RAGBRAI Recap

RAGBRAI was an AMAZING experience!  Yes, I only rode the first day (68 miles), but it did allow me to get a great feel for what the whole ride would be like.  Over 10,000 riders participate, and the crowds can be crazy.  I thought it was so cool to be on the road with that many bikers though - all of them enjoying themselves as much as me!  Seriously, I'd love to be able to do this again.  I don't think I'd be able to commit to the full week because of work and the time commitment that training would take, but I'd love to do a day again.  In fact, I'd love if I could make it an annual tradition :-). 

Now for some pictures!!  First, here is the food I brought with me for fuel (in addition to a 2 liter Camelbak and a bottle of Propel):

The balls in the left container are inspired by Jessica's Laraballs here.  I call my own mix Ash's Balls O' Energy.  Here is the recipe!  And yep, I ate all of the above on the ride... in addition to some free watermelon and bananas that were absolutely delicious - nothing like fruit to refuel and refresh with!

And before I left my home for Sioux City at the wonderful hour of 5 AM, I had a large bowl of shredded wheat and vanilla soymilk - yum!

My dad joined me on this ride, and we were biking by 6 AM.  I took the following picture around 7 AM.  There aren't many riders yet because we were near the beginning of the crowds... not everyone is an early riser ;-).

This next picture is from the small town of Kingsley, IA:

Next is outside Kingsley, IA - gotta love the beautiful scenery of Western Iowa:

Next stop was Washta, IA:

What a lovely entrance to the town:

Great scenery between Washta and Quimby:

Above is Lake Elmo, which looked more like a marsh to me.

Then Quimby (where the free watermelon was!):

Looking down a fairly large hill between Quimby and Storm Lake (Western IA is NOT flat!):

A cute sign my dad and I saw before Storm Lake - you'll get it if you've ever driven towards Wall Drug in South Dakota.  It says, "Wall Drug: 438 miles behind you."  And yes, this is the first picture of myself on my blog... so I blocked out my face to retain a little privacy ;-).

And FINALLY Storm Lake!  I really enjoyed the ride, but I was still glad to arrive at the final destination :-).

Look at all those tents!

Whew, what a day!  My mom picked Dad and I up from Storm Lake, and she brought me great tuna salad and some cold propel.  At home I enjoyed lots of Kashi cereal and soymilk... an amazing combo!  

My kitten Elphaba was very happy when I finished off the box:

I hope you enjoyed this recap as much as me.  Let me know if you have any questions.  I tried to keep this relatively short ;-).

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