Category: Iowa to Minnesota 2016

IM08 – RAGBRAI 2016 Day 5

Posted on July 28, 2016September 26, 2016 by Rich

Centerville, Iowa to Ottumwa, Iowa Distance: 52.1 miles Ascent: 1,999 feet Cyclemeter app not used Cumulative Distance this tour: 317.7 miles RAGBRAI is great fun, but one of the annoyances is the plethora of novice cyclists and campers. To wit. We tented last night next to a pickup truck parked on the grass, license plate from Illinois. Behind it was a big trailer. Yesterday afternoon its owners had erected a tremendous tent, reading the instructions all the while. Obviously novice, but ya gotta start somewhere. To the distraction of adjacent campers, this party stayed up until the wee morning hours

IM07 – RAGBRAI 2016 Day 4

Posted on July 27, 2016September 26, 2016 by Rich

Leon, Iowa to Centerville, Iowa Distance: 67.1 miles Ascent: 2,708 feet Cyclemeter app not used Cumulative Distance this tour: 265.6 miles A lovely 24-hour vapor light illuminated my tent all night – land of the midnight sun. The 3 of us departed together this morning from Leon, but Jack and I separated from Phil leaving town. Breakfast at Garden Grove – Farm Boys again. You go through a line and tell the servers each item you want in your bowl, like eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, onion, salsa, etc. When I got mine, I grabbed the edge and went to tote

IM06 – RAGBRAI 2016 Day 3

Posted on July 26, 2016September 26, 2016 by Rich

Creston, Iowa to Leon, Iowa Distance: 62.9 miles Ascent: 3,318 feet Cyclemeter app not used Cumulative Distance this tour: 198.5 miles RAGBRAI days blend into one another. Imagine spending 7 straight days at a huge carnival. An abbreviated writing method for today. Phil out 30 minutes before Jack and me this morning. Coffee and zucchini muffins at a farmhouse outside Creston. The muffins were full of chocolate chips – mmm! Farm Boys breakfast in Diagonal after 20 miles of riding. Hearty burrito in a bowl. 14 more miles to Mount Ayr, who did a great job with the town. Jack

IM05 – RAGBRAI 2016 Day 2

Posted on July 25, 2016September 26, 2016 by Rich

Shenandoah, Iowa to Creston, Iowa Distance: 78.7 miles Ascent: 3,994 feet Cyclemeter app not used Cumulative Distance this tour: 135.6 miles Last night in Shenandoah was cooler than Day 1 and I think everyone got a better night’s sleep. A good thing because we’d need it today. This morning the three of us departed together but soon got separated, the norm for RAGBRAI. I grabbed a sticky bun and coffee in Bethesda, and then a bratwurst in Villisca. Compliments to Villisca – they really did a great job setting up the town for such a small place (population 1,252). At

IM04 – RAGBRAI 2016 Day 1

Posted on July 24, 2016September 26, 2016 by Rich

Glenwood, Iowa to Shenandoah, Iowa Distance: 54.1 miles Ascent: 2,029 feet http://cyclemeter.com/51ced2364be66c17/Cycle-20160724-0706 Cumulative Distance this tour: 56.9 miles A very muggy night last night – no discernible breezes. I actually did not sleep badly but Phil got almost no sleep, stating that his sleeping bag was useless and way too warm to use. I do understand that. Accordingly, Phil got up early and packed up. He waited for Jack and me for a while, but I think when he saw how leisurely we were moving decided to take off down the route. Jack and I arose around 6:30AM – somehow we

IM03 – Let the RAGBRAI Spectacle Begin

Posted on July 23, 2016August 30, 2016 by Rich

Here in Junction City KS, Phil and I hiked across the street this morning to Stacy’s Restaurant. We found it to be a Republican hotbed of conversation. Seems like every other table was discussing the convention or something else wrong with America. Mostly pro-Trump, from what I could tell. We took I-80 and mostly backroads to what we thought was Glenwood Iowa. Unfortunately, our GPS took us to the center of tiny Minneola Iowa instead – not sure why that occurred. More backroads took us to Glenwood, where well outside the town the roads were closed off. We decided

IM02 – Day Two on the Road

Posted on July 22, 2016August 23, 2016 by Rich

Early morning drive northeast up US54 through Guymon, OK and Liberal, KS. This is meatpacking land. We snaked our way through Kansas backroads, through Dodge City, and had lunch at a Subway in Larned, KS. Temperatures were sweltering outside – the car indicated 108F. That’s normal for Arizona but ridiculous for these parts. Alas, the Subway’s ice machine was broken, of all days, and the proprietors apologized. An old codger sat as the only other customer in a far booth, reading a book. There is no real point in these facts, other than to paint a picture of tiny-town America.

IM01 – Heading Out

Posted on July 21, 2016August 17, 2016 by Rich

Tuesday afternoon I visited a nearby park and set up my well-used Nemo Morpho 2P tent to assess its integrity. I found every seam sealed joint in the tent failing. These weren’t seams per se but rather all the attach points of the structural air tubes with the tent walls. I considered using seal seam glue or silicone glue to do a wholesale repair, but time was running thin, with the repair outcome uncertain. Wednesday afternoon I went out to REI and picked up a roomy REI Half-Dome Plus tent. Only about $200 once a discount was applied. Hurried packing Wednesday evening.

RAGBRAI 2016 awaits

Posted on July 17, 2016July 18, 2016 by Rich

Crunch time preparing for this summer’s RAGBRAI and Upper Mississippi ride. I spent the month of June in Europe, and had hoped to get in some conditioning in early July. Unfortunately I came home sick – yes, the transcontinental flight was lovely. It took most of a week to recover, and last Sunday Phil and I set out to do the lake loop. We eventually sagged out of it after about 28 miles, to heat, dehydration, and a bee sting that Phil suffered. Thanks to my darling wife for the sag support. I promptly got ill again that evening. In

Conditioning Ride #1

Posted on May 30, 2016May 31, 2016 by Rich

Standard conditioning ride today, up Bush Highway, past Salt River Recreation and the lake entrance, then south on the Beeline AZ87 to Fountain Hills. I’m extremely out of shape, and so I took it easy almost the whole way. Imagine my delight when I saw that the Maricopa County DOT is in the process of installing a full bike lane on Bush all the way to the Beeline. EXCELLENT! The mixture of bicycle traffic with RV and boat traffic by the lake entrance has always been a problem for everyone. Just think – tax dollars doing something really useful! Breakfast at