RAGBRAI 2008

RAGBRAI started in 1972 and bills itself as the oldest, largest tour in the United States. That's not quite true; while I haven't seen a larger ride, DALMAC which I do every year is a year older. And TOSRV, which I have done twice, is older than that. Neither are across the state, nor an entire week, nor basically a free-for-all that is part of the RAGBRAI experience; so maybe there's a bit of poetic license going on to make the claim.

This year's RAGBRAI was billed as one of the hilliest ever. Iowa is not the flat state you'd think because of being on the plains. Continental glaciers had their way with the landscape, leaving lots of hills and sand dunes. I'm sure that some parts of Iowa are flat, but not the ones I saw on this tour. You can find route profiles for climbing and winds at Geobike.com.

Friday 7/18/2008
We arrived at LeClaire on Saturday afternoon, checked in, and got my truck parked in the long-term parking lot, a.k.a. field. The weather was warm and humid. We set up camp and took a shuttle to 'downtown' to find dinner. While we were out, it started raining. Good thing there was a shuttle back to camp! It rained off and on all night, and we woke to light rain.

Saturday 7/19//2008 - Bus Ride Day
As we waited for the busses, the rain alternated between light and hard. Chris and I tried walking to McDonalds, but even with an umbrella and a rainsuit, we were getting soaked; so we waited at the welcome center. Finally, it let up a bit and we took the chance to try again. Luckily, the rain had almost stopped by the time we walked back to the assembly area and waited for the busses.

The bus ride to Missouri Valley was uneventful. We made good time in spite of construction areas and a semi that had gone off the road. We had beaten the bike trucks, and I had my camp set up before they rolled in. The two lowracers were packed on the end, but they didn't get unloaded until after the moving crews dealt with the bikes on the 2nd level. The 'floor' of 3/4" plywood had broken, dumping them on the lower level. As far as I could see, there was no damage to bikes.


We bid a rainy farewell to our vehicles as we board the busses bound for Missouri Valley.		Ready to unload bikes. See the collapsed 2nd floor.

The afternoon turned stiflingly hot, not so much from the temperature but from the humidity. It didn't help that we were parked in an open field with no shade and no access to running water. We walked about a mile to the downtown and eventually found some dinner at a church. Due to the heat, I did not figure out my way to the Missouri River to dip my rear tire. I was told later that it was 8-10 miles. After dinner, it cooled off a bit and we rode the bikes up and down the road, then we went to the aquatic center. Showers were cold, but luckily the pool wasn't.

Toward sunset, we were warned that there were big storms to the north. We watched them roll across. Quite a fireworks display! We were warned that if they hit us, we should take cover in the nearest storm shelters. That would be the churches, 1.5 miles away. Fat chance; we'd be dead before we got there!

Day 1
7/20//2008 - Missouri Valley to Harlan
Loess Hills today. I was ready to go at 6:00, but it took Chris until 6:45 to get packed. The roads were totally clogged with bicycles, sometimes 5-6 abreast across both lanes of the road. I passed over a hundred bikes before leaving town. After that, I took the lead, weaving in and out, and wasting a lot of energy in the process. Chris passed me and disappeared into the crowd on the first big climb.

I stopped in Beebeetown and had a breakfast burrito. After getting back on the road, I continued to fight the crowds. But they thinned slightly at the top of every hill and still more at every town. I had reasonably clear sailing by Neola and Minden.


The stop at Beebeetown. Good luck getting back on the road!	Big rollers like this were common.

I caught back up with Chris at Shelby, where I had stopped to get a Gatorade. I got to camp at 10:25 am. It was already hot, eventually hitting 93F with high humidity. I showered at the ONE shower truck available to the entire camp for only $3.00. At least I found a faucet today so I could drink from my water bottle instead of buying designer bottled water for $1.00 apiece.

Dinner was church lasagna. For $10.00 they were out of meat and desserts, and there was no refills. I was unsatisfied and had to hit Burger King afterwards - what I should have done in the first place.

At 02:00 am, we were roused from our tents by the fire department and told to evacuate to the nearest storm shelters, which were in the fairgrounds about a half mile away. We all shuffled there and waited in a steel pole barn until the all-clear was given at 03:00 am. All we'd gotten was a bit of rain -- hardly enough to justify the bother.

