Hopefully this will spawn a deeper love for books!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
RAGBRAI Update 5
RAGBRAI Update 5
Once again the alarm woke me up just before 4am, but thankfully this time it was preceded by a solid night of sleep! No freight trains, no bright lights, and the temperature finally got down to 80 degrees, outside the tent.
One observation that almost everyone has made at RAGBRAI: though there are "official" mileage counts for each day, they fall quite short of reality, I'm guessing because they measure from town line to town line, rather than from camp area to camp area. As well, we usually end up riding 5-10 additional miles to down town for food each day. Having said that, a realistic estimate of our mileage thus far is 400, not including the prologue. With that kind of estimate, we'll most likely roll over 600 miles when all is said and done.
The ride today started off slow, with a trail of blinkies illuminating nthe otherwise dark morning route. As we slowly startedvwaking up we got a great sunrise and of course, mile and miles of corn. The end of the road broke the table top
Tonight we get a treat. Conrad's parents live in our overnight town, so we'll stay with them in an air conditioned house with laundry and a home cooked meal.
Once again the alarm woke me up just before 4am, but thankfully this time it was preceded by a solid night of sleep! No freight trains, no bright lights, and the temperature finally got down to 80 degrees, outside the tent.
One observation that almost everyone has made at RAGBRAI: though there are "official" mileage counts for each day, they fall quite short of reality, I'm guessing because they measure from town line to town line, rather than from camp area to camp area. As well, we usually end up riding 5-10 additional miles to down town for food each day. Having said that, a realistic estimate of our mileage thus far is 400, not including the prologue. With that kind of estimate, we'll most likely roll over 600 miles when all is said and done.
The ride today started off slow, with a trail of blinkies illuminating nthe otherwise dark morning route. As we slowly startedvwaking up we got a great sunrise and of course, mile and miles of corn. The end of the road broke the table top
Tonight we get a treat. Conrad's parents live in our overnight town, so we'll stay with them in an air conditioned house with laundry and a home cooked meal.
The RAGBRAI Finale'
Well, I'm sitting back at home, the temperature a solid 50 degrees cooler than it was in Iowa, and I'm surrounded by coffee makers, a warm bed and comfy couch, with the ability to cook whatever food I desire. Normal life is quite a bit different than it was the last week! Though I wouldn't choose to live in America's farmland, Iowa was quite hospitable and friendly, and I enjoyed getting to know both my riding partners and those who came out from the local towns to cheer us on and learn our names.
During the trip I'd had a lot of expectations for reflection and reading times, but the heat often allowed for nothing but wandering in search of the next shade patch and water bottle filling station. However, now that I'm back and have the chance to relax, I'll hopefully get some good processing time in. Sabbaticals are nice!
Well, for those interested, I've inserted my GPS data for the routes I rode last week into my older posts, so take a look if you're interested.
Here are some pics from the final day, ending at the Mississippi River.
Thanks for reading!
During the trip I'd had a lot of expectations for reflection and reading times, but the heat often allowed for nothing but wandering in search of the next shade patch and water bottle filling station. However, now that I'm back and have the chance to relax, I'll hopefully get some good processing time in. Sabbaticals are nice!
Well, for those interested, I've inserted my GPS data for the routes I rode last week into my older posts, so take a look if you're interested.
Here are some pics from the final day, ending at the Mississippi River.
Thanks for reading!
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