A Day with RAGBRAI

Can you find us in this picture? :)

For years we have talked about doing RAGBRAI--Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. It is the largest bike touring event in the world. The ride takes a week, but day passes are available.   So, this time, RAGBRAI XLV, we decided to ride for a day, "day 4", from Clear Lake to Charles City.  It was 57 miles.  The most I'd ever ridden before was 20 miles.  And that was two years ago with RAGBRAI.  So this was going to be fun. ​  My papa and sister drove mama, Daniel, and I up to Clear Lake, and we got started about 6:30 in the morning.  The first 25 or so miles were great.  We stopped in one town for something to eat.  All of my family bought burritos.  I opted for a piece of delicious peach pie.  Then we got back on the road.  We looked behind us to see huge storm clouds.  Now we were in a race with the rain!  We rode harder and harder, but soon found ourselves losing the battle.  We were surrounded by storm clouds.
So, we got really wet.  We were soaked, and our breaks didn't work.  But we rode on.  Eventually the rain passed.  Now we were just wet and tired.  

You've got to love that lady's shirt.

By the end of the ride I had great admiration for all the RAGBRAI riders.  I suffered so much from just 57 miles.  These other riders (a lot of them old enough to be my grandparents) were doing 400 miles across the whole state! 
I was so happy to reach Charles City and finish.  I felt like I couldn't ride any longer, and I felt like I could barely walk too.  It was a neat experience.