Another 5am wakeup call in the
Smitanic. Joe and Theresa fueled up for the first 10 miles with some
cereal and Kevin was busy prepping the RV for it's departure. All
were ready and off around 6am. The first town was almost 12 miles
away and mostly south. Just as yesterday the initial roads where
crowded with cyclist so it was hard to get into a cruising rhythm.
Hints of the predicted southerly winds made progress slower than
previous days. Theresa was feeling a bit oozy from all the previous
intense days so she thought she should get something to eat at the
first stop. After she and Joe consumed their 2nd
breakfast they were off to the town on Jewell.
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| Band playing in Jewell |
Theresa wandered up
and down the main street as a band played, looking at all the vendors trying to decide
what she needed as she was feeling quite light headed. Sugar was the
answer! Chocolate Chip cookie and lemonade would provide what she
needed. The southerly winds were picking up and starting to push a
bit from he West as well. The route unfortunately continued south
against the wind. Theresa tucked in behind Joe's back wheel and was
able to survive until Story City.
The town opened the local park to
all the bikers including rides on an antique Carousel. Joe hopped on
a horse and Theresa took picks. Theresa was now looking for protein.
She found a place with a Brisket sandwich that looked very
appetizing. Joe failed at his search for a braught and ended up with
2 sandwich substitutions instead. Refueled it was hard to believe
they were not even half way done with the ride. The route turned
directly east which gave some relief from the headwinds but
absolutely no relief from the heat! The next stop was McCallsburg
which boasted to have the oldest living Mayor, and he was present and
available for photos. Theresa was in need of a diet coke with lots
of ice and Joe found water. They sat in the shade for a while just
to get out of the heat.
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| Hills in the distance |
Heat, headwinds next add hills! The gentle
rolling fields became larger mounds and soon turned into full fledged
granny gear hills. One after the other sent pain up Theresa's back
and she had to stop every 8-10 miles. Kevin had called and relayed
that the RV was all set up in a campgrounds with FULL hook up! That
is rare on RAGBRAI and we were quite happy, especially Joe who
informed Theresa that he would be the last one to take a shower
because he wanted to stay in there for a long time! Rolling into the
next town looking for Kevin, Joe and Theresa found some shade and a
hose that was used to drench their heads to cool off after all that
climbing. Theresa called Kevin just to see where he was. He had
made it about 18 miles out (after a 10 am start) from the finish and
had waited 30 min but could no longer hang in the heat so he started
his return. Joe and Theresa had not made very swift progress today
so they were not able to meet up with Kevin. With a greuling 20 miles
left, Joe and Theresa skipped the last town and decided to find a
farmers yard to stop in somewhere around the 10 miles left mark. The
hills continued and Theresa's back once again felt every crack in the
road.
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| Cyclist cooling off with the hose |
One more stop at a farm house that had folks hosing down and
filling water bottles and some shade! Theresa overheard one person
comment that their bicycle thermometer registered 125. Earlier Joe
estimated air temp at 98 and Theresa countered with 105.
Next stop Marshalltown. The locals
lined the streets watching under shade trees. Several had hoses and
sprinklers set up as we challenged them to soak us. We finally
arrived around 2:30pm exhausted, miserable and ready to sit in AC for
a bit.
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| Kevin recuperating |
It was then that Kevin informed us he
was stopped by the EMS on his way into Marshalltown. Evidently he
came up to a stop sign looking for some shade and they saw him and
immediately applied ice to all extremities to get him cooled down.
He recovered just enough ot make it the rest of the way in just
minutes before Joe & Theresa arrived. Kevin proclaimed this was
his last day of riding as he needs some recovery days... We will see
if that happens!
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| Let's have a party! |
After everyone got showers (Joe took
his last) we all set out to get the shuttle to town for dinner at
4pm. Earlier is better to beat the crowds and get food before the
town runs out! We settled on a grill that had a pasta choice and AC.
We ate what we wanted and took the remainder in go boxes. After
dinner we strolled thru the square where one of the warm up bands
were playing. On display was a giant Red Solo cup with a sprinkler
spraying water out the top. Marshalltown had picked solo cups as the
theme for the town. The only reason we could come up with it that
they were having a big party (just like the song).
Tomorrow is the longest planned day of
RAGBRAI 84.8 miles so in actual miles that is more like 90. The temp
is suppose to be slightly cooler in the 90 range rather than the 100+
temps.
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