We had an Outrageous weekend – that is, we spent two days and one night enjoying Big Rideau Lake on our friends boat, Outrageous. It is a 32 foot Carver cabin cruiser – as they so aptly but it a “floating cottage”.
Life aboard is pretty relaxing – with a routine of swim, eat, chat, nap, and repeat at least twice per day. To shake things up a bit, we took the skiff out for an ice cream at Murphy’s Point Provincial Park on Sunday afternoon ($2 for a giant scoop), and went for a row around the harbour on Monday morning.
Thank-you John and Claire – it was delightful to visit you on your floating cottage. What a wonderful way to spend a weekend
Since I haven’t had much opportunity to get out on overnight tours this year, I decided I’d do a photoblog of a cycle tour along the pathways in Ottawa. I’d also like to put out a challenge to all my cycle touring friends out there – if you aren’t blogging and aren’t touring, then how about showing the world what your regular ride looks link? If you take up this challenge, please post a link in the comments.
When I decided to do this – and have some fun with it – I found myself slowing down and really appreciating the beauty in the ride. We are so vary lucky to have great urban bike routes that include to much nature. It is a rather lovely ride. Hope you enjoy the tour!
The first three photos are from the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, between the Champlain (Island Park) bridge and Alymer.
And here is a picture of the same rapids, from the Ottawa side of the bike path.
An now my photos get a little more creative. Starting with a bridge across the Pinecrest creek.
When I started to look for photo opportunities, I realized just how big the trees were on this part of the path.
The initial view of the Ottawa River (I live about 5 km from the River).
Rather than biking, some people enjoy the swimming at Westboro beach.
Each year, the NCC hires an artist who builds these statues in the river. The water is really high this year, so there aren’t as many as in years previous. I actually stopped and talked to the artist one year, and posted about it here.
A brief stop on Bate Island on the over the Champlain bridge to Quebec.
And Bate Island as seen from the bike path on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River just east of the Champlain bridge.
The parliament buildings from what I think is one of the prettiest stretches of the Ottawa River pathway (Quebec side).
And the National Art Gallery.
The paths follows along behind the museum of Civilization, providing another great photo opportunity.
Crossing back on the Alexandria bridge into Ottawa provides a great view of the Rideau Canal locks.
And a fun close-up shot of one of the locks with a bit of the Chateau Laurier in the mirror background.
A close-up the Rideau Canal above the locks.
Some folks choose to explore the Rideau Canal by kayak.
Unfortunately, I ran out of time and needed to get home. So I conclude this journey with a photo of the sunset from Britannia beach.
What do you think? Will you take up the challenge and show the world pictures of your regular bike ride? I, for one, would love to see it.
On July 7th, 2008 is a date that will forever be stuck in my mind, not only as my father’s birthday, but also the day we left home on our Going East journey around the world without airplanes. That was a long day of doing all the final bits and pieces of packing – making one last run over to the storage locker – and finally (at 8pm) packing up our bikes and leaving.
It has been three years since then. We made it around the world, and successfully returned home. We returned rich with experiences and a new outlook on life. In the almost two years since we’ve been home, I worked full time for 8-months and now I’m a full time Ph.D student. Scott took a year off to explore and is now working for Alcatel-Lucent.
Looking back – and looking forward – the biggest thing I learned on the trip was a strong belief in fate. I don’t mean fate in the “I’m not going to do anything and see what happens” sense, I mean fate in the “looking for opportunities and taking advantage of them as they present themselves” sense.
So now, I think about putting it out my desires to the universe and if the support structures appear, then I know I’m making the right decision – if I’m blocked at every corner, then I need to re-evaluate. But looking back, fate always took care of me, and it still is.
After a much too long hiatus, I’m happy to report our site is back up. Sadly, we got hacked and recovery took much longer than we thought. Scott will share his reflections on this in the coming weeks.
With any luck, you’ll see updates of our summer cycling adventures.
