Ragbrai- Day 5
Knoxville to Ottumwa, Iowa
The Tour de Farms- Stage 5- Good Weather, Smooth Sailin, Downhills, Favorable Winds, Great Times!
There is a Ragbrai! Up until today, we have been fighting. Many of the Ragbrai riders had a very difficult time finishing yesterday if they finished at all. Today is a very different story-. The day starts with a fog that says- "This weather is different!" Here's Lynette from Minneapolis who has a sign on her back requesting us to sing the birthday song. She gets it from Norm and I in two part harmony. Here's Lynette and friend Jo from Scottsdale. Check out her attire. Here's another fog shot.Norm catches an interesting pose of me trying to set the camera on the timer mode. Here's some gravel. Today though, we're going real fast in it. I follow a trike recumbant that has Weird Al blaring out the stereo system. We are screaming and the trike driver almost loses it in the gravel. As a matter of fact, this year I topped 41.5 MPH and I wasn’t trying to do that. It was just the gravity of the situation. We continue and stop together at the donut stand. The trike driver is fellow Texan Michael Hoenig from Allen and here's the bike. Now we're in Bussey, Iowa and Norm remarks that there's been nothing by the road in 21 miles. That's because there were few farmhouses. There were no people by the roads. It's 9 AM and a third of the ride is over. Wow! Listen to this. Here's a blues Band and they are good. It's the Blackstone Blues band. They may be Dave's band of the ride!
Smiles are on faces again today and people are talking as they ride three times as fast as yesterday. Norm and I are not getting below 20 MPH very often. This is what Ragbrai's supposed to do. What were those last three days-- dues?
As we approach Albia, there are ladies in period costumes welcoming us to town. Norm's already there. Here's the Albia HS jazz band almost ready to play except that the drummer did not get all of his equipment. Hmmmm. Now they're playing and they're good! They have a trumpet player who is wearing his bike helmet. We got yesterday's report on today since we did not have any access last night, and what a treat! We wait in a line for computer access at the Computer Zone in Albia, run by Beth Hunter. What a marvelous young lady! She has been a singer all over the country including Nashville. I told her what I had to do and that it may take just a little longer than checking email. She said she'd cover for me. My turn came and their modem was a bit slow and the line behind was long. Beth started singing her songs. She's a true pro! She did not need accompaniment. After that she took the entire waiting line on a tour of the store while I was still slowly uploading. No one ever knew that I had been on for 20 minutes. She then gave me a tape of her songs. She's great, and she's our Ragbrai Hero of the Day! We'll need to get a picture on here. I'm interviewed about Dave's Ragbrai Page by the local radio station. The town of Albia was the big stop of the day and here's a scene from the square. Note the candles in the window. Here's a Ragbrai regular!
As we leave Albia, the scenery changes. No longer is it just cornfields, but we see curves and hills and many trees. It is beautiful. Now, the road is so smooth that we can only hear the sound of tires singing on the pavement.
We just have a few more miles and it's not even lunch time! Here's the air force water trailer giving us the best water available, government issue. While I'm getting water, I'm watching ultralights taking off and landing in the road about 50 yards away. WOW! That one just avoided a parked car on takeoff, hit the sign by the road with his wing and avoided striking the wing on the ground by about 12 inches. He's still climbing, circling around and he lands it while we approach to check the damage. He is a very lucky pilot indeed. The hills get steeper now and a few of them are memorable. As I pedal up one in one of the lower gears, I hear a voice to the right that says, "It's like being in church with these people!.. They're all praying!"
In true Ragbrai tradition, the last pass through town before the final town is the big party location. Today, that would be Blakesburg. I order a Blakesburger and a coke. Folks are resting big time. I hope that's his "extra" sock! I'm not sure about how big these parties get, this is only based on hearsay, but it appears that it's going to really happen in a few hours. Here's team tutu! Aaron came through a while later and you can see the progress of the impending bash!
Finally, we arrive in Ottumwa, our overnight town. It's a big town. Here's the Hawgs always wanting to get in the picture. Congratulations to fellow Hawg Tara who receives her Master's tomorrow! And we hate to say it, but you should have ridden one more day!
Click on towns listed in blue for their links, but COME BACK!
Towns Visited- Bussey, Hamilton, Lovilia, Albia, and Blakesburg
65.2 Miles
1770 vertical feet
used by permission from Rich Ketcham and GeoBike
Links for Thursday-
Ottumwa's Ragbrai Site-Promising the biggest beach party this side of Malibu- bring your surfboards!
Also in Ottumwa-The National Scientific Balloon Facility