RAGBRAI update, Day 7 LAST DAY!
Friday's Ride: Coming out of North Liberty on Friday, riders were met with hills - and a Blood Mary bar. What else do you need on a cloudy day with "only" 65 miles to ride and 3,000 feet of climb? How about some foam?
There's a guy out here who has wrapped inches of foam around the top tube of his bike. His butt is apparently so sore that he either stands up or tries to perch himself on this foam pillow over the bar. His knees come practically up to his chin as he rides and the look on his face is one of pure pain. But he doesn't want to talk about it.
Sore butts aren't the only thing people mull over when the road stretches before you mile after mile. They also think about the porta- potties.
Over breakfast in Solon, Royce Marion of Arizona was reminiscing about the Kybos. She said she's with a group of 700 out here on the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa and one night they had only six of the potties near their camp. Long lines. When they closed them down in the morning, riders had to move to the bushes.
She and her friend came up with the "Top 10 list of things to do in the Kybo line." The list included: eating breakfast, putting on sunblock, getting dressed, shaving, rolling over your IRA, reserving a room in the next town, engaging in a therapy session and writing a letter of resignation to your employer.
Being from Colorado, Tom Hayes knows a thing or two about hills. He said, like many out here, that Iowa was hillier than he expected. But he's loving the ride. He's not even done with his first RAGBRAI and is already planning to come next year. "I'm already calling people back home and talking about putting a team together," he said.
Just one more day and the 51-week countdown begins to RAGBRAI XXXVII.
Day 7: Mileage: 53 miles Climb: 1,835 feet
Many RAGBRAI critics have claimed that hell would freeze over before RAGBRAI returned to the Quad Cities area. Well, if you have been paying attention to the weather this winter you know that Hade**** the ice age, and RAGBRAI will be ending in Le Claire, a hair north of the cities. The birthplace of Buffalo Bill Cody will be the site for the final tire dip of RAGBRAI XXXVI. Another interesting tidbit about this day's route is that every town the ride passes through is on the route for the first time. That has not happened since the earliest days of the ride.
GO NICK!!
