RAGBRAI '08

I went on RAGBRAI last week, aka Mardi Gras on wheels. First time. The route was Missouri Valley-Harlan-Jefferson-Ames-Tama/Toledo-North Liberty-Tipton-LeClaire, total mileage 472. There were 15,000 to 30,000 per day out on the route.


The pass-through towns were crowded, and you had to walk to get through most of them.








The food got better as we went from west to east, but after the third day you couldn't get pancakes. Plenty of Pegler breakfast burritos, but no pancakes.


People had proudly told me they gain weight on the ride, which I didn't quite believe, but now I do.

The bars open at six in the morning in the pass-through towns, and they do good business all day. One of these photos was taken at nine in morning and at nine at night. Which is which?









Especially appreciated was the lax enforcement of open container laws.










The most popular pass through town was the last one before the overnight town as this is where those who couldn't drink and ride all day could start and still be confident of getting to the end of the ride.







Friday's ride to Tipton passed through the Amana Colonies, and we were warned there was no beer along the way until Homestead (16 miles from Tipton), so the beer tent was full.







As was the Kybo line (I don't know why but that's what they call the portable toilets on RAGBRAI).











I've heard the ride isn't as wild as it used to be, but it wasn't hard to find a good time. This was the beer slide in Tama/Toleldo.













You see it all on the road--this woman and her husband rode the whole week with these around their waists.











I forgot to ask him how many sets of wheels it was going to take to get across the state, buthe was doing every mile. He was working through some shin splints when I saw him.











I saw another tandem like this except it was pulling a baby in a trailer on the back. It reminded me of one of those three trailer pig-tails you see on the interstates out west. In a cross-wind it took up half a lane.









He was one of two unicyclists riding the whole route. 472 miles on 75mm crankarms. Note the aero bars.











Downhill to the Mother of Waters at LeClaire. It needed a ramp at the bottom of the hill.