Big Rick Stuart from Napa Valley To The World: Every Day Is The Same And Totally Different - My First RAGBRAI A Bicycle Ride Across Iowa

Friday, August 11, 2017

Every Day Is The Same And Totally Different - My First RAGBRAI A Bicycle Ride Across Iowa

On the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa aka RAGBRAI everyday is the same and totally different.

There's just no way I could have expected most of what I saw on RAGBRAI. From the 15,000 bicycles to the small towns to the people I met and the things they had planned for us to do and to see it was just unbelievable every single day.

But for me every single day started just about the same. I used the Pork Belly Ventures guide service for the week. Every morning I had a wake up call by Iowa native and New York City based professional musician Trumpet Chick Alicia Rau (facebook) giving us a nice version of "Reveille" at 6 a.m.

Trumpet Chick played Taps every night and Reveille every morning at Pork Belly Ventures Tent City

With that nice wake up call I rolled out of my tent and headed over to get some coffee and breakfast (usually hard boiled eggs for me) and had some chit chat with my fellow riders about the day ahead. Many riders got off to an earlier start at 5 or 6 am.

The rules at Pork Belly Ventures are you have to be out of your tent by 7 a.m. so they can break down camp, load up the trucks and head to the next overnight town. Now 7 a.m. comes pretty early for a guy like me. On RAGBRAI I was wide awake by then. Every day I was excited to hit the road and go for a ride. I got dressed and packed up my bags and got out of my tent about quarter to 7 and by 7:15 or so I was ready for a bicycle ride of maybe 50 miles maybe 60 maybe 70 miles.

Near the top of the list on things you need to bring to RAGBRAI is a sense of humor.

This is one of the many Pork Belly Ventures trailers.

When 15,000 people arrive to spend the night at a town of 1,000 some things get a little overwhelmed. Things like cell phone service. Often my phone could see a signal but I couldn't connect. This was mostly a good thing. We were "unplugged" for a week. The only thing was I had to call in to the Good Morning Bob show on 99.3 The Vine at 6:45 am Napa time.

Coffee - yes please!

The time difference between Iowa and the West Coast gave me a chance to get on my way. The 2 hours would get me at least 15 miles down the road and usually by then I would find a coffee stand in front of somebody's house or I would end up in a local town. I had pretty good luck getting a signal and didn't miss a call in. I love Bob's show and it's always fun to interact with him. By 8:45 am my time I had some coffee, had ridden a little, it wasn't hot, it wasn't windy. I was in a good mood!

Calling in to the morning show at 99.3 The Vine in Napa

jersey by Fat Lad At The Back love their stuff!

It was hard to convey the complete story of RAGBRAI in a few minutes each day so I tried to give some daily highlights and pass on some internet search homework for the listeners to check out. I used Iowa fossils, Grotto Of Redemption, and more things based on some of the sights I saw during the ride. Peter wanted me to use Hoo Ha Ride Glide and Bag Balm. I didn't do that.

One day as I wrapped up a call a guy came over and he was doing the same thing on his local Iowa radio station. Of course we chatted some radio and music. Having coffee with a fellow radio guy doing a call in among 15,000 other bicycle riders... #SmallWorld

Thanks to my radio call in sponsors Napa Valley Velo and St Helena Cyclery they also serviced my bike before the ride and I had no problems!

Lots of zinc sunscreen every day!

This was a good breakfast stop at a Volunteer Department

Please Don't Run Me Over jersey from Raygun

What was to happen everyday on the rides was completely different and unpredictable.

I really did enjoy visiting all these small towns and they all put on a show for us. I got to see lots of different things and the really cool part of it was every town we visited was special and unique.

RAGBRAI town highlights next!