Registers Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa
July 22nd-28th 2007

Saturday July 21st, Arriving in Council Bluffs IA

We had such a great time at RAGBRAI last year that we have to do it again. We join up with our friends, the Pottawattamie Pedalers. We see many familiar faces and meet a few folks new to the group. The club organizer, Cheryl, and truck driver, Jack, do an outstanding job taking care of all the logistics so all we have to do is ride and party.

Lance Armstrong is expected to be on the ride. We look forward to seeing him again, along with all the other regular characters that make this ride so much fun. There is No Pay Ray, who tries to eat and participate without spending any money. Last year he got away with a whole case of pies, we are told. There are the Bad Boys, but all those we spoke with believe that they have retired from the ride. They would pull BBQ's and such on the back of their bikes. There is the guy with the sail attached to his bike to make use of wind to help up the hills. There are the Killer Bees, who are making a come back this year after being retired for a bit.

Sunday July 22nd, Rock Rapids to Spencer

The first day of riding is a pleasant change from last year, not as hot and the route is fairly flat all day. We get the opportunity to talk with lots of other riders, one with whirligigs and flags all over his bike. Louie and I munch all the way to Spencer, though Louie is having trouble finding pie! All the branches of the military are here, though the strongest showing is from the Air Force. They have the best cycling uniforms. They have matching shorts, jerseys, socks, and jackets - sharp, very sharp. In Spencer Lance Armstrong spends some time speaking to registered participants age 21 and younger at a local school. We ask the kids we meet about the "Lance" gig and one tells us that Lance wakes at three O'clock in the morning to eat pasta so he has the energy he needs for his athletic endeavors. We're pretty sure nobody in our group does that. Maybe that's why we are here instead of some major league competitive event. Tonight RAGBRAI organizers go all out by providing live music and a fireworks show.

Monday July 23rd, Spencer to Humbolt

Today we get the opportunity to speak with two young men who are riding unicycles on the entire 477mile route. The wheel they use is really big and they have small arrow bars attached to the front with water bottles behind the seats. It is amazing to see how fast they can go. They can even ride both up and down hills. There are many broken bikes today. Although there are many high-end bikes, we also see a lot of clunkers that folks ride either for one day or the whole ride. Brakes rub, tires are bare, and gears don't shift, but the bikes rattle down the road as best they can. Louie helps as many as we have time for, but sadly a few bikes he repairs will only make it down the road a few more miles before breaking down again. We repair countless flat tires. We only stop for riders walking their bikes or for people staring at their bike looking dumbfounded. Most of them are inexperienced cyclists and do not carry a patch kit, spare tire, or pump, believing that bike tires are like car tires and do not go flat very often. It is pretty amazing. Today we ride the Karras-Albert City Century Loop. For some reason we decide to sprint for most of the additional 28 miles. We only stop long enough for Bec to get home made ice cream and listen to a guy sing a karaoke cover of "Smoking Weed With Willie". We jump back on the tandem and catch a tail wind. Some folks try to catch our draft but we leave them all in the dust. We will remember this as our "Glory Day". At Humbolt we watch some BMX riders perform stunts. Louie say's "I'll be dammed if I have to fix their bikes".

Tuesday July 24th, Humbolt to Hampton

Our RAGBRAI appetite kicks in early today. Louie finally finds himself some pie and Becky has some corn. The townsfolk of Laurens built a huge smoking volcano about 20 feet high and bestow leis to riders. We also see two cyclists in banana costumes riding recumbents. This only confirms our belief that one must be bananas to do this ride.

Wednesday July 25th, Hampton to Cedar Falls

Cedar Falls is home to the UNI-Dome, a huge dome structure for sporting events and concerts. UNI stands for University of Northern Iowa. The town constructed a huge bike out of pipes for us to see. Louie says, "Give these farmers some old bikes and a welder and there is no telling what you will get." A blacksmith from Waterloo took a month to construct the monstrosity. There is also a giant arch over the road made of old bikes. The bikes were donated from many of the local bike shops. Today we see Lance Armstrong ride past us slowly in Aredale. There is quite a commotion as TV cameramen run to get a picture of him. He rides past us with a kid at his side. Tonight, instead of Church Food, we eat dinner from several of the various vendors set up by the UNI-Dome. Nothing prepares us better for another day of hard riding like carnival food.