It is cold in Ottawa during the winter time. We aren’t so adventurous as our friends Friedel and Andrew who cycle and camp out on snow days. Instead, we trade in our bikes for cross-country skis. We often head to Gatineau Park, since it’s nearby, and has hundreds of kilometres of ski trails.
This year we decided to try out yurt camping – Becky booked us an overnight in the Taylor Lake Yurt up in Gatineau Park. Getting there required a 6 km ski involving a few rolling hills. Not much distance, but we were carrying extra food, clothing and overnight gear, which added to the challenge.
Having never stayed in a yurt, we didn’t really know what to expect. When we arrived, what we discovered was luxury camping, although perhaps we shouldn’t really call it camping. Our yurt had a wood stove for heating – with a nice glass window so we could see how the coals were burning in the middle of the night, a propane stovetop for cooking, pots and pans, bunk beds, a fridge, and a picnic table. To top it off, there was a sky light in the centre of the ceiling, so we could see the stars at night and the trees above us during the day.
We enjoyed the ski up to the yurt, and upon arrival, quickly dropped off our heavy gear and went out for a bit more of a ski in the remaining few minutes of daylight. By the time we got back to the yurt, we were happy to have our headlamps!
It took us much longer than we had hoped to get the fire going. At first, it just wouldn’t seem to stay lit. We were shivering and wondering what we were doing wrong. Fortunately, they had some directions on the wood storage box which explained that we should be using pencil sized kindling. Our previous kindling was too big and we didn’t have enough of it. Scott went back outside to chop some smaller kindling, and with smaller kindling in hand, it only took Becky one additional match to get the firing going. Clearly our Scout/Guide skills are a bit rusty!
While the yurt was warming up, our stomachs started growling so we enjoyed some baguette and brie while our dinner was cooking. It took about 90 minutes for the yurt to get warm – longer than Becky expected. We often go for a ski up to the cabins in Gatineau park, but there always seems to have been someone there before us to start the fire and warm the cabin – we have never entered a cold cabin!
Unfortunately, the struggle with the fire meant that Becky spent much of the night nervous about the fire going out. She was glad for the glass on the wood stove that allowed her to see how the fire was burning each time she awoke in the night. She got up several times to throw a log on the fire, ensuring that it didn’t go out in the night. The beds were quite comfortable, and Scott slept solidly all night.
In the morning, we took advantage of the sunny skies, and went for a short ski without our overnight gear. Unfortunately, Becky seem to be having some issues. She fell early on, then again whilst descending a hill. Eventually, she gave Scott her light backpack. She was not feeling quite right, so we headed back to the yurt. Once inside, Becky took off her ski boots to discover she had a US Quarter under her insole. No wonder her balance was off! It must have fallen from the shelf in the front hall and rested nicely under her heel for the ski up – once it got dislodged it moved to below her toes. Then it totally threw off her balance – at least that is the excuse she is using!
We stayed in the yurt right up to the last minute. A half hour before checkout time, the safety patrol arrived by snowmobile to ensure everyone was OK. It was quite funny to watch as the driver took off his helmet and exchanged it for a Santa hat. He came in to check that we were OK, then proceeded on his rounds. We suspect they do a survey of all cabins and yurts before the cleaning crew arrive. If we were unable to get out on our own, the patrol could have given us a ride on their snowmobile (or the sled they were towing).
It was a spectacular day for a ski home – sunny, blue skies and fast snow. A wonderful early Christmas present!
We decided that we would carry our gear the last day, so we didn’t need to find our charter at the end of the day – we feared that if we didn’t arrive in Dubuque on-time our gear might end up on a bus to Omaha. Carrying our gear also meant that we could sleep in!
When we popped our heads out of the tent at 6:30 am, everyone around us was gone. The field of tents from last night was almost empty – only the last few slowpokes rushed about trying to get their gear loaded up before the trucks left.
