RAGBRAI Day 3 – Super Shower Tuesday

Today was a nice ride from Pocahontas to Emmetsburg. The 58 mile ride was relatively short with flat terrain and mild temperatures. They gave us an easy day today because tomorrow’s ride is 105 miles. Ugh!

The day didn’t start nicely, though. Leah and Todd were filling her tires with air before we left this morning when one of the Presta valve pieces shot out onto the gravel. As a result, air released freely from the tire resulting in a complete flat. We searched all over the gravel, but had no luck in finding the piece. To make matters worse, we had no replacement pieces for the value. 

Todd had the brilliant idea to simply replace the tube with a new one. In record time, Todd and Tim removed the tire and the inner tube from the tire attempting to replace it with a spare that we had only to realize that her rim would only accommodate a Presta tube. (Because of the valves, Presta tubes are different than the normal Schrader tubes that are common on most bike tires.) Todd went into town to find a bike mechanic to fix the problem. Unfortunately, all the bike mechanics had already left town.

Knowing that we were dead for the day without it, Tim continued his unrelenting search in the gravel for the missing piece. Suddenly (and quite unexpectedly), “eagle-eyed” Tim saved the day when he found the piece among the gravel. I say “eagle-eyed” because Tim has never been known for anything close to exceptional eyesight. Within minutes, Todd and Tim fixed the tire and mounted it onto the trike. And Leah and I were on our way.

We continued with our progressive eating across the state. I’ve decided that RAGBRAI isn’t about biking/triking, but rather eating across the state of Iowa. And frankly, I’m ok with that!

Earlier in the day, we saw a sign declaring that the “World’s Best Brownies” were in the next town at the Corner Bakery. We rode all the way through that town but never saw a bakery. I was disappointed; a brownie sounded so good to me. As we were riding out of town, we saw a little stand in front of a house with a “Corner Bakery” sign. We stopped because I HAD to have a brownie. (Apparently, advertising works and I hadn’t had enough calories for the day, LOL.) That brownie was so delicious … and it was gluten-free. I think that means that I can consider it health food, right?!

In West Bend, we lunched on grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon and tomato and had fried, glazed, flaky cinnamon rolls for dessert. Yum! Leah also had a piece of blueberry pie. To commemorate our experience in Iowa as well as for her love of pie, Leah bought a temporary tattoo of a slice of cherry pie.

As we were leaving West Bend, we saw the Shrine of the Grotto of the Redemption which was an incredible structure made mostly from rocks. It was interesting, large, and quite ornate.

Our friend, John Schulz, who recently retired and moved from Huntsville to California, is doing RAGBRAI as well this year and is technically on our team. We spent last evening together in Pocahontas, but haven’t seen him on the road until today. He passed us early this morning and then we ran into him again a little later in one of the towns. He is definitely faster than we are, so these short encounters are all that we will get during the ride.

We arrived in Emmetsburg and were hosted by Mary and Eric Woodford. Not only did they allow us to park on their property, but they also allowed Leah, Tim, and I to shower INSIDE THEIR HOUSE! We haven’t had a proper shower since Friday, four days ago! It felt incredible, even decadent to feel so clean including our private parts.

Below is a picture of our hosts, but I want to explain the writing on Leah’s leg. RAGBRAI has been held for many years with this year being the 49th. A RAGBRAI tradition is to write “virgin” on the legs of first-time RAGBRAI riders. It allows the more experienced riders to identify those who are new to the event and encourage them along the way. So we have “RAGBRAI” written on one leg and “virgin” written on the other. I just wanted you to know that the writing had nothing to do with Leah’s sexual status, LOL.

Back on the support side of this adventure, Tim had a crappy day, literally. He needed to dump the camper tanks, but he didn’t have the appropriate adapter for the sewage hose or enough hands to get the job done. Unfortunately, he ended up fertilizing that area of the golf course while he scrambled to manage the water, the valve, and steadying the hose by himself. Given that Tim doesn’t like anything relating to bodily fluids, he was quite traumatized by the whole process. Thankfully, there aren’t any pictures to share for this part of the story.

Tomorrow is a big day — the 105-mile ride. Leah and I are going to start an hour early tomorrow to hopefully get most of the mileage we can before the weather gets too hot.

Also, as an FYI, the internet is truly spotty everywhere we go with so many people in these areas without the cellular infrastructure to handle them. Frequently, I have trouble uploading our entries until later at night. My post may be delayed tomorrow because I will most likely be exhausted and not able to keep myself awake long enough for the better bandwidth. But I will do my best to post as soon as I can.