First 2 days of riding RAGBRAI

Sioux City to Storm Lake - 77 miles (plus riding to camp site)

We were supposed to get up at 5am... but due to the Hughie Lewis and the News concert, followed by some hard rock band, we were not able to get to sleep (even with ear plugs in) till well after 11pm.

I got up at 5:30 and scrambled to take down my tent, pack everything away, get dressed in my riding clothes and pump up tires. I made it, and we rolled out at 6:15am.

It was already warm, but the weather was glorious. Dan, Curt and I joined the growing stream of excited cyclists as we poured onto the course. Crowded into one coned off lane as we passed through town, the pace was slow, but a nice warm-up.

The hills climbing out of the river valley came quickly. The route when not climbing, was descending. There were no flat sections for quite a while.

It felt very odd, riding on my own again, with no Spokes of Hope riders (Tim) to draft or Spokes of Hope jerseys to look for was a navigated through the riders.

As we left early, at 6am, the crowd quickly thinned as we rode further into the seemingly relentless series of hills.

The pass-through towns were charming, and since I was ahead of the crowd, the lines were minimal. There were cheerleaders and boyscouts, Church ladies and swim teams all vying for our attention, as the riders were usually in search of food, and having 15K hungry cyclists invading a town of a population of 750, like locusts eating their way across the countryside, selling homemade pie at $4 a slice could really boost the towns economy quickly.

During one riding segment between towns, I was approached by a rider that appeared to recognize me. I was wearing my Spokes of Hope jersey. Seeing that I didn't not recognize me, he said his name. "I'm Joe Corey."

Joe Corey was on our Spokes of Hope 24 hours of Booty team in Indianapolis the last weekend of June. He suddenly looked familiar. I did not recognize him in his new Livestrong team jersey.

We had a good ride into town together, relaxed and chatting made the miles roll by quickly. We separated at the Buena Vista College, where he was camping. Nate had set up camp at a small community college North of town. After showering and working cross word puzzles in camp, I checked my phone to see that Mark Kargol had texted me. He and his family had driven 2 hours to come to visit. Mark and Amber brought their 3 boys, Simon, Levi and Max with them. The older boys played in the field while I introduced them to my team mates for this year's ride. Max had been sleeping and was not feeling well.

It was dinner time, and as we were on the far side away from all the RAGBRAI focus, we found a Mexican Restaurant where there was no waiting. Even for a group of 9, they had ample room. It took a little while for the food to come, but it gave us plenty of time to share and further build friendships.

Unfortunately, little Max was really not feeling well at all, and Mark and Amber, being the wonderful parents that they were, sacrificed what they wanted what was best for their Son. Therefore, our visit was cut short.

We turned in early, with the knowledge that it was supposed to rain starting at 3am.

I woke up to the sound of the pitter patter of rain on the tent's fly. I peeked out to see everyone else was still tucked into their tent. When the rain let up we popped out of the tents like prairie dogs. I decided that the lull in the rain would be a good time to take down the tent and pack the car. Dan kept his tent up, having seen the radar that another hour of rain was on it's way.

We all took shelter, all 4 of us in Dan's 3 person tent. We had no problem entertaining ourselves until the rain finally stopped, and then at 9am, a rather late start for us, we rode out of the camp grounds in our rain gear.

It didn't take long at all for the roads to dry up and the sun to pop out escalating the temperature. The first Casey's General store I found, I stopped and took off my rain coat and topped off my waterbottle with ice.

The route was considerably flatter than the day before. Only 1635 feet of climbing as compared to the 4 K of climbing on the first day.

I shopped for wheels, waiting for a rider to come by, traveling at a pace I thought looked good, and then I would move into their draft. One of the first was a rider, dressed in a green morph suit with a lycra Santa Claus jersey, and a stuffed dog on the back with antlers. He was obviously... the Grinch.

I rode behind him for a while and then started to giggle... I realized that I was Cindi Lou following the Grinch.

As his pace slowed, I can't imagine breathing was very comfortable with his face covered, I moved on to the next fast wheel that passed. I met quite a few riders and sat in a couple of large pacelines, which can be slightly stressful, as you have to constantly be watchful for the riders to move left unexpectedly, or the rider in front of you braking too quickly.

