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tcepsaMost important thing that happened all trip: I survived ^_^
I'm probably not going to do a post that is anything close to a blow-by-blow; too much awesome stuff happened and I don't want to take the time to write it all down and it's the sort of stuff that I probably wouldn't come back and read again anyway, so I'm going to try to stick to the major overview.
Overall, it was awesome and I want to do it again, only next time I want to get some decent training in beforehand so that I'm able to enjoy it more. The theme of this trip was essentially pain. Nothing excruciating or even really intolerable (with an exception that I'll get to a bit later on), but next time around I'd like to be able to spend more time on enjoying all of the roadside attractions than on simply trying to get from point A to point B while thinking about how I can't go any faster because it would hurt too much and possibly start causing damage.
I've gained a new respect for biking now that I've gotten a better understanding of how bicycles work (which started a few months back when M and I fixed up my bike) and a better appreciation for what they can offer when it comes to travel.
However, let me back up and give a better overview of what RAGBRAI is, now that I have a better idea myself. It's several thousand people bicycling across the state of Iowa. Each day, the bikers travel between 50 and 90 miles (with one of the days having an optional "century loop" that adds enough mileage to bring them up to 100 that day). Along the route are all kinds of different things to do, from corn mazes to petting various farmyard animals to enjoying all kinds of culinary delights (sweet corn and watermelon featuring quite heavily among the latter). The bikers also pass through towns along the way, which gives the bikers a chance to rest and take in some of the local culture and gives the towns a chance to boost their local economy and take in some of the subculture.
For many participants, it's essentially one of the longest bar crawls in the country.
For people like me who prefer not to get plastered after a hard day's ride, it's more like eating your way across the state.
Now that we've established that there's all this cool stuff to do in the towns and along the route, let me go on to state that I didn't do all that much of it because I'm not in good enough shape for that (and neither is most of my family, so we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time doing a bunch of extracurriculars). Our schedule was basically get up, perform necessary bike maintenance, hit the road, bike, stop for breakfast (arrr, pancakes!), bike, stop for snacks if you get hungry, bike, stop for lunch and rest a bit, bike, stop in meeting town (if you didn't eat lunch in meeting town) and regroup with the rest of the family because we all go at different speeds, bike, get to last town for the day, find campground, decide what to do for supper, go refuel, shower, sleep. Repeat!
Anyway, that makes it sound like it was no fun at all, which wasn't true. We had a good time together, and we'd banter or sing or whatnot when we were biking together in a group, and we did get to do some fun things along the way and it was beautiful scenery. Plus there was something about the challenege of each day that added an extra boost of motivation.
For example, day two was an 84-mile day, and I was determined to do it when we started. By the time we reached the second-to-last town, I was less certain. It was about 6:00 pm, there was a storm rolling in, and we still had 21 miles to go. If I had been by myself at that point, I probably would have called it a day, but the rest of the group was there, and we decided to go for it. It was one of the best experiences of the whole ride for me.
I love storms. I love the feeling of nature's power pouring down in torrents and crackling across the sky in bright flashes and thunderous blasts of sound, with winds whipping first one way and then another. They remind me that despite everything we've done, and everything we think we know, there are still powers out there that we don't fully understand, or possibly even comprehend, and I love being immersed in that, seeing them at work and knowing that there is still a lot of potential for wonderous things to happen.
I got that on day two, pedaling along, rain pelting down and wind whipping through spokes, thunder barely audible over the roaring of the wind in my ears as we pushed ourselves ever closer to our destination for the night. It eventually blew over and we were left looking at an incredibly vivid rainbow stretching over the fields. It only lasted for a few minutes before clouds covered the sun again, but it was beautiful.
Unfortunately, I think that's also when my troubles really started; during the ride that day, my seat had slipped down and so my knees were coming up farther than optimal for me. Normally that's not a problem, but when I ride that way for tens of miles, it becomes one. I kept it that way through the storm because I didn't want to stop everyone and adjust in the pouring rain, but if it happens again, I will stop and fix it pronto. The next day, I started getting twinges in my left knee, to the upper-right of the kneecap. I made it to the meeting town, then called it a day and rested. I tried again the next morning, made it about twenty miles, and then had to stop again since it was still giving me troubles. I caught the sag wagon into town and again took it easy. I didn't bike at all the next day (day five), since I was hoping it would heal up and I'd be able to finish. Day six it was feeling a bit better, and I biked the last twenty miles of the route. Yesterday it was still sore, but seemed to be doing okay so I did the last fourteen miles of the last day and dunked my tire in the Mississippi with the rest of the riders. Today it's still giving me troubles and I'm continuing to treat it (basically doing the RICE treatment, rest, ice, compression, elevation, along with ibuprofin to help the swelling and food to keep the ibuprofin from tearing up my stomach too badly). I'm planning on trying to get to a doctor sometime next week once I'm back in DC and find out whether there's anything seriously wrong with it. It doesn't hurt too badly, but if I've torn a ligament or something I want to get it taken care of.
I think I'll wrap up my entry with that. I may put up a subsequent entry about the psychological effects of the knee injury, but we'll see. Right now, it's back to relaxing and enjoying my time at home :)
It was fantastic, and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year. Anyone else out there interested in coming, let me know--we're always happy to have more members on the team ;)
I'm probably not going to do a post that is anything close to a blow-by-blow; too much awesome stuff happened and I don't want to take the time to write it all down and it's the sort of stuff that I probably wouldn't come back and read again anyway, so I'm going to try to stick to the major overview.
