RAGBRAI Day 3 Lake View to Webster City (81+ miles)

Everyone must have decided to get an early start because the roads where already filled with cyclist anxious to beat todays forecasted heat. With the RV all set Kevin rolled out while Joe filled his water bottles. Theresa felt like she was forgetting something. Once she mounted the bike she knew immediately what it was, her gloves. Oh well can't do anything about that now. She figured she could pick up a pair from one of the bike shops that would be set up in one of the first towns. The temps were reasonable and the sun had just started to rise. 

Early start

Sunrise over RAGBRAI

The route today was mostly East with some North into the finish. Towns were plenty and spaced out in 7-11 increments with a 18 mile stretch at the end. Theresa saw Bike World was set up at the first town, so she stopped. Joe wanted to keep rolling as he was still planning on doing the 100+ route. Theresa was pleased to find womens large gloves but not that pleased to pay $30 for them as they seemed a bit tight. Oh well they well loosen up after she Sweats in them for 81 miles. The lines were ridiculously long at all the food venders as well as the porta-potties so she opted to just go to the next town 7 miles away. Now solo she plotted along the route tucking in behind any one who seemed to be moving at a pace she could handle. Once in Lake City it was time for some breakfast. A local was saying how good a local restaurant's food was so Theresa went with that advice. That was a solid tip as Theresa got eggs, sausage, biscuit and tea for $5 (that is a great value for RAGBRAI). Completely fueled she figured she would be good until the mid-point. 

Biker Showers today were welcome 

The next town was the meeting town of Lohrville which had the route wind in thru the main part of town (including a Biker Wash) just so we could hit all the local vendors. Theresa stopped shortly to fill her bottle but then was rewarded for the trip thru town with a cold bottle of water on the way out. She chugged it in time to throw the empty to the collectors as she rejoined the main route. Back on the route the wind had picked up substantially from the Southeast about 10-20mph. Theresa once again looked for some draft relief, she actually felt good that she was strong enough to hook up and “mind the gap” in the draft line. She tucked in behind a guy in a yellow shirt that was going about 16mph (that was 3 more mph than she was doing solo). She held onto that all the way into the next town where they slowed enough for her to thank him for the pull. She found out he was from Raleigh and that this was his first RAGBRAI. 

Freshly picked sweet corn, Yum!

Gowrie had most of the vendors in the town park with a DJ encouraging cyclist to come up and tell where they were from. Theresa was going to pass on any food but could not resist an ear of sweet corn. Carbs will be good fuel. The wind was relentless, so once again she found a draft line that was barely making 13mph. The leaders could not maintain a steady pace and kept falling out of the front spent from fighting the wind. Theresa did take her turn at the lead and was able to hook on to another pace line that was moving slightly faster. Must have been a dozen or so folks in the peloton. The lead of the pack was a tandom. This is good she thought because they go slower up hills so maybe she can maintain... just then they went down a small hill and the tandom and the pack accelerated but Theresa did not mind the gap so got dropped big time! Good thing the town of Dayton was right around the corner and she was ready for a short stop thinking Kevin would be meeting her at the next town. She sat for a bit under a tree and ate a granola bar that had been in her back jersey pocket for several days (and who knows how long it had been in the cupboard before that). She reviewed the map and estimated 24 miles left, she can do this. Mounting her bike she rolled around the next corner and was flagged down by Kevin! With the early start and some blistering tail winds he made 28 miles to Dayton. Theresa was disappointed the end was more miles than she thought but not much you can do about that. Kevin had already indulged in a giant braught while he was waiting an allotted 45 min to see Theresa. She made it with 6 minutes to spare! Theresa got a hamburger to fuel the remaining miles, thankful for the company. Kevin filled her in on the remaining terrain as she tucked in slightly behind his back tire to find the optimal suction. There were 2 hills promised out side Lehigh (the next town). Theresa only had one more gear to go at the start of the hill so she just put it in 1^st and crawled up the hill. Kevin of course powered up the hill effortlessly and waited for Theresa. Back on the flats, the wind was even stronger with gusts as we passed stands of trees or reached the top of a rise. The roads were also rutted and began to wear on Theresa's back (among other extremities). We stopped one last time before the end where the road turned north and with the wind. You could hear all the cyclists breath a collective sigh of relief as they all made the turn north. We were able to now shift into the big chain ring and pick up some speed. We rolled into town at about 2pm and meandered thru to the Fairgrounds. 

Welcome to Webster City

The RV was parked in the infield of the dirt race track, dust was flying and the Rvs were packed in like sardines. There are no vendors and the showers were quite far away, so we opted to use the RV facilities and pull some Chicken out to grill tonight. Joe made it in around 3:30 with is century patch in hand!

Tomorrow's weather looks more even worse than today with 100+ temps and winds of 15-25mph winds from the SW. We have a 77 route to Marshalltown that is mostly east with some South with lots of towns (thank goodness).