It looks official, although the card has not shown up in the mail.

For once, I have a certification other than I.T. related. Yep, I apparently passed everything to become a USA Cycling Coach.  It’s only a level 3 coach, so I won’t have people knocking down my door, yet.
I did put together a training plan for Reagan last year, when everyone knows that you’re better off not telling her what to do. But it worked! Her PR at the Olympic distance triathlon went down another 30 minutes! I even got her hooked on some bike racing. Of course, she wants a ‘cross bike next.

I had a good plan for myself as well, and the training logs showed improvement. However, I needed to show up to races. This year I got to put the money where the mouth is. There are so many great events around here. No more pneumonia, no more moving across the country (twice!), no traveling out to get a tractor. I’m aiming for the Lincoln Spring Classic again. After that, I’ll look into the Iowa Cup series.

Anyone need their rear-end kicked into shape? I’m available.

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I saw that rating for the pictures could be turned on…..so I did.  You can click on 5 stars if you love the picture.  Less stars for, you know.

Why?  I have no idea.

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A good friend of ours, Kevin Wilbeck, recently found an article he has started for the Raccoon River Valley Trail. It was to entice buyers for property along the trail, but he never finished it. This article was about the exact chuck of land that became known as Two Barn Farm. I would have sworn he wrote our thoughts on it. Here it is now:

The Bike Retreat

There is this strand of DNA that I inherited from my dad that I am sure is strongly tied to his farm upbringing. This is the gene that sometimes keeps me up at night. Regardless of the condition of anything used or discarded or even new this gene lights up a portion of my brain that says “Hey you could do something with that!” If you moved this over there, fixed that, modified this, and used that piece gathering dust in the barn you could turn this into something with a brand new purpose.

This gene has instructed me to convert feed bin supports into a platform and ladder for a zip line, a windowless feed shed into a comfortable bike shop; a boar’s shed into a camping shelter, and a four door Pontiac into a 150 mph race car. It is currently instructing me to start gutting the inside of our corn crib so that it can be converted to a guest house someday. This same thought process occurs when I look at some of the properties available along the Raccoon River Valley Trail.

There is this barn on the Bill Ecklund property next to the trail offered by Marso-Peckhamn Realty that intrigues me. It intrigues me enough that I have visited it three times. The barn has this amazing hay loft with curved laminated beams that leaves the entire space void of structural supports. Sure it’s a little rough but it is also solid and straight. So what has my little gene turned this into? The first floor would have four bedrooms but the loft would be one large living, dining, and kitchen “cathedral”. Since the loft is so tall you might have a “floating” upper deck or stairs up to a quiet reading or bedroom loft. Now picture big, beautiful Gothic style (think church windows) windows at each end of the loft that mimic the curve of the roof.

Imagine you and your friends sitting in this cathedral, sipping your favorite beverage after a satisfying day on the Raccoon River Valley Trail. After dinner you can spend a little time outside on your three acre recreational playground. For you that may be a garden, or putting green, or ball field, or horseshoe pits, or volleyball, or campfire pit, or whatever. Or maybe you just completely detoxify in the quiet created by a hammock and the lack of noisy surroundings. Now imagine that people would pay you for the opportunity to stay in this great abbey on weekends when you aren’t using it. Or better yet convert the curved roof corn crib on the east end of the property to your permanent residence so you can bike every day and offer the barn as a full-time rental.

A lakeside cabin is great if you can find an affordable one and have a boat. A mountain condo is great if you enjoy skiing and like flying out to it a few times a year. If you really like bicycling how about a bike retreat with access to over one hundred miles of trail, more than a dozen great towns, and located within 45 minutes of Des Moines? If I had a rich uncle I would be sitting in this great vaulted space right now.

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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.

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We just got back from our 2nd RAGBRAI, and what a different experience than last time. Last year, we did the tent thing and camped out. This year, we had a huge Class A motor home with air conditioning, beds, and plenty of food storage. This luxury left us feeling far more refreshed.
The experience was also different on the road this year. I think Lance ruined RAGBRAI. The attitude seems different when he is there. The biggest change this year was the riders seemed to have changed from ‘people on bikes’ to ‘cyclists’. I didn’t even see the the hordes of loony people with costumes and such. The crowd this year was full of road cyclists, team wear, and high end bikes. Don’t forget to mention the arrival of rude attitudes. ‘On your left’ was no longer a friendly warning. I never heard it before with such a condesending tone, nor repeated until someone was out of the way. Several times I heard ‘out of the way’, ‘move over’, and the worst was a rider that yelled at an older man ‘you ride over there’ and pointed at the right side of the road. Everyone knows this is a ride, not a race. But still, show some respect.
Reagan and I both did all 7 days, including the Karras loop. 500 miles in 7 days. Blake took one day off. Steve rode the 4 days he planned on, and he is much stronger this year with his new hip. Another highlight for me, was that I got to demo the pre-production Specialized Transition time trial bike. Apparently, there are a few teams that had this bike on the Tour de France, and the 4-5 in the demo van that followed RAGBRAI this year. The bike was built of solid carbon, had a SRAM Force drivetrain, Zipp 404 wheels and Vuka bars, and had a estimated retail price of $8500. The bike was very thin. The rear stays hugged the spokes and had to bulge out for the rear cassette. This was a very fast ride. My time trial pace was about 26-27mph. Even at speed, the bike was quiet. I blew blast Blake once and he said he didn’t hear me go by. There are a few pictures in the Gallery under the Sports album. Mason got to attend a kids only meeting with Lance. Mason asked him if he was the one that hit the dog on the tour this year.

The ride itself was wonderful. Overall, it was flat and fast as predicted. Eagle Grove was a wonderful town. The Amish country was amazing. I see a goal to measure our gardens against. By RV camping, we were either in the mix of it or on the outskirts of town. Even then, it was walking distance to fast food and stores. We even found a huge model train museum, and the National Farm Toy museum.  We all had a good time in there.  RAGBRAI seemed to save all the hills for the last day. Just as you got tired, it was time to go climb.
We are getting started on the house in Jefferson. I’ll be moving most of our stuff out this weekend. We’ll get some updates out about the progress over there soon.

-Rich

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