Mi = 62.4
Av = 17.8
Max = 42 mph
Climbing = 3797 ft

Day 2
7/21/2008
Harlan to Jefferson
This was both the hilliest and longest day of the week. I did not do the optional century loop. Chris got ready a little earlier and we were on the road at 06:20 am. The hills started before leaving town. There must have been a slight tailwind? because Chris and I were crushing the hills. Even on the big ones that had us down to 14-15 mph, we were passing bikes right and left - sometimes literally. Once we got our rhythm, nobody passed us on climbs, and of course nobody had a chance of passing on the downhills either. I used the big ring for almost all of them in the first half of the day, but had to go to the middle ring more and more as I tired later on. I topped several rollers in my 56/12 and 56/11 gears, at 25+ mph. We had breakfast in Kimballton, had a Mr. Pork Chop at about the midway point, and stopped in Coon Rapids for pie, ice cream, and a Gatorade, arriving at Jefferson at 12:20 pm.


All of the towns along the way were ready for us, with vendor tents lining the main streets.		Breakfast burrito-thingie at Kimballton.

Me at the Mr Pork Chop stop, with his lovely assistant.		Chris had a pork chop too, and afterward had waaaay too much energy to burn. What's that stuff in the field behind him?

At Jefferson, we were assigned a nice city park, with trees for shade, a small picnic shelter, and a faucet for water. It was only a block from a church which was serving chicken and noodles for dinner. All in all, a very nice stop. There was a little rain around dinner time, but it didn't last long. After dinner, we wandered around the expo and the festivities downtown, which were only another block or two away.

Mi = 83 mi
Av = 17.1 mph
Max = 43 mph
Climbing = 5239 ft

DAY 3
7/22/2008
Jefferson to Ames
Today started great (not!) Due to not enough porta-potties in our otherwise nice campground, there were some long waits in the morning. Not only that, but they were all out of paper. Good thing I packed my own for just such eventualities.

Short 'flat' day. I wasn't sore from yesterday, but I definitely suffered from a bit of 'dead leg' syndrome. We started late again, at about 6:40 am. Rollers were shorter, some long easy climbs could be taken at an 'aerodynamic' pace of 19-21 mph. One guy from our camp had us pass him at the bottom of a long hill, figured we were blowing smoke about hill climbing, and decided to give chase. We rounded a curve halfway up and he lost sight of us. When he got past the curve, we were gone, so he continued to chase to the top of the hill. We weren't there, either. Now he believes.

I stopped in Ogden for breakfast, and after that Chris took off on me. The terrain turned to flat with a few gentle slopes. Out in the middle of nowhere, I hooked in with a paceline that was running around 25-26 mph. It was kind of nice to not be cutting my own air for a change! As we approached the Ames city limits, I caught sight of Chris. The pack was starting to maneuver for a sign sprint, so I took off! I hit the front of the paceline doing 34 mph and hit the gas hard, passing Chris with ten yards to spare!


With two charter groups and lots of other teams nearby, 5 porta-potties just weren't enough.		Here's a nice lowracer zone: flat. I'll take 'em when I can get 'em! No corn, either! Actually, there were quite a few fields planted in beans, too.

They routed us through town to the backside of the ISU campus, near the ice arena. Very little shade and no running water. I rode around town until I got over a metric century for the day, then tried to sit in the shade of the charter's gazebos trying to stay as un-hot as possible. Dinner was at a Chinese buffet. It was pretty popular with the cyclists; we waited 20 minutes for a table, then almost lost it when we left the table to get food from the buffet.

There was a Styx concert by the stadium in the evening. I was too tired and hot to go. The post-concert fireworks display was visible from the campgrounds, though.

Mi - 66 mi
Av = 19.1 mph
Max = 43 mph
Climbing = 1354 ft

DAY 4
Wednesday, 7/23/2008
Ames to Toledo
Once again, Chris was late getting going! As usual, I waited for him. I saw lots of flats while leaving town. It turned out that someone had spread tacks over our route and by some estimates there were up to 500 flats. Probably some childish teenager thinking it was cute.

We couldn't find any 'real' breakfast, so we ended up in State Center eating a breakfast pizza for $4.00 per slice. A few miles out of State Center, Chris dropped me. I was still chasing him when I got a flat. It was a tack. Grr! When I opened up my pack, my patch kit was missing, so I had to wait for about a thousand riders passed me before anybody stopped to help. A kindly woman gave me a patch, but after she was gone I discovered I had two holes from the tack. Eventually one of the riders on the Air Force team stopped and helped me get the other hole fixed. Go Air Force!


