Team "Bent" Fishy
RAGBRAI (29)
Team Fishy got another recumbent bike - our BikeE CT was joined with a Rans Tailwind. What a great riding experience!! No more sure butts or shoulders and we feel great even after the long rides - hence the "Bent" was added to our name...
Rain, rain go away come back and bring your friend, the wind, for RAGBRAI 29 - That should have been the theme this year!
Day 1 - Sioux City to Storm Lake (74.1 miles) (with the rain we had, Storm Lake was a good name)
We started by getting the Van ready to go
We arrived Saturday night in Sioux City and stayed at Todd and Brooke's house after spending some quality time with Team Budweiser. (Would you believe Brooke had a baby boy on Aug 2nd! Congrats and we think you should have named him Baby Ragbrai!)
We started off with overcast skies in the morning
Just before Storm Lake the rain hit! After a shower we headed downtown and ran into the "Pasta People" food stand
Actually my neighbor Lowell and his son, Mike, set up and were the "Pasta People"
We also ran into Liz, the driver from Team Flashback
Day 2 - Storm Lake to Denison (66.5 miles) (once again Storm Lake lived up to its name)
It was raining in the morning so we loaded up the bike and drove to the 2nd town, just out of the rain and started the days ride to Denison - remember those hills? skipping those towns took the ride down to 46 miles.
Day 3 - Denison to Atlantic (61.1 miles)(once again, I get caught in the rain. Today's Theme - "Marne or Bust")
We got to stay at Tom and LeAnn's which was overlooking the party in Marne. What a great scene in Marne! Hats off to everyone involved! All hale the mighty Budweiser, the Bison burgers were good too. Got hit with a good rain in Walnut, you would think we would be used to the rain by now. Before the week started I installed a pair of fenders on the bike, they worked great in keeping the rain from splashing me. By not going on to Atlantic took the ride down to 55.5 miles.
Day 4 - Atlantic to Perry (83.8 miles) (OK time for laundry and a Bloody Mary)
We met up with Winchester the night before and he stayed with us. He used my pump to check his tires in the morning.
I was originally going to start in Atlantic but we ended up in Guthrie Center doing our laundry and drinking Bloody Mary's. I managed to stumble on the bike and finish the afternoon's ride of 41.4 miles.
Guthrie Center to Perry for an evening at the 1913 Hotel Pattee. Wow! What a room.
Of course we had to stop downtown to see the sand brought in for the beach party.
Day 5 - Perry to Grinnell (99 miles) (Slept in and missed the ride)
We didn't get moving again till late in the afternoon, we drove to Baxter to start the ride late, but with the wind we decided to sit the day out and start fresh in the morning. Oh yeah, once again the morning was started off with Bloody Mary's.
Day 6 - Grinnell to Coralville (92.4 miles) (Back on the road)
Great morning ride! The Bloody Mary's are becoming traditional breakfast. The wind picked up and made the last 25 miles a bit of a struggle, but nothing Tender Tom's couldn't take care of.
Day 7 - Coralville to Muscatine (50.7 miles) (This is how the ride should have been all along)
Tradition breakfast and then off for a Great ride! A few sprinkles but nothing bad. Towns were spaced about 10 miles apart, much nicer than the 25-30 miles between some of the towns earlier in the week. Funniest site of the week was this road kill! Raccoons should not drink and bike!
The week went by too fast, but it felt great dipping our tire in the Mississippi
Bike info: 1st year Rans Tailwind $995
Sold our matching Raleigh M400 Mountain bikes $450
Bought, tuned-up and sold older Raleigh road bike $80