In Which RAGBRAI Sets the Full Route

All route maps from RAGBRAI.com. See them at: http://ragbrai.com/2015/03/07/ragbrai-xliii-route-unique-attractions-every-few-miles/

Well, it’s time for Team Joe to get organized. Susan is getting married, so won’t be with us this year. Jon is probably going to be doing RAGBRAI, but has arragted to ride as part of his group of tech friends from the Seattle area. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Jon, even if he’s going to skip the pleasure of camping with the Big Snore (aka, CR Biker).

Anyway, Cate, Brigid, Eldon, I hope you’re all in. For the day into and out of Hiawatha, we’ll probably have some added members—I think Theresa may ride at least one of those days.

The route this year looks very interesting. RAGBRAI announced the full route Sunday, and if you follow the link on the first map above, you can watch their video discussion of the route and read what they say about it. Hilly the first day, which is no surprise, but kind of hilly the day we pull into Hiawatha, too.

The first few days will take me through the old neighborhood—it used to be that Sioux City was “the big town,” and when we needed to go somewhere with books story and toy stores for Christmas shopping, it means the drive west an hour to Sioux City. Audrey taught there at both Briar Cliff and Morningside.

The first overnight town is Storm Lake, where I worked for 10 years when we lived in Early. The next day will feel like a reenactment of many Friday or Saturday drives—we go through towns like Newell, Fonda, Pomeroy (if the weather is good and I feel like some gravel riding). I was in many of those places when I had middle school or high school kids attending St. Mary’s in Storm Lake. Glad I won’t have to be in a cold bleacher at a track meet this time!

Of course, later in the week, we pull into Hiawatha. Honestly, that will put us closer to my house than the year we rode into Cedar Rapids. I had to get a ride home that year—this year we’ll be so close that we’ll probably just peddle over.

Finishing in Davenport will be nice, too. The victory dinner will, I hope, include some Quad City family members.

Well, the details of the route make RAGBRAI 43 look pretty good. April 1 is the full week registration deadline.

Team Joe: Assemble!

And maybe I'll go to the Sioux City party, because, you know: 

In Which 24.4 Damp Miles Help Us Make RAGBRAI Plans

Shirt art for Team Joe 2014  by my talented oldest daughter, Amanda Moscou. It's awesome. By the way, other daughters, you're talented, too.

A feather, wet from drizzle, at the Boyson Road trailhead Sunday, May 25.

It's a common kind of bush that is blooming now, and this one is at the Boyson Road trail head. What is it?

Des Moines trikers, ready to ride the Cedar River Trail with Cate and I despite a bit of rain. Eldon and Brigid.

Team Joe, minus Sue who is in Florida and thus exempt, held an informal pre-RAGBRAI powwow, shakedown cruise ride on the Cedar River Trail Sunday.

Brigid and Eldon were in town because we had a family gathering Saturday in a state park. Sunday we met for a biker breakfast at Riley’s Cafe, and then I went to a granddaughter’s third birthday party. It’s possible I was eating like it already was RAGBRAI, which is not, honestly, a good idea.

Anyway, around 2 we gathered at the Boyson Road trail head where the Cedar River Trail meets the Cedar Valley Trail, and we headed south through Hiawatha and Cedar Rapids on the river trail.

I would say it was a fine day for a ride, but it wasn't exactly ideal. It was spitting rain. It never really got to be a full shower, and for that I’m grateful, and I will concede that being used to pushing through rain is a good RAGBRAI riding skill. So on we rode. We stopped briefly at Cedar Lake to chat with Paulette, and then pushed on to Tate-Cummins Park.

Heading north shortly after the turn around, whizzing along the damp trail. Rain is starting to let up, but any breeze shakes a lot of water from the trees. I think we are going 15 to 16 mph at this point.

It was getting on in the afternoon and the Des Moines guests didn't want to hit to road too late, so we turned around after feasting on salted nut rolls provided by Cate (she is some sort of biking snack guru).

Then, over a round of Fat Tire except for the designed Des Moines driver who had Coke, we stopped at the Sag Wagon and conferred (and also took the obligatory Sag Wagon biker selfie).

Sag Wagon selfie of Team Joe--Eldon, Brgid, Cate and I. Joe. The only one not in a "Team Joe" shirt. Figures, right? The hand sign is not "rock out" or "we worship Satan," it's the team signal for "bollards," which you encounter on the trail, it's a waning to the riders of wide trikes on our team.

Our tentative plans?