This was either in Nevada or Colo, I can't remember which. The nice state trooper was doing a steady 25 mph, so I used him for a draft for several miles. Like having a personal escort!		At State Center, they had a big sign-in board. Mine's there somewhere.

This is State Center, but it could be any town on the route. Vendors would line the streets for blocks. Sometimes the only way to get through town was to walk. Needless to say, this had a major effect on our average speeds.		"OK, I'm ready to roll!" This was shortly before dropping me, and then my unfortunate flat.

Here, the disco cow gives us a nugget of trivia about Toledo. "Ben, of TV's "Lost," was born and raised in Toledo."		The camera has a way of flattening things, but this is a nice little downhill. Not steep, but long. I don't know if the guy in front of me is unclipping or pulling out and not clipped in yet.

There were headwinds today, starting at 15 mph and gradually getting worse, which made for a brutal day. The hills didn't stop either, of course. When we finally got to Toledo, they routed us in from the southwest, to the east, then out the northwest to a park. Obviously we did the extra mileage so we could ride past more local businesses. At the last stop sign, while waiting to cross the highway a second time, a woman failed to unclip and fell next to me. She lambasted the policeman for not stopping traffic for her, which I took as an indication of exhautstion and frustration with the day's ride more than anything the policeman did wrong.

I got my tent pitched in the shade, and found a faucet for water. But apparently some people were using the faucet for sponge baths instead of using the $5.00 shower truck, so they cut that off! After that, the vendors were much happier with the 1.5 hour wait to use the shower truck. Needless to say, I'm starting to feel screwed by the drive to take as much of my money as possible on this trip. I'm here for a vacation, not to balance the budgets of every city and county along the way.

I was going to take the shuttle in to town for dinner, but they wanted $2.00. Put us in a campground outside of town, then charge to take us back into town? I don't think so! I decided this was a bike tour, I'D RIDE MY BIKE. I know this is revolutionary stuff, but I guess I'm just a rabble rouser! As it turned out, I found a Hardy's less than a mile away, and ate more cheaply than I could have eaten at a church. Not only that, but shuttle trips ran around 2 hours. I was asleep before Chris got back from dinner.

I did eventually find a drinking fountain to fill my hydration bladder.

Mi = 79 miles
Av = 18.0 mph
Max = 39 mph
climbing = 2869

DAY 5
Thursday 7/24/2008
Toledo to North Liberty
It was cool and misty when we woke up. I was sore from yesterday's relentless headwinds, so I designated tosday as 'no big ring' day. I slowly passed hundreds of bikes, and in turn I was passed by others on every hill. I probably made a 'bad' example for recumbent climbing, although I was passing all the recumbents I saw rather than them passing me. Just before Blairstown, I stopped at Pastafari for breakfast. It wasn't a very good breakfast, (it would have made a better lunch) but it got something in my stomach. Somewhere around Amana, the hills flattened out and it got like most people picture Iowa. The wind, which was in our faces again today, picked up until it was 15-25 mph. I made good my threat to not use the big ring, even though I couldn't get to my 11T cassette gear due to a minor mis-adjustment of the limit screw.

I got to liberty at 1:00 pm. The camp for our charter was on the far side of an elementary school from the main campsite. Chris was already setting up his tent. I quickly set up the tent and hit the shower truck before it got crowded. Tonight showers were $5.00 again. Not bad, I expected them to be at least $6 or $7 by this time in the week. There was lots of running water, courtesy of about a half dozen faucets running off from a fire hydrant.

Since we were almost in town, a bunch of us decided to walk to a restaurant. It was more expensive than I'd have liked, but the food was good and it was air conditioned. We got to watch the Tour de France, too.

I didn't write down my average today, but it was somewhere around 15.5 mph. Not one of my faster rides!


Sometimes it is good to beat the crowds! I was one of their first customers so I had my choice of seating.		Here's the final grade into Blairstown, as seen from the Pastafari eating area.

