RAGBRAI 2023 Day 2 – Heaven or Hell?

We knew this year’s RAGBRAI would be hell. We just weren’t sure what form that hell would take. We knew this because last year’s RAGBRAI was just too perfect. The weather was comfortable, the crowds weren’t too bad, and we were all healthy and happy. This year has definitely been different. Every day, the temperatures are rising, the crowds are significantly larger, and sadly we are not all healthy.

Two of our riders were ill today. Both Leah and Sam came down with something overnight that was not very pleasant. They had similar symptoms, but we aren’t sure what made them sick. It could have been the heat. It could have been what they ate (but they didn’t eat any common foods that we know of). It could have been from sleeping in the exhaust from the generators last night. (We camped in a congested area where many generators were spewing exhaust all night.) Regardless of the cause, neither Leah nor Sam was able to ride today. Although both are feeling better this evening, neither will be riding again tomorrow.

Now for the good news: John, Alex, and Marc completed the day’s entire route and I rode the first half of the route. This was Marc’s first full day. Yea! John and Alex have completed the full route so far. Great job!

My ride was wonderful, well as wonderful as it could be without Leah. John was incredibly sweet to ride along with me since Leah was unable to ride. We left at 5:45 this morning which allowed me to finish my portion of the ride before the temperature rose too much. 

On our way to the route from our campsite, a police officer directed us to turn left at the intersection. The officers at RAGBRAI are incredible and have never steered us wrong. Unfortunately, this officer’s directions were way off. Rather than a nice, scenic ride along the lake, we had a less than scenic view of the industrial area. We think he directed us onto the support vehicle route rather than the rider route. It took us a few minutes to get back on the rider route, but we finally made it.

The route for that first half was so nice … relatively flat with the rolling hills of middle Iowa covered in corn and soybean fields with patches of trees. With the lower temperature and the terrain, the ride was heavenly.

I stopped for the day at Lake View, the meet-up town, and Todd picked me up. The guys said that after leaving Lake View, the route was hilly and the temperatures were high. It was definitely a smart decision for me to stop when I did!

We are staying in Carroll, IA, tonight and have a wonderful host, Danae. She offered her air-conditioned basement where Leah spent most of the day resting and recovering. Leah, Todd, and John are getting a special treat tonight … sleeping in air conditioning! Danae also provided us with snacks which everyone appreciated and allowed us to use the shower. I know focusing on showers seems odd, but getting a shower after a difficult ride is just another slice of heaven.

On top of that, she made us a welcome sign … complete with a logo! Yes, she developed a Rocket City Riders logo. How cool is that?! And we get to take the sign home. What a treat!

On our support side, Jessica set up the pop-up trailer by herself today. She was incredibly proud as she deserved to be! It would be easy to underestimate the effort involved in being on the support team. There is nothing easy about setting up camp. We are so appreciative of Jessica, Todd, and Tim for all that they do so we can do all the fun stuff!

Tim took a really nice picture of the sunrise this morning on the way to Carroll.

When Todd and I were on our way to Carroll from Lake View, we went through another town called Lake City. Their city sign cracked us both up. Check out the picture.

Finally, Tim and I went to downtown Carroll for supper this evening. As in each overnight town, Carroll had a concert area with a beer garden as well as all sorts of vendors providing excellent food, snacks, and goodies. We even saw jugglers performing near the food vendors. What caught my eye, though, was an area with bike tables designed by local artists that were available by auction. Each table had a bike as the base and a painted tabletop mounted above the bike. Very clever.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s ride to Ames. The full route is 85.5 miles with only 1554 feet of elevation. As soon as we leave, Tim and Todd will be racing to get us a good camping spot since we don’t already have arrangements. Should be fun!