan is to go to the river and dip the front wheel and then start the journey. Day 1 is supposed to be 52.6 miles with a cumulative elevation of 3,864 feet. Hope I make it!
Travel day to Iowa, Part 1
Things got off to a rough start. We were scheduled for a 6am flight out of Newark, NJ, which meant a 3am wake up to make it into the airport in time. Rick thought I set an alarm and I thought he set one. We were both wrong. But luckily, our 2 year old daughter, Olivia, gave us a warm and wet wake up call when she peed in the bed at 3:00am. I have never been happier to have one of my kids pee in the bed. Usually, I get pissed off. After the clean up, Rick and I quickly gathered our stuff and decided instead of meeting our friend at his house in NJ, we'd just do long-term parking. At 3:30am, there is absolutely no traffic on the roads. We were making good time, but nothing ever goes smooth in NYC. We pass a sign saying the the Holland Tunnel is closed until 8am for a road improvement project! Oh no, it's a minimum 30 minute detour to the Lincoln Tunnel. Luckily, we made it to the airport in time and our friend who travels extensively took us through security quickly. The trip to Chicago to Omaha was uneventful. We flew business class, which was nice, but for 2 hours there and 1 hour there, it was just too short.
Time to check in at the hotel. If I have more time today, I'll write about the nice people we met along the way. It's so not New York here, where people don't make eye contact. Heck, you can't even get most people to smile. Here, people almost seem way too eager to talk to you. Or maybe that's just the jaded New Yorker in me talking.
Time to check in at the hotel. If I have more time today, I'll write about the nice people we met along the way. It's so not New York here, where people don't make eye contact. Heck, you can't even get most people to smile. Here, people almost seem way too eager to talk to you. Or maybe that's just the jaded New Yorker in me talking.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thanks to my family and friends
This adventure would not be possible if it were not for the generosity of my family and my friend Neil Gussman, who is currently on a one-year tour in Iraq. I would never ride RAGBRAI on my own. My stipulation to Rick was that I would go if we ride on a tandem and if he makes childcare arrangements. Thanks Jenny, Kathy and Mom and Dad for taking on my three little rugrats. Thanks Neil for loaning us the tandem.
If it weren't for Neil's insane need to fight the war (let's put this in perspective, he's 56 and has a lovely family), I would have never talked to him about loaning me the bike. Since he was going away, he saw no reason to just let the bike collect dust. If you want to read about Neil's experiences in Iraq, read his blog...it's on my blog list. I think you'll find it quite entertaining. I usually have a couple of laughs when I catch up with his daily posts.
In another few hours, I'll be in a plane flying toward Iowa. The clock is ticking!
If it weren't for Neil's insane need to fight the war (let's put this in perspective, he's 56 and has a lovely family), I would have never talked to him about loaning me the bike. Since he was going away, he saw no reason to just let the bike collect dust. If you want to read about Neil's experiences in Iraq, read his blog...it's on my blog list. I think you'll find it quite entertaining. I usually have a couple of laughs when I catch up with his daily posts.
In another few hours, I'll be in a plane flying toward Iowa. The clock is ticking!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
What is RAGBRAI?
Here's the 2009 RAGBRAI route. Less than 4 days to go! I'm feeling better about it now that I've been talking to friends and colleagues about the ride. One native from Iowa told me that it's a great ride and a great way to get know more about Iowa (although he did warn me that Iowa is not flat, a common misperception).
It occurred to me that many of you may not know what RAGBRAI is. Heck, I didn't know what it was until my husband essentially dragged me into it. Here's the description from the official RAGBRAI site, http://ragbrai.com:
RAGBRAI®, The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state. Heading into its 37th year, RAGBRAI is the longest, largest and oldest touring bicycle ride in the world. RAGBRAI is sponsored by The Des Moines Register.
