RAGBRAI Day 1

So last night after a 30 pack of keystone light worth of flip cup, we broke our no Smash Mouth resolution. As you can imagine, ‘the mouth’ totally rocked Sioux City.

Smash Mouth serenading RAGBRAI with "All star"

Cody rocking out to 'The Mouth'.

This morning came early. My alarm sounded at 6:45 and I managed to catch another 20 min of snooze time. By the time I got out of the tent, everyone was up and packing up the campsite. I quickly took down my tent, put it away (still wet from dew) and loaded my panniers. After a quick tire dip in the Missouri River we were off.

From what I hear, it's not an official RAGBRAI until you dip your tire.

Team Greenstreet 2010 left to right: Molly, Eric, Clint, Mike, "Boca" Mike, Sean, Julio, Me (Andy), Cody, Ben, Paul, Beth

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Masi Randonneur handled under a full load. There were even times during the first half of today’s ride that I forgot that I was riding a 60lb bike. It handled great, climbed pretty well and was super stable on the downhills.

Our first stop of the day was at the Farm Boys burrito stand for breakfast. $5.50 was a bit much to pay for a breakfast burrito but hey, it’s RAGBRAI and the burrito tasted awesome. We continued along the route stopping again for Lunch at Mr. Pork chop, also overpriced, also fantastic.

By about mile 45 or so, the weight of my bike started to take a toll and I had a hard time keeping up with the rest of my group in spots but as we approached the overnight town of Storm Lake, we all joined back up and rolled into town together.

Basically, the day consisted of a lot of food, a lot of people on all kinds of bikes, and a fair amount of beer.

In Storm Lake we were treated to a great yard to camp in and hot showers from our gracious hosts.