• We will probably have 12 driving shifts. There would, in theory, be 14, two each day for a week, but two of the days are so short that we decided it is silly to have a meet-up on those days. With five team members, that means either two or three driving shifts for the week.
• I am to get maps of the meet-up towns. We already planned to have Cate and I scout the final town a bit, which should help with meet-up on the final day. We might all go to Dubuque that day, because Brigid and Eldon have rented a motel room, and we can shower and then go out for a victory dinner. In any case, Cate or I will be the final driver, since we’ll have seen the final town. And we’ll have maps with us of all the meet-up towns. So, RAGBRAI, what are the meet-up towns this year?
• We will change our camp routine a bit. There probably will be “packers” who will stay to help the driver get the camp put away. With five team members, two can leave right away, two help pack. We also discussed the need to improve our packing so that it’s not necessary to hunt for stuff as much or to move as much stuff to get a trike out of the vehicle.
• Breakfast, most of the time, will be camp chow that we bring with us. We’ll have food so we can eat before hitting the road, and we won’t have the delay of hunting breakfast in the camping town. I don’t think that means we won’t ever eat in that town—it’s possible there might be an attractive, obvious option that we might take advantage of—but for the most part, we’ll calorie up quickly and hit the road.
• Independence will probably be a camping town. We won’t be far from Cedar Rapids that night, but the next day is one of the most difficult rides and is also the final day—and getting on the road very quickly for that final days seems to be an important strategy.

There you have it. We’re still not quite settled on styles and colors for shirts, but my talented awesome oldest daughter did a grant design that we all love, see the top image on this post, so I’m sure shirts are coming. See more of Amanda's art  here and her art and poetry here. You an also read a fun story she collaborated on here.

After the meeting, the sky is turning sunny and the trail is drying off.

The 24-plus-mile ride Sunday was mostly wet, but it was drying off by the time of the Sag Wagon summit. It was actually sunny during the last leg of the ride.

May it be a good omen for RAGBRAI!

In Which CR Biker Is Ready and Not Ready

Sister Brigid in cool Team Joe RAGBRAI shirt.

I feel like I could use another week to prepare for RAGBRAI.

I haven’t changed batteries in my helmet. I haven’t located the “lunchbox” box I usually store daily supplies in. I have not yet packed. I looked into installing Linux on an old laptop to blog from the road, and ran out of time. It would probably work, but I won’t be able to do it. I may still take the old clunker and still do some blogging during the week, though.

So what is ready?

• Well, obviously the shirt. Thank you talented daughter Amanda for an awesomely cool shirt design, and Eldon Rocca for getting them printed and Brigid, the postponed twin, for modeling the look.

• The tent.  I had a little anxiety looking for it, but it turned up. I had not unpacked it since RAGBRAI 2012, and was a little concerned about its state. It’s fine. Easy to put up and easy to part.

• My bike and body. I still have to get more chain lube, but Francis is being very good. Recent rides have gone well, and I hope I’m not fooling myself, but I seem to be ready.

The tent, found and taken to the backyard, then laid out and then assembled. The package says it takes 2 minutes. I think it lies, but not by a lot--on a very hot, humid morning it took 10 minutes to put up. Not bad.

Well, blog pals, this may be it—the final post before the big ride. I’m sure I’ll update midweek from Des Moines, but will more often if I can and the clumsy old laptop functional enough.

Wish me luck on my third full week of RAGBRAI!

I've been on the Boyson, Lindale and Krumholz trails in Cedar Rapids and Marion a bit this week, but mostly have taken it easy. Anyway, this is the trail near Menards in Marion Wednesday morning.

In Which The Ride Is Grand But The Video Gone

Team Joe--Cate Sheller, Eldon Rocca, Brigid Rocca and me. I went along with it when they suggested the name. We are on the observation deck, the old bridge approach, next to the High Trestle Trail bridge.

Trust me blog friends—the 48-mile ride Saturday was a blast. Not an unmixed blessing, mind you, but a very satisfying time nonetheless.

The 2013 RAGBRAI group I’m part of, “Team Joe,” met for a pre-RAGBRAI conference and training ride Saturday. My brother-in-law and sister Brigid live in DesMoines, and another of my sisters, Cate, drove as she and I made the journey Friday to our fine capital city.

But first, a word about navigating: Never trust a Sheller. Our route to Brigid’s involved a tour of West Des Moines searching for 60th Street (which, if we had found it, would have been useless since our hosts live in Des Moines, not one of its metastasizing western suburbs). And when we called Brigid, we kept getting unhelpful “this phone is being answered by an annoyingly calm robot voice and you are doomed” messages.

Well, the problems were eventually resolved. It turned out I was right (of course) in that the route to Brigid’s involved state Highway 28, which I opined while looking at a Des Moines map. It also turned out I was wrong (of course) in that Highway 28 is not identified on any of the exit signs along I-235, which means my navigational wisdom was of totally nonexistent application.

As I said, never trust a Sheller, at least where directions are concerned.

Anyway, the pointless adventure concluded, we had a fine Friday supper of steak, corn on the cob, tomatoes and apple pie—all good RAGBRAI-style fare, and we laid our plans for the ride.

Our team is splitting the driving of the support vehicle, so technically I will ride 5 ½ days of RAGBRAI this year. Still counts as a week, I think, and I’m looking forward to doing RAGBRAI with a family group again. My first RAGBRAI was with Jon and some Microsoft pals of his from Seattle, my second was solo and this year is my third. Groups are better.

