Today was a real killer - it was over 75 miles with some of the worst sustained hills imaginable. I heard several RAGBRAI alumnus say that it was one of the worst days they ever remember on RAGBRAI, other than some of the days in 2011 when there were heat indices over 100 degrees every day.
It started out ok - the first 40 miles went by quickly, and I felt pretty good. We stopped in a couple of towns - Essex, Bethesda, Villisca (where I skipped the tour of the axe murder house, and now regret). I had lunch in Villisca - veggie stir fry with jasmine rice, which was yummy.
Post lunchtime is my biggest striggle point of the day. My legs stiffen up when I take any sort of break, and I usually take a longer break for lunch, plus it usually marks the point in the day where the weather switches from warm, to steamy hell-hot, and the devilish sun sears my skin as it starts to set behind me.
I stopped at a farmhouse to see a giant boar at some point. Then I made it through two more towns after lunch, and halfway between the second to last town of the day, when, after climbing (or pushing) to the top of a lingering monster hill, I turned a corner to be faced with two more staring me in the face. Totally demoralizing!
At the same corner I had just turned, I noticed several bikes turned upside down, which is the RAGBRAI signal for the sag wagon to stop and pick you up. This is a free service provided by RAGBRAI, no questions asked. I stopped and talked to the group, and quickly decided to join this "I've had enough of this crap for today" gang. We gathered more members the longer we waited, and eventually had 7 waiting. Two were picked up by a friend of one of the guys stopped with us, one got on an almost full sag wagon, and the rest of us waited almost 2 hours for a sag with room. oh, sag wagons at RAGBRAI are basically 12 passenger vans with lots of bike racks attached to a trailer towed behind.
A few guys from one of the heavy drinking teams stopped while we waited for the sag - drinking is huge on RAGBRIAI, with several beer stops along the way. I don't know how these people drink all day in the hot sun and still cycle 50+ miles. Beer doesn't even sound good to me this week - but they cracked open a few cold ones from the pockets of their bike jerseys and enjoyed them at mile 55 anyway, before heading off to get another 20 miles in.
We made the long drive to Creston, where thankfully Beth and Angie had saved me a campsite (they are fast), and I set up camp and then headed downtown on the shuttle to grab dinner. Having the same dinner options every night is getting old, but it could be worse...I could be limited to convenience store food only. I tried a local place, but it was seat yourself and totally packed. One guy on his way out as I came in said "good luck", so I should have taken that as a sign and moved on. I had soba noodles and veggies for dinner, charged my phone, then headed back to camp for the night.
I should mention that nearly everyone I've met on this trip had been very nice and personable, rider or volunteer or local. I talked to a rider on the shuttle bus home named Ned - a 75 year old who had to sag in because his legs cramped up. He said he was energized by our conversation since I believed in his ability to do this ride. So sweet!
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