Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Let's Ride! Day 1 My First RAGBRAI A Bicycle Ride Across Iowa




6am Sunday July 23 2017 Orange City, Iowa. I was ready to start my bicycle ride across Iowa.

We just missed a pretty big heatwave that put most of Iowa over 100 degrees for many days in a row. I was pretty happy to have missed that as we rolled out from our Pork Belly Ventures campsite in Orange City, Iowa (population 6,004) to join over 10,000 other bicycle riders that had camped in town with other guide services or maybe slept in their tents on lawns at houses in town.

When you include the riders and support people RAGBRAI becomes a fairly big 15,0000 to 20,000 traveling town for a week. Orange City was a great host and the beautiful downtown area had a fun Saturday party for everyone with music food and more.



previous RAGBRAI posts


Getting To Iowa A Nightmare And Windmills!



I felt pretty good as I set out for about 65 miles and 1280 feet of climbing to get me to the next overnight town in Spencer, Iowa. 65 miles is pretty far but Pete and I figured it's just 11 6 mile rides with lots of stops and we had about 12 hours to do it. It helps to play some numbers games to talk yourself into thinking a ride could be "easy."

It is pretty easy to find the RAGBRAI route. There are signs posted in town to get you on your way and there are lots and lots of other people on bicycles going the way you need to go.

click for larger size


There were also lots and lots of people along the route. Every day and all day they are in lawn chairs waving. They are in the back of pickups. They are young and old and they have dogs and coolers and they got up early and would spend all day watching this crazy event pass by.

Kids wanted High 5's and got them. Some held out signs saying "yell out your hometown." Happy to participate Pete and I gave them a Berkeley California and Napa California. Our long distance travel to RAGBRAI got lots of smiles and thumbs up.


Some people in Orange City had windmill and Dutch style photo op stands complete with vintage costumed locals in wooden shoes.

It was really overwhelming. I had never ever experienced anything like this. It was like we were Superheros or something. And we were just a few miles in to the ride and we were still in Orange City.

When did make a left turn away from town both sides of the road were decorated with tulip shaped signs made by the children of Orange City, Iowa. The signs had bicycles, hearts, suns, flowers, and messages wishing us well on our 7 day 411 mile journey. It went on and on for about 2 miles. There were hundreds of them.



RAGBRAI Day 1 Orange City Iowa
What A Sendoff!

As we headed out of town I felt like I didn't have to pedal. The thrill of the morning in Orange City, the excitement of finally doing RAGBRAI, and the power of the 10,000 plus bicycle riders carried me along at a comfortable pace of about 12 to 15 mph.




The rule of the road is to Ride Right meaning among other things to stay to the right and find a group you are comfortable with. If it moves too fast move to the right a little more.




Riders used both lanes of the road as sometimes they were closed to traffic and sometimes not. When a car or truck was coming towards us that left lane would merge over to the right with helpful yells of "Car Up" to alert everyone. You did have to pay attention and signal when you were moving over or passing somebody "On Your Left."

On the far right the speeds were under 10 mph. In the middle it varied from the low to upper teens. At the far left were the fast groups. In cycling the riders nose to tail going really fast is called a paceline.

The RAGBRAI pacelines were pretty impressive. Usually it was a team of riders in front wearing matching jerseys. Behind them was a group of bicycle riders trying to hang on. They were usually 2 riders wide and maybe up to 30 riders total and going really fast. I guess some speeds hit 20 or 30 or more miles per hour and everyone in them was riding very close front tire to back tire to cut the wind resistance.



"On Your Left" "Left" "Left" "Left" and you knew they were coming. You could actually hear this odd mechanical sound of the chains and tires of fast bicycle riding combined with a whoosh of air as they went by.

It was cool and kind of scary. I never even thought about trying to join in! #TooSlow

And so went the first few hours of Day 1. Actually that was how just about every day started. Peter and I - unofficially "Team Couldn't Have Done This 6 Months Ago" - would roll out 7 or 7:30ish and find a big group heading out of town. We would wave at hundreds of people, high 5 kids, and feel like Superheros leaving town to cheers of good luck, have fun, and a few cowbells ringing our way on.

After a few miles we had settled in with a group we felt comfortable with and the soon to be familiar view of riding across Iowa with (mostly) blue skies and cornfields.


Since it was our first time we didn't know it but Day 1 was the start of many RAGBRAI traditions. A Bloody Mary. A Kids Rock Band. Beer. Selfie with a goat. Kiss a pig. Pie. Amish Fry Pies. Mr. Pork Chop. Hobo Museum. Lutheran Church Lady Baked Goodies (isn't that special)

The towns we visited each day were crazy fun.
Every day was the same and totally different.


Details up next


Big Rick Stuart

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