National Geographic recently rated it as the #7 Best American Adventure. Here's what they had to say:
7. Iowa: Biking RAGBRAI
To the uninitiated, spending a week riding your bike across Iowa may hardly seem like an adventure. But RAGBRAI, the Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is a big deal in every way that counts for road cyclists—and it doesn’t get any more red, white, and blue than this. Each year on the third Sunday in July, 10,000 riders start on the state’s western border (the route changes yearly) and proceed en masse, rolling east in seven stages in a traveling juggernaut that celebrates everything that’s good about the heartland. It’s a long queue of spinning spokes and endorphin-charged folks wheeling over farm-to-market roads that normally see maybe a tractor and a couple of cars a day. They ride into dot-on-the-map towns that welcome everyone with Fourth of July fanfare—bands oompah-ing, flags waving, and every school, church group, and Kiwanis Club in support. Throughout the week RAGBRAI riders supplement PowerBars and Gatorade with three-inch-thick pork chops, corn every which way, and the race’s true lifeblood: homemade pies. There are as many as eight refueling stops each day, and cyclists put them to good use. Forget velodrome-flat rides: Some RAGBRAI weeks total more than 25,000 feet of climbing. (We did say this was an adventure.) Riders might camp in sorghum fields and shower in swine barns, but Hawkeye hospitality is guaranteed.The shock of having to ride 442 miles has now worn off and I feel a mix of excitement and nervousness. I'm glad to be doing this with my husband, but every now and then, I have this gnawing feeling of, what have I gotten myself into.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Long Island Harbors Ride
Now that I conquered the duathlon, it was time to get the legs into bicycling mode. I've cross-trained on the bike, but it has been incredibly boring because all of it has been indoors at the gym. There's only so much depressing news I can possibly watch on television while I'm sitting on the bike. It's a struggle to stay motivated. So, when my husband Rick asked me if I was interested in riding the Long Island Harbors Ride on a tandem, I said yes. He said let's do the 53 miles, but I really wanted to do the 80 miles, just to see if I could push my outer limits. In the end, I'm glad I listened to him.
We arrived in Suffolk Community College and met up with a couple of friends who were also riding. I was pretty excited thinking, I can so absolutely do this! When we first started around 8:30am, it was really fun, except that we were riding on the highway service road. It made me a little uncomfortable to ride with cars driving at 40 mph. One wrong maneuver and you're road kill! Riding a tandem as the stoker, you really have to trust the captain to steer and do everything possible to keep you out of harm's way. If anything, I implicitly trust Rick on the bike. In any case, traffic was light on a Sunday morning, so I wasn't too concerned. We were having a great time, and going pretty fast. At one point we hit 35mph on the service road. It was exhilarating. But then, at mile 2, we heard a strange hissing noise. Oh no!!! Flat tire. We hopped off the bike and our friend who was riding with us helped us replace the flat. We were back on the road after about 15 minutes (technical difficulties with the patch kit). We rode to the first rest area without any other incident. I was feeling pretty good. Legs were still intact and rear wasn't aching too much. I was thinking, this isn't so bad, I can absolutely do this! But then came the hills...and oh my goodness, there were so many hills. Once we got away from the highway and onto the smaller roads, that's when the trouble began. I should have known that when the course map said beware, very steep hill, I should have heeded the warning. The first major hill came on a sharp right turn where we lost all momentum. But, my husband is one who spins up a hill, rather than getting off the bike and pushing it (like the many other riders we saw). I swear, I thought my quads were on fire after making it halfway up the hill. But, Rick taught me a trick to distract myself from thinking that my legs were going to fall off. He told me to look down and just count to ten and then look up, repeat, and in no time, you'd be at the top of the hill. It worked to do that, much the way it worked for me to do Lamaze breathing techniques to distract me from labor pains when I gave birth to our children. During labor, I wanted to scream my lungs out. Riding up the hill, I wanted to scream at him to let me walk. But, in both instances, I didn't have enough breath to scream or even the strength to form words with my mouth. I just panted along and fought through. We finally made it to the top, and what goes up, must come down. We rode down a steep hill (there were a lot of "Caution: Control Your Speed" signs since we were riding in traffic) and I just loved the feeling of how fast we were going. Rick would tell me to level my feet, keep my legs pressed against the tube, and most importantly, close my mouth (unless I wanted to eat bugs).
Up and down was the scenario for the remainder of the trip. I always felt there were more ups than downs, but I guess that's because up lasts a long time. Down lasts just a few seconds. By the final 10 miles of the ride, my legs were cramping to the point I thought they just might never recover. I was beyond the anaerobic burn to just feeling pools of lactic acid build up in my legs. I felt bad for Rick because I know he carried me in the end. There were still hills. Maybe they weren't terribly large, but nevertheless hills. He basically had to tow me and the bike for the last 10 miles. God bless him for being able to do that. He never once complained about how I pedaled lightly or how I wasn't helping him. He was like a machine that just spun along. My butt was also aching from riding for so long and not being used to it. Although, it wasn't as bad as the riding 30 miles on the tandem on a gravel path at Lehigh Valley Gorge. Now that was literally a pain in my ass...maybe because I wasn't too smart and I didn't wear biking shorts.
