Joel
Great photos capturing some of the RAGBRAI character. I tell folks to imagine a
city of 15,000 traveling across Iowa - all together - a sea of humanity - on
bicycles. One of your shots captured one of my "teammates" on the ride albeit
not in the foreground. We have a team of 10 or 11 riding the entire week. I
wasn't able to go with them due to some other things in my life precluding it
this year. Century rides can be grueling - you must be in pretty good physical
shape - also requires knowing how to sustain nutrition and hydration,
preventing cramps and maintaining a pace that's sustainable for the distance.
Six hours is pretty good time. I've seen folks bonk and when they do, they're
done - period - call the SAG wagon (measure recovery in hours) and they'll be
hurting the next day too.
BTW - the day before your ride was blazing hot - that afternoon they baked
cookies on a cookie sheet on the dashboard under the windshield of the team
van. They were done in about 90 minutes.
John
(planning on RAGBRAI next year)
Sent from my iPad
On Jul 27, 2012, at 11:20 PM, Joel Wilcox <jfwilcox@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Reporting in from Day 5 of RAGBRAI, the "[Des Moines] Register's Great
> Bike Ride Across Iowa." 20,000 riders this year. I don't know whether
> that is official or unofficial, the unofficial being much larger because
> it would, I guess, include people like me who just pop in and ride a day
> or two if they can. Having lived in Iowa all but two years in which
> RAGBRAI has been running over these last 40 years, I feel somehow
> strange admitting that this was my first time to ride in it.
>
> Yesterday was a long day at 92 miles, but the conditions were great with
> tail winds most of the way and much cooler temps than previous days. I
> was definitely gassed at the end, but it was an ego trip because of such
> nice tail winds. I rode my Fuji 10-speed that I bought in 1976. I'm
> sure there were older bikes, but I never saw one. I was passed by many
> and I passed many myself. My brother and I stayed together and finished
> with about six hours of actual riding time. We were happy.
>
> I was also the only person I saw who carried an SLR. I took my E-410
> and two lenses in my rack bag. The photos are mainly snaps in the towns
> we rested and refueled in.
>
> http://jfwilcox.jalbum.net/RAGBRAI%20day%205/
>
> May I make a suggestion? Click the first image to open it and then
> click the "i" in the legend that appears at the top of the screen to get
> the narrative to appear.
>
> Many colorful jerseys, many senioritas, and even a bit of frontal
> nudity. It was quite an experience. I did what I could but it's really
> hard to do it justice.
>
> Joel W.
>
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