As I hopped into Conrad's truck (founder of CVI) at Des Moines airport, he said he didn't expect to see me. Yes, he knew I was coming and had my itinerary, but my messages to him in Chicago O'Hare made him wonder if he would see me. I was supposed to have a 75 minute lay over, but that quickly diminished to 25, as apparently United + O'Hare = disaster, as Conrad told me later. After not sleeping much on the first leg of my trip, those 25 minutes persuaded me to jump out of my SF flight with two heavy carry on's and procede to run the length of the entire airport in the hope that I wouldn't miss my flight, and subsequently the 4 hr charter bus to the RAGBRAI's start. I might have been stressed.
Somehow my sweaty, heeving body got me to the gate in time to board my 6:10am connection to Des Moines and I immediately turned the air jets directly at my face. After I landed and hopped in Conrad's truck we headed to the charter bus staging area and sat for 2 hours until the busses loaded up. In that time I loaded up on free donuts and juice, hoping to fuel up my tank with some pre-ride "sustanance."
After we got into Souix Center (the start of RAGBRAI) our buss unloaded and Conrad was gone, instantly, and wasn't found for another 30 minutes. After finally finding him, we realized his genius. He'd rushed off to get the tents and got one of the few shaded campt spaces available, which was nice because it was at least 95 degrees out.
We grabbed lunch, a "tenderloin" sandwich the size of a bike helmet and the pulled on our cycling kits for a "quick" 30 round trip west the the Missouri river and Nebraska state line. Upon returning at 7:00pm we found a $5 charge to shower, so my wet wipe pack and a bathroom facet came in handy.
By 9:15pm I was zipped into my tent, debating whether or not to read for a few minutes. The fireworks that woke me up at 10:00pm told me I didn't have the energy to read and I dozed off to a light, but steady rain sprinkle as it tapped against my rain fly.
Chris, from the road
Somehow my sweaty, heeving body got me to the gate in time to board my 6:10am connection to Des Moines and I immediately turned the air jets directly at my face. After I landed and hopped in Conrad's truck we headed to the charter bus staging area and sat for 2 hours until the busses loaded up. In that time I loaded up on free donuts and juice, hoping to fuel up my tank with some pre-ride "sustanance."
After we got into Souix Center (the start of RAGBRAI) our buss unloaded and Conrad was gone, instantly, and wasn't found for another 30 minutes. After finally finding him, we realized his genius. He'd rushed off to get the tents and got one of the few shaded campt spaces available, which was nice because it was at least 95 degrees out.
We grabbed lunch, a "tenderloin" sandwich the size of a bike helmet and the pulled on our cycling kits for a "quick" 30 round trip west the the Missouri river and Nebraska state line. Upon returning at 7:00pm we found a $5 charge to shower, so my wet wipe pack and a bathroom facet came in handy.
By 9:15pm I was zipped into my tent, debating whether or not to read for a few minutes. The fireworks that woke me up at 10:00pm told me I didn't have the energy to read and I dozed off to a light, but steady rain sprinkle as it tapped against my rain fly.
Chris, from the road
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