For our lazy morning, we headed downtown to Burger King for breakfast before starting our ride. The Burger King was located in the lower part of downtown, which had been completely flooded when the levee broke earlier in the week. It was amazing how much of the cleanup they managed to do. We were sad to learn that the city had done a bunch of landscaping just for RAGBRAI, but it was all washed away in the floods.
When we finally got on the road, it was obvious that we were at the tail on the pack today. A lot of riders got up early and made a quick dash for the finish line. The passthrough towns were not nearly as busy and most of the “regular” vendors skipped the day.
The ride today was hillier than the previous day, but we enjoyed the change in terrain as well as the beautiful weather. We had been warned about Potter’s Hill – that is was a mile long and a 6 percent grade – which to us didn’t sound all that bad. We’d see when we got there.
Before Potter’s Hill was the necessary detour to see the Field of Dreams – from the movie. It was really neat to see the field. Many cyclists where waiting to have a swing of the bat and run around the bases. We did as many other cyclists were doing, and use the opportunity of corn fields for a pee break - unfortunately, the center field cornfields had a particular odour of too many cyclists and not enough rain!
The Field of Dreams.
Becky hiding in the corn fields at the edge of the Field of Dreams.
Rather than retrace our steps back to the main road, Scott suggested a detour – a slightly shorter route that involved a dirt road. We failed to realize the route also involved several rather steep hills! It was nice to get away from the crowds for a brief moment, even if the route was not exactly easier than the main road. Becky spared no opportunity to remind Scott that he had dragged her up and down these “extra” hills.
A “short” detour on the way out of the Field of Dreams – we eventually reconnected with the main route – after a few additional steep hills!
As we approached the infamous Potter’s Hill, it didn’t seem that bad. The first 1/2 mile was only about a 5% grade. However, as we approached a corner, the hill got really steep. A sign said 19% but we figure it was more like 17%. Scott put many people riding light racing bikes to shame when he rode up the entire hill fully loaded. The majority of cyclists walked up. Becky alternated pushing her bike and riding. At one point a nice gentleman came up beside Becky and helped her push for about 50 meters. The assistance was greatly appreciated.
The beginning of Potter’s Hill – doesn’t seem so bad yet!
People pushes their bikes up the hill.
Becky riding out in front of a group walking up Potter’s Hill!
We thought we were done with hills after Potter’s Hill, but coming in to Dubuque it seemed like a never ending procession of ups and downs. At one point a police officer stopped Becky just as she was screaming down a hill (ugg) to allow oncoming traffic to pass by. The unfortunate part was that she had to start the next steep hill with no momentum at all – not so much fun with a loaded bike.
We did finally make it to the dip site – it certainly felt like we were one of the last riders on the road. The site was rather sandy making it a challenge for us to get our bikes down and then back out again. Fortunately, there were many people around to lend a hand.
Yay, we made it!.
Dipping our tires in the Mississippi river in Dubuque. Can you see the exhaustion on our faces? We did it!
Becky getting some help with her bike from a passer-by. Getting the loaded bikes out of the sand and back onto the pathway was a challenge!
Yay! We did it!
A busy pass-through town.
Road kill – RAGBRAI cyclists commemorate any roadkill they find along the route – we never saw a dead animal without some form of memorial.
A typical picture of Eastern Iowa – note the hills!
The weather was threatening when we woke up, so we quickly packed up our tent and got our gear loaded onto the baggage truck. Our first stop of the day was the cafeteria for breakfast. During breakfast, the first hints of rain fell. We were glad to have our rain gear with us.
Just as we left for breakfast, the rain started to fall, and gradually got heavier. Becky always hates riding in the rain – but this really wasn’t that bad. It was cool enough that we were happy to have rain jackets on. Even when our jackets were soaked through we stayed comfortably warm, and didn’t cool down too much when we stopped. We felt sorry for the folks without rain gear, seeing goosebumps on their bare skin, but fortunately it wasn’t like rain at RCLT. Warm enough that there was no risk of hypothermia here!
We stopped briefly for lunch (a hot dog) at a stand set up in at a farmhouse at a turn in our route. The barn was full of vehicles, but in every empty space there were cyclists crammed in trying to avoid the down-pouring rain. We didn’t mind the rain on us so much (thanks raingear!), but we didn’t really want our hot dog buns to get soaked before we could gobble them down.
Becky went in search of a quiet corn field to pee, and encountered the wrath of a grumpy lady who complained that cyclists had spent “the entire morning peeing on her property”. Given that this lady had provided her property to serve (and sell food), we’re not sure what she expected. (Perhaps the food folks should have provided more than two porta-potties?) In any case, we’re confident that the heavy rain diluted any urine left behind by the cyclists before it could become a problem. We’re happy to report that she was the only grumpy local we met on our entire trip!
By early afternoon we were getting hungry again. We saw a sign advertising smoked chicken and baked beans – it was the beans that drew us in – we both agreed to pull over for a snack. It was a small vendor with a covered seating area and just as we sat down the rain stopped. We enjoyed one of our best meals of the trip – perfectly smoked BBQ chicken and a plate of beans – yum.
We hopped back on the bikes but didn’t ride for long before we heard the screams of pie and soft ice cream – it was the soft ice cream that had Becky hooked. We pulled over for a snack as the temperatures were heating up.
We moved quite quickly for the first 80 km of the day, but when the sun came out, it seemed that our last 20 km involved constant stops!
Manchester, the overnight town, had experienced major flooding that week (the levy broke and a lot of the downtown was under water for several days, just 5 days before we arrived). There were questions all week whether everything would dry out enough for us to camp there, but luckily it did. We talked to some people who stayed indoors in Waterloo until almost noon, and they didn’t feel a drop of rain all day. We have memories of rain and garbage-bag-clad cyclists though, which they missed out on.
We were camped up on dry ground at the ball diamonds. The campsite was nice, but there were limited washrooms for the number of people. By 11 pm, the two flush toilets were experiencing sewer backup. We guess that with all the flooding, the septic system couldn’t handle the volume. Becky had not figured out the location of the kybos (porta-potties) before going to bed, so at 1 am when she awoke, she found herself wandering around a parking lot full of RVs. She had clearly taken a wrong turn as there were no kybos in sight. She saw some people sitting under the awning of a giant RV enjoying a beer.
“Do you know where the kybos are? I’ve been wondering around and am clearly lost.” Said Becky.
“Just go in the door, take a left, and its the first door on the left.” Said the man.
“Are you sure that’s Ok?” Becky asked.
“Yes, no problem.”
So, Becky opens the door to the RV. As she enters the man adds “If you see a naked guy in there, just tell him I sent you.”
Of course, by then she REALLY needed to pee, so she stepped in, said hello the guy in his underwear that was crawling into bed, and used their facilities. Afterwards, she thought, “what an odd RAGBRAI experience!” …
When Becky awoke again needing the Kybos, Scott offered to come and direct her. Amazing how much easier they are to find when you know where they are!
RAGBRAI TIP – Learn where the Kybos are BEFORE it gets dark!
Today was the longest day of RAGBRAI according to the route maps, but for us it was only second longest. Because of our campsite locations, day 2 was longer.
The day started out really well – We were riding fast and enjoying the company of many different cyclists as they passed us by (or we passed them). We are starting to recognize the faces of people who are moving at about the same speed as us – so we pass them and an hour later they pass us and the process repeats itself throughout the day. The calls of “Oh Canada” continue to amuse us – especially when the folks get the tune wrong and sing it to the tune of “Oh Christmas Tree”.
Happy Becky early in the day – note the American flags lining the streets in town. A pink tractor (painted in honour of one of the breast cancer charities) in one of the pass-through towns. Tractors anchor each end of a long steel cable, and people hang their bike handlebars over the cable. The world’s largest bike rack!
All was going well until about noon, when Becky started to overheat. The heat compounded by not enough sleep meant she was feeling rather yucky and in need of cooling down. We stopped in a farmer’s yard to enjoy some shade, home-made lemonade, and visit with some kids. After a brief break, she felt better, but once we got back on the bikes and started moving again, the yuckiness came back. As we pulled into Stout, Becky decided to take the SAG. With any luck, she would get into town early enough to get the tent setup and make dinner plans, while Scott continued with the ride.
Crowds of people and bikes in a pass-through town – this actually isn’t that busy.
Becky’s SAG journey started off well, as she was able to enjoy the air conditioning in the SAG van. The SAG continues along the route until it fills up. Once it is full, the driver re-routes to the highway and heads straight to the end town. Unfortunately, the SAG was moving slowly at that time. The driver had to stop and enquire about a VW Van that was for sale, and then he had to stop again for lunch. Since it was later in the day, there were not too many people getting on the SAG, such that we never did fill up. After a couple of hours the air conditioning became too much, and Becky was feeling chilled. Becky noticed Scott’s bike as we passed through Hudson (more than 2.5 hours after she got on the SAG). It took more than 3 hours to get into Waterloo, and Becky got to the campsite only 10 minutes before Scott!
Meanwhile, Scott was having a lovely time riding the remaining 50 km. Shortly after Stout, the route turned east, and the wind turned into a tailwind, and he got to visit with some other recumbent riders. One had the clever idea to attach a retractable badge clip to the top of her seat, and use that to hold her Camelback hose. Pull forward to drink, release and it retracts out of the way. We’ll have to try that.
Team “spam” all had cans of spam on their helmets.
The National Guard uses RAGBRAI as a recruiting event – they have have fancy displays in the pass-through towns and provide cold water and Gatorade.
In Hudson, they had a great pirate theme happening, with rides, costumed locals and a pirate ship. With a large beer garden and live music, many people were having a great time and staying a while. Scott figured he couldn’t stay too long, since Becky would have arrived and be wondering where he was. Untrue as it turned out, but probably a good thing. We didn’t do any training which involved riding 140 km and stopping for beer in the middle, so he wouldn’t have been prepared. Instead he found the other music venue, with a great jazz band in a shady park. Very relaxing, but after a short break he pressed on.
The evenings campsite was on a college campus (designated the quiet campground, but we were able to hear the music from the mainstage quite well given that it was 3 miles away!). We decided to head to the cafeteria for dinner. Just as we arrived, they ran out of lasagna, but luckily they replaced it with spaghetti. This made Becky very happy, since Spaghetti is a much better dinner for her (less cheese). The cafeteria was also scheduled to open early for the morning breakfast rush (at 5 am). Our charter is doing very well at finding good camping locations.
A bicycle built for six! (they have two kids in the trailer). Note the crutches in the back. The mother had stitches in her heel so she couldn’t walk, but she could still ride. It was neat watching the “train” get started!
Scott in a recumbent paceline!
The biking Elvis’
Becky’s bike loaded up on the SAG trailer.
Tent-city at the college in Waterloo. A creative way to hang laundry.
We awoke at 2 am to the crash of thunder and flash of lightning, followed immediately by a deluge of rain. We had been warned about the storm and had secured our tent with extra guy wires, so checked for leaks and tried to go back to sleep. This was difficult, since we had been warned by another rider that in 5 of the last 6 RAGBRAI’s they have evacuated to the storm shelters due to severe weather – hail and tornadoes are not uncommon at this time of year. (We’re not sure of the 5 of 6 statistic – that could have been a ‘scare the newbies’ exaggeration). Every night of RAGBRAI, storm shelters are designated for each camping area. In the event of a severe storm, the police and fire trucks come around with sirens and flashing lights to evacuate everyone. Fortunately, the storm was not severe enough for us to evacuate, although it might have been nice to spend part of the night inside the designated shelter – a Serta Mattress factory.
In the morning, we could see that many of the campers did not have good tents, as they dragged themselves out of soaked beds. We were happy to be warm and dry.
Although our tent and gear didn’t get wet, we still had some wet laundry that didn’t get enough time to dry out yesterday. We packed it up and brought it with us, with the hopes of finding a laundromat in one of the pass-through towns so we could dry things out. We asked in Swaledale and Rockwell to no avail. We were warned that there was “nothing” in Cartersville.
At one point, we noticed up ahead a guy riding a Penny-farthing! We rode along and said hello, and chatted with Blaise, the Bygone Bicyclist, about touring. He is hoping to do the tour from Alaska to Terra del Fuego on a Penny-farthing.
As we rode on, Becky’s shifter was acting up again – that is, it required superhero strength to turn the shifter. We decided to stop in the next town to grease it in hopes that it would start shifting better.
As we turned the corner towards Cartersville, we came upon a huge traffic jam. Cartersville may not exist as a town any more, but the local farmers put on a great party, and everyone was slowing down and pulling off. The chosen location was a large farm, with an artificial lake and a swinging trapeze. A long line of cyclists were doing flips off the trapeze, and landing in the cool water, to the cheers of onlookers. Behind one of the barns was a “slip-and-slide”, where teams of cyclists where clearly enjoying themselves. There was definitely a carnival atmosphere in Cartersville.
Scott worked on Becky’s bike, and discovered that water had gotten into both the shifter and external gear ‘mech – perhaps due to the driving rain last night. He disassembled the shifter and ‘mech, cleaned everything and re-greased it, while Becky took advantage of a bike stand and hung our wet laundry to dry. Our quick break in Cartersville turned into a 2.5 hour mid-day rest as we enjoyed the spectacle around us. Given the short distance today, we really enjoyed a relaxed pace for the day – if only all days could be this much fun!
By 2 pm, we were packed up and continued on our way. We heard later that the party got rowdier after we left, and a bunch of cyclists started skinny-dipping in the lake. This didn’t go over well, and eventually the police arrived, shut the party down and send the cyclists on their way. When we hear these stories, we always wonder how much to believe though … (Here is the official report).
When we arrived in town, we headed directly to the Hy-Vee grocery store (and air conditioning). Becky was getting pretty warm, so we took 45-minutes walking through the store and sampling the various things they had on offer. We decided to pick up some pre-cooked ham steaks to make sandwiches for dinner and provide protein for breakfast. We were also glad to have brought along a small thermos, so we could buy milk for the morning. While at the grocery store, we ran into some folks from our Charter, who provided directions to our campsite – this turn out to be a good thing, as tonight’s campsite was well away from the main campground.
We pulled into the campsite to discover it was right next to the swimming pool! The pool even had a waterslide, big enough to have a couple of corners. Since it was still early, we enjoyed a swim and a couple of tries at the slide before showering and relaxing for the evening. It was really nice to have a quiet evening at camp and to be in early enough that our laundry and swimsuits dried before bed.
Today was a turning point for Becky – she really enjoyed the day, and only wished that more days where like this one. The shorter distance meant there was more time for fun.
RAGBRAI TIP – If you are at all picky about food, consider bringing a camp stove. Getting food at the grocery store and eating at camp would save time and ensure you were eating right.
RAGBRAI TIP – Even without a camp stove, the grocery stores in the overnight towns provide a good option for a quick healthy dinner.
Pass-through town rolling out the beige carpet just for us!
One of the “Leisure Suit Larrys” – there were several, all in tacky coloured suits and riding vintage bikes. The shorter ride day meant that a lot more teams were out in costume today.
Long line for Farm Boys Breakfast Burritos!
The SAG stopping at Cartersville to pick up a few tired (or hungover) cyclists.
Although Day 3 was shorter than the previous two days, at a mere 109 km, it wasn’t as short as we had hoped and it got hot (over 40 Deg C at one point).
As we approached Clear Lake, we were both very warm. Scott suggested jumping off the route and following along the lakeshore (thank you GPS maps), so we took a detour. Less than 500 meters off the route we found a park with beach access to the Lake! Quickly, we removed helmets, shoes, and electronics and jumped in the lake to cool off. Relief! We were hot enough that the chill of the lake was a comfort, and Becky dove right in – almost unheard-of! The cool-off gave Becky that boost she needed to make the final journey into town and our campsite (which turned out to be an additional 15 km away).
Our campsite was in the middle of an industrial park, several kilometers from downtown. After setting up our tent and showering, we decided to head downtown for food. Becky really didn’t want to get back on the bikes again – plus the bikes were being used as a laundry drying rack, so at first, we decided to hitch a ride. After 10 minutes of unsuccessfully sticking out our thumbs, we gave up and headed to the shuttle bus stop. The shuttle came by pretty quickly, and we were soon dropped off at the edge of downtown. Note: most towns provided shuttle service for a donation. All our experiences with shuttles were good – but we did not stay out too late. Those who were out later in the evening often ran into lines at the shuttle stops.
We didn’t do so well on the dinner front. We got to town too late for a church dinner, and there didn’t seem to be many other local options. We found out later that there was only one church dinner and it ran out of food at 5 pm. Fortunately, the church was still open (and had Internet and A/C), so we hung around there for a few minutes before venturing out for food. We waited in line for 45 minutes to get a fajita dinner from one of the vendors, but it was worth it. Filling, and quite a bit better than the ‘walking tacos’ we had yesterday. Has anyone heard of a Walking Taco? We hadn’t. For the uninitiated, it is a (small) bag of Dorito chips, opened and filled with ground beef, grated cheese, lettuce and salsa. Neither haute cuisine nor healthy, but it did fill the void in our stomachs. The fajita dinner still wasn’t up to Texas standards, but was much better than a Walking Taco. In hindsight, we would have done better to go to the grocery store and picked up dinner there.
The Clear Lake RAGBRAI committee had set up a fenced area downtown to watch the entertainment. It was free to access if you had a wristband, and $5 for those without. We discovered that the beer was cheaper at the V.F.W. (Canadian Legion equivalent) outside the fenced area, so there wasn’t much benefit to being inside other than a clear view of the overly loud band on stage. Perhaps we’re getting a bit old…
Scott discovered that his arms got rather sunburned today. We stopped by the first aid truck to see if they had any recommendations. They sprayed on some Solarcaine, which didn’t really do much, and they recommended Tylenol and gave him a few packets. We were surprised that the first aid folks were able to give out drug samples (they had Tylenol, Advil, and Aleve).
Laundry is proving to be a challenge for us. We usually wash out our cycling shorts and a few other clothes items every day. With the long riding days, we aren’t getting in early enough to have them dry before night sets in, and the overnight dews mean that things get wetter overnight. We are left with hanging our shorts and other laundry off the back of our bikes to dry. This is challenging since we are riding without panniers. We receive as many comments about the laundry hanging off on our bikes as our Canadian flags.
For Becky, today was definitely a low point in the RAGBRAI experience. She is struggling with finding food that agrees with her body, and the basic camp chores such as laundry are taking too much time and energy.
RAGBRAI TIP: Bring clothes pegs and a line for hanging laundry or 7 complete sets of cycling clothes.
RAGBRAI TIP: Bring a mesh bag for your tent. It is almost always wet in the morning when it needs to be packed up. If you store it in a mesh bag, it might be dry by the time you pick it up at the end of the day. So far, this has worked well for us.
Can you find Becky in the sea of bikes?
There were a disproportionate number of ‘bents on RAGBRAI, but what was especially neat to see what the number of girls on ‘bents.
Soy bean fields and windmills – typical Iowa scenery.
Entering town at the end of the day usually involved going under an arch and today we even got a cheering section.
