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RAGBRAI day one: Sergeant Bluff to Ida Grove

Well, it has hot, humid and hilly but I was fine. I didn’t train as much as I would have liked but, the training in Greer, at 8 500’ and with all the hills really helped. I felt strong climbing all the hills and felt good at the end of the ride in spite of riding into a brisk headwind the last 15 miles. When entering Ida Grove there were many people sitting in chairs along the street shouting “welcome to Ida Grove”. We saw the same thing in our “pass through” towns. I am really enjoying Iowans! We ate a huge lasagna dinner at the Methodist Church and I had pear and peach pies for dessert! Tomorrows ride will be longer but I think it may be a little cooler.

Today’s ride- When we stop for pie, sweet rolls, lemonade, etc., I invariably forget to start the garmin until I have been riding s bit. Still, I rode (and ate and drank) faster than I thought I would.
Leaving town this morning a train stopped and blocked our road out of town- it created an immediate traffic jam of thousands of bicycles.
Our first stop this morning was for sweet rolls and lemonade to help this young lady go to college. The sweet rolls were ok and had about 1/2 cup of frosting on top. Pure energy.
We stopped in Battle Creek for a breakfast bowl of potatoes, eggs and sausage and had strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert. The were playing chicken sh*t bingo next to where we were eating…
This what the countryside looks like- endless rolling hills of soybeans and corn with woods in the low areas. It’s quite pretty.
Tomorrow’s ride

3 thoughts on “RAGBRAI day one: Sergeant Bluff to Ida Grove”

  2. I liked the picture of the Garmin. Tells the story in a single view. I see your hill training paid off. 34 mph uphill is very impressive. Strawberry-rhubarb pie is one of my favorites. I haven’t it since the last time I made it 50 years ago. Glad you are enjoying the ride. Just keep telling yourself – I love headwinds and hills. Cheers, Ken

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