Once I saw the Suffolk Community College sign, I was so incredibly happy!!! Hooray, the finish line was in sight. I think we actually pedaled a little bit harder knowing that the end was near and that we would get to eat. I was starving, even though I ate at every single rest area. I had a big fat juicy cheeseburger as my reward. Not exactly healthy, but who cares, I just finished 53 miles, and when I looked at the course map and saw that the cumulative elevation was over 3,200 feet, what the heck, I deserve a cheeseburger and maybe next time, a double cheeseburger.
We tried to wait around for another friend who had fallen way behind us, but when he texted that he had just arrived at the fourth rest area and to just go home, we decided to listen to him. He was, at a minimum, still 30 minutes away. Rick and I left to go home to our children, who were excited to see mom and dad, and to listen to our story about the bike ride. Next year, they may want to ride it with us...we'll see.
It's now getting closer and closer to Iowa. Just another 5 days. I'm getting a little worried. Now I know I can handle 53 hilly miles. But that's one day. The million dollar question is, can I handle 60+ miles for multiple consecutive days...
We arrived in Suffolk Community College and met up with a couple of friends who were also riding. I was pretty excited thinking, I can so absolutely do this! When we first started around 8:30am, it was really fun, except that we were riding on the highway service road. It made me a little uncomfortable to ride with cars driving at 40 mph. One wrong maneuver and you're road kill! Riding a tandem as the stoker, you really have to trust the captain to steer and do everything possible to keep you out of harm's way. If anything, I implicitly trust Rick on the bike. In any case, traffic was light on a Sunday morning, so I wasn't too concerned. We were having a great time, and going pretty fast. At one point we hit 35mph on the service road. It was exhilarating. But then, at mile 2, we heard a strange hissing noise. Oh no!!! Flat tire. We hopped off the bike and our friend who was riding with us helped us replace the flat. We were back on the road after about 15 minutes (technical difficulties with the patch kit). We rode to the first rest area without any other incident. I was feeling pretty good. Legs were still intact and rear wasn't aching too much. I was thinking, this isn't so bad, I can absolutely do this! But then came the hills...and oh my goodness, there were so many hills. Once we got away from the highway and onto the smaller roads, that's when the trouble began. I should have known that when the course map said beware, very steep hill, I should have heeded the warning. The first major hill came on a sharp right turn where we lost all momentum. But, my husband is one who spins up a hill, rather than getting off the bike and pushing it (like the many other riders we saw). I swear, I thought my quads were on fire after making it halfway up the hill. But, Rick taught me a trick to distract myself from thinking that my legs were going to fall off. He told me to look down and just count to ten and then look up, repeat, and in no time, you'd be at the top of the hill. It worked to do that, much the way it worked for me to do Lamaze breathing techniques to distract me from labor pains when I gave birth to our children. During labor, I wanted to scream my lungs out. Riding up the hill, I wanted to scream at him to let me walk. But, in both instances, I didn't have enough breath to scream or even the strength to form words with my mouth. I just panted along and fought through. We finally made it to the top, and what goes up, must come down. We rode down a steep hill (there were a lot of "Caution: Control Your Speed" signs since we were riding in traffic) and I just loved the feeling of how fast we were going. Rick would tell me to level my feet, keep my legs pressed against the tube, and most importantly, close my mouth (unless I wanted to eat bugs).
Up and down was the scenario for the remainder of the trip. I always felt there were more ups than downs, but I guess that's because up lasts a long time. Down lasts just a few seconds. By the final 10 miles of the ride, my legs were cramping to the point I thought they just might never recover. I was beyond the anaerobic burn to just feeling pools of lactic acid build up in my legs. I felt bad for Rick because I know he carried me in the end. There were still hills. Maybe they weren't terribly large, but nevertheless hills. He basically had to tow me and the bike for the last 10 miles. God bless him for being able to do that. He never once complained about how I pedaled lightly or how I wasn't helping him. He was like a machine that just spun along. My butt was also aching from riding for so long and not being used to it. Although, it wasn't as bad as the riding 30 miles on the tandem on a gravel path at Lehigh Valley Gorge. Now that was literally a pain in my ass...maybe because I wasn't too smart and I didn't wear biking shorts.
