A late night thunder storm with a lot of lightning and heavy rain paved the way for a much less humid and cooler ride. We didn't even suffer any damp gear. Our tents kept us and our gear dry. Today was a short 51 mile run with pretty favorable winds.
Justin had a good ride on his test Trek bike. We were all at our camp ground before 12:30, and many of the ShuttleGuy group were in early as well. The ShuttleGuy crew was working furiously to get things setup and they were quite interesting to watch. Again, these guys are amazingly efficient, and work horses!
None of us saw any emergency vehicles running with lights and sirens today! That is amazing considering how much emergency traffic there had been the first 3 days. We were informed late tonight that no one has died yet this year on the ride, which is great news. Unfortunately, injuries are way up. Also, according to the same source, there are over 20,000 confirmed riders this year, which is a record!
So, here are some interesting things we have seen along the way. We've seen unicycles, people with dogs in baskets riding along, old fashioned bikes with really big front wheels and tiny back wheels, tandems, recumbents, tandem recumbents, bikes built for 3, 4 and even 5 people, and a really strange elliptical/bicycle mix.
We've managed to eat the assorted RAGBRAI food along the way as well. Pie of all kinds, Chris' Cakes, PB Jam, Mr. Pork Chop, Beekman's Homemade Ice Cream, church meals, Flavor Ice, Popsicles, Gatorade, sodas of all kinds and on and on and on.
As we prepare for bed tonight, we're finding that Chuck Town's younger residents are less than hospitable. They are apparently riding around in the back of pickup trucks yelling and honking at all the tent cities. It is a good thing that the owner of ShuttleGuy offered us all ear plugs last night to help dampen the loud music from a neighboring bar.
We're looking forward to the last long day of the ride tomorrow. 82 miles to Waterloo. In the past, larger cities along the route seem less organized. Maybe it's because everyone is more spread out. We'll see what Waterloo has in store.....
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment