Let's start at the very beginning

A very good place to start....

Sioux City, IA.  Nowrthwestern Iowa, on the banks of the Missouri across from South Dakota.

After arriving Saturday evening, after a looooong day of driving, we set up camp, found some food, had a couple beers, and retired to the tents at about 10:30, with a plan to rise at 6:00 and hit the road by 7:00.

By 5:30 I could already hear other riders packing up their tents and getting ready for the road.  We were next to a large group - I think they were with an agent because all 40-50 tents were identical.  They were long gone by the time we were ready to roll and the support folks had half the camp packed up.

At 7:20, we started to meander over to the dip in site.

RAGBRAI tradition - dip your back tire in the Missouri and your front tire in the Mississippi.

I had Mike take my pic:

Then he gave me my camera and I turned to do something.  When I turned back around, they were all gone!  Great.  Ditched before the first mile!  Turns out there was a Dip In Site sign to the right and they went for a group shot over there.  I thought they saddled up while I was dinking around, so I figured I'd catch up with them.  I never did, as they were behind me the whole day.

We rode 68.5 miles, officially to end in Storm Lake.

Lots of rolling hills climbing out of the river valley.  The first town, Leeds, was barely outside of SC.  Just outside of Leeds was a right turn with a crossing over RR tracks.  You had to stop and get off to cross them.  10,000 riders all stopping leads to this near Leeds:

(looking back)

(going forward)

As you can see, people of all shapes and sizes ride RAGBRAI. 

From Leeds, it was on to Kingsley.  You couldn't ride through town - any town - as it was a veritable traffic jam of bikes.  You had to dismount - maybe grab a bite to eat or get a drink, have adjustments made to your ride, or just hang out with the locals - before you could continue on to the next town.  It was that way in every town.

I passed through Washta, but did stop in Quimby.  A bloody mary sounded good.  And tasted great, too.  They were serving them up in the Quimby Fire House.  I ran into two guys from Minnesota there who were 10-15 years older than I.  They invited me to join them, as they too were on Team LIVESTRONG.  Turns out we each knew people who knew each other.  We talked about the Cities and Madison.  Weird.  Small world.

After the 30 minute break, I headed on to Storm Lake, our destination for the day.  I got in about 1:00.  And I beat the RV in.  They stopped in Washta, the meet up town, to connect with the others.    And, (in-)conveniently enough, my cell phone died shortly after arriving.  Good thing we had already established that we'd leave a note on the message board that RAGBRAI uses.  Except, being the first one there meant there was no message for me. 

I talked to some welcome people and found out that teams were being sent to the HS to set up camp.  So off I rode to the HS, and checked out other locations on the way.  I easily added 10 miles to my day back-and-forth and back-and-forth.  By 2:45, Karen had made it and she posted a message asking where we were.  I caught up to her shortly thereafter and the two of us waited for the others to come in.  By 4:00, there were a handful of us and someone had communication with Jim & Qing.  They were parked behind an old elementary school - a block off the path I rode to-and-fro on the way to the high school a couple times.

HINT: establish clear communication links between everyone on your team, and if you're relying on cell phones, a) make sure they're charged and b) make sure everyone exchanges numbers.

By 5:00, the stragglers in the group pulled into camp.  Day 1 done.  We all made it.  He grilled some food and headed to the HS to get showered.

HINT: bring $ for showers - average of $5 to shower, plus a towel fee (or at least deposit).  You WILL want to shower at the end of each day.  It is so bloody refreshing, even if it's cold and with a bad showerhead.  So worth it!

By the time we were done eating and showering it was well past 8.  We hung out, enjoyed a beer or two and called it a day by 10:30.  Tomorrow: 79 miles lie ahead, plus, for those that couldn't get enough, the Karras Loop through Rolfe, an optional 18.4 mile loop to make it a "Century Ride."  Well, not really, but close, since 79+18 = 97.

More about Team WiscAwesome

I'm not quite sure about the unicorn on Bucky (but ironically, it's a great personal fit for me, given that my sister Julie had a fascination with them).  That's a "laser cat" in Bucky's hand - there's some story there.  I don't know what it is.

In retrospect, I don't think I did an adequate job introducing the crew that allowed me to spend the week with them.  And as I think back on the week, I wish I had spent more time getting to know each of them more than I did.  They are all wonderful people.

And the network of connections between them, between us all, is like a web.

Let's start with Britt and Mike.  They got married last August ('09). 

They live on the eastside of Madison and both graduated from the UW.  Mike works in the media world, Britt in politics.  For a long time, she worked for Rep Tammy Baldwin.

Mike's dad is my wife's uncle.  So, I guess we're cousins-in-law.

Britt's mom, Karen, rode, too.  (She and I were the only non-20-somethings on the team, or 30-somethings for that matter.)  Here's a pic of the two of them from Thursday at the end of the day in Waterloo.  In addition to being the longest day of riding, it was also Britt's birthday that day.

The cone became more of a horn (less wind resistance, I guess).  And yes, she wore it all day on the ride.

Funny tidbit about the ride.  On Day 3 (Tuesday), RAGBRAI took us through the towns of Britt, IA and Garner, IA, consecutively.  Britt's maiden name... Garner.

Yes, we stopped in both towns.  Britt picked up a t-shirt in Britt (aka, the Hobo capital).  In Garner, we stopped for a celebratory drink for lunch.  Cheers!

One of Britt's bridesmaids was Rachel.  Rachel and Maddie are sisters.

Maddie (L) and Rachel (R)

Both are UW grads.  Rachel now lives in Boston.  Maddie is starting med school here in Madison.  After they finished RAGBRAI in Dubuque, they were met by John (Maddie's beau, I think) and drove to Colorado to ride in the mountains! 

Lindsey is another UW grad.  She's a teacher in Sun Prairie now.  She started there shortly after I left SP for Wis. Heights.  She and Britt are close friends.  Brandon is her older brother (and the first to turn 30, about a week after RAGBRAI, or was it 13?!?  He is a kid at heart!).  Both are runners (1/2 and full marathoners).  Brandon was stuck with me for several hours in the U-Haul on the way to Sioux City.  Poor guy.  He is not a Badger alum, but did attend a UW system school (Eau Claire).  Great guy.

Lindsey's long-time friend is Holly, another runner.  Holly is a Marquette grad and lives in the Milwaukee area. 

Holly is tiny (about 5'0"). And I'm kinda big (6'0", 215). On Friday, looking to ride a bike w/o clips to go get some beer for the camp (didn't want to be clipped in, in case there were any balance problems), I thought I was taking Mike's bike. I rode Holly's. I may as well have been riding Olivia's (my 9 y.o. daughter)! My knees were almost in my chin.


Our last rider is the one I got to know the least, Meghan.  A really nice girl, and very quite.  She and Qing are married.  I believe both are Badgers as well.  Qing was one of our SAG guys - the unsung heros of the group.

 
Finally, there's Jim.  Jim was our other SAG guy and the driver all week.  Jim was Mike's best man.  And, yes, he's a Badger, too!  (BTW, did you figure out where we got our team name?!?)  Jim's another great guy.  He and Qing busted their humps to make sure camp was good to go for us.  Thanks guys!

"Give me the damn beer, Jim!"

 
So, there you have it, Team WiscAwesome.  The folks that made it a great week across Iowa.

Meet Team WiscAWESOME & Travel Day to SCIA

Let me introduce the group of folks that put up with me for eight days... Team WiscAWESOME!  Here we are:

Karen, Rachel, Mike, Qing, Maddie, Meghan, Holly, Me, Britt, Lindsey and Brandon.  (Jim is behind the camera)

This was at about 7:30 on Day 1 of the ride, on our way to the Dip-In site in Sioux City. 

Oh, and we're the 2010 National Shake Weight Twirling Champions!  See, we have a sign to prove it!

Qing and Jim were our support guys for the week - driving the RV to the meet-up town and then to the overnight towns, setting up camp, cooking, keeping coolers stocked w/ beer, etc., etc.  Theirs was a thankless job and at times, I'm sure, quite boring.  It would've been hell without those guys there.  Thanks Jim & Qing!

Mike & Britt were the team captains and they did all the organizing work - getting our registrations in, renting the RV, figuring the budget, providing tips for packing and anything else.  Note: if you ever do RAGBRAI, do it with someone whose been there/done that.  Thanks Britt & Mike!

We all met up in Madison in the morning of Saturday, the 24th to load up a U-Haul and fill up the RV.  Here we are trying to figure out how to pack the bikes so they didn't get all beat up on the trip from Madison to Sioux City.

From here, it turned out to be an 8-hr drive (about 420 mi), with a couple stops.  A lot longer than we were planning for.  Two of us were in the RV (Jim and Qing to start, Brandon and I to finish the trip), while the rest were in the RV.  Brandon actually slept in the space above the driver in the RV for the first couple hours.  It was nice spending time in the RV and getting to know everyone else a little.  To me, it was pretty  clear that political discussions were not going to raucous debates.  We were of like minds.

On the way, we noticed a LOT of flooding in Iowa along the US 20 corridor.  This pic was taken in Sac City on the Raccoon River, about 20 miles east of Sioux City. 

The river was over its banks and flooded the town park.  This historic building was surrounded by water - but still safe (for the moment).  It was even worse in eastern Iowa.

The other thing I noticed - you couldn't help but notice - on the way was all the windmills.  And not the old 19th century ones, the new tall modern 3-bladed ones.  There are tons in western Iowa, which explains why I saw this headline in a Tweet: 20% of Iowa's in-state energy comes from wind technology, putting it #1.

We finally rolled into Sioux City at about 6:00 and spent another 45-60 minutes trying to find a place to set up camp.  With 10,000 (or more?!?) people all setting up shop for the night, it was pretty crowded.  We then set up camp and get the rides ready for the day ahead.

I ran over to meet up with Team LIVESTRONG to check in with them.  Came back with some cool swag - a jersey, a cap and a messenger bag.

(And even after 2100 training miles, I'm still fat.)

Then it was time for dinner, a couple of beers and time to call it a night (at about 10:30-11:00).  The plan was to be up at 6:00 and on the road at 7:00.  Of course, at the end of the night, they had a fireworks display.  We couldn't see it from where we were, but we could certainly hear it! 

We ended up not going to the expo area or seeing Smash Mouth play.  Actually, we didn't see any of the bands perform that week.  (Smash Mouth and the Spin Doctors were the biggest names, so I'm not sure it was much of a loss.)  I do wish we would've made the expo though.  Some of the vendors did travel and there were mini-expos in each overnight town.  Next year, maybe.

Next up: Day 1.

RAGBRAI... For the Greater Good

In my first post, I described how it is that I came to sign up and prepare for the 2010 edition RAGBRAI.  But is that all this is? A bike ride across Iowa?

Well, yes.  And no.

RAGBRAI itself is not a charity fundraising project.  It is sponsored and run by the Des Moines Register.  As far as I know, they run it for profit.  (Though they do help sponsor "The Dream Team" - a team of at-risk youth from Des Moines.)

I figured that this would be a great opportunity, then, to raise money for a charity.  I quickly decided on the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF).  You know, the LIVESTRONG folks.  They do great work helping cancer patients and their loved ones, giving them the resources and support they need to fight the disease.  And, it's pretty obvious, isn't it?  Charity fundraiser and bicycling could only mean Lance.

Another reason I chose to raise money for LAF is that in 1982, cancer took the life of my sister Julie, who was 21 at the time.  (F*#& cancer!)  So, that made it a trifecta of reasons to focus my efforts on LAF.

(chalkbot message on the roads of France during Le Tour)

I didn't know it at the time, but there was already a Team LIVESTRONG on RAGBRAI.  When I sent in a request about how to raise money for LAF, I was invited to join the team.  (By then, I was already hooked up with Mike & Britt and Team WiscAWESOME.)  They also let me set up a donation page on their team site so donors could contribute directly to LAF there.

RAGBRAI XXXVIII was scheduled for 442 miles.  I decided to try and raise $10 for each mile I would ride - or $4,420.  Kind of an ambitious goal, I know. 

I also knew that if I were to have a shot at making that goal, I'd need some help.  So I called a friend of mine, Lisa, who happens to be the financial advisor for my employer and asked if her company might be interested in sponsoring me for the week.  I suggested that the sponsorship could be $3/mile ($1326) + pay for a couple of jerseys with their logo that I would wear for the week. 

Lisa was excited about this and passed my request on to the non-profit foundation that the company has.  With her support, the Baird Foundation agreed to send a check for $1500 to LAF.  Internally, there are a lot of Baird employees who ride and they have their own bike jersey.  Lisa got me a couple of those to wear.  I took the liberty of getting them modified slightly to link Baird to LIVESTRONG and to honor my sister.

I think they turned out great!  And, yes, I wore the jerseys 5 of the 7 days of the ride.  (Day 1, I wore the Team LIVESTRONG jersey I received from LAF, as did the rest of the team; and Day 4 was the "college jersey" day, when I proudly wore the cardinal and white with the Motion W.)

With the generous support of family, friends, colleagues, and people & companies I deal with in my line of work, I easily surpassed my original goal of $4420.  With this support, I upped my goal to $15/mile, or $6630.  That may have been an over-reach, but I have raised $5,876.80 so far.  (You can still help my reach $6630 by donating here. hint)

In addition to the Baird Foundation, I especially want to thank Avery Railing and my brother Jim, Health Partners, and Stephanie & Dave at National Insurance Services for donating at least $1/mile to LAF.