Thursday July 26th, Cedar Falls to Independence

Today's ride to Independence takes us past an ethanol plant. We stop and chat with a group of workers who are stationed out front to answer questions. The ethanol is used as a supplement to gasoline and the byproducts make biodiesel and feed for cattle. These guys make it sound simple and we just nod our heads like we know what they are talking about. They are quite proud of their plant. We talk to other people and find out that the increased price of corn and soybeans does not help the farmers as much as we would think. They have to pay more for fuel just like the rest of us. It also drives up feed costs for cattle and pigs. It appears that life is always a struggle of some sort. We also bike through Amish country. The children sit out front and watch us with wide eyes while the adults either man tables to sell food and crafts or sit on their porches watching us. We are sure they must wonder what possesses us to ride out bikes across Iowa in silly looking bike clothes. Regardless of our differences they serve us pie and ice cream just like we are regular folks.

Friday July 27th, Idependence to Dyersville

Out on the road today we come across a couple with a child in tow. They tell us that they are grandparents. Grandpa is pulling the grandchild on a trailer bike. The back tire has gone flat and is completely worn through from the trailer bike not following correctly behind the bike. We try to help them. They do not want to buy a new tire, but they just have to. Louie takes one tube and runs it on the inside of the tire so the pumped up tube does not pop through. Later we see them and they tell us that they had to break down and buy a tire because the repair only lasted 15 miles. They tell us how disappointed they are with the trailer bike and that they plan to return it. Louie never once tells them that the kid riding the trailer bike was probably double the recommended weight limit for the bike. "Not worth disappointing folks by pointing out the obvious" Louie say's. We see Mr. Porkchop one last time. Today he is retiring. He sells these incredible pork chops smoked with corncobs on a BBQ grill. He has this call that no one will ever be able to duplicate. Every time he calls "Porrrrrk Choooooops" everyone going by and waiting in line cheers and claps. He has been a regular fixture on this ride for many, many years. Everyone is sad to see him go. Dyersville is home to the field from the movie, "Field of Dreams". The city has actors that come out of the cornfield just like they did in the movie. More than a million people have come to see the site since the movie. We hear that the Ghost Players appear once a month to the delight of tourists and make a special appearance for RAGBRAI.

Saturday July 28th, Dyersville to Bellevue

The route today has a lot of rolling hills. Good for tandems, bad for inexpensive mountain bikes. We come across a guy walking a ladies step through frame mountain bike. His daughter's friend broke her bike so he, in the tradition of the Tour de France, gave up his bike so she could finish the ride. The man tells us he is just going to walk seven miles to the next town. We check his bike and see that the top jockey wheel on the rear derailleur has disappeared and caused a chain reaction, "literally", this bike could not be pedaled. Louie works his magic and converts the bike into a one-speed and sends him on his way. Later we find out that he was able to finish the ride and actually caught up with his daughter and friends so they could ride to the end together. For us repairing bikes on the road during RAGBRAI is like training for disasters. We know what can happen out there and try to prepare for it. RAGBRAI consistently presents us with every imaginable scenario, so we get a lot of practice testing our cyclist survival skills.

Later we get two emails, one from Mark Johnson and the following one from Erica Spies.

Louie thinks that if we keep doing RAGBRAI he will become on of the characters that everyone talks about. What he needs is a helmet with Velcro and tools attached to it so he can just stop and remove the appropriate tool and go to the next one and a BOB trailer with one of those flashing yellow lights on it. Everyone would refer to him as that "fix it" guy.

We also pass a sign that says, "Pet the Dog - 5 cents" Becky gets a dimes worth of petting, but the woman would not take her dime because it was just a joke. The dog gets plenty of attention while his owner is busy filling water bottles from her hose and chatting with passer-bys. We meet up in a restaurant with the only person on the ride who is not having a good time. He says, " I am hot. I am tired. I cannot keep up with my family and my wife is going to make me do this again next year." By the time he finishes his lunch he is in better spirits, but we think that he may put his foot down next year and stay home.

We are so glad that we were able to do this ride again this year. It is the best ride across any state, not so much for the scenery, soybeans and corn, but for the people that do the ride as well as the people who come out to support it. It is an experience like nothing else. Everyone who rides a bike will enjoy RAGBRAI . We guarantee you will be talking about it the rest of your life.