Ragbrai seatosea day 5

Hi all. After a night of cool sleeping I was ready to go this morning. 

This was my view this morning at about 630. Line up for the portapoty 20 deep. As we got to the main road people streamed on like streams flowing into a river. On your left, car up, car back. It's funny cause we're on a road that's pretty much filled with bikes and no cars but people yell like they've never seen a car on the road. It makes me smile. So does all the different characters on the ride. You have to ride defensively. Not that I don't trust people, it's just that I don't trust people. 

After a few miles we came to a dam. This was the first time they let bikers ride across the Dam. 

Coming into town we saw the seatosea truck placed perfectly at he end of the main street. All the riders have had the same experience. People love to hear about it 

He was an impromptu picture that terry til infringe oft he truck. It was fun to see so many seatosea riders together that far into the ride. 

Here's Wayne behind me and we had a discussion on the way they bailed the grass on the side of the road. 

We didn't have a ton of climbing but the hills we did climb were long. And packed with people. 

At least the downhills spread out a little more. 

I stopped at beekmans ice cream to take some pics of there old fashioned engines making the ice cream. 

This old truck needed some tender loving care. 

When we arrived in town the had this fire truck to greet us. 

This truck had a pic in the door that was funny. Not sure if you can read it. 

Here's mark with his bike tonight. Looks cool.  Here's a bonus pic for all the Deere John fans. 

Ragbrai day 4.

Wednesday morning and the ear plugs worked so well that Joanne and Wayne were waiting for me. 

Just out of town we passed an old cement truck. 

Joanne was walking into the town of humeston. Jeff one of the seatosea riders arranged a breakfast in that town. 

We all enjoyed the fresh fruit breakfast. It's hard to eat healthy on this ride. 

Mark and Susan loving the ride. 

The town had a display of old tractors so naturally I had to take a picture of all of them. 

Here's a Ford 

If I have room I'll post some more tomorrow. 

There's all kinds of bikes, skaters, and even skateboarders. The ride got hot pretty fast so we had to make few extra stops. We made it in to the  camp. 

This town went from 5500 to 25000. The seatosea group found refuge from the sun under the shade trees. 

Everyone made it in. Happy to relax ice the knee and get ready for tomorrow. 

Ragbrai seatosea day 3.

Today was great day. We got up at 6 ish to the familiar sound of clicking tent poles. I knew I was in Iowa because a train blew its horn in the middle of the night. Then around four in the morning someone drove a hotrod around the park we were tented in. Just like old times. 

Still smiling in the morning thanks to ear plugs. 

The ride was true to Iowa. Lots of hills that are just too far apart to carry momentum from down to up. Wayne Joanne and I ran into sue and Susan and mark. 

As we came into diagonal it looked strangely familiar. Everybody gets off their bikes and walks through the town. 

We found terry and the seatosea in the parking lot of the "united Presbyterian baptist church". No kidding that was the name. The truck is working great. I had three people ask me what this seatosea thing all about. This opens the door to let people know about this great cause. Other cyclists reported the same thing. 

Now most people lift their bikes in celebration but I decided to lift a car. 

Here are a bunch of tractors for the farmers. Not sure what kind the are. Must be a grave yard. When we got back to the campsite we found out there was a outdoor community pool we could use for three dollars. It was a welcome relief tithe high heat. As I sat in the pool the thermometer on the wall read 110 degrees. It was hot. 

At night Nancy did some repairs.

Safe and sound for another day.  

SeatoSea day 2.

So I'm writing this blog on carries phone because we swapped phones today. This is actually the second time I'm writing part of this apparently when u go out of this app without saving to fix the fact her photos won't up load everything disappears. The morning started with much optimism. 

After climbing into town last night we figured more hills right away. We lucked out. 12 km of relatively flat riding.  Could this be the Iowa that everyone says is flat. I actually make a point of not studying the next day's ride. Had I, I would have known that we were in for 75.2 miles and 4000 feet of climbing. As we were riding I was surprised to have so many people ask me about SeatoSea. Great to tell them about the great work of world renew and the other SeatoSea partners.

The riders were tight at first but seemed to spread out a lot quicker then yesterday. The climbing started at 12 km and didn't stop till the end of the ride.

  

Caught a pic of a few old cars. 

This truck is like to take home with me. 

Climbing lots of hills. People were a little less chatty today. 

Saw a bunch of different bike setups. 

What a collection of people. All Gods children. 

We met Carrie in Corning. 

This is Joanne passing a cool barn. 

