Iowa Amish Highlight of RAGBRAI ‘07
Posted by Reagan on 02 Aug 2007 at 04:14 pm | Tagged as: General, Sports
You’ve seen Rich’s view of RAGBRAI, now here’s mine.
DAY 1
Flat and FAST!
Mason got to ask Lance Armstrong a question at the kids’ meeting with him in Spencer IA after our first day’s ride. What did he ask? He asked if Lance was the rider that hit the dog in the Tour de France this year! Lance said he didn’t know about it, but it wasn’t him for sure. (It was actually Sandy Casar). They didn’t let parents in the meeting so I had to verify with other kids that he actually asked that!
DAY 2
I did it up today, wearing my best 80’s vintage skin suit (see pictures in the gallery). Oh yeah baby! Multi color neon stripes with just a hint of animal print. I accessorized the 3 large oval holes in the back with “Your Ad Here” written in sharpie. It was definitely a conversation starter. No takers though. 
Rich, Blake and I did the Karras Loop for the first time today also. It made today’s ride 100 miles.
DAY 3
What’s that I hear? It’s the Andy Griffith Show theme song! My favorite show of all time. Eagle Grove really put on a show for us. Barney, Aunt Bea and Otis were there. Even the squad car! Aunt Bea even had a picnic basket with a jar of “Kerosene Cucumbers”
DAY 4
I am now into survival mode. Just get on the bike, ride all day, eat, sleep. Repeat. The motorhome’s AC definitely makes it more bearable than last year, but there are definite drawbacks. My mother is OBSESSED with water levels, sewage levels, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I am really thankful that she is driving and watching Mason for us, but she is driving us crazy!
DAY 5
Finally! Decorated road kill! There was a distinct lack of road kill to decorate this year. This stylish fellow was wearing a santa hat, mardi gras beads, and a “Hillary” sticker on his forehead.
Our campground was next to a cemetary, so Mason and I took a hike around reading the tombstones. The majority were born and/or died in the 1800s.
Right as we were getting ready to go to bed, a police car came screaming off the main road and through the cemetary toward the river. Of course, I was brought up to gawk. So I walked over to see what was up. We could see ambulances across the river and people crowded around someone on the ground near the river bank. As soon as I saw that they were doing CPR, my heart sank. Someone was in real trouble. Unfortunately, we found out that the Sunday after the ride, the gentleman from Waterloo, IA was taken off of life support. He had been swimming in a fast river near a low dam and got caught in the undertow.
On a positive note, we had an excellent storm tonight! I laid in my comfy couch/bed and remembered the big storm on RAGBRAI in Waukee last year. That one ended with Rich and I sleeping in the truck and throwing our tent in the dumpster the next morning. Not so tonight!! We all woke up well rested, warm, and dry.
DAY 6
On RAGBRAI this year we rode through Iowa Amish country. WoW! I have to say it was the most incredible part of the whole ride. I believe it is the largest community of Old Order Amish in Iowa. There was one farm after another, all neat as a pin
Their gardens were amazing!!! Perfect in every aspect. A few of them had certified organic farms.
Another notable thing I saw on an Amish farm was stacks and stacks of HAND cut hay! At the back
of the field was a horse drawn hay wagon piled high with hay.
Most of the families were outside either selling their homemade goodies or just watching 10,000 cyclists riding by. The kids really seemed to enjoy the show. I kind of wondered what they thought of all us spandex clad folks. 
DAY 7
Flat route? Whatever! I forgot to look at the elevation profile for the last day. Lots of rollercoaster hills. The last downhill was a BLAST! 45+ miles an hour!
Bellevue is a beautiful Mississippi River town. Very charming waterfront. We did the tire dip and left to go find the motorhome.
Things I learned this year on RAGBRAI:
- Contrary to RAGBRAI tradition, I CANNOT drink alcohol while I am riding this much every day. Give me a recovery drink and chips.
- I can make a very realistic pig squeal.
- I give RAGBRAI 3 more years before Lance-mania wears off
- Don’t ride with the LiveStrong riders. They will take you down
- Recumbant riders are the vegans of the cycling world (they love their ride and will lecture you about it’s merits). They are also good ones to give an extra wide berth to when passing.
- Rich, Mason and I need to get a 3 person tandem. That’d be sweeeet!
- $2 per person each ride is TOO MUCH for a shuttle ride.
AH, so that’s where you’ve been..out having fun I see.
Your blog is much more interesting than Rich’s, not so technical. All I read in Rich’s is blah blah blah bike blah blah blah tires….
Way to go Mason! Animals come first ya know!
Beware of those Amish - appearances are not what they seem…..they are the lead producers of puppy/kitty mills!
So glad you had a great time!!
Good Luck moving…..again
Welcome home. Glad you had a safe and enjoyable ride across the great State of Iowa. I think you rode within 10 miles of where I grew up when you rode through Laurens. Tall corn and soybeans for as far as the eye can see. And it can sure get hot in Iowa during July. Im glad you got the chance to ride through Amish Country. That is indeed a beautiful part of the state.
I definitely don’t want to make excuses for the Amish puppy mills. However, I also can’t condem their entire society. Would you like to write an article for our site about the puppy mills? I think bringing attention to them would be a definite counter point to the idealic view that I saw.