Anyway, after making our driving schedule Friday night, we went to bed fairly early and awoke for Saturday’s ride along the High Trestle Trail, starting in Ankeny.

We had a great breakfast, again thanks to Brigid and Eldon, then headed towards Ankeny in two vehicles. When we got there, we had a surprise since it appears July 13 was “parade day” in Ankeny for some reason, and the parade route included the street right by the trail head, which meant a very full parking lot. The first vehicle was lucky enough to snag a spot, and a few minutes later someone else left, enabling us to grab a second spot.

From Polk County's web site, the trail.

Then it was off on the trail. It’s a very pleasant trail, going through several small towns, with nice rest stops on the way, including several bars and businesses that cater to trail traffic. It was cloudy, and around the low 80s—a temperature that feels very warm when it’s still and sunny, but when it’s breezy and cloudy can actually be a bit cool, at times.

Cool is OK for a bike ride. The wind was from the south (or east? Honestly, I don’t really know what direction we were riding in—that Sheller gene again). We zoomed along for much of the first 12 miles, and even when we had some minor uphill grades in the second half, we did well.

The High Trestle Trail ends in a high bridge over the Des Moines River. It’s a very impressive ride. I was a bit dubious about the concept of crossing the bridge—I don’t like getting on a chair or ladder, and honestly the worst part of the whole trip to Paraguay, for me, was having to cross a high bridge near Tampa, Florida, once on the way to Miami and once on the way back.

Looking from the observation deck to the bridge, and yes, I rode across it. Are you impressed? I am.

I’m not a bridge person. But on this bridge, the side rails are so substantial and the bridge so sturdy, that even though I did have to focus my attention on the bridge deck now and then to calm my nerves, for the most part I was able to enjoy the views and the ride.

The company was superb. Brigid and Eldon—a couple who have their share of biking adventures on their trikes, such as this close encounter with tornadoes—even have developed hand-signals that stand in for many of the standard RAGBRAI verbal signals.

A three-fingered wag back and forth, windshield wiper style, means we are approaching a road. A twirling finger in the air, which could be a disco move, means “all clear” at said road. Rather than yell “biker up” at a rider coming from the other direction, a sort of Vanna White waive indicates approaching bikers.

On the trail. Brigid is passing on the Vanna waive, which means that a biker is approaching from the other direction. It if were me, my hand would be palms down, which means something else.

The signals were OK, except they confused me a little when I was in the lead and had to use them, and I didn’t do all of them well. Mostly, I proved incapable of a Vanna waive, and instead inverted my hand, which, my cohorts tell me, meant that I was apparently signaling “walk like an Egyptian” whenever a biker approached. Maybe the fact that I elaborated the signal by moving my hand back and forth the same number of times as the number of bikers approaching didn’t help that image.

Anyway, we had a great time. Lunch was at the Whistling Donkey, a sports bar in Woodward that actually had decent sandwiches, and then it was time to head back.

The 24 miles back were a bit harder than the 24 miles there. The wind, which had been our morning friend, was our afternoon enemy. What had been downhill was, in the other direction, decidedly not downhill.

Still, the day was fine, our tummies full of good food, and we finished the ride in high spirits, even if there were some sore bottoms.

So what was unmixed about this blessing?

• I killed my water supply. I carry a backpack water holder in my front bike basket, and when I hopped in Eldon’s SUV to accompany him for the ride to Ankeny, my door didn’t shut all the way. “I think you’ve caught your seatbelt,” he said. Seemed likely, so I opened the door, checked the belt and then slammed the door again. Only then did I notice water pooling at my feet. It was not the seatbelt, it was the end of my drinking tube that was stuck in the door. The nipple structure popped off, and Eldon and I thought he had fixed it by forcing it back on. Sadly, there was also a little crack in the plastic holding the structure. Sorry for the pond in your SUV.

• I shot and then lost a video of the bridge crossing. I downloaded my SD card to the laptop computer. If I download to my desktop computer, the same utility program, which says on either computer that it is copying “all media files,” copies both photos and videos. The laptop only copies photos. When using the laptop, I have to remember to manually move videos before I clean the card. Or, if I don’t, they are gone. This was “gone.” Sad, but oh well, it did not spoil the ride.

Anyway, I’m pretty jazzed about RAGBRAI starting in only a week. I am hoping to reconfigure an old laptop to blog from the journey—we’ll see how that goes. I’m not sure my sense of technology is much more advanced than my sense of direction.

In the meantime, my wife kindly bought me a new bike computer, which I installed today (yes, there were long technical glitches, I will spare you the details, it works now). I tested it on a brief Lindale and Boyson trails ride with my granddaughter bike pal, Amelia.

And I have seen the High Trestle Trail. It’s a nice ride. More photos here. I hope to come back some full moon for the night experience—I understand the bridge has pretty lights.

Then again, it was one thing to face the void during the day when I could see there was still a world there. A high bridge at night? We’ll see.