A couple of old trucks in town. 

I had my first piece of pie. It was great. 

The last 1/3 of the day was a tough grind. The hills are too far apart to carry momentum from one hill to the next. Lowest gear and find your happy place. 

As we passed people cheering us on said just two more hills. Even the signs on the road said two more hills. I think it's an Iowa inside joke. It was 20 more hills. 

So my knee has been achy but holding up. Today was the biggest test. The last 30 km Joanne and I would screem down the hills and then putter up the other side trying to keep our knees from giving out. After rolling out our legs and icing our knees well head to bed and see what tomorrow brings. Talk to you tomorrow 

Len. 

 

Ragbrai day 1

Day one started after a hot night where the temperature barely went below 90 degrees. 6 am and the place was clearing out. I watched most of the seatosea group leave but with my knee being a little iffy I was ok with that. Started out very tentatively. The pace to start was very slow but that was ok with me. This was the reason why. 

It was wall to wall people. Not something I was used to. Training alone in the middle of nowhere to riding in the middle of thousands. It was a good way to force me to take it easy. I just rode and tried to take it all in. Last night terry said our mission for the week was to witness. Not something most of us are real comfortable with. As we were riding I had people ask me what seatosea was all about. So just wearing a shirt was enough. I got the opportunity to tell people about the great work seatosea is doing. 

The classic selfy shows the amount of people. 

Quite the lineup of people behind and in front of me. As we got to the first town we had to get off our bikes and walk for 1/2 a mile. That was a first. 

Malvern was happy to have us and had plenty for us to do. I saw an old truck and was pulled in like a tractor beam. 

I have to say the slower pace to today was a refreshing change. I met up with Joanne and Wayne in the town and we road the rest of the way together. 

In the town of tabor I talked to a guy about these old trucks  and cars  they built cages around and used them in a type of 3 on 3 soccer game. 

That was fun. 

Pushing this ball around with these cars would be fun. We met Carrie and terry in the town. 

We continued on to the next town and passed an old ice cream maker. People seem to be having too much Fun. It's been an interesting day to learn how to relax and enjoy the ride. 

Things started to space out after 3/4 of the ride was done. The last ride into town was enjoyable. 

After showers Carrie and I went to town and enjoyed some food just before it started to rain. 

Back at camp now enjoying the evening. 

Ragbrai 2016 with seatosea

On our way to the southwest corner of Iowa to a town called Glenwood. Looking forward to seeing some old friends. 

I figured the first pic should be of corn fields. It is a well deserved stereotype. 

   

As we were driving here today we passed "dusty" crophopper. Made me think of the grandkids. 

We are passing a ton of buses loaded with bikes heading to the same place. They all have there team names, like

team blonde, team jort, barking spiders and a host of others. The seatosea group is made up of cyclist that are riding in ragbrai but raising money to fight poverty with seato sea. 

Here's a screenshot of the first day ride. If you want you can look it up on the ragbrai website. 

I've been looking forward to the ride for qiite a while. Training on and off the bike. I was determined to be in better shape than last summers ride. I even started playing hockey this summer. On Monday July 4th at 11pm I went down and heard my knee pop as my right foot decided to go sideways. Apparently they don't bend that way. The goalie came rushing over and was like I heard that and saw your leg bend, don't move. As I was rolling around in pain the last thing on my mind was don't move. I looked down expecting my leg to be pointing in a different direction. To my surprise it looked ok. I couldn't get up so they helped me off the ice. 

There goes ragbrai I thought. After exrays at the hospital they said looks like the knee is in place and I would have to see a surgeon at the fracture clinic. That couldn't happen until the next Monday. That wasn't quick enough I thought. I have to bike in three weeks I told them. I went home got Tom to bring my bike, the trainer upstairs. I tried to climb on my bike but couldn't get my leg over. Tom grabbed a step stool and I managed to get on my bike. I had my leg straight and slowly tried to rock back and forth. I couldn't even do a full revolution. This doesn't look good I thought.  After Ice and rest I tried two days later and managed to get a few full revolutions.  In my mind there was hope. After talking with Jon Stevens Fromm Renew fitness he hooked me up with a surgeon that I could see on Friday. Carrie and I went to see him and I'm not sure if we were in the same meeting cause I heard good news but Carrie heard the opposite. See me before you go if it doesn't improve or after I get back. After two weeks of ice rehab and light cycling were still going. Carrie and I did 25 km on Wednesday pain free ish. I think I'm ready.