IM06 – RAGBRAI 2016 Day 3

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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.

  • Diagonal, Iowa
    Diagonal, Iowa
  • 14 more miles to Mount Ayr, who did a great job with the town. Jack and I took separate naps under trees, then eventually found each other

  • Mount Ayr, Iowa
    Mount Ayr, Iowa
  • Self-preservation riding as day heated up – coast down hills and gear down heavily going up. Too damn hot to do anything else.
  • Various replies to silly RAGBRAI verbals:
    • “Car Up!” Jack: “Far out!”
    • “Biker On!” Rich: “Rock on!”
    • “Rumbles!” Jack: “Ah-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ah”
    • “On your left!”  Rich: “Yeah – on your right.”
  • Observation: RAGBRAI is a great place to hear 6 distorted multi-genre soundtracks simultaneously, due to the proliferation of sound systems mounted to bikes
  • Stop in Kellerton (also great town prep)

  • Along the route
    Along the route
  • Stop in Decatur City to listen to Maddie Poppe for 30 or 40 minutes. Very appealing young singer, once sang on The Voice.  For a taste, check this vid from RAGBRAI 2015: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLbc2hcxQZ8
  • 5 more miles to overnight town of Leon, with an ensuing goose chase to find the RAGBRAI trucks and campground
  • 20 more minutes to find Phil, who’d texted he’d saved us tent sites “off the 3rd base line,” but unfortunately there were 3 ball fields to search.  Phil had again “hit a brick wall” somewhere around Kellerton, and had utilized the truck service from there. A very hot day and we’re all still doing some training
  • Shuttle service in to town turns into a woeful 40 minute loop to every campground, all to cover something like 1.5 miles net distance. A real waste of time – nuts to the Leon planning committee. Phil didn’t mind, though, seated next to a cute talkative girl from Alabama.
  • Rotary Club’s pasta dinner called our name, so much that we ordered 4 plates for the 3 of us, two of them with meatballs. Good fare, and talk about STUFFED!
  • Tonight’s band, Rhino, was not scheduled until 9PM, which was entirely too late for sleepy cyclists like us. Back to the tents via shuttle – mercifully a shorter ride this time.
  • Passing-Out Thought:  The 2 toughest riding days of the week are likely now behind us, but we shall see.