Once I saw the Suffolk Community College sign, I was so incredibly happy!!! Hooray, the finish line was in sight. I think we actually pedaled a little bit harder knowing that the end was near and that we would get to eat. I was starving, even though I ate at every single rest area. I had a big fat juicy cheeseburger as my reward. Not exactly healthy, but who cares, I just finished 53 miles, and when I looked at the course map and saw that the cumulative elevation was over 3,200 feet, what the heck, I deserve a cheeseburger and maybe next time, a double cheeseburger.
We tried to wait around for another friend who had fallen way behind us, but when he texted that he had just arrived at the fourth rest area and to just go home, we decided to listen to him. He was, at a minimum, still 30 minutes away. Rick and I left to go home to our children, who were excited to see mom and dad, and to listen to our story about the bike ride. Next year, they may want to ride it with us...we'll see.
It's now getting closer and closer to Iowa. Just another 5 days. I'm getting a little worried. Now I know I can handle 53 hilly miles. But that's one day. The million dollar question is, can I handle 60+ miles for multiple consecutive days...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Father's Day Duathlon, Part 2
With the sound of the horn, I was off with the masses. I didn't want to push too hard since I wasn't sure of the running path and I didn't want to run out of gas getting on the bike, even though the race organizers cut the run in half to only 1.5 miles. Plus, it was raining steadily and I didn't want to slip anywhere. I knew I was pretty slow because I watched all of these other people pass by me. But I didn't care, I was in it to finish it, not to win it. Okay, the truth is, I felt a little competitive and it bothered me a bit that I was so slow. I felt better when I passed a couple of other people, but that feeling was short-lived. When I got to the transition area, my bike was one of the last ones on my rack. I was slow to transition because I was dehydrated and had to stop to drink water. When I finally got on the bike, it didn't feel all that bad. I was pedaling, but I wasn't going very fast. That's what happens when your bike is a heavy piece of junk. I plowed forward thinking, I hope I don't have to get off my bike and walk up the hill. In researching the course, I saw 10.7% and 13.3% grades, of which I wasn't sure I would be able to make it. I was also terrified of crippling myself on the -32% grade. While I never had to realize my worst fear of walking the bike and I didn't take a spill going down the hill (although I gripped the handles so tight that one of my knuckles split open and started bleeding), I had one of the slowest times on the 12 mile (2 loops of 6 miles) bike ride. I used this 15-year old kid as my pacer, since I think his bike was worse than mine. When I returned back to the transition area, my legs felt like logs. They were so heavy. I could walk, but definitely not run. My friend told me not to try to run because apparently, a lot of people fall flat on their faces when their mind says run, but their legs don't respond. That kind of reminded me of my oldest daughter Emily. I always felt that she was trying to learn how to run before learning how to walk (she never crawled). The problem was, she'd always fall, so she had this perpetual bruise on the left side of her forehead. I finally got out of the transition area and started to run gently so I wouldn't fall over. I actually didn't run the final 3 miles as poorly as I thought because I was actually passing people. In fact, I passed the 15-year old kid who finished the bike ride a few minutes ahead of me. I felt bad for him because I saw him stop running and begin to walk, but then another person came by and was very encouraging and told him to keep trying. I would have done the same, if I could actually talk and run at the same time. At this point, I had to work hard just to control my breathing and not stop to walk too. Toward the end of the race, my co-worker who had signed up for the triathlon passed by me. I knew she must be doing well, since I started in Wave#1 out of 8, and she probably started in one of the final waves, which meant I had at least a 15 minute head start. As I approached the finish line, I looked all over the place for my family. They were supposed to come and cheer for me, even though the weather was miserable. But, I never saw them. As it turns out, they were blocked out of the visitors' parking lot and had to turn around and go home. Getting back to the finish line, people passed by me when they heard cheering from their family members. Since I was distracted looking for mine, I didn't finish as strong as I would have liked to, but nevertheless, I finished. My final time was 1 hour and 46 minutes. For me this was quite an accomplishment. In my head, I might be that fat and geeky teenager, but today, I was a champ for putting my mind to a physical challenge I would have never dreamed of ever completing. I met up with my co-worker who finished ahead of me, and we chatted for a bit and took some post race pics. As soon as she sends them to me, I will post them. I then packed up my bike on the Miata and went home. I got a warm greeting from my husband and kids, and then it was off to take a shower to get ready for my 5-year old nephew's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and then to take my parents and husband out for Father's Day. No resting allowed!