By the way, I ended up being the #2 fundraiser on Team LIVESTRONG 2010.  So, thank you for your support!

I had trained over 2,000 miles to get ready and I raised some money for a great cause.  Now, it was time to ride RAGBRAI XXXVIII.  Next post: Meeting Team WiscAWESOME and heading to Sioux City.

Why RAGBRAI? Why now?

First, some basics.  RAGBRAI is a week long bike ride across the state of Iowa.  It always starts in the West on the banks of the Missouri River and always ends in the East at the Mississippi.  Traditionally, riders dip their back tires in the Mighty Mo and their front in the Muddy Miss.

For the 2010 edition, RAGBRAI started in Sioux City on Sunday, 7/25 and ended "442" miles later in Dubuque the following Saturday (7/31).  (I'll explain later why 442 is in quotes.)  Seven days of Iowa countryside and small towns.  Good thing Iowa is flat, right?

So, you're probably curious as to how many people ride RAGBRAI.  I have heard that they cap the number of weeklong passes at 8500.  Plus there are riders on day passes.  Plus untold numbers who don't register, thus bypassing the $140 entry fee for the week.  All told, I've heard there are 10,000 riders; 15,000 riders; and even 20,000 riders.  What I do know is that at 5:30 a.m., I was seeing riders head out in the mornings; at 5:30 p.m., I was seeing riders coming into camp at the end of the day (and that was on the short days); and on the roads there were bicyclists as far as you could see and no gap between riders more than 150 feet.

(Borrowed from the "The Two Least Likely To" blog)

So, this is the adventure I signed up for.  And why did I do it?  The decision to ride across Iowa was actually a number of smaller decisions that all added up to this.

You see, I'm a 45 year old man with a desk job.  I don't eat the best.  At least I didn't used to, trying to do better now.  And my doc thought I should shed a few lbs and lower my cholesterol before it got bad.  So I've being toying with riding a bike to get exercise.  I can't run (due to a hip replacement) and I can't swim (because I can't swim).  So, I figured biking would be good.  I tried to start riding regularly each of the last couple years with limited (re: no) success. 

At the end of January, my brother posted the news that RAGBRAI was ending in Dubuque this year.  Our hometown.  My older sister and I started talking about doing - how cool would that be to do your first RAGBRAI and finishing in your hometown? 

Alas, my sister, now a native NY'er couldn't get back to fly-over-land to partake.  At least not phsyically.  Spiritually, she was there every mile.  She was my most loyal follower on Twitter.  She kept asking why I wasn't posting more.  About 1/2-way through the week I realized that an extra 10,000 iPhone users are clogging up AT&T's limited network in rural Iowa and nothing was getting through.  Unless you tweeted/updated Facebook/e-mailed/etc at 5:00 a.m.

Great!  Now I have a goal to work towards, maybe I can get serious about riding.  My first day on the bike this spring was March 15.  "6.75 mi (33 min) - ouch - lungs hurt most."  Ok, maybe this wasn't a good idea. 

But I got back on the bike the next day (10 mi).  And the next (14).  By the end of the month, I logged over 130 miles.  Over the next four months, I rode about 2000 more miles.  (I also lost a few pounds, not as many as I had hoped, but some.) 

And I bought a new bike.  The $200 Schwinn from Target wasn't going to cut it.  Plus, with splitting my time between two towns 250 miles apart, hauling a bike back and forth wasn't going to work.  The Schwinn came up north to where I work and the new bike (a 2009 Cannondale Synapse 7) stayed home.

By late-April, I was determined that I would ride RAGBRAI.  But how?  I didn't have a team.  I had never done this before, so I had no idea what to expect.  There were logistical questions up the wazoo.

Fortunately, I knew someone who had done RAGBRAI in the past.  My wife's younger cousin, Mike, and his wife, Brittani.  I called him and asked if he was riding (yes) and if I could tag along with his team (yes).  Sweet! 

The team (Team WiscAWESOME), it turns out, was a group of nine other riders (Mike & Britt, Rachel, Maddie, Lindsey, Brandon, Holly, Meghan, and Karen) and two support guys (Jim & Qing).  With the exception of Karen (Britt's mom), all were in their twenties.  Three were serious jocks - Lindsey, Holly and Rachel were all runners.  They were a lot of fun to hang out with.  I didn't feel like the 45 year old old man tagging along, but like a part of the group.  (Thanks guys!!!) 
So there you have it.  The start of the story of my RAGBRAI experience.

Next up: RAGBRAI and LIVESTRONG.