Maybe it's fitting that the day started in 'Water'loo. We woke up to a light rain and figured this would be our rain day, and we were right! But more on that later. We lost Scott today. Not that way, but he is no longer with Justin and I as a rider. He received a phone call early this morning from Jodie that their basement had flooded over night. After a few calls back and forth, Scott made the decision to head back to SF and help with the flooded basement. Connie picked him up in Waterloo and I made arrangements for my parents to head back to Iowa so Justin and I could finish the ride.
After the details were nailed down, Justin and I headed out. Yuck. Yuck, yuck, yuck! It rained and rained and poured and poured on us all morning. I've been rained on harder, but not as long with such intensity. In addition, the temperature fell to an uncomfortable 68 degrees. I haven't come closer to wanting to quit riding during RAGBRAI, but there really isn't a choice. You have to keep going to stay warm. Luckily, the weather broke at noon and our cool rainy day was replaced by a brisk headwind. The only good thing about that was that it worked really well to dry us out.
Upon arrival at our campground I found a grinning Justin waiting. He didn't have a good day either, but both of us agree that the rest of the week was so nice that we weren't going to let 1/2 a bad day ruin our experience or our impression of RAGBRAI 2010.
We saw a lot of bikes being loaded up along the route today and the crowds in Manchester seem pretty light tonight. I think a lot of eastern Iowans packed it in due to the weather. The ShuttleGuy had a wine and cheese party for the group tonight, but we missed it due to a loooooong wait at a local chinese joint. The food was great but the portions were small and the wait excruciating.
We're planning on pedaling by 6AM so we can get the 47 miles to Dubuque out of the way and get on the road back to SD!
I'll post about our last day when I can, so until then.... Thanks for reading!! I hope my ramblings weren't too boring. Next year Matt Dreke will be riding with us. Right Matt? :-)
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