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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