Mi = 76 mi
Av = 15.5 mph (est)
Max = 36 mph
climbing = 3123 ft

DAY 6
Friday 7/25/2008
North Liberty to Tipton
After starting late every day and fighting heavy traffic for the first hour or two, today I left at 06:00, without Chris. I've finally decided that he is leaving late because he enjoys passing bikes, and there's more of them the later he leaves. There were still plenty of bikers on the roads that early, but not the road-clogging masses. There were still some good hills, too - the first one out of town was a mile-long grinder. At Lisbon I found a real restaurant offering a breakfast buffet with scrambled eggs, hash browns, pancakes, and other breakfast food. After eating the best breakfast of the trip, I came out of the restaurant and found Chris getting a Gatorade across the street. We rode together through Mount Vernon, Martell, and Morley; but he stopped in Mechanicsville for food and I continued on, arriving at Tipton at 10:30 am. There was no wind in the first part of the ride; but sure enough as I headed south on the 2nd half of the ride, the wind came up, and it was a headwind again!

It was a bit cool today, but very humid. After reaching camp, it got oppressively hot, at least in the sun. I found out later that the late starters and slow riders did not have the headwind. Instead, they got a bit of tailwind on the first half and then the wind died out.

Dinner was at a Methodist church - scorched pasta. They were running out of food, so I got the scrapings from the pan. Grr again!


This is what Mt Vernon looked like when I passed through. They were still setting up the beer garden; after all, it was only 7:30 and those partying RAGBRAI riders probably wouldn't want a beer for another hour!		At Tipton, we sat in the courthouse yard and listened to the live band for a while. The bikes got plenty of attention, too.

This friendly young lad rode the only Rotator that I saw on the trip.		Someone brought their homebuilt recumbent out to play. Not very fast, but hard to make it fall over.

Mi = 64.1 mi
Av = 17.8 mph
Max = 41 mph
climbing = 3051 ft

DAY 7
Saturday 7/26/2008
Tipton to LeClaire
Apparently everyone wanted an early start today. When I got up at my normal 05:00 am, I found the line to the porta-potties about a half-hour long. There were only 7 of them for over a thousand riders. I hopped on my bike and rode 3/4 mile to last night's party area and found lots of deserted porta-potties. There was even paper in them. More revolutionary thinking?

I left without Chris again. That seems to work, since he likes to chase. My goal today was, let him chase but don't let him catch! After recovering most of the week, I was ready to ride! This was a short day, and I intended to ride it hard. I played leapfrog with a few riders, none of which could keep the pace as I powered through all the towns. The biggest thing to slow me down was the determination to do the full mileage, which meant doing all the detours to went my way through each small town, instead of staying on the main road and bypassing the towns. 30 mph flybys were the norm, and I topped several big hills doing 25+ mph. I finally stopped in Eldridge for a quick candy bar and energy drink, then hit the road again. As I rode over I-80 approaching LeClaire, I saw an ambulance heading east. I hoped it wasn't a cyclist, but you never know... I heard later that there had been a heart attack somewhere along the route, thankfully not fatal due to the quick thinking of nearby cyclists..

The rollers approaching LeClaire were fast, and the downhill into down was steep and fast. Thank goodness for disc brakes! I slowed several times from speeds near 40 mph, down to sub-20 mph. After the traditional dipping of the front tire in the Mississippi River, I headed toward the long-term parking. I was sitting in McDonald's sipping a lemonade at 08:53 am.


I passed Gapchic and Mr. Gapchic early on. They were moving right along, for uprights!		Back at the long-term parking, I got a shot of this Smart car. Notice the bike rack in back; it's taller than the car! This one was driven by the mayor of Ajax, Ontario. I see the grass hasn't grown very much in the week we were off riding; my lawn at home grew much faster.

Mi = 54 mi
Av = 20.4 mph
Max = 41 mph
climbing = 1835 ft

Conclusion:
I can see why RAGBRAI is so popular. It's sort of like going to a state fair for seven days, with bike rides thrown in. If that's what you like, this ride has it in spades. I really enjoyed the terrain, if not the lack of shade. Unfortunately, those big crowds just wear me out after a few days. I function better with smaller groups. Between the heat and crowds putting me on edge and the minor inconveniences caused, in large part, by the crowds, I was a bit grumpy when I wasn't riding. I probably won't be back. I prefer the smaller rides and I can do without the beer, entertainment, and carnival-like atmosphere

Terrain, evening activities, and food everywhere make for a well-supported ride.It's a form of self-support, in that you buy it all as you go; but it's there nonetheless. The people who do it expect it this way, and although it's not for me, I respect their preferences. With those provisos: On a scale of 10, I'd give it an 8.5. There's a bit of wiggle room for improvement, such as leaving a few things less to the discression of the hosting towns - requiring running water at all the campsites was a big one in my book - and clearly marking when a turn is merely for an optional pass through a town.

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