Nate, our sag driver, met us at the meeting town. We sat in the cool mossy shade of a building just off the crowded path of riders, and the gifted musical voices of the Nate, Dan and Curt sang a melodic "happy birthday" as it was indeed... my birthday.

Dan and Curt left and I was still hungry and went in search of food, finding a chicken sandwich sold by the boyscouts and an ear of corn sold by the Rotary club.

Immediately after lunch I found myself riding with a gentleman with an Australian accent, we chatted for quite a while with the wind out of the North North West.  Then we found some of his friends and the pace line was on. The temperature climbed almost as quickly and steeply as some of the hills near the finish in Fort Dodge. My left knee was starting to complain loudly, and I was forced to pedal predominately with my right leg. The sky was bright cloudless blue and the final stretch became a hot, tailwind ride into town.

We stayed at Dan's Niece's home, which was right on the route. Staying indoors was an incredibly welcomed respite from camping in the rain. We sat on the carpeted living room floor while we stretched and swapped stories about families. When Sheila, Dan's niece arrived home, she had an 11 month old baby girl and her delightful 3 year old sister. She provided brats, hamburgers and veggies and Curt took over as the grill master. We sat outside on the porch, enjoying the food, the company and watching the seemingly endless stream of riders entering the town.

As Nate and the 3 year old played ball on the sidewalk, I would occasionally yell out to the riders, "What time did you leave Storm Lake?" At the time I asked them, it was 7:30 pm. Most all of them replied, "7:30 this morning."  So many of the riders had been out in the heat for 12 hours.

My teammates had one more gift to give me. As it was my birthday, they all decided that I should take the one available room with a bed for the night, while they all slept on the floor downstairs. I felt guilty, honored and relieved that I didn't have to wear an eye mask or earplugs for a night. It was indeed a good day to be alive!

I've always tried to squeeze as much out of life as I could... but my Mother is convinced that after my cancer episodes, I am determined to live one and a half lives in the one I have. Looking at the next month, she may be right.

5 years ago I was talked into riding my bike ride across Iowa in an event called "RAGBRAI" (The Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa.)  After fighting cancer twice in my own body, I had become a member of a family of Cyclists Combating Cancer. Many members had ridden RAGBRAI and loved it. One in particular, Bob Sega LOVED RAGBRAI. The year he left this earth, I decided, with the support and urging of Mark Kargol, another Cyclist Combating Cancer, I decided to do it... and I was HOOKED!

Oh my goodness, it was so much fun! Like... Crazy Fun!  Like... Summer camp for grown ups in lycra, where all you had to do was get up and eat, ride your bike, eat some more, ride some more and eat and play, and then camp out. No stress and a lot of joy.

Since that first time, Ken and I have brought a Spokes of Hope team with us. And it has been a delight to share the experience with them and see them light up with the joy of RAGBRAI as well. It is so addicting that as soon as it is over, you want to start planning for the next year's ride.

Last year I committed to Special Olympics International that I would would serve as a Technical Delegate for the 2015 World Summer Games to be held in LA. The moment that I realized that there was a conflict with the timing of RAGBRAI I felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room.

People who have done RAGBRAI can relate, I'm sure. I was in mourning. Then when I saw the actual dates... That RAGBRAI would be starting earlier... it would be possible to sneak a few days in before going to LA for the World Games.

So... the plan is...Drive to Iowa to join some of the people that I rode with the first time and then leave the ride early to high tail it home to catch a plane to Los Angeles for the Games.

I have had friends ask me to post and blog about my next couple of weeks... thus... the blog.

It's my way of sharing my experience with my friends who couldn't make it.

Currently, I am in a Toyota Sienna mini-van with three bikes strapped on the back. Dan Musgrove is driving, Kurt (the rider who's place I took on the team my first year) is the co-pilot and Nate Musgrove, our Sag driver is sitting in the back with me catching up on his reading... on our way past corn fields without end and cows standing in the bright shadeless fields of Iowa, on our way to the starting location where the adventure begins!

As we get closer, the excitement builds as we see more and more old school buses packed with riders and bikes, painted in bright sloppy colors with team names smeared across the sides. Let the party begin!