Having completed the duathlon, I felt more confident that I would be able to handle RAGBRAI. As more training prior to RAGBRAI, my husband signed us up for a 53-mile bike ride (on a tandem) in Long Island. I'll write about that next when I have more time.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Father's Day Duathlon, Part 1
The month of June felt like we were in monsoon season. Every day was a dreary rainy day. In fact, weather reports noted that for 3 consecutive, it rained on all but 2 days. On June 21, the day of the duathlon, I woke up at 5am to hear and see a downpour. If it didn't clear up soon, I would not be racing. Things weren't better by 5:30am, and I was feeling a little disappointed and, perhaps a bit relieved that I wouldn't have to run and bike. But by 6:15am, the rain came to a steady drizzle and I decided, the heck with it, I've trained so much for this, I would only get mad at myself for not trying. So, I sped in the Miata to the race site. When I got there, I think I was in shock. There were so many other people and their bikes were nice, not like my POS (which I had to practice shifting gears the day before). My friend from work met up with me a wanted to practically shake me out of my trance. I really wanted to turn around and go home, but I didn't let fear get the better of me. We waited around for a while and finally started at 7:40am. More details to come...
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Training for the Duathlon
I've always felt that if you put enough effort into achieving a goal, you will be successful. As a precursor to the duathlon, I ran the Corporate Challenge in Central Park on June 10. I knew I could clear the 3.5 miles, but for me, it was how fast and whether or not I would have to stop and walk. Running on a treadmill is so different from running outdoors. Treadmills don't have hills, unless you program them, and I did not. The only thing I did was put the treadmill at a 2.0 incline to simulate outdoor running. This was a tip my marathon-running buddy told me. I think it helped a lot because my knees never ached as much as I thought they would after running. I would also occasionally run over the Brooklyn Bridge to enjoy the views and see how my knees would fare. But, I finally gave up running the bridge because there were way too many tourists and bicyclists. On a couple of occasions, I either stepped on a tourist or I was nearly run over by a bicyclist.
Back to the Corporate Challenge. I started the run with my very young intern. What a mistake!!! He probably paced an 8 minute mile, and I usually run a slow 10 minute mile. By the time I reached the first mile marker, I thought I was going to pass out. My breathing was erratic and I was getting a side stitch. I was never going to make it at this pace. So, I collected myself, started focusing on my breathing and found a much slower person to keep pace with. It worked, and I finished the 3.5 mile run in what I thought was a respectable 35 minutes. I felt good and almost confident that I could handle the duathlon, which took place 11 days later.
Back to the Corporate Challenge. I started the run with my very young intern. What a mistake!!! He probably paced an 8 minute mile, and I usually run a slow 10 minute mile. By the time I reached the first mile marker, I thought I was going to pass out. My breathing was erratic and I was getting a side stitch. I was never going to make it at this pace. So, I collected myself, started focusing on my breathing and found a much slower person to keep pace with. It worked, and I finished the 3.5 mile run in what I thought was a respectable 35 minutes. I felt good and almost confident that I could handle the duathlon, which took place 11 days later.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
In the beginning...
Most of my friends know me as a geek. All my life, I've been the chubby short kid wearing the thick plastic glasses who always did well in school. I've changed a lot since then, but one thing that remained constant was my lack of discipline to exercise. Fast forward a few decades and only now, as I approach my 40s, do I even begin to understand the importance of exercising on a regular basis. Back in October of last year, I just decided that I was going to start running. I wasn't completely out of shape, but at the same time, my body had experienced a lot of ups and downs after giving birth to three beautiful kids. I did all of my running on a treadmill since the weather in New York is horrible in the winter. I gradually got to the point where I could run 3 miles without feeling too much pain, but still I had some trouble staying focused and running a minimum of 3 times a week. So, I enlisted the help of running partners who would offer me words of encouragement or mockery, whichever one would motivate me. I also decided to sign up for a mini-duathlon, a race that involved running 3 miles, biking 12 and running another 3 miles. If I didn't train for it, I would never be able to finish, and I would never allow for that to happen.
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