Trying a Different Approach

After our experience yesterday on RAGBRAI, we decided that some drastic measures were in order for today, as the amount of total climb increases from 4,298 feet to 4,719 feet and the heat forecast was showing no signs of letting up. While Alfredo is zipping from town to town at warp speed on his classic early 90's era Trek road bike, we're still working with our hybrid bike technology, and most important of all we need to get the chain on Amy's bike fixed or replaced.

Since we knew today wouldn't be a good riding day for these various reasons, we planned ahead while hanging out with Team Daydrinker yesterday (they are true to their name, by the way) to work out a solution. Fortunately we live in a capitalistic society, and if there is a need (sagging for an entire day of RAGBRAI), someone will find a way to make money while providing a valuable service. A group by the name of Pork Belly Ventures operates a RAGBRAI charter service, and they also offer an all-day sag service from one overnight town to the next on a first-come first-served basis for 25 bucks. They take reservations the day before, and we were able to arrange for a ride all the way from Atlantic to Carroll.

At 6am this morning we made our way from the Bikeworld campsite 10 blocks down the street to Pork Belly Ventures and had a nice, quiet, AIR CONDITIONED ride to Carroll. Pictured below is Amy in front of the semi truck trailer that carried our bikes, waiting for it to be unloaded in Carroll.

We then made our way into town, stopped by to ask some locals setting up a snack stand where we could get indoor breakfast (I was tempted for a moment to answer affirmatively when they asked if we had biked all the way from Atlantic at 9am, but knew I wouldn't keep a straight face), and then went a few more blocks to HyVee based on their advice.

And so here I am, polishing off a tasty Hy Five breakfast platter. Hey, this RAGBRAI stuff ain't so bad when you don't have to ride your bike!

Soon we'll find one of the bike repair shops to get Amy's bike fixed up, then rest and reset for tomorrow, when we only have 1,787 feet of climb and hopefully slightly cooler temperatures on our way to Boone (and real showers and a bed at our house in Ames, thanks to Amy's parents for the lift the extra 10 miles).

Now, to try and figure out why I didn't go looking for a tandem road bike after last year's RAGBRAI...