Overall, it was awesome and I want to do it again, only next time I want to get some decent training in beforehand so that I'm able to enjoy it more. The theme of this trip was essentially pain. Nothing excruciating or even really intolerable (with an exception that I'll get to a bit later on), but next time around I'd like to be able to spend more time on enjoying all of the roadside attractions than on simply trying to get from point A to point B while thinking about how I can't go any faster because it would hurt too much and possibly start causing damage.
I've gained a new respect for biking now that I've gotten a better understanding of how bicycles work (which started a few months back when M and I fixed up my bike) and a better appreciation for what they can offer when it comes to travel.
However, let me back up and give a better overview of what RAGBRAI is, now that I have a better idea myself. It's several thousand people bicycling across the state of Iowa. Each day, the bikers travel between 50 and 90 miles (with one of the days having an optional "century loop" that adds enough mileage to bring them up to 100 that day). Along the route are all kinds of different things to do, from corn mazes to petting various farmyard animals to enjoying all kinds of culinary delights (sweet corn and watermelon featuring quite heavily among the latter). The bikers also pass through towns along the way, which gives the bikers a chance to rest and take in some of the local culture and gives the towns a chance to boost their local economy and take in some of the subculture.
For many participants, it's essentially one of the longest bar crawls in the country.
For people like me who prefer not to get plastered after a hard day's ride, it's more like eating your way across the state.
Now that we've established that there's all this cool stuff to do in the towns and along the route, let me go on to state that I didn't do all that much of it because I'm not in good enough shape for that (and neither is most of my family, so we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time doing a bunch of extracurriculars). Our schedule was basically get up, perform necessary bike maintenance, hit the road, bike, stop for breakfast (arrr, pancakes!), bike, stop for snacks if you get hungry, bike, stop for lunch and rest a bit, bike, stop in meeting town (if you didn't eat lunch in meeting town) and regroup with the rest of the family because we all go at different speeds, bike, get to last town for the day, find campground, decide what to do for supper, go refuel, shower, sleep. Repeat!
Anyway, that makes it sound like it was no fun at all, which wasn't true. We had a good time together, and we'd banter or sing or whatnot when we were biking together in a group, and we did get to do some fun things along the way and it was beautiful scenery. Plus there was something about the challenege of each day that added an extra boost of motivation.
For example, day two was an 84-mile day, and I was determined to do it when we started. By the time we reached the second-to-last town, I was less certain. It was about 6:00 pm, there was a storm rolling in, and we still had 21 miles to go. If I had been by myself at that point, I probably would have called it a day, but the rest of the group was there, and we decided to go for it. It was one of the best experiences of the whole ride for me.
I love storms. I love the feeling of nature's power pouring down in torrents and crackling across the sky in bright flashes and thunderous blasts of sound, with winds whipping first one way and then another. They remind me that despite everything we've done, and everything we think we know, there are still powers out there that we don't fully understand, or possibly even comprehend, and I love being immersed in that, seeing them at work and knowing that there is still a lot of potential for wonderous things to happen.
I got that on day two, pedaling along, rain pelting down and wind whipping through spokes, thunder barely audible over the roaring of the wind in my ears as we pushed ourselves ever closer to our destination for the night. It eventually blew over and we were left looking at an incredibly vivid rainbow stretching over the fields. It only lasted for a few minutes before clouds covered the sun again, but it was beautiful.
Unfortunately, I think that's also when my troubles really started; during the ride that day, my seat had slipped down and so my knees were coming up farther than optimal for me. Normally that's not a problem, but when I ride that way for tens of miles, it becomes one. I kept it that way through the storm because I didn't want to stop everyone and adjust in the pouring rain, but if it happens again, I will stop and fix it pronto. The next day, I started getting twinges in my left knee, to the upper-right of the kneecap. I made it to the meeting town, then called it a day and rested. I tried again the next morning, made it about twenty miles, and then had to stop again since it was still giving me troubles. I caught the sag wagon into town and again took it easy. I didn't bike at all the next day (day five), since I was hoping it would heal up and I'd be able to finish. Day six it was feeling a bit better, and I biked the last twenty miles of the route. Yesterday it was still sore, but seemed to be doing okay so I did the last fourteen miles of the last day and dunked my tire in the Mississippi with the rest of the riders. Today it's still giving me troubles and I'm continuing to treat it (basically doing the RICE treatment, rest, ice, compression, elevation, along with ibuprofin to help the swelling and food to keep the ibuprofin from tearing up my stomach too badly). I'm planning on trying to get to a doctor sometime next week once I'm back in DC and find out whether there's anything seriously wrong with it. It doesn't hurt too badly, but if I've torn a ligament or something I want to get it taken care of.
I think I'll wrap up my entry with that. I may put up a subsequent entry about the psychological effects of the knee injury, but we'll see. Right now, it's back to relaxing and enjoying my time at home :)
It was fantastic, and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year. Anyone else out there interested in coming, let me know--we're always happy to have more members on the team ;)
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Date: 2005-07-31 06:52 pm (UTC)Come home soon, see you after the 14th.
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Date: 2005-08-01 06:22 am (UTC)