RAGBRAI Day 2

Best day on a bike in a very long time! I woke up with the sun feeling refreshed and ready for a long day on the bike. After a couple of muffins, some fruit snacks and a cup of coffee, I was ready to go. The initial plan for the day was to ride the extra loop and earn century loop patch. The only catch was we had place to stay just outside of Whittemore (the second to last town of the day) so we wouldn't get the 100 miles in anyway. Either way, I decided to leave the panniers with the van. I know, that wasn't the most "self-supported" way of doing things but you have to admit, lining up someone to carry your stuff on RAGBRAI is (or at least sorta is).

I rolled out around 8:00 with Ben and Cody only to catch my friend Emily, her boyfriend Adam and Thad from Lincoln Velo, right outside of Storm Lake. I joined up with them and my day quickly changed from a long one to a leisurely tour of small town Iowa and it was awesome. In my opinion, today was the best way to enjoy RAGBRAI, ride fast between towns, then take your time at each stop, enjoy the food and beer gardens and take naps in the shade.

Met up with Ben and Cody again as they were making their second pass through Plover while riding the century loop (*it was only 90 miles).

Our bikes rested while we enjoyed some time in the shade.


Bikes and bikes and bikes and bikes and bikes and more bikes. Everywhere you look there are bikes. It's really a sight to behold.


While stopping along the side of the road for nature (as Phil Liggett calls it) we stumbled across an old barn with some kind of weird farm parts on a shelf. Emily was being creative and decided to set up a photo.

A candid shot of Adam and Em while trying to get the camera positioned correctly and the timer set.

We stopped in West Bend for a six pack of Mikes Hard Lemonade, oatmeal cream pies, doughnuts, and ice cream. Please don't pass judgement.

I saw some friends of Greenstreet on today's ride as well (sorry, no pictures). Omaha's own meteorologist extraordinaire, C.T. Tonklin passed me in a pace line in early in the day. I got to chat with Erin G. the ever charming Greenstreet ladies' rider in Plover. I also saw our friend Eric A. still recovering from a run in with a car last month, but riding for the week all the same. Last night a couple of other Greenstreet customers said hello as well (I can't remember their names but if you said hi to me on RAGBRAI stop into the shop and reintroduce yourself and I promise I'll never forget your names again).

Our host house for the night was great, the family cooked us an awesome dinner of lasagna and sloppy joes.

Later in the night our hosts drove us into the overnight town of Algona to check out the expo. Regional cover band, Vic Ferrari rocked the crowd with pretty good covers of artists like Bon Jovi, Bowie, and Guns N' Roses. The highlight of the night was their rockin' rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody.

It was a late night but our hosts had one of the softest yards in the Midwest and the weather was perfect.